Earbuds

Now that we have entered into the new frontier of wireless headphones and lightning connectors, I find myself struggling to find the perfect headphone.  Somehow it feels like with all these new options and technologies there's more for me to be fussy about.

For the past 6 or 7 years my go-to has been the Bose MiE2 in-ear headphones.  I used to love them.  Finally!, unobtrusive headphones that would comfortably stay in my ear, have great sound quality, and convenient functionality & iPod controls.  These were a game-changer for me in terms of allowing me to rock out, listen to audiobooks, scriptures, do house-chores more productively, be on long conference calls, etc., all while looking super cool like this dude.

The only problem (at first) was that after scrunching these things up in my pocket and using them all the time they would eventually fray and/or stop working.

Bose was awesome about replacing them for me even when they were out of warranty.  By my count I've replaced 3 or 4 sets of their headphones with different variations / upgrades each time.

Then the iPhone 7 came out a couple years ago which has been my most challenging iPhone relationship to date (no big leaps forward from prior models, no more headphone jack, and just the sense that at this point in the iPhone cycle I shouldn't still need to stress about keeping the batteries charged all the time and manually plugging it in each night like some 20th century schmo).  I was willing to be a lightning port adapter, or at least be a dongle supporter.  The problem is that 1) the dongle, besides adding a little unwanted bulk, also causes the Bose headphones to occasionally short out in my experience, and 2) the industry hasn't seemed to have caught up with lightning ports.  I was searching on a monthly basis for a good lightning port headphone.  They're supposed to have truer sound, which is nice, but not if the only way to get them is through some boutique retailer (e.g. Audeze) or some small-time shop (e.g. Libratone) where I still have to shell out for them and I have no idea how comfortably they're going to fit; especially when I've grown so accustomed to the Bose StayHear tips.  I don't know why Bose hasn't jumped on board with them yet.  But given that they haven't I feel like I have to make a choice, especially since my most recent pair is once again frayed and I don't feel great about returning them yet again for a purchase I originally made back in 2010 or so.

So now I either a) go down the rabbit-hole of lightning cable options where I probably won't like the way they fit, or b) explore bluetooth options.  (I should make clear that I'm not willing to look at over-the-ear headphones as I'm not interested in looking like a DJ or a ski bunny.)  Frustratingly, what I've learned on the bluetooth front is that the Apple AirPods don't seem to have much good competition in terms of integrated functionality or even in the fit/comfort or sound categories.

After weighing all my options I decided to go with AirPods and leap into the wireless future.  Here's what I have to say about them after about a month 5 months of using them.

One of my favorite product ads in a long time. [Commercial]

Pros

• Wireless - No more excruciating wire mishaps where the slack catches on a door handle and yanks them out of my ear.  And now I can distance myself from my iPhone without interruption (like when I'm following a recipe or using the torch light to help me to kill ants or stuff like that)
• Good Sound
• Stability is better than I originally thought -- the regular Apple headphones have always easily fallen out of my ears which used to annoy me like no other, but what I've found with the AirPods is that the lack of wires / weight makes them stay centered in your ear and not get tugged around, so they tend to stay in place
• Phone call audio is great on both ends

Cons

• Lack of functionality - Limited to engaging Siri by double-tapping, or pausing by pulling an earbud out of my ear.  The problem with both of these things is that 1) I don't really want to talk to Siri any more than I have to, and 2) when I pull an earbud out of my ear I often don't have a great place to put it, and also the technology that is supposed to keep it paused by recognizing that the earbud is not enclosed in an ear often gets confused by my hand or my shirt pocket and resumes playing.  Some of this functionality is supposed to be addressed in iOS 11, which I look forward to.  [UPDATE: I CAN NOW DOUBLE TAP THE LEFT EARBUD TO PAUSE MUSIC WHICH DOESN'T SOUND LIKE MUCH, BUT IS A HUGE IMPROVEMENT.]  
• Spotty bluetooth - It's mostly a smooth connection but on average a couple times a day I either get occasional short skips in songs or it pauses.  (I'm really tired of not having steady music playing experiences.  It's stuff like this that occasionally makes me want to go all the way back to a walkman or something.) [UPDATE: THE BLUETOOTH HAS BEEN MUCH MORE RELIABLE THAN IT WAS AT FIRST.  STILL NOT PERFECT THOUGH.]
• It's one more thing I need to charge (which was probably my biggest gripe with the Apple Watch, and the main reason why I returned it).  Thankfully it holds a charge very well, and it also recharges very quickly.  I usually recharge my case every 2-4 days or so and I'm good.
• The sound quality is amazing for what they are, but I do miss the slightly better quality of my old Boses.  
• I don't love the feel of the cool, hard plastic.  I would prefer silicone tips.  
• The immaculate white floss-holder-like AirPod holder picks up tons of lint and scuffs in my pocket.  
  
• The 'find my AirPods' functionality is pretty lame because 1) it only works on the earbuds themselves, not the case, and 2) every time I've kind of needed it the earbuds have been offline, so I get a message that my AirPods will make a noise when they're back online, which is never.  

After 5 months of using them, overall I'm very satisfied with them.  I like that I can pause them and keep them in my ears and still occasionally get by with just keeping them in my ears without feeling rude (like with a cashier or something).