After reading some of the comments above. I have to agree that playback sync isn't the real issue and it's probably related to the usual supply chain issues. I say that because keeping things in sync seems pretty elementary.
I've been using Bragi Dash's for a while and they haven't had this problem. Other problems. Sure. They're finicky. Still wouldn't give them up. But I never had a delay between the buds. I think they're releasing a stripped down (just earbuds, no fitness monitoring) for about $150. I'll have to verify that for Sog. I'm not so sure only Apple can do it, but they do have the upper hand to make paring a seamless part of the experience.
I can see even other ways connectivity between the earbuds could be problematic. Sync during playback Is just one of the potential issues related to keeping the earbuds communicating.
You also have to consider the finesse of the situation. Do they turn off immediately after you pull them out? Or 5 seconds later? What happens when you only use one earbud? How far apart should the buds be before the sensors think you meant to disconnect? Things of that sort. And they're all pretty important since there are no buttons to speak of.
I've been using Bragi Dash's for a while and they haven't had this problem. Other problems. Sure. They're finicky. Still wouldn't give them up. But I never had a delay between the buds. I think they're releasing a stripped down (just earbuds, no fitness monitoring) for about $150. I'll have to verify that for Sog. I'm not so sure only Apple can do it, but they do have the upper hand to make paring a seamless part of the experience.
The Dash doesn't use Bluetooth to connect those two pieces of earphones. I don't know what AirPods use to connect, if they use Bluetooth to stream between those two pieces, there might be disconnection or sputter issues between AirPods. The thing between two ears blocks Bluetooth off pretty well
Leave it to you bozos to always find something to gripe about.
On the positive side, it's far better for Apple to work out this chink BEFORE the Air Pods are released, both to quell potential customer complaints/class action suits, and to perfect the technology in order to solidify any new patents involved, thereby distancing and proofing themselves further from the inevitable copy cats.
On another positive side, while I'm waiting, myself, for the Air Pods, I bought a pair of PowerBeats3 Wireless which I really like. They're noticeably better than PowerBeats2 which I had used for years. There's no fragile little flap over the charging port, the signal doesn't cut out when I turn my head (with my iPhone in my front pants pocket on the opposite side from the PowerBeats antenna), the charge lasts longer, and Bluetooth switching between devices (iPhone, iMac, AppleTV, Apple Watch) is a snap! You don't have to disconnect one device before connecting the new one.
I also solved the problem of the wire always binding up around my neck and collar: I run it in FRONT of my neck and between the top two buttons of my shirt. There's plenty of slack that way so as not to restrict my head movements, and I can simply take them out when I want to and let them dangle on my chest.
The Air Pods are still intriguing to me, assuming that they'll stay in my ears securely. I like the idea of being able to use just one at times.
The ability to sync audio between the buds is fundamental technology to the product. These things should have done that long BEFORE they did anything else. It's unthinkable that the essential functionality of the product doesn't work even as they are announced to the public as the ameliorating factor in removing the headphone jack. What good is easy pairing, pause when removed, gyroscopic controls, etc. when the most basic function fails?
There is absolutely no justification for giving Apple a pass on this debacle.
Yeah so you do realize this just a rumor by an unnamed source, right?
Gruber doesn't believe it and has sources that call BS:
This whole Airpod business looks to me like a solution searching for a problem.
When getting Airpods I am losing the cable but in exchange I have to (a) make sure I don't lose these pods, (b) deal with recharging them after 5 hours of usage (which isn't very much), (c) deal with potentially unequal discharge rates on both pods.
On top of this, enormous engineering resources have to be wasted on making them work well.
I am predicting an initial rush to buy these pods from enthusiasts, then lots of anguished reports of people losing them while jogging etc., followed by more reports that people take along wired headphones as "backups" to deal with loss and empty batteries.
The closest analogue to this in my mind are the Falcon doors on the Tesla Model X (which not even Tesla will imitate in future models).
You sound ignorant about the product -- the storage case is also an external battery with 24 hours of charging capacity.
My prototype AirPods have no trouble staying in sync. They’ve never once been out of sync, in fact. There have been a small handful of times when one of the two buds turns off, and audio only plays through one of them. But I’ve only seen that three or four times, tops, and in each case it was fixed by putting the AirPods back in the case for a second or two.
If Apple could mass produce AirPods that worked exactly like my review unit pair does, it would be great. Not perfect, but totally great. These AirPods are my favorite new Apple product in years — exactly as they are. It makes more sense to me that Apple has run into a manufacturing problem, not that they discovered a design defect after they were announced.
Leave it to you bozos to always find something to gripe about.
I don't know that I'd call this "griping" but in any case, what's wrong with pointing out the blatantly obvious: that this isn't good news.
If your sitting in a theater waiting for a show to start and they come out and announce that the delay is caused by technical difficulties, I doubt too many people are going to say "thank god they didn't start the show with bad audio; I'm just glad they are taking the time to get it right." A more natural reaction is "that sucks, I wanted the show to start on time; I hope it doesn't take too long to fix."
Yeah, yeah, it's not a perfect metaphor because we haven't bought tickets to anything, but still it's perfectly reasonable to "gripe" when something you're looking forward to isn't delivered when you were told and the latest rumor is "they're still working out the kinks."
This is good news.
This is just shows that Apple cares about quality.
Comparing a mundane act of showing a movie compared to release a brand new technology is ridiculous.
A better comparison is a stuntman who is attempting to jump over a bridge. But at the last moment they realize the motorcycle engine is not running just right. Do you want him to try it anyway? Would you be bitter disappointed?
No I wouldn't want him to try it anyway. Yes, I would be disappointed. How long have I been waiting in the cold for this non-event? Hours? Days? I don't see how your metaphor is any better than mine. Same point: when someone disappoints you you get disappointed. Shocking.
Epic Fail written all over these, the two earpods will need a heartbeat between them to ensure in sync, and that will suck battery life and fry your brain at the same time.
Apple should just put these aside, while the technology behind it was some what impressive these pods will be a dud. They are too expensive, even when they release it the technology will still lag, and the last thing they need/want is a PR nightmare recalling these Airpods.
They are not expensive.
Find me another wireless head phones that are:
1. True wireless. No wire between ear pieces. 2. Have super easy and reliable pairing similiar to the W1 chip 3. Have 6 hour battery life
Now find me one that sells for $159 or less? You won't find any.
Epic Fail written all over these, the two earpods will need a heartbeat between them to ensure in sync, and that will suck battery life and fry your brain at the same time.
An internal timer wouldn't be difficult if this is the issue. Each earpiece can count in microseconds or less being synced to the source on connection and the audio source can timestamp the start of the audio segment. On receiving the audio, the earpiece just offsets the playback by the difference of the timestamp and the internal clock. For example:
iPhone sends audio to both earpieces at 11:30:30.000 and it arrives at earpiece 1 at 11:30:30.010 and earpiece 2 at 11:30:30.030. The audio was timestamped at 11:30:30.000 so both earpieces know the exact offset to playback audio at. This requires each timer to be in sync but the pods can sync in the charging case and they don't need to be exactly synced to the audio source as any offset difference would be the same in both earpieces.
Audio sync issues might show up more for listening to a device at a distance like an iPhone in a dock or it might be when taking calls as the Airpods have mics too.
I can understand them omitting the wire as the wire makes it much harder to use a charging case.
Another option they might have is only sending Bluetooth audio to one of the earpieces and then using a different low power transmission method to send the audio to the other:
This would save power by only using Bluetooth on one earpiece and they can switch the controlling earpiece round every now and then to balance the battery life.
This makes sense. I have hearing aids that work with my iPhone. They are great in many ways. But, this is one issue, since they have separate connections things can get a little strange "between the ears" at times when listening to sound from my iPhone. I thought this was why the Beats earphones have a wire between them when the AI review of the Beats earphones asked for complete wireless. Be careful what you ask for. I hope they have a good solution. Bless those Apple engineers.
Yeah, the kind of hellish time those guys would be having if SJ was hearing this. heads would be rolling.
Under SJ the white iPhone 4 was delayed pretty much a full year with near-zero explanation, along with many other delays. Stop pretending like if SJ was in charge everything would magically work out like clockwork, or that employee's fear of him would magically solve the most complex engineering problems.
What ever man, fact, Tim decided to announce these things before they were clearly ready, they might be some understanding if these problems were after launch, technical glitches are nothing new to brand new products, even with the preceding yammering, it be nothing new and IMHO been better, but this is an internally detected corncerpt defect of a very fundamental function of the product, an issue that should have been first to be perfected and resolved before even considering an announcement, Jobs being so product obsessive would have better insured this, that's all I'm saying. No one claimed he was perfect and infallible but his absents at Apple, though it can't be helped, is sorely undeniable, R.I.P to the turtle-necked one.
I would think that when you have 10 AirPods in a household, it's so damn confusing which is which and which two are a pair. There will be 12 in my house.
I would hope people don't just set down things they sit in their ears in random places around the house. When you're not using it put it in your pocket or its case to charge.
I would think that when you have 10 AirPods in a household, it's so damn confusing which is which and which two are a pair. There will be 12 in my house.
I would hope people don't just set down things they sit in their ears in random places around the house. When you're not using it put it in your pocket or its case to charge.
Apparently you don't have children?
Are AirPods the best headphone choice for children, or really anyone that is prone to not be organized and place things down without regarding for where or why?
I would think that when you have 10 AirPods in a household, it's so damn confusing which is which and which two are a pair. There will be 12 in my house.
I would hope people don't just set down things they sit in their ears in random places around the house. When you're not using it put it in your pocket or its case to charge.
Apparently you don't have children?
If my household of children had 12 x $159 worth of AirPods, then I expect them to be more responsible with their stuff. Otherwise, they're getting beat, er I mean Beats.
Epic Fail written all over these, the two earpods will need a heartbeat between them to ensure in sync, and that will suck battery life and fry your brain at the same time.
Said someone who isn't an engineer or a medical researcher, and has neither used them to boot. Nice worthless opinion, you've got there!
This makes sense. I have hearing aids that work with my iPhone. They are great in many ways. But, this is one issue, since they have separate connections things can get a little strange "between the ears" at times when listening to sound from my iPhone. I thought this was why the Beats earphones have a wire between them when the AI review of the Beats earphones asked for complete wireless. Be careful what you ask for. I hope they have a good solution. Bless those Apple engineers.
Yeah, the kind of hellish time those guys would be having if SJ was hearing this. heads would be rolling.
Under SJ the white iPhone 4 was delayed pretty much a full year with near-zero explanation, along with many other delays. Stop pretending like if SJ was in charge everything would magically work out like clockwork, or that employee's fear of him would magically solve the most complex engineering problems.
What ever man, fact, Tim decided to announce these things before they were clearly ready, they might be some understanding if these problems were after launch, technical glitches are nothing new to brand new products, even with the preceding yammering, it be nothing new and IMHO been better, but this is an internally detected corncerpt defect of a very fundamental function of the product, an issue that should have been first to be perfected and resolved before even considering an announcement, Jobs being so product obsessive would have better insured this, that's all I'm saying. No one claimed he was perfect and infallible but his absents at Apple, though it can't be helped, is sorely undeniable, R.I.P to the turtle-necked one.
1) this is a rumor story, not fact.
2) Gruber's sources deny this story is true.
3) Jobs had production problems as well, so claiming it wouldn't happen if he were alive is cliche bunk.
3) Jobs had production problems as well, so claiming it wouldn't happen if he were alive is cliche bunk.
It's pretty insane to read these selective-memory posters that don't recall the YoY issues with Apple launches, bugs, recalls, etc. Someone's been eating too many 'Member berries.
3) Jobs had production problems as well, so claiming it wouldn't happen if he were alive is cliche bunk.
It's pretty insane to read these selective-memory posters that don't recall the YoY issues with Apple launches, bugs, recalls, etc. Someone's been eating too many 'Member berries.
9 to 5 brought that up a few days ago, suggesting that it's more support for Apple's A-series appearing in a MacBook at some point, perhaps sooner rather than later.
Comments
I've been using Bragi Dash's for a while and they haven't had this problem. Other problems. Sure. They're finicky. Still wouldn't give them up. But I never had a delay between the buds. I think they're releasing a stripped down (just earbuds, no fitness monitoring) for about $150. I'll have to verify that for Sog.
I can see even other ways connectivity between the earbuds could be problematic. Sync during playback
Is just one of the potential issues related to keeping the earbuds communicating.
You also have to consider the finesse of the situation. Do they turn off immediately after you pull them out? Or 5 seconds later? What happens when you only use
one earbud? How far apart should the buds be before the sensors think you meant to disconnect? Things of that sort. And they're all pretty important since there are no buttons to speak of.
Gruber doesn't believe it and has sources that call BS:
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/12/09/airpods-delay
...they say it's manufacturing issues, which seems much more likely to me at this stage than core tech issues, which would have been solved long
ago.
i find it so fascinating when people treat rumors like facts.
My prototype AirPods have no trouble staying in sync. They’ve never once been out of sync, in fact. There have been a small handful of times when one of the two buds turns off, and audio only plays through one of them. But I’ve only seen that three or four times, tops, and in each case it was fixed by putting the AirPods back in the case for a second or two.
If Apple could mass produce AirPods that worked exactly like my review unit pair does, it would be great. Not perfect, but totally great. These AirPods are my favorite new Apple product in years — exactly as they are. It makes more sense to me that Apple has run into a manufacturing problem, not that they discovered a design defect after they were announced.
iPhone sends audio to both earpieces at 11:30:30.000 and it arrives at earpiece 1 at 11:30:30.010 and earpiece 2 at 11:30:30.030. The audio was timestamped at 11:30:30.000 so both earpieces know the exact offset to playback audio at. This requires each timer to be in sync but the pods can sync in the charging case and they don't need to be exactly synced to the audio source as any offset difference would be the same in both earpieces.
Audio sync issues might show up more for listening to a device at a distance like an iPhone in a dock or it might be when taking calls as the Airpods have mics too.
I can understand them omitting the wire as the wire makes it much harder to use a charging case.
Another option they might have is only sending Bluetooth audio to one of the earpieces and then using a different low power transmission method to send the audio to the other:
http://www.xconomy.com/san-diego/2015/09/08/new-technique-for-wearable-sensors-transmit-signal-through-body/
This would save power by only using Bluetooth on one earpiece and they can switch the controlling earpiece round every now and then to balance the battery life.
2) Gruber's sources deny this story is true.
3) Jobs had production problems as well, so claiming it wouldn't happen if he were alive is cliche bunk.
MGA!
WOT... Have you seen this:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2016/12/microsoft-to-announce-qualcomm-snapdragon-based-tablets-and-pcs-with-built-in-cellular-capabilities-on-thursday.html