Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by _the_inflator | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

_the_inflator

Exactly.

Noise cancelling is a treasure.

And what I really like about them is the ease of use.

The moment I start talking to someone, automagically the NC is paused as well as any audio you were listening to.

It sounds so easy but is really running smoothly. Over time Apple really perfected the workings.

This blend is what makes them so valuable for me. I don’t have to manually do anything, simply speak and interact without having to touch them.

This is what bothered me really well, especially at work. Headset on, headset off - not anymore.

And people now don’t feel neglected when you keep the Pods in your ear.

Social reconditioning was part of the problem so to say. This tool is now accepted.

Well deserved. I am buying another pair of the AirPods Pro. I want a bit of safety after I temporarily lost one ear pod - I felt so disturbed, suddenly not being able to enjoy freedom acoustically anymore. Just to make sure and switch between them.

View on HN

> And people now don’t feel neglected when you keep the Pods in your ear.

I disagree with this. Pods in ears are essentially a "do not disturb" sign for most people. Being around people who regularly have the "do not disturb" sign feels neglecting. People who might initiate conversation don't know if they will even be heard if they try to talk, so why bother. I would rather be alone than in a room of people who are actively ignoring each other.

I dislike the NC pause because it often awkwardly unpauses when someone is replying to you. I just pop the earbuds out when I start talking. To me, speaking with earbuds in is rude, and I want to show the courtesy to the person I'm talking to that they have my attention.

Keep in mind that some AirPods are now certified hearing aids.

So before calling someone rude for talking to you with their AirPods on, make sure they don't need them on to hear you in the first place.

I myself always put at least one down when talking to someone, but I've learned to make the distinction between someone that is actually involved in the discussion, and someone that's still listening to what's coming from their connected device.

I don't call people rude for doing it. Maybe I should. I consider it rude. Maybe I should inquire if the earbuds are for hearing assistance then mention they are rude if they say no. Not really my style, but at least it would be direct. I don't know what percentage of earbud users depend on the earbuds for hearing assistance, but I would wager it is a small percent of the total of people who use earbuds. I doubt that I'm the only person who considers people who leave their earbuds while talking rude.

I never take public transport because the noises drive me crazy. Earbuds help, but not enough to make it bearable.

There's at least one person in this situation in the comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48599384

I suspect the numbers will grow given how much cheaper they are compared to the standard medical devices.

My point was: I understand where you're coming from, I used to feel the same, but a shift is in the making, and you could consider someone's attitude rude when they are actually impaired.

So starting from: "this person is wearing AirPods as hearing aids" to realize that they're just being rude, is probably better than starting from "they're being rude for wearing AirPods" only to realize you've made a mistake.

The automatic switching from noise canceling to transparency mode really does work incredibly, and I'm still shocked at how well it works, but it still feels ridiculous to speak to someone with AirPods in my ears. Even if I know that transparency mode is on (and on the newest Pros, it's so good that I can barely hear a difference between it and not wearing them), it still feels rude to speak to someone with them in.

I always take one AirPod out if I have to say literally anything to anyone, and both come out if it's going to be more than one sentence. Just feels rude. We've someone created a technical marvel: the world becomes silent all around you, and then the world comes back immediately when you start speaking, and then it slowly evaporates around you when you stop speaking for a few moments.

And yet it still feels ridiculous! And rude!

This is how I interpret headphones in/on people's ears. I live in a mid-sized town in the US and I swear it's over 80% of people I see walking through the forest trail system have headphones in. I wave and say hello to everyone without headphones. I find it bizarre how many people go outside and walk in the forest just to block out the natural sounds. Or how everyone in the grocery store has them in. I feel like I'm surrounded by androids without an interest in human interaction. Or maybe more generally, I'm suspicious of the impulse to always have something to listen to, like music, a podcast, or an audiobook. Oh well, I suspect I'm just being an old man. I'm glad they have found a way to make going out more enjoyable.

I go to forrest to listen to podcasts while not sitting. The purpose is walking and it is more pleasant experience then walking on streets - ground is softer, there is shade, it is cooler, it looks better.

>> The moment I start talking to someone, automagically the NC is paused as well as any audio you were listening to.

This is one of those features I thought would be great and unfortunately had to disable in minutes. If you ever listen to music and sing along, even for a few seconds, the volume cuts because it thinks you're talking to someone. It's a shame. There's so many really great AirPods features and I feel like I've had to disable almost all of them for one reason or another.

>> And people now don’t feel neglected when you keep the Pods in your ear. Social reconditioning was part of the problem so to say. This tool is now accepted.

I think it'll get there eventually but it's still far from accepted in my opinion. Maybe if you're ordering at a Starbucks or something but if someone was trying to have a conversation with my with AirPods in I'd consider it rude. And even if it's becomes widely accepted I think it'll still have some mild stigma (equivalent to wearing sunglasses when having a conversation unless the sun is in your eyes).

> The moment I start talking to someone, automagically the NC is paused as well as any audio you were listening to.

When I'm listening to music, the music helps form my sense of time. It is deeply jarring to have the music pause for a few minutes and then start as though in 'music-land' no time had passed.

I'd be happier if the music volume went to zero but the song/track kept progressing.

> If you ever listen to music and sing along, even for a few seconds, the volume cuts

Yup, and I also have this problem when I laugh out loud listening to comedy podcasts.

>If you ever listen to music and sing along, even for a few seconds, the volume cuts because it thinks you're talking to someone. It's a shame.

This became such a huge problem when watching Jeopardy with my AirPods. I keep mumbling answers every 30-ish seconds, and when I do that, the show pauses and the world suddenly becomes audible and I have to remember to disable that feature.

I work from home alone and frequently talk to my cats (I'm not crazy). Had to turn the feature off as well because of it.

>frequently talk to my cats (I'm not crazy)

Chuffed to find a kindred spirit here!

Same, but for a dog

They seem to have done so much work on the magic behaviors of the airpods (most of which I don’t have occasions to use) but they still work worse than a $35 pair of Ankers when it comes to just connecting, staying connected, and playing music without issue.

They’re especially flaky if you’re using them with apples watch.

I spent a few bucks on the pros, and the phone, and the watch, and the mini, and the tv, and the laptops. I shouldn’t be leaving that ecosystems ear buds in the drawer because the borderline disposable ones off amazon are the pair that “just work”.

Complete opposite experience. Moved to the Apple ecosystem including the watch, and the seamlessness of how airpods work with them all had me give away all my other earbuds - even though the airpods do not have the best sound quality. The convenience of everything just working had me never reaching for anything else.

I have plenty of complaints about Apple, but the Airpods experience is one the stickiest user experiences they have and would be one of the harder things to give up if I moved back to Android.

Same.

The "always works" is the only reason I am using Airpods.

I have never had earbuds that are consistent in the way they connect in any circumstances. I have had Bose, high end Sony, Anker, and there are often times when you need it to connect in a rush and it forces you to shut down the device, the bluetooth on the phone, and waste 30 seconds that feel like 5 minutes.

It works especially well when switching between devices, from iPhone to iPad to Mac and so on. I’ve never had the same seamless experience with other brands which often require you to re-pair just to switch.

I used to be a huge Audio Technica fan but I can’t go back anymore.

My wired Etymotics work 100% of the time without issue.

It still feels (to me) that in many cases Bluetooth earbuds are solving an issue that doesn't exist.

Are you sure you haven't got a faulty pair? Mine switch seamlessly between devices. I bought a bluetooth speaker recently and using it is hell on earth comparatively. The number of times I have to find the device it last connected to and disconnect before I can connect the one I actually want is absurd.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com