Apple AirPods are designed to die: Here’s what you should know
Apple AirPods are designed to die: Here’s what you should know
AirPods are nearly impossible to repair and their batteries are short-lived. Apple should design them to last.
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That’s because the components inside each little white stick are glued together. Apple could use screws and latches to hold together the components. That way, if something needed to be repaired or replaced, you could easily get inside the device in order to fix it. But Apple doesn’t do this.
So as usual, they purposefully do this. This reminds me of the time with the iPhone battery 'scandal' Apple Batterygate.
I really like their Airpods Pro (1st gen), have them for about 4 years now. However not without problems. I had to replace them 5 times because of crackling sounds, muffled sound and broke-bass sounds. This even happend after my 2 years warranty but luckily (and thankfully) the Apple employees are nice people at times. When it happened (twice) outside my warranty, they told me, if I showed them my receipt - They can and will give me a new pair of Airpods Pros.
They told me ''many do not know but there's a law that forces companies (even Apple) to give a 'decent product' to the customer''.
Not sure if I will get their Airpods Pro 2 (or 3) though after all the hassle.
EDIT: As I'm not sure if this law is also outside my country, here's the official government website with their explanation of it. It is in the Dutch language though: Rijksoverheid deugdelijk product
Each to their own, but I personally can't imagine having to replace a faulty product 5 times and still wanting to use it
I think I did that with an Xbox 360 but it really pissed me off.
That's highly fucked up if you replaced them 5 times within 4 years.
My Jabra 85h Elite ANC probably isnt as good as thr Airpods ANC but only had to replace them once within 4 years of having them. First replacement was within warranty and I was given new headphones but also could keep the old ones.
Used them for as long as they could still run. Very satisfied with the service from Jabra. Just the ANC is lacking.Agreed! Though, I asked one of the employees that worked there and was told that the 1st gen AirPods Pro had a very known issue with all the three issues I had. Especially the crackling sound.
And apparently Apple refuses to fix the entire issue with the 1st gen and rather replace them continuously (I suppose?).
I’m only so glued to the AirPods Pro at the moment for the NC. I got Tinnitus, hear damage and with loud sound I will get Hyperacusis. The NC allows me to have very low sound on, avoid the noise from outside but still capable of hearing other sounds a bit.
Great service of Jabra though, I’m surprised they allowed you to keep the old ones.
Only an apple zombie would be loyal to a product that crappy 5 times? My $30 Sesh earbuds work like a champ after several years. Then I got the $100 pixel A buds for free with a new phone and have been using those for years with no problems. Since they were so cheap I use the Sesh buds in the shower to listen to music or podcasts and they still work fine. I abuse cheaper products and they last longer than luxury brand crap.
I mean, if you don’t understand that I only paid once and that Apple replaced them freely even out of warranty. And that, that’s why I keep using the AirPods Pro (1st gen) for now.
I don’t know what else to tell you. You can call me an “Apple zombie” if that satisfies yourself. But it doesn’t make sense.
I’m not going to explain myself to a stranger that soft-insult and can’t even give an good argument as to why I should not keep using them while Apple replaces them for free until I decide to purchase different in-earbuds.
How much of your time was wasted dealing with a faulty product? That's beyond frustrating. When I spend apple money on something I expect it to work.
I understand you don’t like Apple. That’s fair. But you keep pressuring your opinion on others (me). You changed topics the moment, I told you, you didn’t understand my first comment.
Was it frustrating? Perhaps a little, I suppose. I don’t remember how much time, I spent. I don’t care either. The service was easy, quick and good. That’s what matters.
When I spend apple money on something I expect it to work.
Lets rephrase that shall we? “When I spent money on something, I expect it to work.”
Indeed. I expected it to work, it didn’t. Unfortunately several times but they replaced the product without any issue. So problems quickly solved.
Life isn’t going to always be in your favor. Have patience and find a solution.
EDIT:
why I should not keep using them while Apple replaces them for free until I decide to purchase different in-earbuds.
You also didn’t give me an actual good argument yet on this.
Haha no shit. It's like 1000 worth of air pods.
Customers like this deserve to be ripped off imo.
Reading comprehension fail.
If you'd wanted better sound quality you could have got literally any headphones including the cheap ones you get from gas stations. They really do not have good sound quality, they're fine, but they are only fine.
What key feature has you going back to the airpods? There's very likely a good alternative, but it depends on what is keeping you using them.
None. I stick to the AirPods Pro at the moment because, they work right now and Apple keeps replacing them anyway.
That and don’t have time (yet) to do research for new in-earbuds that are good quality with real good NC. Noise cancelling is a must though.
I use IEMs they're not noise cancelling, but more noise isolating. When I have them in they act like earplugs, silencing the outside world.
The big thing, for me, with my IEMs is that they're wired, but there are solutions to that depending on how you want to proceed.
The IEMs themselves are pretty cheap, especially compared to airpods, so trying them to see if they isolate enough noise should be a very inexpensive proposition. So getting some decent IEMs and testing them using a wired connection for fit and isolation and sound quality should be the first task, if this becomes a serious consideration.
I don't presume to know what it is you're looking for in terms of design, style, sound profile, etc. Even if those things are simply preferences, and not hard requirements. I wouldn't want to recommend bright pink headphones because their specs are great and in line with what you're looking for, if you happen to hate the color pink (as a crude example).
What I can say is what I would think to recommend, which, off the top, I'd be considering the blon bl-05 IEMs paired with either a wired connection to a Bluetooth receiver, such as the Fiio BTR3 or similar, alternatively, the Fiio UTWS3 or similar for the "true wireless" type experience. The last piece that's absolutely essential for sound isolation is better eartips, I've been using these for a while and they're excellent: https://www.linsoul.com/products/tripowin-spiral-groove-memory-foam-eartips
The foam tips make it so I can't hear anything when I have my IEMs inserted.
The catch to all this is that putting them in or taking them out can be a little bit of a pain point, since the foam tips can be a bit finicky to get properly seated in your ear (at least for me).
But, like I said, I don't know enough about your preferences to really make a proper recommendation.
Of course, when you get into this level of earphones, you end up in a market where the sky is the limit on cost. I've seen some IEMs go for thousands of dollars. You can spend nearly as much on cables and add-ons. I'm not into that sort of thing. I've been on the hunt for cheap-but-good IEMs for years and have a small number of pairs that are very good and didn't break the bank.
The nice thing about this kind of approach is that it's very modular, so if you don't like the BT receiver, replace it. If the fit of the eartips isn't good, buy new eartips. If the sound of the IEM isn't what you prefer, you can get a new IEM, and use that instead. It's entirely up to you how you want to customize them and how you use them. Lots of options.
Personally I have a Fiio BTR5, a balanced headphone cable to my IEMs using the foam eartips. For IEMs I have a set of moondrop starfield, a set of blon bl-05's and a set of Tin T2, which I regularly switch between. All of them sound great, but they all sound slightly different, so sometimes I'm in the mood for one over the other. I clip the btr5 to my belt, connected to my phone by Bluetooth, and usually run the cable under my shirt so it doesn't catch on anything.
But that's what I like. You're different, so you'll buy different things if you choose to go this route. No pressure, obviously, I just want to make you aware of the options you have in this regard. If you do choose to go this route, I'll point you at linsoul (linsoul.com), which regularly runs sales on a lot of this, and otherwise has pretty good pricing. Some items may not be available there, like the Fiio bt receivers, but they're generally going to be available on Amazon, so you should be fine there too.
My entire focus here, is to make you aware of the option. Not to tell you what to pick. Using IEMs has been rewarding for me since there's nothing to throw away. Even if one set of IEMs died tomorrow, I would only have to toss the IEMs themselves. The eartips, cable, etc, would all be able to be reused with another set. With something like the airpods, you basically have to throw out the entire unit with the charging case and all accessories, since Apple usually doesn't bother making any of that compatible with their future versions of the same. It's wasteful. I don't like it.
Whatever you decide, I hope you have a good day, and the best of luck finding a good replacement when you decide to do so. Cheers.