Well, they had my attention because I was looking for new earphones, but they are another stupid tailed design one so guess this is a pass.
Why does it seem like nobody can make minimalistic earphones anymore. They all gotta be huge goady “LOOK AT ME WORLD I HAVE EARPHONES IN” style ones. If I wanted the entire world to know that I was wearing something I would wear headphones. The entire point of earphones is to keep them minimalistic in design, but we’ve lost that along the way.
I’m so fucking sick of AirPod designs. It’s fucking stupid. I lose them frequently and they’re never comfortable, and they’re expensive as hell.
[Edited grammar]
Ah so they’re making money because you’re replacing them because that’s how they designed them, to get lost. I just never used them. At this point, I’d rather enjoy honking headphones over those troublesome nuggets.
I want them to bring back more buds that are connected to each other, so it’s harder to lose them.
I still have my wired, lightning earbuds; of course, now, iPhones use USB-C so… what was the point, geesh.
How hard is it for them to include a DAC and aux port in their phones? They’re tiny! I tried using Bluetooth headphones with the OnePlus 5 but the poor sound quality and constant need to recharge and replace due to their batteries dying every few months was exhausting. That experience was enough to drive me back to the exceptional reliability of plug and play traditional headphones with a Galaxy Xcover 6 Pro.
I don’t care how easy it is to replace the batteries in Fairphone’s new headphones. Their ethos should compel them to include a jack for those who don’t want to waste rare earth metals.
An audio jack is anything but tiny in a mobile phone form factor… Theres just no way to keep it without sacrificing something else.
Agreed 100%. I’d buy a Fairphone instantly if it had a headphone jack.
Techbros have mastered their hardware enshittification skills with the headphone jack fiasco.
I agree that phones should just come with an aux port, but I’ve also never experienced the issues with wireless earbuds that I see other people talk about.
In fact I think my original airpod pros lasted longer than any pair of wired earbuds I’ve owned. I had them for years and they were still working fine when I lost one. Currently I use wired earbuds to help keep track of them.
Why not just use usb-c if you want wired headset?
I ruined my iPhone 15’s usb-c port by using an adapter. I used it when I cut the grass with my phone in my pocket. Now the port doesn’t grip cables right. Not being able to use the adapter while my phone is in my pocket eliminates most use cases for me.
I don’t want to have to buy and think about bringing jack to USB-C adapters whenever I want to plug into a speaker at a party or a car stereo, and I want to be able to charge my phone in these situations, or while I listen to podcasts to help me fall asleep at night with some battery-heavy sleep tracking activated
I wasn’t trying to say you wanting a wired headset is somehow not valid. I just always felt that a $3 C to 3.5 adapter you can permanently attach to your wired headphones is a weird hill to die on. For about $15 you can buy enough for that to never again be a consideration when buying a new phone.
I see it as a question of convenience, economics, and waste. It’s so easy to plug and play a jack without worrying about your headphones’ charge level or pairing them. No aux ports also means you have to pay a USB C adapter tax for one that may eventually break or get lost and it forcing you to pick between quietly listening to your audio and charging your phone. I’ve personally saved about $60 USD a year on average by not having to swap out dead Bluetooth headphones as well.
I get it if you like the convenience but it really wouldn’t kill these phone manufacturers to keep such a useful legacy component in the hopes you’d buy some additional accessories from them to fix a problem they created.
If waste and efficiency are real concerns you should be against the old headphone jacks. They waste a lot of space and are an entrypoint for water and dust, for redundant functionality that already exists in usbc or lightning
They may be an entry point for water and dust yet my current 3.5mm jack equipped Xcover 6 Pro is IP68 rated at 1.5m of water for 35 minutes according to GSMArena. I’m not exactly looking to go snorkeling with my phone any time soon either so it’s not like it’ll be a concern for anyone in the vast majority of use cases. I’ve had water splash on it occasionally over the years and it never caused any harm either.
I can’t really talk about what the PCB footprint of a 3.5mm jack is but if it’s something that already comfortably existed on most previous phones along with micro SD and Sim card holders until very recently then I doubt it actually matters. Keep in mind phone manufacturers are incentivized to hold back on as many features as possible if it means they can cut down on BOM costs and make an additional sale through apps or accessories down the line.
It already has a dac, so the only thing missing is the 3.5mm jack. Otherwise, where do you think the signal for the speaker comes from?
👀
They don’t support aptX LL, so they are useless for video. The high latency will cause the audio to be very noticeably out of sync with the video.
Why is your video not syncing itself with your bluetooth?
I tried with my TV and at max latency adjustment it’s still desynced in Bluetooth. Also other sources of video like from games are not synced, especially like video call delays
I use headphones and a bluetooth transmitter that support aptX LL. The latency is less than 40 milliseconds, which is barely noticeable. With other codecs, the latency is hundreds of milliseconds, so you have to mess with sync settings in the video player.
Most video players or operating systems just handle that for you…
What players and operating systems handle that automatically? I have to adjust it manually in VLC and Kodi. It’s usually around 500-600 ms on Android phones and FireTV sticks. Linux isn’t as bad, but it’s still around 100 ms.
I’ve never had to think about it on iOS, macOS, or Windows. The video just holds for a few frames until the audio buffer catches up to it and then it resumes playing the video frames.
aptX LL sounds like some made up gobbledygook. Or like sudo aptx -ll bluez-utils
Welcome to technology?
deleted by creator
Has anyone used these or the previous model who can comment on their lifespan? Since there isn’t a typical operating system to become unmaintained I’d hope they could last many times longer than a smartphone.
Is like to note that while the battery is replaceable and looks like a common battery, it’s actually priority. So if they stop making the battery, it’s over. I haven’t needed it yet but it irks me.
Your autocorrect made a booboo.
It entered priority instead of proprietary
Maybe proofread your comment before posting next time. This was hard to read.
I’d like to note that, while the battery is replaceable and looks like a common battery, it’s actually proprietary. So, if they stop making it, it’s over. I haven’t needed to replace mine yet, but it irks me.
I have the old model that I bought because I am quite happy with my Fairphone 5 and also because I am a proud beta soyboy.
And oh boy, are they shit. I’m on the third pair, after returning 2 shortly after I got them because the right earbud stopped working in 2 slightly different ways.
My current pair recently started making a faint clicking noise in… You guessed it: The right earbud. After less than a year of light use. And people complain of poor sound quality when I use the mic on calls.
It’s great that you can replace the batteries and all and I have no issues recommending Fairphone, but I can’t recommend their earbuds.
I will likely look to Samsung when I grow tired of the clicking noises.
I appreciate the reality check.
I’d say check on the new model once it drops and see if reviews are better after a year or so.
Fair
The new Sennheiser Momentums claim to have user-replaceable batteries fwiw.
Also sound quality and fit, that’s what I’m curious about
Sound quality is mediocre, fit is good. The Bluetooth connection is rather short range. I got them with my Fairphone so I am OK with them but I also hope they are doing better with the new generation.
Can anyone tell you if it fits your ears?
I got mine for “free” with the phone. They are terrible. Microphone is unusable (nobody can understand me). Additionally for some reason fairphone reworked the app, breaking it in the process, making the buds even worse (e.g. EQ not working). Also i have hiss in the left one. Definitely would not recommend.
Earbuds are generic bluetooth devices. Why is fairfphone getting into this market? Is it because people are stupid and think their earbuds have to match their phone?
Because they support right to repair and have replaceable batteries
Oh, that is a good reason! I thought for sure I was going to lose mine, but what happens is that they stop working, repeatedly, and even replacing something simple like a case is about half the price of a new set…
So I’ve downgraded to the cheapest set I can tolerate and my “repair” will be buying the same model (if it’s available) and replacing the part I need.
It’s not a great system.
Most earbuds are not repairable, and they don’t have replaceable batteries. Eventually the battery capacity drops to the point where you need to charge them too often. These use replaceable and generic batteries from what I heard, and they’re fairly repairable.
- this fits within their niche of ethical electronics supply chains and manufacturing
I’m considering a pair of these for when my current earbuds die, depending on the fit and quality.
I’ve been through three sets of ear buds, and they’ve all failed before the battery did… but if they’re offering replacement parts closer to cost, then it would be an improvement. I got an expensive pair of Sony Earbuds and they were absolutely fantastic, but I did warranty replacements on them twice and the last one had a case that started to melt from overheating… to replace the case was about half the price of a new set.
Woh ! 1700 partners trackers to accept before viewing this page ? Seriously ?
Edit : https://archive.vn/G8uCm
I know, it’s just not enough! They are really tightening their belts to give you that content. /s
Here you go my brother in tech: https://archive.ph/G8uCm
domain blocked in my country because of csam material 😭
Here is the official press release.
It didn’t take that long to find, I wish people would link primary sources more often.
Damn. The original fairbuds came with my fairphone and I was a big fan from the start. Zero issues with hardware or software, or sound quality. Sure glad I opened this thread to understand how lousy they actually are.
Guess there was a reason why they handed the old ones out
When I just bought a Fairphone a few weeks ago, I just barely missed the free fairbuds deal. I inquired about it and they gave me a $100 discount code for each phone. I held off buying them because I had a feeling there were about to drop new earbuds. Glad I did.
Elgin Rebels. You’re fucking welcome.
Those don’t look very repairable to me.
if only they there was a wire between them where you could put usable buttons and extra battery
There are already products like this, why would they need to release one?
because there are no longer any products like this.
What? I bought one in China the other day, they keep releasing random IEMs all the time
in ear monitors are a different thing entirely.
You want wireless, but with a wire?
yes. open bluetooth in-ears connected by a wire, so that you can’t lose one of them and so there’s somewhere to put a bigger battery and a beefier antenna. everyone used to make them, now there’s none left. i had to import a callcenter headset for my last pair. on the plus side i get 40+ hours of listening time.
There’s a 3.5mm detachable product that you can connect IEMs to.
I daily the OG fairbuds, and while I love the repairability, I can honestly say they’re some of the worst earbuds I’ve ever used.
They have connection problems
they fail to charge when placed in the case half the time
The. touch controls are finicky and often miss taps, but somehow they can be activated by a single strand of hair landing on the case.
The app just doesn’t work, I have never been able to get it to connect to the earbuds.
I’ve reported all of these issues to Fairphone, and I’ve recieved little in the way of helpful responses. Hopefully they have managed to make their second gen product more usable, because I do genuinely think a repairable earbuds is a phenomenal idea. And yeah, despite all the issues I still use them everyday.
That’s really disappointing to hear (pun not intended). I’ve been looking for a pair of these earphones that are actually worth the money, because I got sick of paying for airpods only for them to fail within 2 years like clockwork.
Just throwing these things away is horrendous and I was hoping that fairbuds would be good.
I got the Earfun Air Pro 4 about a year or so ago on sale (I think about 45 dollars) and have never looked back. The app works without having to create an account or sign in, they sound great (for sub-100 dollars earbuds, but I’ve never paid more than that so have nothing to compare to), the noise cancelling is brilliant too.
The only issue I’m having over the last couple of months is that the battery on the earphones (but not on the case) seem to be draining a bit faster now. I’m guessing that’s to be expected, as I use them all the time, but thought it was worth mentioning.
As another user of the og Fairbuds, the issue with charging is actually due to the rubber they use to make the battery compartment a little sweat resistant. If it moves it can stick out a hair enough to visibly keep the case from closing all the way. Grab the rubber and rotate it back to where it should be (there’s a notch) and it’ll charge just fine.
As far as daily use, audio isn’t amazing, it’s also not terrible. I’ve had worse earbuds in quality come with iPhones. Touch controls were a bit finicky but have gotten easier as I’ve adjusted to using them. It seems like people expect pro-audio speaker level of quality out of Bluetooth earbuds nowadays and that isn’t what they’re getting with any of these between the quality loss of the Bluetooth codec and the tiny speakers in the earbuds. Maybe I’m crazy but earbuds just need to play music acceptably while traveling, they’re not a replacement for good headphones or good speakers…
This is pretty much my experience so far, audio quality is mid but better than I’d expect from earbuds. I wish they’d just charge when they are in their slot instead of needing to close the case, it’s just weird requiring that the case be closed. The app is pretty terrible, but it isn’t required and doesn’t do much anyway. Touch controls are similar to what I’ve experienced with all the other touch control buds I’ve used, with better control over volume. The noise canceling works, but isn’t amazing. I’d like a little more battery life, but I’m happy to sacrifice that for being able to replace the battery when I need to rather than throwing them out. I wish they had a zero delay mode as I can notice it when watching videos, but it’s not a big of a delay as others with a delay.
As its a first gen product from a pretty green hardware company, it wasn’t super surprising to me they had serious issues. The real test will be to see if the second generation fixes those issues without adding a bunch more.
Uff
Don’t forget that the Bluetooth is outdated to the point that it doesn’t sync with video properly so can only really be used for listening to music. Insane. Source(also a daily driver)
Bluetooth has a delay for most codecs. Do not ask me how it is exactly done but there is a feedback to the application so that it delays audio to match video for the bluetooth delay. Some years ago a new Linux audio subsystem was developed, and this thing did not work at start but they fixed it later. From that time is my memory.
that’s not true, i use bluetooth headphones regularly to watch videos.
They’re talking about fairphone earbuds… how did you fail to understand that?
I haven’t had that issue fortunately, I use mine to watch video all the time and have had no synchronization issues. Maybe later batches updated the BT modem?
Good of you to share your experience, any idea if this is general consensus or more your specific unit?
Not ideal, but hopefully you just selflessly funded their beta and V2 is stable
