Apple AirPods with Charging Case (Previous Model)

I tried a couple of brands of knock off pods and they were absolutely horrible! Difficult to charge, difficult to pair, difficult to use, and sounded horrible. The main thing about ALL knock off's is that you will have terrible sync issues if using them for video. Meaning, you will see a character say something and the audio will not match their mouth movements. If you’re texting, each click you here will be a second or two after you typed. Genuine Apple AirPods have zero sync issues while watching video because they use a fantastic processor and the technology and build quality are far superior. I have watched movies and such on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Plex and all were perfectly in sync. The case these reside in fill a few roles. They protect your Airpods, charge your Airpods, and also have a battery which can charge them again without a cable! Fantastic engineering here and the solid build quality you expect from Apple. The battery time on these is phenomenal, and charge time is insanely fast. Pairing these is a snap. Make sure your bluetooth is on and simply open the hatch on your case. That's it! They will connect and show you the battery remaining on each Airpod and the battery remaining on the case battery. Use one at a time or both! Both have a mic and can be used alone or as a pair when answering calls or talking to Siri. You can also set a double tap function for both Airpods. For instance, I set mine up to skip to the next song or movie with a double tap to my left Airpod, and to pause if I double tap the right. Sound quality is also very, very good on these. Bose or Sennheiser quality? No. But they sound better than any other ear buds I own and I've purchased a number over the years. I also purchased an inexpensive rubber case to cover my Airpod charging case, and it also came with two pair of tethers which fit nicely on the Airpods to keep them safe if running or working out. If one doesn't stay in it will simply hang around my neck. The kit also came with two pair of rubber shells to aid in keeping them in your ears. These go around the Airpods and create a more secure fit. (I don't have any trouble ever keeping mine in place, however.) There are many of these 7 in 1 type kits on Amazon and run around $10. So, if you're looking for quality bluetooth ear buds that won't break the bank and have features that most don't have, look no further. You should only pay $159 for these new, either from Amazon DIRECTLY, or from Apple. I waited until after Christmas to buy mine directly from Amazon so I could get them for $159 when they had them back in stock, and take advantage of Prime shipping. If buying here, just look for "sold by and shipped from Amazon." I received genuine Apple Airpods, and logged into Apple’s warranty check service to activate my warranty. Doing this also will get you a few months of free tech support.

I paid way too much for these at scalped prices because I was too impatient to wait a month for them, but even then they're worth it. I don't even have iOS 10 on any of my devices, but connecting them to any device is as simple as pressing "connect" once in the Bluetooth menu and "disconnect" whenever I want to pair them with something else—no annoying Bluetooth headaches here, they work like every Bluetooth device ever should work. Range is impressive and I still get a perfect signal nearly 30 feet away. Speaking as someone who owns $1,000 headphones: no, they're not IEMs, but the sound signature is delightfully musical, not at all fatiguing, and I can't really find fault with any particular aspect of it; they're probably very nearly as good as you could get from open-air earphones (and personally, I dislike earphones that form a seal anyway, especially when it comes to phonecalls). I've seen some professional reviewers say they're identical in sound to the EarPods but that's definitely not true, the mids are substantially better and the bass is noticeably tighter. Battery life is essentially equal to the five hours that are claimed, and it's absolutely true that a mere 15 minutes in the little case charges them up most of the way. I'm one of the lucky ones—these things could not fit my ears more perfectly and no matter how violently I shake my head about they stay put, I'm not afraid of losing them. Yes, they look weird, but I could hardly care less, it's not like I'm wearing them on a date. For phone calls they shine: everyone I talk to says I sound great, and apparently moving the microphones closer to my mouth actually makes them sound worse, which means they've been carefully designed to function at their best in the position in which they naturally reside. An added bonus: as a neurotic person I'm always concerned about exposing myself to radiation unnecessarily. These emit so little microwave radiation that they don't even register on my EMF meter—and I suppose they'd have to be pretty damned low-power to operate for five hours with such tiny, tiny batteries. In short, these are to wireless earphones what the iPhone was to smartphones. Like any good piece of tech, they disappear: when I'm walking around the city listening to an audiobook, I'm not hearing a cable rubbing on my clothing, nor feeling earbuds tugging at my ears as the cable sways back and forth; I just experience information being fed directly into my brain and completely forget that I'm wearing anything at all. Now if only Siri were any good, then I could feel like I'm living in the movie Her.