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Comment by perardi | Hacker News Reader

I am a total apologist for the price of the AirPods and AirPods Pro.

I have tried a lot of wireless earbuds. Jabra, Samsung, Jaybirds, Anker…and none of them have the combination of bullet-proof pairing, keeping a connection, audio quality†, and sound cancelling†. †(AirPods Pro, for these.)

But hoo boy, $550 is a lot for more traditional headphones. The price premium for earbuds feels right to me, as you have to do the engineering to jam as much battery, antenna, and circuitry into a teeny tiny space as possible. But big ol’ can headphones? C’mon, you have so much more volume to work with, it should make them easier to design and manufacture, not harder.

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> bullet-proof pairing, keeping a connection, audio quality

That'll be because Apple products use a custom protocol to iPhones, whereas all other brands have to use basic bluetooth, which has crappy sound quality, arbitrary restrictions, poor handling of weak signals, lots of delay, and is hard to pair.

Apples walled garden doesn't allow third parties to design or use their own protocols, or use apples protocols, so it's far from a level playing field.

All of the other brands on Non-iPhone use AptX and AptX HD, which works quite well.

But yes, on iPhone Apple exploits their position to kneecap competitors.

Well nobody permist for competitors to create their own comparable protocol

Sure there is an issue. Apple just won't add support for them.

Irregardless of the platform, is there any other brand with better Bluetooth UX than Apple?

The industrial wireless microphones and headsets used in TV production are exceptional for sound quality and delay.

They require a special license to use, and require dedicated hardware (ie. they won't connect to a phone). Shows whats possible if walled garden and regulatory constraints are lifted though.

> They require a special license to use,

What on earth? Because of the transmission spectrum they use?

I'm not sure what they're talking about... Pro audio gear doesn't need a special license unless it's old spectrum that was purchased largely to roll out low band 5G a few years ago. 99% of the industry has moved on though.

Also, a lot of movie stuff, especially at budgets below AAA box office extravaganzas, still use wired gear. Zero latency, no potential audio loss, and dirt cheap.

"Irregardless" is a nonsensical word.

Irregardless is in the dictionary

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irregardless

> Is irregardless a word?

> Yes. It may not be a word that you like, or a word that you would use in a term paper, but irregardless certainly is a word. It has been in use for well over 200 years, employed by a large number of people across a wide geographic range and with a consistent meaning. That is why we, and well-nigh every other dictionary of modern English, define this word. Remember that a definition is not an endorsement of a word’s use.

"Irregardless" is a portmanteau of "irrespective" and "regardless".

It's for when it's really important to express that it doesn't matter.

(kidding, of course)

Now do "funnily", a non-word which I dislike with a consuming passion.

It's an anti-de-non-sensical

You can say the same thing about Sony devices. This is just ecosystem games.

I'm totally in agreement with you. Sony, Bose etc. show that you can build a fantastic pair of noise cancelling "prosumer" headphones in the $250-350 range.

I'll accept a $50 markup for Apple's tight integration and marketing. That's $400.

$550 (or, in Europe, $775...) is a ridiculous price.

Whew, I forgot I was looking at the US price…up here in the frozen tundra of Canada, they’re $880.27 after taxes.

I paid $349 (I think) for my Bose quiet comfort headphones, and they are good - but there are flaws that I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing corrected for a higher price. To each their own I suppose.

I think most people here have their doubts that they will actually be an upgrade over the QC35 or the WH1000XM4. They'll undoubtedly have a better pairing experience and the head tracked spatial audio is unique among over-ears, but there's a chance of losing in sound quality, noise cancellation ability (active & passive), comfort, and battery life. Also based on phrasing at the bottom of the page it's possible that they will only work with Apple products. We'll have to wait and see how they compare.

I expect them to be a solid step up in sound quality.

I don't understand why people would expect otherwise given the advancements with Airpods Pro and Homepod. Apple has a clear R&D advantage over competitors, and I think it's going to be that much better in a larger format without the space constraints of the Airpods Pro.

- What makes you think these would be less comfortable than QC35s? People love the comfort of their existing AirPods.

- Battery life will be the same (20 hrs).

- Given my experience with HomePod sound quality and the quality of my Macbook Pro speakers, I expect the sound quality of these to be better than QC35s.

- Not sure about noise cancelling.

I didn't say I'm assuming any of the negatives are true. I'm saying they're unknowns. If they manage to do well in those categories I listed off, then I can see them being worth a good chunk of money.

Ironically one of the flaws with my QC35s is that I don't find them as comfortable as many others do, haha

Cost got me as well but what gets me is the weight, nearly a pound on your head. No thank you.

(13.6 ounces, 384 grams)

> Bullet-proof pairing, keeping a connection, audio quality†, and sound cancelling†. †(AirPods Pro, for these.)

Guess we are ignoring the fact that this bullet proof pairing and keeping connection etc work only with Macs and iphones. Anyone here care to list how these perform if you have an android phone/tablet, a windows PC, a kindle etc etc. Or do I have to buy another pair of headphones to use with those devices?

I’m sure they work as well as any other AirPods pair to PCs and other devices: just the same as any other Bluetooth device.

They're not that far off higher-end over-the-ear ANC/wireless headphones, give or take Apple's brand premium (which many other makers of expensive things also happily apply). That's not to say they are cheap but it feels closer to existing market pricing than $250 wireless earbuds - a move Apple pulled off seemingly successfully.

If by "not far off", you mean "over $200 more". For consumer devices: The Sony 1000XM4s are $270. Bose QC35 IIs are $265. You'd have to go up to pro-grade gear, such as the M&Ds or Beyerdynamic Amirons, to match this price. Maybe Apple headphones are pro grade, but the AirPods are not, so I don't think they're going for that market segment.

They're right there in 'wanky headphones from a name brand'. Amirions are more expensive and have no ANC. The gamer Audezes (no ANC, the processing stuff is only wired) are $500. Lots of other stuff you can find in that price range from B&O, etc.

Master and Dynamics are not "pro gear", and while Beyerdynamic traditionally is, they have dipped their toes in the consumer space for a good awhile. This is right up there in that space IMO.

This is the early adopter fee. Wait for black friday or some other steep sale. I snagged some Airpod Pros for $169 at the last one, much less hesitation hitting buy at that price.

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