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Comment by jayd16 | Hacker News Reader

Are you saying they're popular or good? AirPods are popular but I don't think they're very good at all. At least the pros have the rubber tips.

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This whole "People just buy them because they are popular" thing is trite. AirPods were tremendously mocked when they were launched and became popular in spite of that.

You don't like them. Millions of people do. Lots of people don't value the things you (or I!) value.

I think its a valid discussion point and not trite to ask if OP thinks Apple marketing will win out or if they think the product is industry leading by some performance metric.

It seems like there's nothing but "never bet against Apple" type nothing statements backing up everything but I want to give the comments a reasonable shake.

Performance metrics are great.

So let's do this.

What value do you place on frequency response versus ease of use? Is there a metric for being able to ride 20 miles on my bike without accidentally pulling them out by the cord? How about the metric for seamlessly transferring audio between sources? What is it worth being able to text my wife while riding my bike?

Once you've dialed in what all these performance metrics are worth, we can compare it to other headphones on a level playing field.

What is entirely trite is people assuming that they are smarter/ better/ more knowledgeable about a product than the people who actually buy and use it. It's condescending and flat out wrong much of the time. This idea that you can pin the desirability of a product down to 1 or 2 bullet points on a chart is frequently completely wrong.

This is in part because the white tips sticking out of your ears is a form of social signalling that you are affluent or fashionable.

It may be trite, and I have no idea if it applies to AirPods specifically. But it's certainly a true pattern with other goods. Just look at the amount of marketing that works to create the impression that all the cool or important people are using a product.

I actually dislike the rubber tips. The original AirPods fit my ear so well that I can shake my head without them coming loose, and comfortable to the point that I literally forget they’re there.

If they had better battery life, they’d be the perfect easy headphone.

I'm sure they work for some ears but you have to admit that Apple itself has categorized rubber tips as a premium feature even though much cheaper competitors have had that design.

I was in the same boat as you, normal Airpods stayed in my ear while running but the Pro Airpods kept falling off. I then found some third party foam tips on Amazon and that made the Pros feel invisible like normal Airpods.

Do you mind linking those third party eartips? I am in the same boat as you, original airpods fit me like molded, I could jump and run with not even a hint of earbuds moving inside the ear. While airpods pro tend to wiggle and not stay fully in.

The tech is good on the first one which makes up for the lack of adjustable tips (a few people I know couldn't use them because Apple's design doesn't work for their ears).

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