Lost Apple headphones.

[croyde]

A friend rang this morning, upset that she'd lost her headphones. Thinks she left them on the bus.

Annoying yes, but why so upset.

I looked them up, Apple Air Pod Max.

£550

Fugging 'ell, no wonder she's upset. Jeezuz Tatty Christos!

Who pays that much for headphones unless they are in the audio industry?

Saying that, I still have a pair of Seinheisers, bought on the advice of various TV Sound persons, which were £50, ok about 15 years ago.

I have a modern pair of Bluetooth noise cancelling over ear Sony's that cost £80, and I thought that was pushing the boat out.

I tried them in a shop against £300 ones, like Beats, and found them far superior.

£550! is that all Apple Tax. Madness.

Due to worrying about losing my £80 ones, I only use a pair of 80s looking lightweight yet Bluetooth headphones when I'm out and about. £19.99.

Maybe I'm having another old man moment but half a bag o sand just to listen to some music. Nuts!!

[twing]

Bonkers! I lose/drop/break ear-buds so often I've relegated myself to Wish and Temu now... about £5 a pair

[PastelNata]

Cheap tat!

Try these:
https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-UK/p/convers...

But when you aren't a pauper, get these:

https://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/products/campfire...

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/astell-kern-x-vision-...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/64_audio_tia_fourt.htm?g...

https://www.audioconcierge.co.uk/portfolio/obravo-...




Apple tax!

Edited by PastelNata on Thursday 24th August 13:08

[vikingaero]

The Vikingettes have standard Airpods that cost between £99-£125 depending on who has them on sale. They seem to lose them on a regular basis and the tracking app is pretty crap. I normally find them under their bed which they can't search very well, because potential spiders.

[croyde]

PastelNata said:

Cheap tat!

Try these:
https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-UK/p/convers...

But when you aren't a pauper, get these:
https://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/products/campfire...

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/astell-kern-x-vision-...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/64_audio_tia_fourt.htm?g...




Apple tax!

That first one is interesting, as after decades of working on stages as a camera op, I now find it hard to listen to conversations in busy places.

Those in-ears at £3500!!

I had in-ear monitors made to measure about 10 years ago. Had to go to Harley Street for the moulding clay to be poured into my ears.

I think they cost me £250 all in. Still have them.

Edited by croyde on Thursday 24th August 13:12

[PastelNata]

croyde said:

That first one is interesting, as after decades of working on stages as a camera op, I now find it hard to listen to conversations in busy places.

Those in-ears at £3500!!

I had in-ear monitors made to measure about 10 years ago. Had to go to Harley Street for the moulding clay to be poured into my ears.

I think they cost me £250 all in. Still have them.

Edited by croyde on Thursday 24th August 13:12

How about over £10000!!!

https://www.audioconcierge.co.uk/portfolio/obravo-...

[Gary Woodland]

I have them and absolutely love em. Replaced a pair of even more expensive over ear Shure monitors. Not the most accurate or perfect but fun and colourful and incredibly well made. You can get them for about £350 new via Amazon Italy usually which makes them much more palatable.

[Squadrone Rosso]

Can’t she find them by using the inbuilt “find my” feature?

[x5tuu]

Have you been living in a bubble OP? The AirPods Max have been out nearly 3yrs now.

£550 isn’t too bad for a good quality ANC headphone imo

[croyde]

Squadrone Rosso said:

Can’t she find them by using the inbuilt “find my” feature?

Yeah, last seen at the bus stop

Abellio lost property not picking up the phone. I thought they were ear buds thus why would anyone nick something full of wax and goo.

Only on looking them up did I see that they are 'proper' headphones.

Out of interest, to any of you audiophiles, are they really worth so much?

[Cotty]

Luckely I only paid £49.95 for a pair of Bose SoundSport In-Ear Headphones in 2019.
I am hoping they don't break as they have shot up in price and most seem to be cordless these days.

Might be worth checking her home contents insurance to see if she is covered for items lost away from home.

[captain_cynic]

PastelNata said:

Cheap tat!

Try these:
https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-UK/p/convers...

But when you aren't a pauper, get these:

https://www.hifiheadphones.co.uk/products/campfire...

https://www.futureshop.co.uk/astell-kern-x-vision-...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/64_audio_tia_fourt.htm?g...

https://www.audioconcierge.co.uk/portfolio/obravo-...




Apple tax!

Edited by PastelNata on Thursday 24th August 13:08

Th differnce is that Apple headphones are £50 headphones they charge £500 to add the logo.

That's the Apple Tax, fortunately a voluntary one that's easy to avoid.

Although if there is a group who'll give Apple fanboys a run for overpaying, it's audiophiles, I'll give you that.

[Narcisus]

I have a pair of AirPods Max and they are bloody superb especially when watching films using spacial sound.

Much better than the Sony XM4’s they replaced think they cost me around £330 new from Curry’s.

[vikingaero]

Shirley Five-Fiddy is the tip of the iceberg for many?

Many people have:
iPhone 14 Pro Max £1249 - £1500
Macbook Air £800 - £1k
Designer purse £150
Designer bag/backpack £250
Make up haul £250
Cash £0
Clothes £500
Fake Uggs £15

[Narcisus]

captain_cynic said:

Th differnce is that Apple headphones are £50 headphones they charge £500 to add the logo.

That's the Apple Tax, fortunately a voluntary one that's easy to avoid.

Although if there is a group who'll give Apple fanboys a run for overpaying, it's audiophiles, I'll give you that.

captain_cynic never mind mate you stick with your 50 quid headphones ! Plenty of us daft fan boyz around wasting our money

[bodhi]

x5tuu said:

Have you been living in a bubble OP? The AirPods Max have been out nearly 3yrs now.

£550 isn’t too bad for a good quality ANC headphone imo

In fairness that's nearly twice the price of the Bose/Sony equivalents, which are generally reckoned to be about the best on the market.

Neither of them lock you into suffering an Apple phone to use them properly either.

[Big Nanas]

bodhi said:

In fairness that's nearly twice the price of the Bose/Sony equivalents, which are generally reckoned to be about the best on the market.

Neither of them lock you into suffering an Apple phone to use them properly either.

You can use AirPods Max with Android phones too - in fact anything with a Bluetooth connection. But don't let facts get in the way of a rant.

[bodhi]

Big Nanas said:

bodhi said:

In fairness that's nearly twice the price of the Bose/Sony equivalents, which are generally reckoned to be about the best on the market.

Neither of them lock you into suffering an Apple phone to use them properly either.

You can use AirPods Max with Android phones too - in fact anything with a Bluetooth connection. But don't let facts get in the way of a rant.

https://www.androidcentral.com/do-airpods-max-work-android-phones

Android Central said:

Yes, but not in the way you'd want expensive headphones to work. Apple's AirPods Max are premium over-ear Bluetooth headphones built with features that have some exclusivity attached to them for iOS users. Given the price, there are premium alternatives that do more for less.

There's a full list of what doesn't work here - https://www.whathifi.com/advice/do-airpods-work-wi...

So not really a rant, more a statement of fact. If you want to get the full functionality out of the Airpods you need an Apple device.

Personally I'd rather save at least £200 and buy a pair of headphones I can access the full feature set no matter what phone I have, however YMMV.

[TheBinarySheep]

If you're into the Apple eco-system, them there's nothing as good as Apple headphones/earbuds in my opinion.

One of the earbuds on my Airpod Pro's broke recently. Instead of getting a replacement earbud I decided to buy a pair of Soundcore Liberty 4 NC. There's no getting around that the Soundcores sound great and I'd definitely recommend them, but I missed the seamless switching between iPad, iPhone and Macbook. The Soundcores support 2 bluetooth connections, but I kept having to open the app on my phone and disable one of them and to connect to another device.

In the end, I ordered a replacement earbud from Apple.