So the curly-looking stem contains the mic? I’m still undecided. My trip is in 3.5 weeks. I still have time to (1) buy, (2) not like, (3) return, (4) repeat a couple of times.
The fact the flight is 14 hours though is a put-off.
Plus I read a Tom’s Guide review of the Air Pods Pro 2 and while he loved them he said (1) they get uncomfortable after many hours and (2) he said your voice on calls is muffled and he is often asked to take them off during Zoom meetings or calls.
Never had a problem with them in that way. To me they feel comfortable to wear for many hours at a time.
But ears and fit are a very personal thing. If at all possible, I’d try to get a pair to try on myself before I buy.
OTOH Apple’s return policies are grade A so you could always just get them to try on and return them within 14 days if you find them uncomfortable (they come with multiple tips so you can choose the most appropriate yourself).
Ah. That looks like it might be a better compromise. But you say the noise canceling isn’t as good as the AirPod Pro 2 that I tested yesterday.
And then there is the whole short battery life (for a 14 hour flight).
And getting an extra gadget so you can connect to the airline entertainment system.
But I don’t want to repurchase a Shokz. And that is still ok for walks - just not calls.
How is the one in the picture for calls? I only take like two international flights a year - to the U.S. and back. Something like that for daily use might be a nice compromise!
I’ve been using the Pros for a couple of months and have been happy with them. They fit better than the old Apple ear buds. Noise cancellation is amazing. Far better than any other NC headphones I’ve tried. I find that my ears start itching after a couple of hours. For extended use times you can always use just one while the other charges then switch. You do lose noise cancellation when doing that.
As mentioned, the device switching is wonderful. No other headphones come even close. The volume adjustment is the weakest point. I find it easier to just use my phone’s volume buttons.
I’ve never used Airpods but my wife and kids do and swear by them. Being cheap by nature, I use an old MPow X3 pair - Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth 5.3 Headphones 50H Playtime with LED Digit – MPOW They’re cheap as chips ($55 vs $399 for AirPods Pro), work great, noise cancelling is good, have lasted several years and the sound is more than adequate. The only issue I have is when I get very sweaty the left one sometimes slips a bit and pushing it back in with sweaty hands isn’t great.
The Beats with the little ‘ear lock’ look good and I might splash out when these ones die.
I’ve not had any problem with them falling out, although they’ve tried to “sneak out” once or twice on a long call.
As far as most comments above, ditto ditto ditto. Noise cancelation is awesome, sound quality for Zoom is excellent, and I’ve not had the issue I experienced with other Bluetooth headsets where Apple Music is suddenly and inexplicably triggered during a call. Ick.
Battery endurance can sometimes be an issue. I’ve learned on long calls (I have some 5 hour meetings on occasion!!) that taking advantage of breaks to throw them back in the case gets a quick if incomplete charging top off. And I know that once the batteries reach the end of their life, so do the AirPods.
After seeing Matt’s comment above it reminds me in the time I’ve had my MPows, my wife and both kids have needed to replace their Airpods due to battery EOL. Granted I don’t use them as much, but Airpods in this household have never lasted more than a couple of years - they’re essentially a disposable purchase.
I have never tested myself, but my understanding is that noise cancelation was slightly improved with AirPods Pro v2 over the V1. Beats Fit Pro, as I said, are clones of AirPods Pro v1.
I’ve used them on planes several times in almost two years. They work just as well for noise cancellation on flights as my Bose Quiet Comfort wired earbuds, which I still have, actually.
Fine. Nobody has ever said anything to me one way or the other. I also use them always for Zoom conferences. Again - no complaints.
It’s a setting. One or the other. Either you long-press to change modes, or you long- press to change volume. It can’t be both.
Beats are Apple products. They are in Apple Stores. I’m thinking that they will let you try them as well if they let you try AirPods.
You might want to go back to wired earphones for the flight and plug your phone into a power outlet (hopefully the plane will have an AC power outlet or a USB port at your seat).
When I fly, I use my iPod Touch (which has an analog headphone jack) and connect its USB port to power if the flight is too long for its battery. I’ve got a (fairly old now) Sennheiser HD203 headset I use when traveling and I’ve been very happy with it. That model is no longer made, but the HD200 Pro is sold for about the same price I paid for my 203 (about $80). No active noise cancellation, but the closed-back design and foam padding does tend to block outside noise pretty well (they say about 32 dB).
I have an ancient wired headset I got from somebody once. I’m charging it now with a USB-microUSB cable. If it’s wired, I don’t know why it needs charging though. Maybe it had BlueTooth? I’ll see after I charge it up.
It has a 3.5mm audio cable (both sides) so it can be connected to my Mac. But not my iPhone without an adapter or some kind I think.
Then there is one more cable in the pouch, with USB on one end and this on the other end. I don’t remember what that is. Anybody know?
Still trying to decide what to do. I went for a morning walk with my Shokz Aeropex bone conducting headset. The music plays just fine. It’s just the mic that isn’t working well.
Or did you mean by wired earphones the standard earbuds that come with the iPhone?
It was released in 2018, and is Bluetooth 4.1. So it should work also, and be better than no noise cancelation at all. Maybe I’ll try that. And it has a regular audio jack so I think it should plug into the airline system. The micro-USB to USB will also connect, but I think that’s just for charging. Not sure.
I was referring to traditional analog wired headphones. But you’re right that if you want to use them with a modern iPhone, you will need an adapter. Apple sells these for $9 each: Lightning adapter and USB-C adapter. There are also third-party adapters, with varying prices and levels of quality.
I already saw your followup, so I know that these are BT headphones with wired capabilities. But before I read that I was going to mention that there are wired headphones with active noise cancellation. These need a power source, and will therefore either need you to install batteries or charge them.
That’s a USB 3 version of the standard “micro-B” connector. (See also Wikipedia). I usually see this on things like portable hard drives and other devices that require a SuperSpeed USB connection. I’m kind of surprised a headphone set would use this if it’s just for charging, but maybe the connector does other things that might benefit from fast data transfer.
But are you sure that cable is for those headphones? I couldn’t find the manual on-line, but I found an unboxing video that showed a USB 2 micro-B cable for charging. If the cable you showed works, then I wonder what the connector on the headphones looks like, because a USB-3 micro-B connector won’t typically fit in a USB-2 micro-B jack.
FWIW there are third-party tips, especially the Comply memory-foam tips, which both by virtue of the expansion and the more sweat-resistant foam tend to be less easily dislodged. However, while I really enjoyed using these, the problem I had was that they’d block the charging case from charging the pods properly. Maybe they’ve fixed that in a subsequent generation, but I went back to the stock large tips and now just wipe them off every now and then throughout the day.
Also, I’d forgotten to say but, yes, the Apple Watch chargers will charge the AirPods Pro cases; I do this sometimes in a pinch.
The answer is no, I’m not sure. I have so many cables here I could open a flea market. It just happened to be inside the pouch with the headphones, the audio plug cable, and the micro-usb to USB charging cable.
I did charge it yesterday, and it paired just fine with my iPhone. The music sounds “ok.” I haven’t tested it with a call yet. It’s nice to have as backup I suppose, but despite the complete over the ear padded headset there is zero outside noise elimination. I can even hear my heater humming while it’s on. So it would be of no use for that. But it’s ok as a backup for something I suppose.
After wearing them a bit yesterday I see why I stopped wearing them. They are just uncomfortable on my head. I wouldn’t want to take walks with them.
Also, after thinking about it some more I am not really thrilled about the idea of “in ear” tips getting stuffed in. So I’ve put the idea of either the Airpods Pro 2 or the suggested Beats on hold for just a bit and I ordered this from Amazon yesterday, arriving today. No noise cancelation though. GoFree2 Open-ear Earbuds for Optimal Fit – SOUNDPEATS
But it’s open air rather than “in your ear” so I thought I’d try it as a substitute for my Shokz Aeropex at least, so I could make calls. It has multiple mics. And multi device connectivity. And lasts 9 hours on a charge (35 hrs for the case).
I guess worth a try. There is still time to try it, return it if I don’t like it, and maybe try the Beats or the Air Pods Pro 2 later or… I don’t know.
With these I’d still need some extra device to connect to a plane entertainment system I guess.
