Phil's Superpower of Enthusiasm

Bose 700 Over the Ear ANC Headphones

January 1, 2024

MSRP $299, $260 on regular sale, $230 renewed from Amazon]

[Tl;dr: These are great travel headphones for when you want really good noise cancelation. The sound quality is pretty good, but not what I want for a pure music headphone. They continue to be my go-to plane headphone, but I very rarely reach for them in any other context; they live in their case under my computer desk when they’re not in a suitcase.]

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 7 out of 10 Denalis

Cost-sensitive: 9 out of 10 Denalis

Intro. The Bose 700 is Bose’s current flagship consumer headphone and has been for at least the last couple of years. I was actually really surprised to discover that I hadn’t ever reviewed these, so this is part of a series where I go back to old standbys that I apparently failed to review early on.

These are probably my … tenth pair of Bose headphones? I’ve had the QC15s, QC25s, demoed a pair of QC45s for a month, and have had a few of their wireless earbuds (Soundsport Pulse Wireless, which I loved), and a variety of wired earbuds over the years (particularly the SoundSport line, which I also loved). I’m mostly a fan of Bose’s mostly-neutral sound profile, and they were the first company that I experienced with really good active noise cancelling (“ANC”) that didn’t produce so much overpressure that it made me uncomfortable after a few hours. These 700s were the first noise-canceling Bluetooth headphones I’ve kept long-term.

Sound. These aren’t audiophile-grade headphones, but they’re not really supposed to be. Their niche is decent sound and really good noise cancelation for the consumer market. [Note: I mostly only use these with the ANC turned on all the way, so my review of their sound is based on that experience. Most testing was done with an iPhone 15 and Apple Music, with locally-stored CD-quality files (in Apple’s proprietary format), though some was also done using locally-stored Amazon Prime TV shows or using Delta’s in-flight infotainment system.]

Standard disclaimer from other Bluetooth reviews: It’s still Bluetooth so you’re always getting a lossy signal and it gets more complicated when you start using the on-board mic for phone calls. Unlike a lot of Bluetooth-enabled headphones, these do have a wired option and that eliminates this downside if you don’t mind having a cord attached.

Treble: The treble on these isn’t particularly noteworthy or dynamic, but it’s perfectly acceptable. Brass fanfare on Brasstrack’s “Intro” is nice and forward without being harsh, and the bright high strings on Yo-Yo Ma’s rendition of “1B” are clean and crisp. They even do pretty well with the high synth warbles on Sylvan Esso’s “Coffee,” and Miles Davis’ muted trumpet on “Will o’ the Wisp” is genuinely nice.

Mid-range: The midrange is fine, if not particularly crisp or dynamic. You can still hear the claps on “Paradise Circus” by Massive Attack, but they’re a little buried in the mix through the 700s compared to a lot of headphones in this general range. Both male and female voices are reproduced reasonably faithfully, though Christine Hoberg’s voice isn’t quite as elevated or forward on Flight Facilities’ “Clair De Lune” as I would prefer. Tracey Thorn’s vocals on “Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” are lovely and present.

Bass: The bass is nothing to write home about, but is also generally fine. (No doubt you’re noticing a pattern by now). You can hear most of the notes on “Paradise Circus” by Massive Attack, even if the attack isn’t particularly pronounced or crisp and some of the faster notes get a tiny bit muddled or spluttery. “Superpredators” is reasonably clear, if a tiny bit sloppy when the woofers are trying to reproduce too many bass frequencies at once. You do lose a bit of the bass line on Janet Jackson’s “Got ‘Til it’s Gone”, but that’s a pretty common complaint for me with most headphones. They do manage to convey the heavy atmosphere of Andy Stott’s “Violence,” which isn’t a trivial thing.

Overall: These are fine consumer/prosumer-grade headphones. The soundstage isn’t particularly wide (even on a track like DMB’s “So Much to Say” that normally feels very wide and seperated), and the dynamic range isn’t great (the slow crescendo in Glass Animals’ “It’s All So Incredible Loud” isn’t that noticeable). That said, I’m not sure you’re ever going to get particularly great sound while using ANC in a loud environment like a plane, and that’s not the purpose of a pair of headphones like this.

Noise canceling. The ANC on these is definitely the standout feature (and the reason I still own these). The background noise is substantially reduced and the headphones don’t generate the kind of overpressure that I associate with many other noise-canceling systems. They don’t have the same high sampling rate as headphones like the AirPods Max or Pro2, so they’re a little more susceptible to new noises (or brief noises like someone snapping or a car backfiring), but their ability to cancel out steady, baseline noises is unparalleled even compared to much more expensive ANC headsets I’ve used. The AirPods Pro2 are a surprisingly close in terms of background elimination, but there is a reason I throw the Bose in my bag whenever I’m getting on a plane.

Spatial audio. Nope!

Controls. The controls on the Bose are not unintuitive, but they are different than most of my other headphones. I think I’d internalize them pretty well if I used them more frequently, but given how little I’ve been traveling over the last four or five years, I have to spend a little time on each flight remembering how they work.

Basically, the front half of the right ear cup (but not the bridge) is touch sensitive. Swiping up and down increases or decreases volume, a swipe forward or backward skips tracks forward and backwards, a double tap pauses or plays, and a press and hold announces the battery level. This is mostly fine, as long as you put the headphones on the right way (remember: the buttons go on the back of the headphones!). There’s an on/off button on the back of the right ear cup which you press once to turn off and off, or hold to set Bluetooth pairing, and a button on the back of the left ear cup that turns ANC on 100%, 50%, or off.

They’re just different enough from the Beats Studio Wireless that I use every day when walking Denali that they throw me off each time I used them, I’ll hold the power button to turn them on (as I would on the Beats) and will inadvertently enter pairing mode, or I’ll try to press and hold to trigger Siri and instead will get battery levels, etc. I’d always prefer physical buttons for audio control, but these are still fine.

So overall, the controls are mostly not bad, just not what I expect in the year of our Lord Steven Jobs 2023.

Connectivity. Bluetooth or corded. Pairing isn’t as slick as AirPods, but honestly nothing really ever will be. They connect easily to my various iOS devices, Apple laptops, and PC laptop/tablets and I never had a problem getting them connected. They will connect to two devices at once, which is nice when swapping between music on my phone and a movie on a tablet. My only complaint is an infrequent but annoying one second audio cutout when connected to a Samsung Tab A, but I honestly don’t know if that’s an issue with the headphones, the tablet, or the combination of the two.

Weirdly, I really love that these have an optional 1/8” audio cable. Paired with an adapter, they’re great for using in-flight infotainment systems, which as far as I can tell you can’t do at all with the AirPods Max without a Bluetooth adapter.

Charging is accomplished using a USB-C cable, This is nice, and I would like Apple to get their act together and adopt the USB-C standard for things other than iPads and the new iPhone.

Bose says that these can run up to 20 hours on a single charge, and that seems about right. After about 14 hours of flight I was down to around 10% charge, but these are also a few years old and I tend to charge to 100% more than is probably good for the battery.

Comfort. This is one of Bose’s strong suits. When I first got these I was worried that the clamping force was too weak and that they’d slide around or slide off my head during use, but I’ve never had a problem. That might be in part due to how light they are; there’s not a lot of inertia when you move your head around with them on, unlike say the AirPods Max (which are really quite heavy). These are comfortable for long periods, even when wearing glasses that have a tendency to cut into my temples a little with headphones on. The cups individually slide up and down on the U-shaped central bridge, which gives you a lot of control over their positioning, though they do need to be slid all the way up in order to fit in the provided case, which means every time I take them out there’s a little bit of futzing around to get them comfortably sitting on my ears.

Construction. These feel light and relatively cheap, but they appear to be solidly constructed. I’ve definitely dropped and stepped on them over the years, and they’re still in great operational condition. Basically made entirely out of plastic, with what I’m pretty sure is pleather ear cups with decent foam inside.

The included carrying case is really well done, too. There’s a compartment for the various bits and bobs (USB-C charging case, audio cable, etc., and enough room for an Apple dongle or plane converter too). The fit is tight but not overly so, and the case is slim enough that it slips into my carry-on or a seatback pouch easily.

Appearance. I think they’re stylish. I went with the silver option, which is nice, clean, and modern-looking, if not quite as visually striking as the AirPods Max. They’re distinctive enough that other headphone nerds will 100% recognize them out in public, for better or worse.

[ignore the two weeks of unrestrained beard growth. I’ve been on vacation.]

Comparisons. There are definitely a lot of decent ANC options on the market these days, and the Bose’s competitors run the gamut from less than $100 to thousands of dollars, with the introduction of some of the audiophile manufacturers’ Bluetooth and ANC options. Of the things I’ve spent a lot of time with, I think the most reasonable comparisons are the AirPods Max and Pro2, the Beats Studio Wireless, and Bose’s own QC15/25/45 line.

The 700s beat the Beats pretty handily, both in terms of sound quality and ANC. These are just a better product all around, especially if you’re looking at both at MSRP. If you’re looking at the prices you’re actually paying these days for both … yeah, the 700s are still just better. I have and use the Beats because they’re cheap enough to replace that if I break them in the gym or if they get wet while I’m walking Denali, I won’t be heartbroken. For anything where I care about sound quality or actually really want noise cancelation, I’d grab the 700s every time.

The AirPods are a much closer comparison to me. Both sets of AirPods have better sound quality than the 700s for almost every application, but I think the 700s edge out both in terms of pure cancelation of steady background noise (though the Airpods easily beat the 700s in terms of canceling brief, intermittent noises with their frankly ridiculous sample rates). The Pro2 are pretty comparable in price (you can get both for around $250 most of the time). In the vast majority of situations, I’d go with the Pro2. They’re just such damned. Good. Headphones. And so much more versatile; they’re in my pocket 95% of the time when I’m out of my house, and within arm’s reach almost all of the time when I’m in it. That said, specifically when on an airplane, the 700s edge the Pro2 out. The slightly better noise canceling, the fact that other people on the plane know that I’m clearly wearing headphones, and the ability to hardwire to the plane’s system … it’s enough to make the 700s the plain (plane ?) winner. I currently have the Max sitting on the shelf next to me on the plane and I’ve been swapping back and forth, and I keep coming back to the 700s. Again, the sound quality is still better on the Max (and for extra $200 or so, it should be), but I think the baseline ANC is better on the 700s.

As for the other Bose: there’s a reason that I packed these instead of the QC25s sitting in my closet, and why I’ve done so every time I flown since I bought them. I think the QC15s and QC25s have slightly better noise cancelation, but both are wired-only and on a plane, Bluetooth is just a really convenient option to have. I was … deeply unimpressed with the QC45s I tried a few years ago. They packed a little smaller (having a folding bridge), but these are just better headphones and in the same general price range. Probably time to find a new home for the QC25s …

Value. At MSRP, these are $299 which is more than the AirPods Pro 2 at MSRP ($250, $220 on sale most of the time). I think the Pro2 are a better headphone, most of the time and in most circumstances. That said, I’ve maintained all along that the Pro2 are an incredible value and not a fair metric for most headphones to be judged against. These are good headphones, and very well suited for a specific purpose. If I broke them, I’d definitely replace them (that is, if Bose didn’t swap them out for free, which they’ve done for a number of pairs of their headphones over the years). Consider the fact that they’re almost always available on sale given their sheer volume of production, and I think they’re a really decent value.

Overall. These are my go-to plane headphones for a reason, and they continue to be so despite some really strong offerings in this market in the last few years. I’ll use them anytime I’m on a plane, but pretty much no other contexts given the kinds of headphones I have kicking around.

#reviews #headphones #apple #anc #bluetooth #spatialaudio #onear #bose #travel #2023
Status Audio Between 3ANC Review

June 24, 2023

[[MSRP $250, $199 on direct from Status on Father’s Day sale]

[Tl;dr: These headphones are really inconsistent in sound quality; they sound amazing for some tracks and genres, and pretty lousy for others. The biggest problem with them is that they’re in the same price bracket as some really exceptional offerings that they just can’t really compete with. When they’re good they’re great; when they’re not, they’re really not, and I am clearly not their target audience (though they’re marketing pretty hard to me, all the same).]

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 6 out of 10 Denalis

Cost-sensitive: 3 out of 10 Denalis

Intro. Four or five people have asked me about these as I’ve posted various reviews of true wireless earbuds over the last few months and I’ve been seeing their ads a lot, so I decided to give them a shot when I saw them on a pretty decent (20% off) sale right before Father’s Day. Depending on what you listen to and how you listen, these may be right up your alley. For me, though, they’re a little too inconsistent and don’t sound good on some albums and artists that I really love; enough that they’re not going to be my go to.

The 3ANC’s big claim to fame is three separate drivers in each earbud. I’m, as a general rule, skeptical of multi-driver earbuds that aren’t super high end, as it often feels like a gimmick to try to cover deficiencies with each individual driver (it’s way easier to design multiple drivers with smaller ranges of sound than a single driver that covers the gamut well), and that certainly seems to be true of these. They’re shine on full-sound and modern-mastered tracks, but struggle with tracks that leave individual drivers isolated and working alone, and they seem to also struggle a bit with albums mastered before the 90s or anything being listened to at quiet volumes.

All in all, while the 3ANC are marketed as prosumer- or audiophile-grade, I’d put them solidly in the high-end consumer market. [i.e. fine for most folks, but probably not going to be a go-to for me.]

Sound. Man, after the first few tracks I listened to with these I got really excited about the sound quality. At their best, they’re rich, deep, and nuanced. The sound stage is genuinely incredible for earbuds; on Bill Wither’s iconic “Use Me” the instrument separation was amazing and I’ve never heard that song this way. The panning on Beyonce’s “Hold Up” is nothing short of a marvel, and something I’ve never experienced from earbuds that aren’t running Apple’s proprietary Spatial Audio standard.

[A quick note: the 3ANC has a couple of EQ modes as well as some reasonably granular controls. I found the Status Signature sound setting way too bass-y and muddy (think Beats’ sound profile) so I did pretty much all my listening on the Status Audiophile setting.]

Treble: The treble generally sounds pretty good. It’s clean and crisp, and only rarely drifts into sibilance. They pretty accurately reproduce the highs on Vampire Weekend’s “2021” (my go to for testing trebles because they’re badly recorded/mastered in a very specific way). The high synths on Jamila Woods’ “Zora” (a track y’all should listen to right now) are clean and nicely separated from the rest of the mix without being overbearing.

Mid-range: This is also mostly a strength. The reproduction of Bill Wither’s voice on “Use Me” or Jamila Woods’ on “Zora” is clear and present without being over emphasized. Kendrick Lamar comes through cleanly on “LOVE”, and Owl Eye’s ethereal vocals on Flight Facilities’ “Clair de Lune [live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra]” float through and play within the mix in a really lovely way.

Bass: This is where things get confusing. At its best, the bass is nimble and clean on things like Nightmares on Wax’s “Damn” [sampling Al Hirt’s “Harlem Hendoo”, which will be familiar to anyone who likes De La Soul], Tiesto’s “The Motto”, and Maxwell’s “Ascension”. It’s even pretty good on Janet Jackson’s “Got ‘Til it’s Gone” (my go to for checking low end bass), but it starts to get splatter-y and clip-py when all the drivers are going full-blast on things like Anohni’s “4 Degrees”, Rationale’s “Fuel to the Fire”, or some of the drums on Jimi Hendrix’s “Electric Ladyland.” It seems particularly challenged by heavily-accented bass notes, especially where there are other sounds in the bass range going at the same time. Makes me wonder if the main (bass) driver is pretty limited so the crossover is feeding “bass” to the other, smaller drivers that can’t really handle them.

Overall: If you mostly listen to top 40 pop, you will probably like these headphone’s sound a lot. It does well with modern mass-market mixing where none of the drivers are left alone and unsupported; if you like other kinds of music (particularly those that are detail-oriented or have a lot of isolation of specific audio ranges), less so.

Side note: sort of damningly, Born Gold’s “Bodysongs” album sounds really good on the 3ANC. This is an album that I love but is mastered so poorly that it sounds awful on a decently resolving pair of speakers or headphones, and I’m skeptical of anything that makes it sound good.

Standard disclaimer from other Bluetooth reviews: It’s still Bluetooth so you’re always getting a lossy signal and it gets more complicated when you start using the on-board mic for phone calls.

Noise canceling. The noise cancelling itself is pretty decent; it’s not up to the standards of say the Bose 700s or QC25s (or even the AirPods Pro 2 or Max) but it’s pretty decent at blocking out background music or office noise. It does its job.

Transparency: I was excited to try a non-Apple version of a transparency mode, but that was maybe the most disappointing “feature” of the 3ANC. Whatever algorithm they’re using to determine which things to amplify and which to tamp down makes some VERY strange choices. The wind gets really amped up, as do things like chainsaws, gravel crunching, and dog noises, but not humans attempting to talk to me. And, maybe most damning, it consistently decides to wildly amplify the sound of cars racing up a hill a few blocks away, to the point where I was pretty convinced that someone was bombing a modded Honda Civic down my street, not up the hill two blocks away. It’s bad enough that I just turned it off after the first few days; it was incredibly distracting and misleading about what was going on around me.

Spatial audio. Nope!

Controls. These are weird and pretty non-standard. I’m used at this point to most headphones intended for use with cell phones to follow the usual (Apple-created?) standards of double-tap to skip forward, triple-tap to skip back, etc. These … don’t do that. A single tap on either ear piece pauses or plays, but skipping is accomplished by a double tap on the left earpiece for back and the right for forward.It’s suboptimal when you only have one hand free, like when you’re, say, walking a dog. I also couldn’t find a way to turn ANC/transparency on or off without opening the iOS app, which requires clicking a bunch of buttons to get connected before you can make changes. The controls do work well once you internalize them, and I mostly didn’t inadvertently do things after the first couple of days.

So the controls are mostly not bad, just not what I expect in the year of our Lord Steven Jobs 2023.

Connectivity. Bluetooth only. It’s not as slick as AirPods, but honestly nothing really ever will be. They connect easily to my various iOS devices, Apple laptops, and PC laptop/tablets and I never had a problem getting them connected.

Charging is accomplished using a USB-C cable, and they’re near-field charging enabled. This is nice, and I would like Apple to get their act together and adopt the USB-C standard for things other than iPads.

Comfort. The design is a little odd in that there’s a plastic rectangle that hangs off of the ear buds which took a little getting used to, but they’re generally comfortable enough that I forget that they’re there. My two gripes are that the design makes it feel like they’re fall out when I’m walking around (and especially when I’m sweating), and that every time you pull them out of your ears the silicon tips turn inside out and they don’t fit in the case until you manually flip them back down. The box includes four pairs of silicon tips and I’d guess that almost everyone will be able to find a pair that fits them (for me, I moved up one size from the ones that came pre-installed. Fair warning; getting the new tips attached is way more annoying than it should be).

Construction. They’re pretty typical ear buds: lightweight plastic and silicon. The case feels pretty solid, though the way that the buds are inserted into the case makes it difficult for those of us with sausage fingers to get them in and out at times (especially while sweating).

Appearance. They’re stylish. I prefer the cleaner look of things like the Beats Studio Buds or the Campfire Orbit, but they’re no dorkier than the AirPods that I wear all of the time and at least they come in multiple colors that aren’t bright white.

Comparisons. These exist in a pretty crowded market space right now, with the AirPods Pro2, Campfire Audio Orbit, and a couple of the Beats offerings at the same basic price point, not to mention a bunch of things by B&O, Sennheiser, Jabra, Bose, Sony, etc. $250 is a crowded space for true wireless with some great products out there.

Talking just about sound quality, I don’t think these can meaningfully compete against the AirPods Pro 2 or the Orbit. Both of those headphones use a single, custom-designed and really excellent single driver to give a full range of clean sound, while the 3ANC sometimes feels like the drivers are fighting against each other. Crossovers are complicated and hard to get right, as far as I can tell, and I’m not sure Status has cracked that particular nut yet. I do think for a lot of my listening that the 3ANC are better on sound quality than things like the Beats Studio Buds or the Jabra Active 65t, but they’re also 2-3 times more expensive than those offerings and I’m not sure that they’re that much better. They’re more fully featured than the Orbits (ANC, transparency), but I don’t think I’m willing to drop sound quality this much in order to get those features.

Especially if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem (with iPhones, Mac laptops, etc.), these just cannot compete with the AirPods Pro 2 at all. I understand that this is a really unfair comparison (Apple is one of the largest manufacturers in the world, with a large team of dedicated engineers, the ability to custom design, print, and build bespoke audio chips, drivers, and other components and making inventory in the tens or hundreds of thousands of units), but that product is SO DAMNED GOOD that it’s really hard for any product to meaningfully compete. It’s always going to be the standard that I compare new things against.

Value. At MSRP, these are $250 which is the same as the AirPods Pro 2. The 3ANC appear to often be on sale, but the Pro 2 have been on sale at Costco for around $200 for as long as I’ve been paying attention. At this price point, I would absolutely rather have the full-features of the Pro2 or the singularly-excellent audio quality experience of the Orbits. Nothing I’ve experienced with the 3ANC makes me think they’re worth the $250 price point; if they were in the $100-150 range they’d start to be a consideration.

Overall. These are a really interesting pair of headphones that provide a good (and occasionally great!) listening experience across specific kinds of music. Overall, though, they can’t really compete with other things in the market at this price point, and some of the flaws in their audio reproduction are jarring enough that an audio nerd like me probably won’t ever reach for them given the available alternatives. I’d really love to see more independent audio companies breaking into the market and offering great options, but I think this just isn’t it yet.

#reviews #headphones #apple #anc #bluetooth #spatialaudio #inear #beats #meh #statusaudio #2023
Thoughts on the KIA EV6, one year in.

June 17, 2023

Model/trim: 2022 AWD Wind EV6 w/Tech package

[updated 1/15/24 with review of snow driving, below]

Overall: One year and more than 12,000 miles in, I really love this car. It does everything I want it to, it’s really fun to drive, and I have had much less range anxiety than I expected (and I’ve never run out of charge). It has required me thinking a little more about my regular driving patterns, and has encouraged me to slow down a little on the freeway in the interest of range and efficiency, but almost everything about this experience has been delightful and fun.

Range: I wish the range varied a little less; the efficiency can be anything from 2.4 (winter, 60+ mph, etc.) to 4.0 (80+ degrees, 15-25 mpg), and it’s distinctly worse in the winter. In the summer I average between 270 and 310 on a charge, and the winter it’s more like 180 to 210 miles. This is *just* long enough to get me to my mom’s house on a single charge, but during the winter I always end up stopping in Troutdale to get a quick charge while I use the restroom and get Denali a pup-cup at the Starbucks across the road.

That said, the range is plenty for me for 99% of my trips, and I travel farther than the range so rarely that I’m willing to deal with the hassle of figuring out charging steps.

Driving: It’s fun to drive. So. Damned. Fun. To. Drive. Instant torque has definitely spoiled me and driving an ICE can won’t ever feel quite the same. This sucker can GO. I basically never use the Sport mode (in part because I don’t feel like getting more speeding tickets, in part because it tanks the battery efficiency), but even in the normal driving mode I never feel like I’m short on power or acceleration. The handling is pretty good, even though the turning radius leaves a little to be desired compared to my Audi Q5 or even the Chrysler 300 land tank I used to drive. The car definitely feels heavy in corners, settling down into curves, but the ridiculous horsepower and instantaneous response to pedal presses makes it easy to forget just how heavy the car is most of the time.

Features: The Wind package includes some pretty great upgrades, including self-parking mode and a pretty good surround sound system.

Speakers: They’re really good. You get a couple of options for surround decoding, and I tend to leave it set on the Natural setting (multi-speaker decoding in stereo) rather than surround, but that’s mostly a function of my strongly held opinions about listening to music the way it was mixed rather than adding channels via software. The car is missing some of the sub-bass that you get from a car with a dedicated subwoofer, but the trebles, mid-range, and upper bass registers are clean and crisp. Bluetooth audio playback, per usual, sucks, but the Airplay implementation when connected via Lightning cable is really nice. Fair warning: Airplay only works when a lightning-to-USB-A cable is plugged into the USB-A port in the middle of the front floor; none of the USB-C ports or the other USB-A ports appear to connect to the Airplay system. And, like most cars, there’s no wireless Airplay (which honestly I’m fine with; Bluetooth sucks for most audio purposes).

I would love to figure out how to stop the audio from attenuating when the car is giving me an alert (like telling me that there’s a car next to me when I’m turning that direction), but overall it’s pretty great.

Screens/controls: They’re great, and pretty responsive even when wearing thin gloves. It took me embarrassingly long to figure out that in Airplay I could have the map showing on the left half of the screen and the right showing the music currently playing. The audio system and climate control are mostly controlled by a shared, thin touchscreen below the main screens and it’s a little annoying to have to flip back and forth between the two, but the controls on the right half of the steering wheel can do almost anything you need to do with audio so I default to using the touchscreen only for climate.

Remote parking: Have you ever pulled into a parking spot just to realize that you can’t get out because the cars next to you are too close? This shouldn’t be a problem with the Technology Package! In theory, you can get out of the EV6 and drive it forward or back a few feet remotely without having to be in the car. It *mostly* works. It allows me to park in my (1927) driveway to charge, but the last time I did so, the collision sensors decided that there was something in the way of pulling back out and I had to climb in through the window to manually drive it out of the driveway. Super fun times.

Interior: It’s a funky, futuristic interior that I’m generally really fond of. The two-level console (one level on the ground, one level 18” or so off the ground) is great, in that I can store stuff that I don’t need access to either inside the console or in the lower level, and I can put drinks/phones/etc. on the upper level. The Qi-type wireless charging pad on the upper level is also great, and I often drop my phone or my AirPods Pro 2 on it when I get in the car.

I do wish it had a built in sunglasses space in the overhead area, and I occasionally find using the same mini LCD touchscreen to control both the climate and the audio system annoying, but overtime I’ve gotten used to using the controls on the steering wheel for audio and leaving the mini LCD on climate.

Ventilated seats: OMGWTFBBQ how did I live before ventilated seats?!?!?! Seriously, keeping my legs and back cool during the summer is super great.

Kia app: It’s dumb that Kia charges for the app after the first year, but frankly I’m going to keep paying for it because it’s really nice to be able to remotely check to see if my doors are locked (yay, OCD!), turn on the climate, etc. It also gives really interesting data about trips, including a breakdown of how much battery is being used by different things in the car (driving, climate, stereo, etc.).

Adaptive cruise control: I hate it and want it to die in a fire. Particularly, I find it loathsome that the car slows down below the speed limit on I-84 when it decides that a particular curve is too sharp to handle at speed. As someone who’s been driving the Gorge for 25 years and could do a pretty good chunk of it with my eyes closed, none of the turns are that sharp, even in the rain. This is not unique to the Kia system, btw. I hate it in my mom’s Subaru too, and I’m pretty sure it’s part of why we have so many left lane lumps on I-5 all of the time.

Also the collision alarms are a little … alarmist.

Cameras: This is genuinely one of the strangest and coolest things about the EV. Using a bunch of cameras and a pretty sophisticated algorithm, the screens show you a full overhead view of the EV6 and everything around it while in parking mode. You also get a little screen pop up on the dash when you turn on a blinker, showing you a video feed of your blind spot on that side of the car. It’s super slick and something that I’m maybe overly reliant on now.

Charging: This is the single worst part of owning an EV in the US in 2023: the charging infrastructure *SUCKS*. Badly. At first glance, it looks pretty good and there are a lot of chargers pretty much anywhere I go regularly. Unfortunately, chargers are broken a improbable amount of the time.

That said, the EV6 is a high-voltage battery which means it can take advantage of truly phenomenal DC charging rates where they’re available and functional; on a good day, I can get close to a 50% charge (150+ miles of range in the summer) in less than 20 minutes. 20 minutes is a little longer than it takes to fill a car with gas, but it’s about the right amount of time to walk and entertain the Floof, or get a cup of coffee, or do my days’ worth of Duolingo lessons.

The only reason I would ever consider a Tesla in 2023 is the surplus of fast chargers that are always empty. Seriously, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Tesla charging station that was fully occupied, and they’re scattered all around the PNW in useful locations (hell, there’s a charging station at the Safeway in Hood River). Proprietary charging stations suck, and a pox on Rivian’s house for following Tesla’s lead.

Reliability: I had a sensor break in the first few months that caused the car to think that there was perpetually something about a foot off of the front left bumper, which triggered a collision alert chime every time I slowed down below 5 mph and required hitting the silence button each time. It was SUPER annoying, but my local Kia dealer replaced it for free with no real pushback. A note: it took waaaaay longer than it should have, because 1) none of their techs had worked on an EV6 before, 2) they didn’t have the part and had to order it from LA, and 3) getting to that sensor required entirely removing the bumper assembly. The joys of early adoption!

Irritations: There are definitely some really dumb things about the EV6. Here are the top contenders for me:

1)    Adaptive cruise control. Seriously, fuck it.

2)    Airplay is limited to one of the many USB ports.

3)    The battery indicator right next to the charging port; it’s so bright that unless you’re outside or in a VERY brightly lit area, it’s really hard to get the charger lined up with the port due to glare.

4)    The door handles: having to press on the front to make the back pop out so you can open them is dumb, and challenging for people with limited finger/arm strength. I cannot believe that the streamlining created by flat door handles makes any meaningful difference in range or aerodynamics, and Kia should either install regular door handles or make the Tesla-style auto-extending handles that they offer on the GT line standard on all EV6s.

5)    Similarly, the way you unlock the doors without using the key is cool in theory, dumb in practice (pressing on the back end of the door handle once to unlock the driver’s door, twice to unlock the rest).

Top 6 tips for people considering an EV:

1)    Figure out if you can install a home charging system, and if you can splurge for the NEMA 14-50 (RV) outlet in your charging area instead of the NEMA 10-30 (dryer) outlet. It will charge SO MUCH FASTER.

2)    Understand your driving pattern/use case. In the three years before I bought my EV6, I figured out that I’d taken one road trip that was longer than the EV6’s range. It was part of why I pulled the trigger.

3)    Map out your charging options near your house and your place of work, for those days where you forget to charge or need a quick top-off. Figure out where you can go and what you can do while charging on those days. Find the nearest super charger (for me it’s the Olympia Target). The built-in charger finder is actually really good, too, and lets you sort by charger type/speed.

4)    Buy a spare trickle charger with a standard wall plug for emergencies.

5)    Download the ElectrifyAmerica and Chargepoint apps, and expect that you’ll end up with a few more on your phone.

6)    Write your Congressional representatives and state anti-trust agency to ask them to force Tesla and Rivian to open their networks to all EVs.

Update 1/15/23:

Snow driving: Hood River currently has about six inches of snow and is hovering in the single-digits, temperature-wise, so I’ve had an opportunity to play wtih it in cold weather and snowy road conditions. I still have the stock all-weather Kumho tires that the car shipped with, and I’m up to a little more than 20k miles on them.

Generally, I’m pretty impressed with how well they handle the slippery conditions. When I drop into snow mode I can feel how much better the grip is vis-a-vis acceleration, though obviously it’s not a help with deceleration. It’s strange to me that it kicks me from level four regenerative braking (which I normally use) to level 1, but the grippiness overall is nice. It can’t really compete with the other car I’ve been driving, a Subaru Forester with dedicated non-studded snow tires, but I wouldn’t expect it to. I could make the tires slip if I tried reasonably hard, but never felt like I lost traction without it being on purpose. To be fair, the snow is very dry and powdery (instead of the usual heavy wet snow we get here), and the roads are well-maintained. I am curious to give it a shot in more regular, slippery snow at some point.

Definitely driving primarily in snow mode, and I haven’t noticed any particular decrease in battery life (though to be fair, the battery sucks in cold weather anyway).
Tom Collins

June 17, 2023
Tom Collins (adapted from Difford’s Guide):

2 oz Old Tom Gin (I used Hayman’s because it’s the Old Tom gin I have)
1 oz Lemon juice (fresh-squeezed, of course)
1/2 oz simple syrup (DG recommends 2:1, I only have 1:1 so I used a little extra)
2 oz soda water
1. Shake all ingredients except soda with ice.
2. Strain into ice-filled Collins glass.
3. Top with soda.
4. Garnish with an orange slice/Luxardo cherry sail (wrap the orange slice around the cherry and affix with a toothpick).
My new Collins glasses arrived yesterday, so obviously I need to try making my first Tom Collins. It was really nice, if a little simple. Next time I’ll try using a more interesting gin; I’m thinking one of the Hendrix limited releases with a more complex and citrus-forward palate. I can tell this is going to be one of my summer standards, though; a lovely, refreshing, low-bite cocktail.
Sazerac Cocktail

June 11, 2023
(adapted from https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/1752/sazerac-cocktail-diffords-recipe)

For wash:

1/3 fl oz absinthe (I used Pacifique)

For cocktail:

2/3 oz Cognac

2/3 oz Straight rye whiskey

2/3 oz Bourbon

1/3 oz simple syrup

3 dashes Peychaud’s

1 dash Angostura
1. Wash an ice-filled old-fashioned glass with absinthe.
2. Add the other ingredients to a shaker with ice, shake until well-incorporated and chilled.
3. Pour out the absinthe wash (or drink it. I’m not the boss of you).
4. Strain the cocktail over the abisnthe-washed ice.
5. Express a lemon twist and garnish.
6/10/23: I used Courvoisier, baby Sazerac, and 1792 Full Proof, with a house-made simple syrup of demerara sugar.

I really enjoyed this cocktail; I think next time I may leave a little more abisnthe on the ice/in the glass in order to add a little more flavor, and I’d like to try a better rye/bourbon collection (these are both good, but simple examples of their respective whiseky styles).
Campfire Audio Orbit True Wireless

May 27, 2023

[MSRP $249.99, purchased at full price in May from Campfire.com)]

[Tl;dr: These are fanstastic headphones. Period. For me, their use case is a little more limited but that’s more a function of how unexpectedly great the AirPods Pro 2 is, and the number of niche headphones I have for specific use cases. I commend these to the attention of anyone looking for a premium pair of true wireless ear buds, especially if they’re not already locked into the Apple ecosystem.]

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 9 out of 10 Denalis

Cost-sensitive: 8 out of 10 Denalis

Intro. I’ve been intrigued by Campfire Audio for a long time. They’re a Portland-based manufacturer that is best known for pretty universally-acclaimed wired in-ear monitors (IEMs). I’ve never owned a pair, mostly because I’m not the biggest fan of IEMs for most of my use cases (preferring open-backed cans or speakers where usable, and preferring the convenience of wireless where not). When I heard that Campfire was releasing a true wireless system, I decided it was worth picking up a pair at retail. I have not been disappointed, mostly.

Sound. The sound quality is so good! They sound fantastic and give really good, accurate reproduction of a variety of musical genres. The soundstage is really wide, if not super deep, and you get really great separation between instruments on tracks like Daft Punk’s “Face to Face”, including between the two different guitar riff samples that make up the main theme. The storm on “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors starts far out to the left and gradually transitions across the soundstage over the course of the track. Great dynamics and punch, without being overpowering or off-putting. The balance is also very well done; on “Clair De Lune” by Flight Facilities, the transition at the beginning from rain to the cello (synth cello?) to Christine Hoberg’s ethereal and dreamy vocals are beautifully done and perfectly balanced, and some other headphones make the transition slightly jarring.

Treble: Maybe the one criticism I’d offer of the Orbit is that the treble can be a little muted, albeit still quite clear and crisp (and that slight muting makes tracks like Vampire Weekend’s “2021” arguably sound better). For purposes of this review I didn’t spend much time playing with the EQ in the Campfire app, and it may be possible to tune around this.

That all said, the trumpet on Brasstracks’ “Intro” comes through bright and brassy but not painfully so, which is really all I need from treble.

Midrange: This is probably the strength of the Orbit. Vocals are clear and rich and forward without being overpowered. Jill Scott’s voice soars on “Calls” (by Robert Glasper), and you can feel Amelia Meath (of Sylvan Esso)’s quaver and control on “Coffee.”

Bass: This is the best, most consistent base I’ve heard from an earbud in quite a long time. It’s clear, nimble, and punchy where it needs to be without being distracting. Janet Jackson’s “Got ‘Til It’s Gone” is the yardstick against which I measure the bass on all speakers, and these knock it out of the park. Clear, crisp, separated notes, without any slop or roll-off.

Spatial Audio. Nope!

Noise canceling. No active noise canceling, but pretty decent passive isolation if you can get a good fit. One of the criticisms I’ve seen in reviews of the Orbit has been difficulty in getting a good fit with the included array of foam and silicon ear tips, but for me it was pretty easy to get a good, consistent fit. I think you’re probably better off with something like an AirPods Pro 2 or a pair of active noise canceling cans like the Bose 700 if you’re in a really loud environment, but even on a plane over the weekend the Orbit did a good job of mellowing out background sound and letting me hear even pretty quiet dialog in movies or TV shows.

That said, I’ve gotten pretty used to being able to turn on transparency mode in order to remain aware of my surroundings, particularly when I’m out and about, and that’s just not an option with these. For better or worse, when they’re in, you’re not going to hear much that’s going on around you.

Controls. Pause/play, skip, etc., controlled by tapping the outside of the earbuds, and adjustable through the Campfire app. This is maybe my least favorite part of the experience with the Orbit; the touch sensitivity is both too high and too low, somehow. Using the touchpads can mean pushing the earbuds uncomfortably fair into your ears, and trying to adjust the fit while music is playing can inadvertently result in stopping or skipping tracks. Personally, I think I will end up turning off all of the touch controls and using my watch or phone to control playback.

Connectivity. Bluetooth only. For all of the devices I connected, I had to download the Campfire App, which is not optimal when traveling. I’d prefer headphones to be able to connect automatically, with the app only required for additional functionality like EQ and updates. That said, this is a new product and I’m not sure if the app is required because most devices don’t have the required drivers.

Other people have had difficulty with connections dropping or not being made when initially putting them on. For me, I’ve had occasional issues when taking one earbud out, but it’s always been solvable by putting both earbuds back into the case, closing the case, and starting over.

Comfort. They’re really comfortable, at least with the silicon tips. I’ve not experimented much with the foam tips, because I haven’t needed to. I have worn these earbuds for a few hours at a time while hanging out at the Denver airport, and they never felt uncomfortable.

Construction. They’re surprisingly light, and constructed primarily of plastic. I like the flip top case, though the buds can be a little difficult to get out of the case because of the way the lid folds back. I’d put this on par with the AirPods Pro 2.

Also, god bless USB-C charging.

Appearance. I wish they came in colors other than beige, but they’re … fine. I mean, most of Campfire’s products are genuinely beautiful and well designed, so I’ll be curious to see if they upgrade the appearance over time.

But seriously, y’all. The packaging. Top tier. Beautiful, and the unboxing was a really fun experience.

Value. This is a premium product at a premium price. They’re roughly comparable to the AirPods Pro 2 in price, and cheaper than the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless at MSRP (though both the AirPods and the Sennheiser are frequently on sale, and as a new product, the Orbit isn’t).

Would I love them a lot more at $150? Sure. But I’m not mad about paying $250.

Comparisons. Here’s where Campfire is going to have a problem with market adoption. There’s a pretty big field of premium true wireless headsets out there, and many of them are either 1) true startups willing to charge less and burn through Series A – B funding or 2) backed by major corporations that can get economies of scale (and who have large lines to integrate into, or large engineering teams that can churn out updates). Campfire is relatively small, and they only make headphones.

The sort of obvious comparisons in my collection are the Apple AirPods (Pro 2 and Gen 3), the Beats Studio Buds, and the Jabra Active 65t. For me, the sound quality is clearly and substantially better than any of those except maybe the Pro 2. I probably even like the sound of the Orbits better than the Pro 2, but I’m pretty sure I’m mostly going to keep reaching for the AirPods, and here’s why: it’s a better fit for my primary use cases. I mostly use earbuds in my office (when I want to be able to hear my coworkers/someone walking up behind me), walking around the street (where I want to be able to hear traffic), or during focus time. The Pro2 transparency mode is perfect for the first two, and the noise-canceling setting pretty near perfect for the third. If I was going to be in focus mode for a few hours, I might grab the Orbits out of my bag, but I think ultimately they’re going to be a victim of how surprisingly and effortlessly good the Pro 2 are. Plus, as an Apple fanboi, they just play well with almost all of my devices, in and out of the office.

Overall. The Orbits are a fantastic product that may be hampered by a crowded marketspace dominated by big players with a huge share of the rest of the consumer electronics space. That said, I think they’re the best sounding earbuds I’ve ever had, and they’ll definitely be living in my bag for the foreseeable future. I’ll be curious to see over the next few months how often I reach for them for a slightly richer, fuller sound. I’m tempted to try them out at the gym (they are IXP5 rated, after all).

#reviews #headphones #apple #anc #bluetooth #spatialaudio #earbuds #beats

On the importance of understanding use cases before buying technology, Part 1 (of undoubtedly many parts).

May 23, 2023

One day in September of 2022, I had a remarkably bad technology day. I went into my home office and tried to turn on my PC and it would not start. At all. I had a few things I needed to take care of that morning so I immediately started my 27” 2012 iMac … and it would barely turn on. Opening a webpage was a five-minute exercise, and opening a Finder window locked up MacOS every time I tried it. I turned to my Microsoft Surface tablet, and discovered that while it was technically running, it was not capable of handling a reasonably large spreadsheet and wasn’t properly charging anyway.

After a couple of hours of troubleshooting, I was still unable to get any of them running, and I needed to get some things done. I needed a new computer, stat. I had just gotten my mom a new Apple laptop and I was doing a fair amount of troubleshooting for her, so I figured I should just get another Mac. Apple wasn’t making the 27” iMac anymore, and the 21” iMacs available at the time seemed … underwhelming. I also knew that Apple had phased out the ability of iMacs after 2011 to operate as a monitor for another computer, so a Mac Mini wasn’t going to cut it. I was pretty much left with just the Apple laptops: the various MacBook Airs and Pros. After a lot of waffling and price-shopping, I decided that I needed more power than the M1 Air provided (I was wrong, but more on that later!), and Best Buy was having a substantial sale on the 16” MacBook Pro M1 Pro in the middle configuration I wanted, so forty five minutes and a drive to Tacoma later I had a shiny new Apple laptop. It was my first since my last year of law school, in 2007, when I replaced my failing MacBook with one of the first Intel-based MacBooks.

Puuuurrrty.

This doesn’t do the screen justice. It’s really quite something.

[This was, incidentally, also when I began my journey with network-attached storage and a centralized file server, because as it turned out, I had a lot of important files on those computers. I would eventually get most of the files I needed off the iMac, but the PC hard drive was DEAD dead, and I discovered the folly of storing any files on a PC on the hard drive with your system install. I won’t make that mistake again.]

I figured out pretty quickly that as beautiful as the MacBook Pro’s 16” screen is (and it is GORGEOUS), it was too small for a lot of what I wanted to do after a decade of working on 24+” screens. After some research (and seeing the price tag of the Apple Studio display), I bought a great ASUS ProArt Display, It’s not *quite* as nice as the Apple display, but was about a third of the cost and is a USB-C monitor that doubles as a dock/hub so I don’t have to keep plugging and unplugging mice, keyboards, headphones, etc. At the time, I thought “This is great! This is exactly what I need for working in my house, and I can take it and my files with me whenever I go!”

The current setup.

Cut to eight months later, despite a job that requires me to live in Seattle two days a week, and a few trips home to see my mom in Hood River, the MacBook Pro has left my house a grand total of … twice. It turns out it’s so big, and heavy, and pretty, and costly, and easy to scratch, that I’m reluctant to take it anywhere. If it got damaged or stolen, I’d be out almost $2,500, and it’s enough of a deterrent that it sits. It’s a lovely artifact that lives tucked in the bottom shelf on my desk, being used as a desktop, with the beautiful 16” display more or less permanently closed.

I had committed a classic Phil blunder when it comes to technology: I had not considered my real use case(s), and had gone for the MOAR POWER IS MOAR approach with the top middle tier configuration. And ended up, as a result, with a stunningly pretty paperweight.

An expensive paperweight.

I really have three use cases for computers at this point in my life:

1. A reasonably safe and secure desktop computer for things like banking, storing important files, doing my budget, managing my network, etc.

2. An easily-portable computer for word processing and web surfing and things like that.

3. A computer for gaming/video editing (admirably filled by my gaming PC, now that I’ve replaced the failed hard drive with a 2TB SSD, split my file management and system installs across different hard drives, and created network storage for backups)

For neither of the first two use cases did I need the power of a MacBook Pro. And, in fact, because of the way the Pro is designed (particularly the locations of the ports), it’s really bad as a desktop! I ended up buying another dock just to be able to plug things into the Pro without having to spend ten minutes readjusting my monitor afterwards, and even that makes it really difficult to get things plugged in or unplugged from the ports on the sides. Because of the size and weight and cost, it’s also pretty bad as an easily-portable computer, especially after four years of using a Surface tablet as my primary out-of-home machine.

The magnetic charging port is great! Unless it’s tucked under a low shelf and moving it at all (or opening the blinds, or looking at it sideways) disconnects power. And that’s actually a high-impedance headphone jack, which is great for an audiophile who likes hard-to-drive headphones like me. It’s just nearly impossible to use when stored under a shelf.

These ports are great! But totally useless under a shelf.

In retrospect, I would have been much better off getting a Mac Mini for desktop use and a MacBook Air for on-the-go computing. Even at the time, it would have saved me a few hundred dollars. With the current generation, it would have saved me even more. And, in fact, as my Surface Pro has continued wearing out and slowing down, and with some trips planned in 2023, I ended up buying a M2 MacBook Air anyway a month ago on sale at Costco so I could have something to carry with me. So the Pro will 100% be a paperweight for the foreseeable future.

Almost nearly as pretty.

Laptops that leave the house get cases. And stickers.

C’est la vie.

[I’m honestly tempted to sell the Pro and buy an M2 Pro Mac Mini just because it seems like a real shame to use this beautiful piece of technology this way, but … meh.]

Things I Should Review

May 18, 2023
1. ~~13″ M2 MacBook Air (particularly vs. 16″ M1 Max MacBook Pro)~~
2. ~~Senneiser x Drop 6XX (how have I not reviewed these yet?!?)~~
3. Ubiquti Dream Router
4. ZMF Bokeh Closed
5. ~~Campfire Audio Orbit~~ (done)
6. ~~Bose 700~~ (done)
7. ~~Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro~~
8. Drop x Focal Elex (now out of production so probably not?)
9. Schiit Fulla & Hell 2E
10. Dragonfly Red USB DAC
11. KEF LSX (they died)(they live again!)
12. ~~Roon~~
13. Mac Studio
14. HomePod & HomePod Mini
15. Anker Soundcore A40
16. M2 Mac Studio?
17. ~~Hifiman Edition XS~~
18. PS Audio Sprout
19. Kef LS50
20. Devialet 140 Expert Pro
21. Schiit Modi/Magni Stack
22. Schiit Modius/Jotunheim 2/Magnius Stack
23. Schiit Hel 2 (are they still making it?)
24. Schiit Fulla (are they still making it?)
25. Schiit Vali 2
26. IEMS
  - Moondrop Chu/Chu II
  - Truthear Hexa
  - CRA CCA
  - Dunu Titan S
  - Campfire Audio Holocene
27. Apos Gremlin
Bourbons/Wines
1. Redwood Empire Emerald Giant CS
2. Redwood Empire Lost Monarch CS
3. Sagamore CS Rye
4. Peerless Rye
5. Peerless High Rye
Beats Studio Buds

May 15, 2023

[MSRP $149, purchased at full price in October on Amazon, price matched down to $80 in November when they went on Black Friday Sale. Currently $99.99 at most retailers).

[Tl;dr: Great true wireless earbuds at the $99 price point, only okay at MSRP. Pretty good sound isolation, reasonable (~~but non-defeatable~~) active noise cancelation and passie noise isolation. Like most Beats products, the bass is a little boosted but not distractingly so, and it plays pretty well in the Apple ecosystem. These live in my gym bag and I use them in environments where I would worry about using my AirPods Pro 2. They’re great for that.]

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 5 out of 10 Denalis

Cost-sensitive: 8 out of 10 Denalis (at $99.99, 5 out of 10 Denalis at MSRP)

Intro. Quick~~, short~~ review because I just realized that I never actually reviewed them in the fall. Good, solid headphones with good, solid sound and decent active noise canceling. Perfect for the gym or other loud environments where you don’t care a whole lot of about audio fidelity and nuance. They play nicely with most of my devices and I don’t mind just throwing them in a bag or in my pocket because if they get damaged or lost, it won’t bother me all that much. These live permanently in my gym bag and if they ever go on a big enough sale I’ll snag another pair to live in my car.

Sound. They’re good. Not amazing, but basically what I want from this price point. The soundstage is wider than the AirPods Gen 3, and comparable to the Beats Studio3 Wireless, but nowhere near as wide as the Pro 2 or Max. Basically I’d say they’re the Studio3 Wireless in earbud form. Overall, they’re pretty flat headphone, sound-wise. Nothing jumps out as either exceptional or insufficient.

Treble: Perfectly serviceable. Can be a little muted on some tracks like Prides “What’s Love Got to Do With It” where the piano is very forward and the rest of the treble a little soft, but none of it is a deal breaker for me.

Midrange: Perfectly serviceable. Voices are pretty clear and feel about right in the mix, if occasionally a little lacking in dynamics.

Bass: Repeat after me: perfectly serviceable. Like most Beats products I’ve used, the bass is ramped up a bit but not enough that it distracts or detracts from the music. Good enough to keep you on a driving beat in the gym, but balanced enough that they won’t annoy you if you’re using them while working. Particularly good for quick bass hits on things like Jack Harlow’s “First Class,” and nimble enough to keep up with Radio Citizen’s “The Hop” (a track you all should listen to now).

Spatial Audio. Nope!

Noise canceling. Decent~~, but not defeatable~~. Like the Studio3, the active noise cancelation is always active and creates a little bit of over-pressure. The ANC is nowhere near as good as the Pro 2, and definitely can’t compete with over-the-ear offerings like the Bose 700 (another one I really should review) or the QC25/35/45 but that’s not what these are for. They’ll block out the grunts from your weight-lifting neighbors and quiet the gym’s speakers, but will leave you with enough situational awareness to duck when something gets dropped and rolls your way. They’re also good at blocking out low-level background white noise like fans, but I wouldn’t count on them to block out jet engines.

Unlike most Apple/Beats products, they don’t turn off automatically when you pull out one earbud. Not sure if I prefer it this way or that.

I would love a transparency mode like we get from the Pro 2, but that’s probably too much to expect for a $100 pair of headphones.

[edit: I take it back. ANC is defeatable by holding the right earbud button. It sounds SUUUUUPER weird when it’s turned off. I would not recommend.]

Controls. Pause/play, skip, and Siri on the right earbud. All are accessed by pressing in on the end of the earbud, which is … weird and slightly uncomfortable? I really don’t like pressing things into my ear, but it works. You can also control things on your audio source (like a phone or watch), which I’d recommend.

Connectivity. Bluetooth only. You can read my brief rant about Bluetooth here, but I will say that Apple’s implementation of Bluetooth is pretty great within the Apple ecosystem, and Beats are an Apple product (their USB-C charging notwithstanding). It seamlessly swaps between iOS devices and Macs, though I had some difficulty getting them to work with a Windows 10 machine for video conferencing and the stream from my MacBook Pro occasionally shorted out for a few seconds.

Like the Studio3 Wireless, the Siri implementation leaves something to be desired. There’s a noticeable delay between hitting a button to activate Siri and the microphone actually listening for a command, which can be frustrating. Honestly I’d rather turn off the microphone in the headset for Siri purposes, and I hope a future version of the software or headphones will let me do it.

Comfort. They’re surprisingly comfortable, at least for an hour or two. The silicon tips come in several sizes and I was able to find one that fits pretty well. The ANC creates a little bit of overpressure which can be fatiguing for a long period, but I don’t ever see myself wearing these for more than an hour or two in my use cases. They’re pretty stable even when moving around and sweating, which suits my needs pretty well.

Construction. They’re Beats. If you’ve ever had any Beats, you know that they’re generally pretty lightweight, cheap feeling plastic and that’s what you expect. They charge via USB-C and don’t have a Magsafe charger built into the case. Apple says you’ll get 24 hours of use between the Buds and the case, and that sounds about right based on how often I have to charge them.

Appearance. I actually like the way these look. Who knew, right? I went with the red version and I’m pretty happy with it. If nothing else, they’re easy to find in a pile of headphones!

Value. Like the Studio3 Wireless, these aren’t a great value proposition at MSRP but they seem to be constantly on pretty reasonable sale. I’ve seen them for as little as $70, and at that price point they’re a damned good value. At least in 2022, they were on sale everywhere around Black Friday. If you’re in the market, keep an eye out.

Comparisons. In my opinion, these are a way better headphone for the money than the AirPod Gen 3 and I recommend them over those with no reservations. If you have an extra $150 in your pocket the Pro 2 is a much better headphone in just about every category, but I personally wouldn’t want to use them in the gym or any wet environment for longevity reasons. Since I bought these, I’ve almost entirely stopped using my Jabra Active 65t, as these sound better, fit better, and connect much more easily to my various Apple devices. I’m sure there are a lot of headphones in this general range in the market, but I like these enough that I’m not inclined to go try a bunch of others.

Overall. They’re great. If you want a solid gym headphone that will give you consistent sound and noise cancelation, these are what I would recommend with no reservations. If they break or I lose them, I’ll absolutely replace them the next time they go on sale. If you’re looking for more in terms of audio quality or nuance … well, you probably shouldn’t be looking at true wireless earbuds, or should just go with the Pro 2.

#reviews #headphones #apple #anc #bluetooth #spatialaudio #earbuds #beats
Apple AirPods (Generation 3)

May 15, 2023

[December 2025 Pricing: $139 with updated Magsafe Case at Costco. May be cheaper elsewhere; I’m a little skeptical of some posted prices actually being the 3rd Gen and not the second.]

[December 2025 update: I won a pair of these as a door prize at a conference, and I’ve been using them pretty regularly while walking Denali a couple of times a day since September. I was perhaps … uncharitable in my original review.

I stand by most of the specifics in my review, but they do sort of hit the sweet spot for listening to podcasts or NPR in an environment where you want to hear the world around you. For me, I find that walking Denali with ANC on can result in me not nearing or seeing people or dogs walking around, and that can give some folks a bit of a fright (weirdly enough, not everyone wants to be accosted by a 65-lb golden lovebug when they’re not expecting it. I mean, they’re wrong, but they are allowed to be).

As I noted in the original review, the mid-range is where these headphones shine. Anything that’s mostly vocals is going to be fine, and unless you’re in a super loud environment, you’ll be able to hear people talking on a podcast. I still grab a better pair of headphones when I know someone is working on a roof or running a mower or blower in the neighborhood, but because I mostly don’t use these for music they can just live near the backdoor. Plus, they stick out enough that people mostly can see that I’m wearing them, and they fit reasonably well under a beanie, and they’re surprisingly good for phone calls.

The price has also come down a bit on these with the release of the 4th Gen (with the upgraded H2 chip): Costco has these on sale for $139 with the updated Magsafe case. For most use cases, I’d prefer the much cheaper Soundcore A40 (less than $60 on Amazon right now, review forthcoming), but if you like the Apple aesthetic (no judgment; I certainly do), these are a perfectly serviceable option. For another $61 you can get the AirPods Pro2, though, which continue to be the best ANC I’ve ever used and remain my (begrudging) favorite.

At some point I’ll probably snag and review the 4th Gen; they did upgrade the chip like I hoped they would, and the move from H1 ->H2 in the Airpods Pro2 was a seachange in their quality.

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 6 out of 10 Denalis

Cost-sensitive: 5 out of 10 Denalis]

[Original purchase info: MSRP $169 for a Lightning charging case, $179 for a Magsafe one, purchased on sale for $169.99 at Costco, currently $149.99 at Target).]

[Original Tl;dr: They’re … fine. They feel like a product in search of a purpose, and for the price range they’re lacking a lot of pretty basic things. If you’re already in the Apple ecosystem, really want the pretty white earbuds, and can’t pay the extra $30-40 to get the AirPods Pro Gen 2… you do you. The sound isn’t bad, but it’s hard to really appreciate it in anything other than a pretty quiet room and I just don’t experience those very often. I’d suggest either spending a little more or a lot less to get a much better sound experience.]

Scores:

Cost-agnostic: 5 out of 10 Denalis

Cost-sensitive: 1 out of 10 Denalis

Intro. I’m going to try to keep this pretty short (and will fail in that effort), as I try not to yuck other people’s yums. I left my AirPods Pro Gen 2 at home this week when I headed to Seattle for a week of meetings, and I wanted something to listen to music in the office around meetings for the week and I’ve long been curious about the Gen 3 of AirPods (particularly after being really stunned by how good both the Pro 2 and AirPod Max were).

Basically, these are what I would have expected them to be before my expectations were (unfairly?) raised by the Pro 2 and Max. The total lack of any sound filtering/isolation or ANC makes them hard to hear in any environment that’s not close to silent, and that’s hard no for me. Maybe these will get an updated version in 2023 with the H2 chip and better sound characteristics the way the Pro 2 did in 2022? I’d like these to be better headphones given how many people I know have and love them.

Sound. Fine, I think? It’s hard to tell because these lack even basic passive noise filtering which means that you hear everything around you even in pretty quiet environments. As I’m listening to them and typing this alone in my sweltering house, I can hear the clack of my (not particularly loud) Apple keyboard as well as the fan on low two rooms away, and the sound of Denali’s claws as she wanders around, looking for grandma. When you can hear them, they’re mostly pretty clear and crisp, but the soundstage feels a little claustrophobic.

Treble: clear and precise, if occasionally a bit sibilant. Definitely magnifies the problems with poor mixing, like on Vampire Weekend’s “2021”, where the guitar gets a bit splattery in the chorus. Ditto the synths on Sylvan Esso’s “Coffee.”

Midrange: This might be the strength of these headphones. Voices are clear and precise, and you really hear the power in Eyrkah Badu’s voice on “Afro Blue” and Dave Matthew’s quaver on “Out of My Hands.” Some male voices sound a little washed out, though, like Leonard Cohen on “Hallelujah.”

Bass: Like the corded white iPod headphones of yore that came with the original iPod (and every other iDevice up until they decided to remove the headphone jack from things), these have a slightly elevated bass. It’s perfectly serviceable, if occasionally a little distracting on tracks like Brasstracks’ “Intro” or JARV IS’ “Save the Whale (Deltoid Remix)”.

Spatial Audio. Sure, it’s there. Theoretically. I never found a room quiet enough to really be able to hear it, and the onboard H1 chip isn’t nearly as sophisticated as the Pro2’s H2. Spatial audio is noticeable and a big quality of life improvement for the Pro 2 (and to a lesser extent the Max), but not really a thing here.

Noise canceling. Non-existent, even in terms of sound blocking or isolation. One of the biggest omissions of these headphones is any kind of custom fitting. Unlike the Pro 2 (or even the much cheaper Beats Studio Buds) these don’t use silicon tips or anything else that would help you get a good seal. As a result, you hear EVERYTHING around you. It’s pretty distracting for me, at least.

Controls. Pause/play, skip, answer/hang up call, and Siri on the right earbud. No volume control, no audio modes, etc. which for me was a difficult transition from the Pro 2.

Connectivity. Bluetooth only. You can read my brief rant about Bluetooth here, but I will say that Apple’s implementation of Bluetooth is pretty great, at least within the Apple ecosystem. It seamlessly swaps between iOS devices and Macs, though I had some difficulty getting them to work with a Windows 10 machine for video conferencing (not unlike the other AirPod products).

Comfort. They’re surprisingly comfortable, even after a couple of hours. I barely feel them in my ears, and I actually left them in for part of a meeting this week without realizing it. However, the comfort also means that they’re not super stable, and I dropped them out of my ears a couple of times when I wasn’t even moving around a lot. The lack of silicon tips is, frankly, a little baffling in 2023.

Construction. Lightweight, cheap-feeling plastic, which is what you expect from an Apple headphone that isn’t the super-heavy Max. Up to thirty hours of listening with a few charges in the case, pretty normal for Bluetooth headphones. I don’t think I’m getting anywhere near that, but I’ve also been listening in relatively short spurts so your mileage may vary.

Appearance. I knew what they looked like. You know what they look like. Everyone knows what they look like. You either like them or you don’t, and you know which camp you fall in already. Honestly, I think they look kind of dumb and I think the old wired ones were a slightly better aesthetic (I was a sucker for those ads after all), but Apple is Apple is Apple.

Value. They suck on value. Apple products are rarely a super great deal (except, randomly, the new MacBook Air and Mac Mini, which absolutely slap on value). Because of how bad the noise isolation on these is, I am hard pressed to think of any situation I regularly encounter where I’d prefer these over say the Beats Studio Buds ~~(which I thought I’d reviewed, but apparently, I still need to do)~~. You can find the Buds for less than $90. Are these *slightly* better headphones in terms of sound quality? Sure. Will you ever be able to hear that difference in the real world? I really, really don’t think so. Even at pretty high volumes, a whole lot of the sounds gets swallowed by the environment and you lose a lot of the nuance.

Comparisons. As a practical matter, these don’t compete with anything else I have, in or out of their price point. The Pro 2 are $31 more right now at Costco than the lightning case, and $21 more than the Magsafe case version (and they always come with the mag safe case, which I should probably have highlighted in their review), and they are immensely better headphones. The Beats Studio Buds are almost half the price and I think are still a much better, more practical headphone. I think the AirPods Gen 3 are probably around on par with the old Jabra Active 65t (which you can get for like $60), but the Jabras at least have silicon tips and a much better fit and are more likely to stay in your ears while you’re running around. It would suck to have a $80 headphone fall, say, into a street grate.

Overall. Honestly, skip these unless you only want to use them in very quiet environments. And even then … spent the extra $30 to get the Pro2 (which are truly excellent), or save yourself $90 and go with the Beats Sound Buds (which are good and cheap now). I guess the Siri integration is pretty great? And it’s easy to connect to Apple products. Mostly. The case is great (though magsafe frankly ought to be included). That’s about it.

Pretty sure I’m returning these this week and either picking up a second pair of Pro
2s to live in my bag, or snagging the new Campfire Audio Orbits.

Sorry, y’all. Even this Apple fanboi is out.

#reviews #headphones #apple #anc #bluetooth #spatialaudio #earbuds