You'd think that after 30 years of being consistently right, people would take a moment and think about why Apple does stuff, rather than just spouting off on the internet. Fucking morons. Apple has always pushed the boundary by eliminating "required" features, in the effort to move technology forward. ALL headphones absolutely suck. Period. The technology is stuck in the past, and manufacturers are happy to paint their shitty device a different color and call it "New!" Bullshit. And Apple is calling those manufacturers on their shit. Bluetooth is an utter failure. Wired headphones are great if you are in the recording studio, but suck in every single other use case ever. So Apple pulls the 1/8" jack, and forces the manufacturers to pull their heads outta their asses and innovate and come up with something better than a goddamn wire. And ya know what? It'll work. Because Apple is demanding it, and - say whatever you want about Apple - they have the market share to dictate exactly what the 3rd party market MUST make. So, Boom. Apple does it again, and in 18 months every single other device on the fucking planet will have effective, quality wireless headphone capability. Thank you Apple. From those of us who give a shit about user experience.
Actually, you are full of shit. Wired headphones are great if you want to hear your music. Bluetooth is great if you want it to cut out every ten minutes, or every time you touch the volume control, or every time you get a phone call, or every time the moon is in aquarius. Bluetooth is also great if you want your headphones to run out before your phone, or if you want a device that can discharge in a drawer because you haven't used it in a week, or because your car was too hot. Let's talk about ADC connectors. That's apple eliminating the "required" power and USB cables in an effort to "move technology forward." But as it turns out, you can't spit a monitor's worth of power down 30-gage wiring and USB interferes with high-bandwidth video. Six years of that bullshit - it came out the same time as the G4 Cube's magical mystical "electrical disturbances cause me to power down" capacitive power switch. Hey, how 'bout the Dock Connector? Yeah. Apple's "universal" connector includes bidirectional audio, two flavors of analog video, 3.3V DC power, 5V DC power, 12V DC power, Firewire data, USB data and two channels of serial control. All to guarantee that if you actually want to interface with any of that shit, you have to suck down Apple's proprietary connector. Know what I use? Koss fitclips. Know why? cuz I sweat them out every six weeks. Which is fine 'cuz they cost $14 and don't require a fucking ADC to listen to music. And I'm not even listening to music most of the time - I'm listening to 128k audiobooks. FUCK fidelity I want something that I can wrap around the goddamn spokes and not give a shit about. And that's what I got. I also like being able to buy charging cables two for a dollar off Amazon. But I got the fuck out of Apple three years ago. "Consistently right." Yeah - all headphones consistently suck... but only Apple will charge you $169 for them.
Seriously? I make all the points you make - Bluetooth sucks, wires suck, headphone UX sucks, and (right now) you have to have wires to have good audio - and then you make the same point? Oh right. You are upset about me mentioning that Apple pushes stagnating markets forward with "terrible" ideas... like removing floppy drives, or making color screens the default, or built-in Ethernet, or ... ah fuck it. I put the word "Apple" in the first sentence, so now your ears are turned off. Eh. Nevermind. Actually, you are full of shit.
Yeah - all headphones consistently suck...
Well hang on, now. Your point was that Apple has been "consistently right" for 30 years, and said that anyone who disagreed was a "fucking moron." Further, you're arguing that headphones without connectors are somehow better. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get the router working differently because I my Ethernet-free Macbook is having trouble connecting to the network.
man, my macbook loses connectivity to my router at LEAST twice a day.
I don't have any issue with cordless headphones, but $160 independent earbuds that don't stay in my ears are not going to make for a good user experience. I just can't justify buying them, because I'll lose them quickly. I also think it is important that wireless headphones work inside and outside their ecosystem. The fact that they don't makes them less useful.
Seriously? You can't actually believe that. Earbuds stay in your ears because of the SHAPE OF THE BUD, not because they have a wire dragging on the end of it, catching on your shirt buttons, seatbelt, steering wheel, etc. Removing the wire makes it less likely for you to catch them on something and yank them out of your ears, not MORE likely. What a weird claim to make!
No, it's true. They fall out. When I run, I hold the cord up high so it doesn't pull, and I still need to push them back in from time to time. I know people, including b_b, who can't even get them to stay in for any length of time. They aren't shaped well for everyone's ears. It might seem weird because they might fit your ears well.
Jogging with apple earbuds is the worst. They fall out every eight steps and then your sweat soaks into the mic and kills them permanently. It's spectacular. Now you don't need to worry about that because they'll fall into a puddle long before... actually, watch this space. I bet within two months someone is making an iSweatband that goes around your head to keep your fucking earbuds in your ears.
This is crazy... I must have really oddly shaped ears. The only earbuds that have EVER stayed in my ears consistently are the Apple "weirdo" shaped ones. You know, these things: All other earbuds just fall out. Is my experience really that unique? Nobody has ever mentioned me having weird-shaped ears before, and I've done a lot of different hearing tests over the years... Weird...
I've had the same experience as you, that generation of Apple headphones are the best thing I've had my entire life. I guess we're the odd ones out.
I'm really on the fence. On one hand, the wired headphones are simple and cheap. I first got into Apple because it just always worked. It was simple, and that's what wired headphones are. On the other hand, wires are annoying. My headphones endlessly catch on my collar, buttons or my corporate ID badge. If I'm out walking, the wire will catch on my watch, or if it's windy, the wind will blow it around. Will wireless headphones work as easily as wired ones do? Will I connect them once and literally never think about them again? I hope so. The cost bothers me a little. When I travel, I'll bring an extra set of ear buds just because I lose a pair about every fourth trip, and those are attached to each other. But maybe I lose them because they're cheap. I've been displeased with Apple before. I switched to Android for two weeks in 2012. I hated that experience. It wasn't the ecosystem switch, it was having issues with the phone and finding forum posts from 2009 saying "I hope they fix that soon." I'm still using a four year old iPhone. I want to replace it, but I'm so unenthusiastic about anything.
It wasn't really a problem until Apple decided we all needed to have silicone headphone wires that catch on everything and show off all the skunge that passes through our lives. Apple earbuds meant getting used to the sensation of headphone cables getting stuck in my fucking hair. Bluetooth is a fifteen year old technology that still isn't ready for prime time. You can get cheap bluetooth headphones for like $18... but you have to charge them. And get used to having software (shitty software) mediating the experience between your hand and your ear. Raise your hands if you've had trouble getting text messages in less than six hours for the past month or so. This is because Apple is doing something on their back end and shit gets lost for a while. Yep. Apple has managed to make a way for text messages to not go through.I first got into Apple because it just always worked
Maybe or maybe most people will just settle for shittier sounding music. Apt-x was almost passable but was still degraded performance. Charging headphones is a pain and now instead of 1 device to charge you have 3. I guess I like wired maybe I'm just old school