Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

And it's gone

It was a particularly spendy weekend. And I didn’t even use that money for anything fun. The money was spent on replacing stuff I already have. After more than a decade of using the same electric shaver and electric toothbrush, (I’ve swapped out the brush heads many times, obviously) it was time to replace them with something new. Something with stronger battery and improved functions.

I’m not that picky in choosing what to buy when I’m not sure what’s best in that category. I’m as memetic and consensus-seeking as anyone when it comes to this. Research for what electric toothbrush and electric shaver to buy was incredibly simple: I visited Wirecutter. The top-rated toothbrush there is the Oral B Pro 1000, (at a surprisingly reasonable $50 dollars) while the best shaver is the Braun Series 7. (Fun fact: the Oral B toothbrush is also made in Germany by Braun.) I stopped research immediately and bought both on Amazon.

The Oral B toothbrush is a revelation. I can’t belief I stuck with an off-brand low power unit for so long. The motor in the Pro 1000 truly allows me to let the brush head do all the work. it’s a real electric toothbrush, rather than a brush that merely vibrates. I am supremely happy with this purchase.

What I’m not happy with is having to replace my barely three-years old AirPods Pro. The right-ear unit have developed an annoying crackle. This is a hugely disappointing quality miss for an Apple product. No big deal: guess I’ll just drop another $200 (original price is $250) on the newer AirPods Pro 2.

Soon as I put those on, I immediately forgot about the hefty expense. The claimed 2X improvement in active noise cancellation (Pro 2 versus the Pro 1) is absolutely true. The way the AirPods Pro 2 shuts out the outside world when you put them on is stunning, as if I’d entered a new aural dimension. These mere ear buds can definitely rival the noise cancellation capabilities of full-on headphones. It’s amazing to see how far that technology has come. I just hope this pair lasts way longer than three years of use. Fingers crossed.

AirPods Max impressions

The first thing that comes to mind when picking up a pair of AirPods Max is: “My god this thing is heavy.” The aluminum and stainless steel construction feels absolutely premium to the hand, but the weight penalty is significant. My old pair of Bose QC35 - all plastic construction - feels downright feathery in comparison. I’ve got a fairly large head, so the increased heft shouldn’t be a problem. However, I can definitely feel the weight whenever I move. AirPods Max is best suited for stationary use.

Which is a shame because the noise-cancelling is fantastic. That is to be expected from a headphone with ear cups that completely surround the ear. Coupled with the magic voodoo that Apple does with nine microphones, the AirPods Max will easily quiet down your world. It just sucks that I’m very unlikely to take them on the road. Because of the aforementioned weight, and because the provided carrying case does not protect the entire headphone.

The QC35 will stay in the stable.

From a sound quality perspective, I would say the AirPods Max sounds marginally better than the already fantastic AirPods Pro. Admittedly, I am very much not an audiophile. The files I’m playing are at best 320kbps MP3 files, streamed over a bluetooth connection. The fact that I can scarcely tell the difference between a $550 pair of headphone and a $250 pair of earbuds is probably down to the quality - or the relative lack thereof - of the music files.

And you definitely should not spend $550 on the AirPods Max if all you’re listening to are MP3 files. This headphone is a luxury item to the extreme. The reason I bought a pair was because Woot.com is selling officially Apple refurbished units for $369 (nice). That brings it in line with the other premium headphones on the market.

I am not getting the AirPods Max

“Wait, this thing is how much?!”

Yesterday, Apple announced the AirPods Max, a premium noise-cancelling headphone. The thing that immediately sticks out about it is the price: $549. In a product space that hovers around the $300 mark, the price for AirPods Max seems rather absurd. Why would anyone pay over two hundred dollars more for this instead of the critically acclaimed (and oddly named) Sony WH-1000XM4? $549 is not an impulse purchase by any stretch.

And yet shipping times for the AirPods Max have already stretched to weeks beyond the December 15th release date. Some of the color options are backordered well into February of next year. It seems the demand for this nearly-the-cost-of-an-iPhone product is strong. More evidence that this pandemic have largely spared the white-collar professional class. The tech bros still have jobs and money, and there’s no problem at all spending this amount of listen to music.

I understand why the AirPods Max cost so much. These headphones essentially has a computer chip inside, doing all sorts of computational trickery to make the sound as best as possible. No other competitor in the space have the CPU prowess that Apple possesses. So I’m sure the AirPods Max will sound absolutely fantastic, well worth the insanely high entry price.

But I am not buying one. I already have a set of AirPods Pro that I use frequently. I'm not a frequent user of headphones anyways: the only time the excellent Bose QC35 comes out of the case is during flights. Getting the AirPods Max at this point would just be something to showoff with; it’s very low on the utility scale.

I said I wasn’t going to get the AirPods Pro when it launched, so we’ll see what happens down the line. Should third-party retailers discount the AirPods Max to, say, $400, then that would be something to consider. Perhaps during Black Friday of next year.

I bought the AirPods Pro

Yesterday I did my first big superfluous purchase since the COVID lockdowns began. That is, if we are not counting paying just under $1,500 a month to keep a Porsche GT3 I can’t drive on most days as a superfluous purchase. Not until I eventually buy a house (god willing) would I pay so much a month for a stationary object. My advice? Don’t be a car enthusiast; don’t have passion for material things at all: it will be a massive drain to your wallet.

But that would be quite a dull life, wouldn’t it?

Anyways, I’ve been doing well to not spend extraneously since the coronavirus situation began, in preparation for a hugely uncertain future. What broke the streak was a deal on Staples for the AirPods Pro: $50 dollars off, bring the price down to a slightly more palatable $200 dollars. While I wouldn’t say I’ve been pining for a pair of these earphones - I have a set of the original AirPods and they remain quite magical and lovely - the AirPods Pro have always been something of a nice-to-have. The standard AirPods are rather useless in crowds and areas with a lot of noise, and the Pro version supposedly solves that problem splendidly, offering a deeper in-ear seat and active noise cancellation.

I’m looking forward to going on a run with AirPods Pro; no longer would I have to crank the volume to an uncomfortable level simply to drown out the outside noise.

After informing them of this purchase, my friends asked what am I going to do with my basic set of AirPods. The answer is simple: continue using them. They remain great for quiet settings such as my room, and brilliant to use for Zoom meetings. AirPods feels so much more natural than the cumbersome and unsightly headsets that people tend to use with virtual meetings. The only gripe is that the battery drains super quickly when performing both talk and listening at the same time.

I can’t wait for the AirPods Pro to arrive next week; I’d almost forgotten what a joy it is indeed to spend disposable income on nice things.

I'm not getting the AirPods Pro

Okay, seriously this time: I’m not buying the new AirPods Pro.

At least not for the $250 dollar price the new Apple earphones command (I gave myself an out, didn’t I?) As someone who love and have waxed lyrical about the original AirPods, I’m just not seeing the value proposition in upgrading to the Pro, even though noise cancellation was on my wishlist of features to see in future AirPods. Well, Apple finally delivered that yesterday, and yet the hefty price-tag is giving me tremendous pause.

I already have a lovely - and expensive - pair of noise-cancelling headphones: the venerable Bose QC35, therefore yet another set of earbuds in addition to the two I have is very difficult to justify when the price is that high.

It’s not like we can trade in our first-generation AirPods for the new Pro, and barring that, what I am I suppose to do with them when the AirPods Pro arrive? In the Pro, you can turn off the noise-cancellation function, so it renders the original AirPods largely redundant. Maybe Apple should instate a trade-in program like the company does for iPhones. If I can get somewhere around $60 for my old AirPods towards the new Pro, I’d jump on that instantly. I refuse to treat electronics as disposable devices, and while the latest and greatest will always be enticing, I don’t have the wallet or the conscience (the lack thereof) to upgrade so cavalierly.

I also don’t want to play the game of selling old stuff on eBay (in my experience, the fees really kill the profit margin.) Besides, the only reason I wish the AirPods had noise-cancellation is because I want to use them on the typically loud bus. Now that I know how expensive the AirPods Pro are, there is no freaking way I am wearing them during my commute. Hate to say this, but some people are going to get robbed for their pair - especially in San Francisco.

So that’s about all the rationalizations I need to not buy the new AirPods Pro. I’ve no doubts I’m going to revisit this if and when my set of original AirPods die, though I have to say those things are quite robust indeed.

I’m not going to change my mind after a week. I swear!