- 🤔 One of Apple’s most famous accessories seems to have been discontinued
- 👋 The Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter has sold out in the US
- 🌎 It’s also not available in other countries
- 🎧 The adapter was introduced in 2016 when Apple removed the headphone jack from the iPhone 7
There’s been some loud folks over the years but generally no one cares. 450+ million AirPods have been sold and the experience is arguably MUCH better than wired headphones.
For me, the switch to wireless earbuds has been mixed. Not having the cord get tangled and caught on things is nice, but I’ve come to dislike how precarious AirPods can feel (to me at least).
I’m always worried about them falling out of my ear and landing in a gutter or a toilet; I have to be careful pulling them out of their case and putting them back because they’re easy to slip out of my fingers; I always have to remember to keep the case charged; if I want to take them off temporarily, I can’t just drape them around my neck (at least not without 3rd party accessories but then you have to take those off to charge so more hassle). I feel like I just can’t be as spontaneous with them as with wired ear buds.
I liked my AirPods but I switched to Pros because I have to go to the office and deal with coworkers making noise sometimes and the experience is 100x better. They sound almost as nice as my Sennheisers, but block out annoying people and never feel like they’re about to fall out.
I still use my regular pods for sleeping, but the batteries are kinda dying. They only last 2-3 hours on a charge now… but they’re like seven years old.
Audio latency with Bluetooth screws up things like music lessons in Duolingo.
A few weeks ago I was gardening with Pixel Buds on and one dropped into a pile of leaves. I spent ten minutes looking for the thing. Then the other day the same one dropped into the garbage disposal while I was doing the dishes.
I don’t mind the cheap Bluetooth headphones I have that wrap around my ear slightly. I can run in those without them dropping out.
When I want audio quality I use some over-ear Bose headphones.
I have no idea how people are ok with just the little buds for all use-cases.
Did you manage to extract it from the garbage disposal?
Yep. It felt like the beginning of something from a horror movie, but I still have both hands.
Hopefully you unplugged it from the wall and drained the capacitors before reaching down. xD
Glad you still have hands!
I did not. It only fell to where the spinning blades are, I wouldn’t have expected that to have any live electrical components.
Any professionals or enthusiasts who give a shit about sound quality used wired headphones. At the same time, I wouldn’t be using the lightning to 3.5mm adapter. I’d use an external DAC. There are lightning to USB-B cables for this purpose.
I was against wireless headphones for so long because I love my open-ear cans, but I could not agree more with the experience being infinitely better with AirPods when using a phone. I still use my nice cans when I’m listening to anything at home, but when I’m out and about, not having a cord is glorious.
I can’t take any headphone with a battery seriously because it’s on borrowed time the moment it’s manufactured.
Why spend more than £50 on a headphone with a battery that won’t hold charge in 2 years? It’s not like they make the battery easy to change.
Convenience is why. And I don’t think it’s very difficult to see that. It’s not some mystery even though some people continue to pretend it is.