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Comment by metafunctor | Hacker News Reader

Apple's insistence that I should use wireless for audio is a large reason I'm doubling down on Apple products. I don't need the tangled messes of headphone wires or the extra opportunities for water ingress. Please please let's get rid of wired audio!

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Difference being that you used to have the choice between wired or wireless. Now it's wireless or nothing at all.

Not good for people who enjoy the higher audio quality or just don't want to mess about with charging yet more batteries

Not to put a too fine point on it, that’s bullshit. I can plug in wired audio on all of my Apple products, except the Apple TV. I did like the optical audio the older models had. By default, I much, much prefer wireless.

iPhone are still sold today with bundled wired headphones.

Since when proposing a sold separately wirelesses alternative is "forcing you to go wireless"?

Wireless audio still has latency.

It is very noticeable in games and movies. Until they solve that problem first, wired solutions will always be needed.

What? I have a couple thousand hours on my PS4 with A Sony PS Gold Bluetooth headset, and it is an absolutely awesome setup. (No affiliation, I just like them. I’m on my second pair over the course of about 5 years.)

Maybe you are used to it? Try watching a series or movie and notice when their lips open and if the sound starts in your ears right away.

That's a problem with bluetooth protocol in general.

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tests/active-features/late...

Think about how wired audio is used in recording, production, and live audio. Removing the wire adds latency.

I've never had latency issues while talking on the phone using my AirPods.

Try fast-paced games or any audio/music apps. Latency is quite terrible, makes GarageBand itself unusable.

why would i care about latency in a music streaming app? i dont need the play/pause button to be accurate to the ms.

GarageBand is a music production app, but, as your question was about more mundane usage, this guy's article makes the point that the audio is no longer a replacement for haptic feedback. It also crippled his app a bit.

https://stephencoyle.net/airpods

It might be an issue with high bitrate audio like FLAC/ALAC but I've never tried - the quality is probably lost on something like airpods anyways

This. The experience was good enough for most people even for AirPod Gen 1. Battery needs improvement though, and I am sure AirPod 2 will be even better in Audio Quality and ease of use.

And hopefully someday the cost and prices of AirPod will be much lower or even included with iPhone.

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