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Comment by crazygringo | Hacker News Reader

I'm very happy to see better competition with Apple's AirPods. And visually, these look fantastic -- distinct but just as tasteful.

The lack of active noise cancellation still seems to leave Google a "generation behind" here, but playing catch-up is still a great thing.

But more than anything, I'm fascinated by the "Adaptive Sound" mode. Seriously, for years I've wanted my headphones (and laptop speakers) to auto-adjust their volume based on both the signal and ambient noise. If it works well, I hope to see the concept spread pretty much everywhere as an option.

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Yeah, no active noise cancellation or "transparency mode" equivalent is just a massive bummer. It's hard to compete with the AirPods when you're missing the two most impressive features.

They sure look cool though.

They have a vented design which is very similar to transparency mode.

I wouldn't say a generation behind compared to AirPods, but they're definitely a class below AirPod Pros.

Oh I missed that detail, what does the vented design achieve on the pixel buds? Can you control how much sound gets in?

My read is that they're fundamentally like "open backed" headphones. It's not controllable, it's just that they don't actively block the air, so they let outside sounds in.

From a social-acceptance perspective I'm not a fan of "transparency mode". When I see people walking around with earbuds in all the time, even when they're not actually using them, I have a -- probably unfair -- visceral negative reaction.

Why? I just assume they wouldn't hear me.

Apple Airpod Pro includes active noise cancellation at a $250 price tag. The Apple Airpod with Wireless Case is the 'equivalent' Apple product at $200. The Google Pixel Buds include passive noise cancellation (silicon sleeves) which the Apple Airpods lack.

Yeah that's fair, I just wish Google (or anybody else really) had a real competitor to the Pros with smart features that actually work on Android.

Lacking active noise cancellation doesn't leave them a generation behind. They're aimed at the Airpods not the Airpod Pros given both feature-set and price. Honestly, these are between the Airpod and Airpod Pro in terms noise cancelling and sound. Google can add a Pro model at a higher price point to compete with the Airpod Pros if they'd like.

Google Pixel Buds: $179, passive* noise cancellation

Apple Airpods: $200, no noise cancellation

Apple Airpods Pro: $250, passive* + active noise cancellation

* For the confused, passive noise cancellation in earbuds is when they form a seal with your ear canal to block external sounds. The Google Pixel Buds do this with the different sized silicon sleeves they include, just like the Airpod Pros do. Active noise cancellation is when the headphones have microphones that sample outside noise and feed an inverse sound wave to your ears to cancel out the external sounds.

AirPods are $149, not $200.

Also you can add passive sound filtering sleeves to them.

Apple's store shows them at $199: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MRXJ2AM/A/airpods-with-wi...

Unless you're talking about the lower-end ones without wireless charging which are $159: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MV7N2AM/A/airpods-with-ch...

The Google Pixel buds include wireless charging, so they're matched up against the higher end Airpods.

Something I've noticed recently as I'm watching all of these specials on TV with celebrities at home.

Almost every one of them is using an AirPod.

I was shocked at just how many celebrities are using AirPods for these (theoretically) high production shows.

I noticed that SNL seems to have switched from AirPods in week one to pro lav mics this week, but otherwise it seems like everyone already owned the AirPods.

It'll be interesting to see if Google can eat some of their market share.

Motorcycle helmet speakers have adaptive volume, at least at the quality end of the market.

You can't quite walk around everywhere with a helmet on, but I do give it a good try with my flip up - I'm rarely stopped when shopping etc. - twice in 13 years.

It would be cool if it could (somehow) detect a person speaking directly to you and automatically lower content being played while raising the external microphone volume—assuming it has a feature similar to AirPod Pro’s transparent mode.

Even humans cannot understand if something is directed towards them until non-verbal signs say so or your name is called. (Which depending on the name might have a lot of false positives)

That sounds impossible to do on audio alone. How in the world do you tell what sound is directed at a person vs just coming towards them normally?

Maybe some combination of: comparing average recent audio levels and detecting a sudden spike in the average human speech frequency range, using far field mic tech these companies have been focusing on to check against direction the audio source is coming from (ie, only focus on someone right in front of you), maybe auto adding the first name of the phone owner to a watch word ala “hey Siri”, etc

I’m not an expert at all on the “how”, just thought could be a useful “what” that solves some friction with current tech (similar to how these automatically adjust noise cancellation settings vs needing to set manually as with competitors)

IMO the real killer feature of AirPods is that they seamlessly "just work" when pairing, switching devices, taking them out, etc., and it's vanishingly unlikely that Google got this right.

Typical fanboy comment. If you don’t have the information to make an informed comparison, don’t attempt one

Not at all a fanboy comment. Apple uses proprietary extensions to Bluetooth in order to facilitate very quick and easy device pairing.

If you open an AirPods case while it’s near an unlocked iPhone, iPad, or Mac, an alert pops up asking if you want to pair to it. (Or, if necessary, letting you know that you grabbed the wrong AirPods case, and it’s paired to someone else’s equipment).

Then, the action of pairing causes Apple to associate the AirPods themselves with your Apple ID. If you have more than one device signed into the same iCloud account, all of them will effectively be paired to those AirPods, and you do not need to actively do anything in order to connect to them, and standard system volume controls gain the option to switch output devices (with the AirPods listed).

What non-AirPods headset pairs and switches devices that seamlessly and easily?

> and it's vanishingly unlikely that Google got this right.

this is the fanboy part. I'm not a google fanboy (I own none of their products), but you can frame your comment differently (aka more neutrally). Just say what it is about the air pods you like, ask if google's pixel buds do the same, or just research it yourself and provide information as opposed to speculation. What makes it a fanboy comment is the bias, and you've still done nothing to dissuade me from believing you possess it.

That comment was informed by my experience with Google devices more than by my experience with Apple. I don't own airpods and have only owned one Apple device in my life (my current iPhone). But Android devices - across various OEMs including Google, and both stock Android and CM - have always seemed to make simple things far more annoying than they need to be, in my experience. Same with Chromecast.

(FYI, I'm the GP commenter but not the one you're replying to directly.)

That’s like saying it’s vanishingly unlikely that Google will get a chat app right.

It’s precedent.

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