I’m going to be honest I fell for the AirPods Pro 3 hype about it being the best noise cancelling of all time and I bought a pair. I found the noise cancelling worse than my $30 Anker Soundcore P30i, I could never get the hearing test on the AirPods to pass no matter what depths of a quiet room I went to, and the sound quality on music was worse than my Ankers. Don’t fall for the hype or at least order from Amazon like I did so you can return them. I could hear my AC running with the AirPods, with the Anker I had to ask my girlfriend if it was on.
micromacrofoot · 2026-06-28 20:36:21 UTC
did you try different tips? I have heard this makes a big difference for some
_kulang · 2026-06-28 20:36:53 UTC
Sounds like you either had a fake or more likely, couldn’t fit them properly
smokey5000 · 2026-06-28 20:56:02 UTC
"you're holding it wrong"
asimovDev · 2026-06-29 06:46:53 UTC
in-ear monitors rely on you having a good seal in the ear to sound good. I wouldn't be surprised if ANC works worse if the tips didn't seal well
jonhohle · 2026-06-28 20:44:06 UTC
I’m glad the Anker’s worked out for you, but the Soundcore brand almost completely turned me off from Anker. After two weeks the Soundcore buds I had stopped charging.
I have limited experience with noise canceling headphones (some circa 2008 active Sony earbuds, and some not-that-great Beats Studio Buds+. On a whim I bought AirPods 4 ANC and I’ve found them way better than I expected. Good enough for airplane noise canceling without the seal of most ear buds. They feel smaller than the beats buds, even with the stem. They seamlessly switch from my phone to iPad to Mac. I haven’t sat down to compare their quality to any of my other headphones, but I don’t really care. Nothing comes close to matching the convenience and the sound isn’t so bad that I each for something else. I did not expect to like them as much as I do.
Maybe it’s hype, maybe I don’t know what better noise canceling sounds like. These aren’t the Pros, so maybe there’s a difference.
floydnoel · 2026-06-28 20:45:05 UTC
I had the original AirPods Pro and they were really great until Apple nerfed them. Apparently the noise cancelling was too strong in some cases so they worsened everybody's. After that they started making ear-piercing squelching noises, rendering them useless. I guess they make a good paperweight and reminder to never buy noise-cancelling products from Apple.
zf00002 · 2026-06-28 21:37:04 UTC
There was some problem with the first gen that you would hear static, Apple replaced those if you contacted support. Happened to me just before end of 1 yr warranty and kinda funny but they had me mail in my airpods to be replaced and lost them. So they ended up sending me a new pair and iirc $100 gift card for the trouble.
wileydragonfly · 2026-06-28 22:59:27 UTC
I missed the replacement window by three weeks and they offered to “repair” them for $180. Was not impressed. Judging by resale prices on eBay, it’s always the right ear bud that goes bad on gen1 pros
floydnoel · 2026-06-29 21:34:15 UTC
I also missed the window, Apple didn't send any communication about it. I saw it mentioned in a comment online and when I contacted support they told me to pound sand.
emdash · 2026-06-28 21:04:46 UTC
I have yet to try a pair of earbuds with better active noise canceling than the airpod pro 2.
cosmic_cheese · 2026-06-29 02:15:31 UTC
My Pro 2’s get so much use it’s ridiculous. Great cancellation and they’re always on my person thanks to the case perfectly fitting that tiny right pocket most mens’ jeans have (vestigial watch pocket?) and not taking up any primary pocket space.
quinndexter · 2026-06-29 07:37:44 UTC
Coin pocket.
cednore · 2026-06-29 00:54:08 UTC
I recommend Bose QuiteComfort Ultra 2. That's way better in terms of ANC and sound quality than AirPods or Powerbeats or any other products from same line.
drnick1 · 2026-06-28 20:33:59 UTC
It would be useful to explain to people who don't currently own AirPods and don't really follow Apple stuff much what features are lost when AirPods are paired with a non-Apple device.
JrProgrammer · 2026-06-28 20:51:12 UTC
There is a feature compatibility list…
VladVladikoff · 2026-06-28 20:34:16 UTC
AirPods themselves aren’t really that great from an audiophile perspective. The only part I like about them is the integration with the Apple ecosystem. This is a fun project and cudos to whoever pulled it off, but I fail to see the motivation.
dhosek · 2026-06-28 20:38:35 UTC
My thoughts exactly, what I’d rather have is the ability to integrate other stuff into Apple’s ecosystem (most notably my hearing aids, which despite being MFi can only really stream audio from my phone—I had a pair of Beats headphones a few years ago and the ease with which I could switch them between phone, iPad and Mac was so wonderful and I’d like to be able to do that with my HAs as well.
emdash · 2026-06-28 20:39:54 UTC
I actually really like the airpod pros from an audio standpoint. I find that a lot of wireless earbuds are way too heavy on the bass compared to the airpod pro.
basilikum · 2026-06-28 20:42:01 UTC
Airpods may not be "great from an audiophile perspective", but their sound is decent and they are actually well designed headphones. They are remarkably unremarkable. They have good (the new Pros even great) ANC. Their controls are intuitive and well thought out. It's hard for me to believe that I'm promoting an Apple product here, but they are what people often claim other Apple products to be – which I found to be BS for these other products. Someone sensible actually put thought into the product.
xrd · 2026-06-28 20:48:17 UTC
I'm not an apple person so this surprised me. I guess I have fallen for the "apple gear is expensive and must be the best" fallacy.
What are good options for similar wireless bud headphones?
phil21 · 2026-06-28 20:57:57 UTC
The sony earbuds are about the best I’ve had for sound quality and noise cancellation. Much better than AirPods, but not nearly as nice integration with the Apple ecosystem.
I find AirPods Pro 2 to be “good enough” where I gave away my set of XMs to someone who will actually use them.
Call (mic) quality in AirPods is better as well, if that matters at all to you. At least that’s what folks on the remote end of calls told me.
jitl · 2026-06-28 22:05:01 UTC
I got the InZone gaming buds version which are supposedly very similar to Sony's WF-1000XM5 (https://electronics.sony.com/audio/gaming-audio/all-inzone-h...) I wanted to try out the higher-end wireless Bluetooth LE Audio and their USB-C transceiver, and I wanted something that would let me side-step the Bluetooth stack on my Steam Deck (AirPods are horrible and get lag on Deck after 30 mins; that one is Apple's fault), but even in the best case I find Bluetooth on the Deck is annoying.
I would say the sound is great and overall better than AirPods Pro 3 when I compare the AirPods and InZone buds playing Spotify Lossless content from my iPhone, but the sound is not to my taste. Not sure how much of the quality comes from the LE audio vs better sound hardware engineering. They sound more detailed in vocals, mids, highs, but are a little warm and muddy in the lows. I can't get the sound profile to match my AirPod Pros 3 or my Kef bookshelf speakers with EQ, but I didn't try very hard. The left bud also sometimes takes a bit longer turn on once I put them in my ears, up to 30 seconds before it starts playing audio.
AirPod Pros 3 are ahead in noise cancelling, transparency, and touch controls -- the InZone buds use long touch vs short touch for volume up/down which is confusing, it's much easier to increase the volume and harder to decrease it. AirPods win out for convenience when using with Apple hardware also since I have to use the USB-C dongle since Apple hardware doesn't support Bluetooth LE Audio / whatever the codec is.
Overall I'm happy with the purchase -- they do a great job as Steam Deck headset use case.
I want to try out the new WF-1000XM6 as well, which seem to review better than the WF-1000XM5, but don't have any friends with them yet.
ornornor · 2026-06-29 06:33:29 UTC
I would not recommend wireless Sony earphones or headphones. I’ve owned three different models and in all of them the batteries failed after a few years. Check out the reviews there is an abnormal amount of failures. My conclusion is that while Sony is great at many things, they can’t do wireless headphones or earphones well and I steer clear.
Aurornis · 2026-06-28 20:50:05 UTC
AirPods are widely appreciated in audiophile communities. Especially with some EQ applied, which is easy and common these days and easy to find for AirPods.
They're never going to appeal to the audiophile communities that pride themselves on being different and/or expensive above all else, but they're actually good hardware with decent out of the box tuning. Apply some EQ on top if you so desire and they're very good.
andrewmg · 2026-06-28 20:58:00 UTC
I am an audiophile, and for me the AirPods Pro replaced literally thousands of dollars of portable headphones, amplifiers, etc., which I don't miss a bit. Apple's audio engineering is truly top-notch, and all the convenience features are icing on the cake.
coin · 2026-06-29 00:07:55 UTC
"Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to music. Audiophiles use your music to listen to their equipment."
AirPods makes it easier to listen to music across multiple devices. They sound reasonable enough for people to enjoy their music. They enable people to enjoy their music. This is why they are so popular.
f33d5173 · 2026-06-29 00:14:54 UTC
They are ludicrously expensive for what they do. They have an apple logo on the box.
jamwise · 2026-06-28 20:38:22 UTC
If I wasn't certain Apple will do their best to patch every avenue to this working in the future it might be motivation to buy AirPods.
giancarlostoro · 2026-06-28 20:46:57 UTC
I would be surprised if they could. Linux on Macs is still a thing. In fact, Linux on Mac is why I keep all the Macs we have in the house from the mid to late 2000s because they still turn on and work, if I choose to install Linux on any of them they are still usable.
matheusmoreira · 2026-06-28 20:55:56 UTC
> I would be surprised if they could.
They can. Require a valid signature from the mac's secure cryptoprocessor in order to interoperate. There's nothing we can do.
Remember when we used to use cryptography to protect ourselves from government and corporation espionage? Good times. Now cryptography is used by governments and corporations to protect themselves from us.
One day we'll need such hardware attestations to even get an internet connection.
robotresearcher · 2026-06-29 04:41:26 UTC
> Now cryptography is used by governments and corporations to protect themselves from us.
Just in case you're not kidding, I'll remind you it was always thus. The Nazi Enigma machines were not created by libertarian anarcho-punks to distribute The Whole Earth Catalog.
matheusmoreira · 2026-06-29 05:56:39 UTC
I was referencing the time period that saw the invention of the personal computer which democratized access to strong cryptography, leading to the crypto wars as the US government attempted to restrict civilian use.
code_duck · 2026-06-28 21:08:59 UTC
Linux on older Macs, currently. I'd love to install Linux on my M5 (or even ARM Windows 11) but it's not possible due to Apple's lack of documentation and some other issues.
retired · 2026-06-28 21:50:22 UTC
Apple is still selling Macs with M3 and M4 chips.
Regarding M5 support, seems like a matter of time.
The AirPods already work outside of the Apple ecosystem. This is just someone building out interfaces for their extra features that are already integrated into Apple operating systems.
jamwise · 2026-06-28 21:10:29 UTC
Yeah I understand. But there are plenty of good headphones that work with Android and include most of the features. That's kind of the point of Librepods right? To bring AirPods up to par for non-Apple devices and make them a viable option for Android and/or non-Mac users. So "this working" means those features.
bigiain · 2026-06-28 23:29:02 UTC
Still a useful project for those of us with a foot in both the iOS and Android camps. (And who use Linux as well as macOS)
jamwise · 2026-06-29 03:09:33 UTC
Yeah no criticism of the devs here, it's a great project. I meant to point at Apple. Though I'm a customer and like many of their products. I do hate their rigid clearly profit driven walled garden.
socks · 2026-06-29 05:24:37 UTC
Be wary - I do not have an iPhone, and I once connected my AirPods to my wifes MacBook. They now chirp at me loudly every time I pick them up, automatically try to connect to her phone etc, and I cannot unregister them from her account. I want to add them to Find My - I cannot add them to Find My from my MacBook, I 'need' an iPhone or iPad to do that...
Handrail · 2026-06-29 08:32:01 UTC
I had the same problem but for me resetting them fixed that quickly. Then I was able to add them on my Macbook so they don't do that anymore when connecting to other peoples apple devices.
ghostly_s · 2026-06-28 21:13:51 UTC
I wouldn't. Most uncomfortable earbuds in the market at any price.
Grombobulous · 2026-06-28 21:55:12 UTC
I realize your statement is subjective, but AirPods are made up of variants with plastic buds and variants that come with literally 5 sizes of squishy tips in the box.
So you have a total of 6 different fits to choose from. Plus the fact that there are surely dozens of third party tip options available for the Pro models.
The idea that anything with that many fit options can be considered the most uncomfortable earbuds on the market is not really possible in concept. That idea is as meaningless as saying that a size 9 Converse All Star is the most uncomfortable shoe on the market.
We are many generations removed from the original one size fits all product which was much different.
elabajaba · 2026-06-29 03:20:06 UTC
There really aren't very many different tip types available for airpods, since they use a special clip attachment method that means you can't use any standard existing tips.
I've been looking for aftermarket tips for my pro 3s and there's maybe 5 actually different tips available (crappy foam, decent foam, bad hybrid, basic sticky silicone, basic bad rubber). They're distinctly lacking in good quality tips with different textures (can help with comfort and keeping them in your ears) or different bore sizes (comfort and changes the sound signature). TRI clarion, Tangzu Tang Sancai, Penon Liqueur, JVC Spiral Dot are a few different standard tips that would likely be way more comfortable than the standard airpods tips if you could actually use them.
Shoes are actually a great analogy here, because the companies all use different lasts, so it doesn't matter that eg. Adidas has thousands of different shoes in over a dozen sizes, none of them actually comfortably fit my feet because the heel is always too wide and the forefoot too narrow.
Also, they only come with 5 tip sizes (4+1 on the buds) and use an oval shape which I personally find less comfortable than circular tips+stems.
drnick1 · 2026-06-28 21:23:14 UTC
Since the AirPods are an offline device, if you buy a pair now they should work indefinitely. But perhaps it would be better to reward manufacturers that don't make you jump through such hoops to use the hardware that you bought.
throwaway152321 · 2026-06-29 00:06:46 UTC
Sure. But on the other hand it makes sense to reward manufactures that make good hardware. And AirPods are very good hardware for me so I'm perfectly ok rewarding them for it.
raffraffraff · 2026-06-29 05:40:59 UTC
By "reward manufacturers that make good hardware" do you mean "purchase their hardware" or do you mean some other long term commitment to them? Or is this a jab at the person who suggested you not buy their "good hardware" for other reasons?
Personally, I will use whatever gear is good as long as there's no risk of it becoming a paperweight because the manufacturer aggressively gets in the way of using it with other operating systems. I'm not "all in" on Apple and never will be. I love certain apple hardware but I'll likely never buy an M series Macbook because one day they'll stop supporting it even though it still works perfectly, and it doesn't support Linux.
jorisw · 2026-06-29 07:33:49 UTC
> an offline device
Until you or someone else pairs them with an iPhone and leave them sitting overnight. The iPhone will send them the latest firmware.
nunez · 2026-06-28 21:30:51 UTC
AirPods update while charging in their case and paired with an xOS device. You'll need to make sure that they never connect with an Apple product to "version pin" them.
jitl · 2026-06-28 22:20:37 UTC
Why would they try to make the AirPods a worse purchase? Apple is happy to let you run whatever operating system on your Mac -- they aren't actively hostile there, but they don't help the community either.
Still, I would recommend the Sony WF-1000XM6 if you're not an Apple computer or phone user already. The UX is reportedly worse and a bit buggy, but the sound should be better.
jabwd · 2026-06-29 00:50:56 UTC
You can configure them to pause them when you take them out of your ear, except when it is not an Apple device. They will refuse to do so, even though they clearly detect the event since you can no longer use the stem as a pause button when you do so.
Clearly they make it worse just because you didn't get an Apple device, so yeah idk what you're smoking but give me some.
jitl · 2026-06-29 02:03:49 UTC
yeah the fact that many things start working if you change the host ID to apple device is very sus. i retract.
Rohansi · 2026-06-29 02:10:27 UTC
> Apple is happy to let you run whatever operating system on your Mac -- they aren't actively hostile there
Weird to praise Apple for the one line of devices they let you install your own operating system on and ignore that every other device doesn't.
ruszki · 2026-06-29 05:45:28 UTC
Even that is a lie. It allows other OSs, but they know quite well, that without drivers, it’s an empty promise. I can’t run anything else on my Mini for example.
Rohansi · 2026-06-29 06:06:19 UTC
I'm expecting them to lock down future devices because of this. Asahi can't keep up so the feature is basically unused.
marysol5 · 2026-06-29 09:27:48 UTC
This is the same Apple that sued people making "Hackintosh" machines...
jtbayly · 2026-06-29 11:28:55 UTC
Which is completely the opposite—running Apple software on non-Apple hardware—so they make no money whatsoever off such users.
nozzlegear · 2026-06-29 13:32:41 UTC
> Even that is a lie.
> It allows other OSs
So it's not a lie?
ruszki · 2026-06-29 13:43:50 UTC
If I allow you to cross my main door, but I'm 100% kill you immediately after that, do I really allow you into my home, or not? Your legalese only works in court, and Apple and fanboys spread this nonsense only because of legal reasons.
jitl · 2026-06-29 14:42:58 UTC
idk dude killing someone is pretty different from doing nothing
i think it’s more like “i’ll give you keys to my alien space ship, but our culture doesn’t write things down in a language you understand. be careful!”
nozzlegear · 2026-06-29 15:23:33 UTC
You're really twisting yourself into a pretzel to make it seem like Apple has made it impossible to install Asahi or something. Introducing these weird analogies about doors and killing people just dilutes whatever point you think you're making, and only invites people to fork the conversation with their own "well akshually it's like inviting you into my kitchen but not giving you a cookbook" retorts. Be direct, make the point you're going to make, not a sophist's allegory.
jorisw · 2026-06-29 07:31:47 UTC
> Why would they try to make the AirPods a worse purchase?
Why assume this is what they're doing?
Apple can only QA so much. To open up proprietary tacked-on features to a hardware ecosystem they can't control, opens up AirPods to be perceived as buggy on those devices, which isn't going to help the perception of quality of Apple products for non-iPhone/iPad users.
slashdave · 2026-06-28 23:48:21 UTC
I am pretty sure Apple doesn't care
duped · 2026-06-29 00:17:58 UTC
Basically all the annoying shit I have to handle with my AirPods is made up by how good of a product they are. I have nice headphones, speakers, studio and other microphones, etc for a bunch of use cases. AirPods are my workhorse. I haven't found anything as comfortable with as good a battery life and as good fidelity and as good price. The active noise cancelling is also very good.
And I'm an apple hater, in general.
bel8 · 2026-06-29 07:03:23 UTC
Would you recommend those for someone with no Apple devices?
I'm thinking of gifting them to someone. But they are Android/Linux user.
duped · 2026-06-29 17:12:39 UTC
No. Although I do use them on my Linux desktop I wouldn't recommend anyone use bluetooth on Linux regularly.
itsnoone · 2026-06-29 17:56:56 UTC
But AirPods are the only wireless headphones with which you can use the mic without having to suffer from horrible audio playback and microphone quality because of Headset/Handsfree.
duped · 2026-06-29 18:25:33 UTC
They suffer from that on both Linux and MacOS.
soundnote · 2026-06-30 00:17:39 UTC
I've liked Sony, myself, at least before they shit the bed with firmware. They stayed on better, and had better noise canceling. The transparency was a bit metallic. AirPods in comparison rely a ton on a tight fit for noise canceling, but the transparency is magic. Sadly, I'm more of a noise canceling user.
smcg · 2026-06-29 14:43:14 UTC
I'm not sure how Apple could disable this for existing Airpods. Maybe future Airpod models won't be compatible with this version of the mod, but they could update the mod.
jackhalford · 2026-06-28 20:40:43 UTC
> The aacp.rs and the att.rs files were translated from Kotlin to Rust with AI. Some parts of the media_controller.rs file, mainly the pulse integration, was also AI-generated.
The future is now.
userbinator · 2026-06-28 20:46:15 UTC
Not surprised at all; AI has dramatically lowered the bar to people wanting to create software they wouldn't otherwise have the time nor motivation to. Quality remains to be seen but IMHO it can only get better.
teravor · 2026-06-28 21:01:16 UTC
that's nothing.
you can grab a proprietary binary, open it up in IDA Pro (with MCP), spend some 10 minutes crafting a good prompt and after a few million (mainly input/cached) GLM 5.2 tokens you have a python script fluently speaking the proprietary protocol.
FrinkleFrankle · 2026-06-28 21:14:14 UTC
Sounds cool. Do you have a link or more info to share?
teravor · 2026-06-28 21:21:35 UTC
aside from https://github.com/mrexodia/ida-pro-mcp (which isn't mine) i have nothing i can publicly share. it's amusing how glm 5.2 jailbreaks itself, you ask it to quite literally break someone's software and it talks itself into it being a capture the flag competition.
jitl · 2026-06-28 21:35:05 UTC
I uploaded two binary save files from a game on my Steam Deck to ChatGPT, it diffed them and spat out a script to edit various values. The bots are really good at this sort of thing.
retired · 2026-06-28 21:45:03 UTC
This is why the Steam Machine costs $1049
qsxfthnkp2322 · 2026-06-28 20:42:12 UTC
I miss good wired earbuds.
frail_figure · 2026-06-28 20:46:02 UTC
Wired earbuds were great until they got caught on some piece of clothing and got ripped out.
kristofferR · 2026-06-28 20:51:05 UTC
Not to mention the microphonics
RulerOf · 2026-06-28 21:42:25 UTC
What do you mean?
I ask because I find Apple's wired EarPods to be less... selective than AirPods are—by that I mean they'll pick up more background noise whereas AirPods seem to only transmit my voice—but EarPods' clarity exceeds AirPods if you grab the mic and hold it next to your mouth, which you obviously can't do with AirPods.
kristofferR · 2026-06-28 22:39:27 UTC
Microphonics = cable noise, like when the cable drags against your zipper.
ShinyLeftPad · 2026-06-29 01:25:21 UTC
If you spend half the price of Airpods on good wired IEMs cable noise is barely a thing...
freedomben · 2026-06-28 20:52:03 UTC
For real, after being on wireless earbuds for quite some time and going back to wired, it is absolutely incredible how many things the cords get caught on. Even just your own hands!
Comments
AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45941596 - Nov 2025 (462 comments)
I have limited experience with noise canceling headphones (some circa 2008 active Sony earbuds, and some not-that-great Beats Studio Buds+. On a whim I bought AirPods 4 ANC and I’ve found them way better than I expected. Good enough for airplane noise canceling without the seal of most ear buds. They feel smaller than the beats buds, even with the stem. They seamlessly switch from my phone to iPad to Mac. I haven’t sat down to compare their quality to any of my other headphones, but I don’t really care. Nothing comes close to matching the convenience and the sound isn’t so bad that I each for something else. I did not expect to like them as much as I do.
Maybe it’s hype, maybe I don’t know what better noise canceling sounds like. These aren’t the Pros, so maybe there’s a difference.
What are good options for similar wireless bud headphones?
I find AirPods Pro 2 to be “good enough” where I gave away my set of XMs to someone who will actually use them.
Call (mic) quality in AirPods is better as well, if that matters at all to you. At least that’s what folks on the remote end of calls told me.
I would say the sound is great and overall better than AirPods Pro 3 when I compare the AirPods and InZone buds playing Spotify Lossless content from my iPhone, but the sound is not to my taste. Not sure how much of the quality comes from the LE audio vs better sound hardware engineering. They sound more detailed in vocals, mids, highs, but are a little warm and muddy in the lows. I can't get the sound profile to match my AirPod Pros 3 or my Kef bookshelf speakers with EQ, but I didn't try very hard. The left bud also sometimes takes a bit longer turn on once I put them in my ears, up to 30 seconds before it starts playing audio.
AirPod Pros 3 are ahead in noise cancelling, transparency, and touch controls -- the InZone buds use long touch vs short touch for volume up/down which is confusing, it's much easier to increase the volume and harder to decrease it. AirPods win out for convenience when using with Apple hardware also since I have to use the USB-C dongle since Apple hardware doesn't support Bluetooth LE Audio / whatever the codec is.
Overall I'm happy with the purchase -- they do a great job as Steam Deck headset use case.
I want to try out the new WF-1000XM6 as well, which seem to review better than the WF-1000XM5, but don't have any friends with them yet.
They're never going to appeal to the audiophile communities that pride themselves on being different and/or expensive above all else, but they're actually good hardware with decent out of the box tuning. Apply some EQ on top if you so desire and they're very good.
AirPods makes it easier to listen to music across multiple devices. They sound reasonable enough for people to enjoy their music. They enable people to enjoy their music. This is why they are so popular.
They can. Require a valid signature from the mac's secure cryptoprocessor in order to interoperate. There's nothing we can do.
Remember when we used to use cryptography to protect ourselves from government and corporation espionage? Good times. Now cryptography is used by governments and corporations to protect themselves from us.
One day we'll need such hardware attestations to even get an internet connection.
Just in case you're not kidding, I'll remind you it was always thus. The Nazi Enigma machines were not created by libertarian anarcho-punks to distribute The Whole Earth Catalog.
Regarding M5 support, seems like a matter of time.
https://github.com/AsahiLinux/m1n1/pull/578
So you have a total of 6 different fits to choose from. Plus the fact that there are surely dozens of third party tip options available for the Pro models.
The idea that anything with that many fit options can be considered the most uncomfortable earbuds on the market is not really possible in concept. That idea is as meaningless as saying that a size 9 Converse All Star is the most uncomfortable shoe on the market.
We are many generations removed from the original one size fits all product which was much different.
Shoes are actually a great analogy here, because the companies all use different lasts, so it doesn't matter that eg. Adidas has thousands of different shoes in over a dozen sizes, none of them actually comfortably fit my feet because the heel is always too wide and the forefoot too narrow.
Also, they only come with 5 tip sizes (4+1 on the buds) and use an oval shape which I personally find less comfortable than circular tips+stems.
Personally, I will use whatever gear is good as long as there's no risk of it becoming a paperweight because the manufacturer aggressively gets in the way of using it with other operating systems. I'm not "all in" on Apple and never will be. I love certain apple hardware but I'll likely never buy an M series Macbook because one day they'll stop supporting it even though it still works perfectly, and it doesn't support Linux.
Until you or someone else pairs them with an iPhone and leave them sitting overnight. The iPhone will send them the latest firmware.
Still, I would recommend the Sony WF-1000XM6 if you're not an Apple computer or phone user already. The UX is reportedly worse and a bit buggy, but the sound should be better.
Clearly they make it worse just because you didn't get an Apple device, so yeah idk what you're smoking but give me some.
Weird to praise Apple for the one line of devices they let you install your own operating system on and ignore that every other device doesn't.
> It allows other OSs
So it's not a lie?
i think it’s more like “i’ll give you keys to my alien space ship, but our culture doesn’t write things down in a language you understand. be careful!”
Why assume this is what they're doing?
Apple can only QA so much. To open up proprietary tacked-on features to a hardware ecosystem they can't control, opens up AirPods to be perceived as buggy on those devices, which isn't going to help the perception of quality of Apple products for non-iPhone/iPad users.
And I'm an apple hater, in general.
I'm thinking of gifting them to someone. But they are Android/Linux user.
The future is now.
you can grab a proprietary binary, open it up in IDA Pro (with MCP), spend some 10 minutes crafting a good prompt and after a few million (mainly input/cached) GLM 5.2 tokens you have a python script fluently speaking the proprietary protocol.
I ask because I find Apple's wired EarPods to be less... selective than AirPods are—by that I mean they'll pick up more background noise whereas AirPods seem to only transmit my voice—but EarPods' clarity exceeds AirPods if you grab the mic and hold it next to your mouth, which you obviously can't do with AirPods.