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Comment by jonplackett | Hacker News Reader

Haven’t noticed any difference. They’re still my absolute favourite bit of technology I’ve bought in ages, despite their ridiculous price tag.

You’re not buying headphones. You’re buying control of what goes in (or not) of your ears ALL DAY LONG.

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>You’re not buying headphones.

Yeah, I actually expect my headphones to last more than two years.

The way is see it is like the famous quote about cameras - the best one is the one you have with you.

I can always have my AirPods with me with no effort. They’re in my pocket with the same certainty as my keys, wallet and phone. Unlike headphones where I need to have a bag to carry them, and there’s enough power in the case to get me through most of the week.

That’s what I mean by all day long, not literally every hour of the day but whenever I want them, I’ve got them ready to go.

That doesn’t answer the 2 year lifespan concern

I’m quite sure one uses airpods more during those two years than some over the ear headphones during their whole lifetime.

Yeah you’re right sorry. Replied to the wrong thread.

I guess I just don’t care. I’d rather have them and actually use them (unlike previous headphones I’ve had which I leave at home and forget about) and if I just have to get some more in a few years then so be it. Worth the trade.

If you have Apple care plus, you may just exchange the AirPods at some point during second year of wearing.

You’re assuming that they are only good for two years. It is true that they are tiny electronics with tiny batteries and some people have reported them dying after two years, but in my experience they don’t all. My AirPods gen1 were 2.5 years old when I replaced them with AirPods Pro and they were still good for about 80% of the original play time. I gifted them to my sister who is using them and has had no problems.

I use these for several hours per day and get plenty of use and enjoyment out of them. If they did die after two years, I’d say I got my money’s worth out of them and buy another pair.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MDR-EX15LP-In-Ear-Headphones-P...

I've had a pair of these for the last 3 or 4 years - I've used them several hours a day (running, walking, working etc.) continuously and they're still perfect (for my ears at least). They've definitely been through the washing machine twice, possibly more.

What do you recommend for durable headphones that are useable for many years?

Koss Porta Pros. They're cheap, portable (light and fold well), good sound, lifetime warranty.

Provides no isolation.

Serious question from somebody who actually does wear noise-cancelling headphones all day: how do you deal with battery life? Isn't it like 4 hours or something in that range?

Believe it's 4 hours. I have a pair and always find time during the day to recharge them if need be. Usually lunch is a good time to put them back in the case.

Yes, it's annoying if you want to listen back to back to two joe rogan podcasts. But maybe it's not that unhealthy to remove them from the ears every now and then, so the ear canal doesn't stay to sweaty. But yeah, it's a trade off. You get from 0 to 70% in 15 min. if you put them in the case to mitigate it, though.

You're right, listening that long to Joe Rogan can't be healthy.

Not using apple's, but my bose's QC 20 have about 15 hours of battery life. Their fully bluetooth model has about 8-10 hours. It doesn't have the "cool" factor of having two separate ear-pieces without wire between them, but it can handle a full day of work or a europe -> asia flight without having to recharge and that's more important to me.

A perspective from for whom no cable is life changing.

I have very sensitive ears and I always found the cable getting caught on something, even a minimal one just behind the head, pulling down on my ears which is a very unpleasant experience for me.

I can listen to an audiobook as I’m falling asleep with just one earbud in and no cables in my face. Being able to use just one at a time without having to tuck a cable into my shirt or down my collar which always comes out is fantastic in general.

I’m very active and being able to have two little pieces of plastic that I can tuck into a case with no cable in my pocket is very nice when my headphones go in and out of my pocket all day. Even the minimal wire on wire conneted bluetooth buds means careful wrap and store or risk cable strain from tangling in my pocket w/ my wallet keys phone etc.

I personally find connected wireless headphones to be the worst of all worlds, you still have most of the problems that come with a cable wrapped around your head brings and with all the downsides of wireless.

And you're absolutely right to pick what works best for you

For me battery life is a much more important and impactful factor

I use them all day long but obviously throughout the day at times I need to have them out of my ears to have conversations, during which I might even move from a room to another, and the ability to just have them dangle around my neck and have it there immediately when done is a superior experience

I might be lucky but I literally never have had the wire between two earpiece suffer cable strain, then again all my BT earpieces have been higher quality models with a good build quality

Also and like some of the things you listed it is purely personnal preference but the linking cable between the two pieces makes it feel more stable and safe to me

When they go down to about 10% and I still need to listen to something, I take one out and let it charge for 15 minutes which takes it to over 75% for me, repeat for the other and I’m done with no downtime and a mono experience for 30 mins.

In practice I don’t have to do that very often because when I’m not using them I’ll put them back in the case for a bit.

Good to know, thanks. I didn't think they'd charge that fast.

For all the other commenters asking, I do have noise canceling headphones right now and yes they last for > 20 hours so it's not a concern unless I forget to charge them because I'm an idiot.

Any noise-cancelling headphones or these specific noise-cancelling headphones? Because I own a pair of noise-cancelling headphones that have a 30-ish hour battery life.

Reading this I picture it being trivially easy to adjust the "volume" of the outside world. As if it's just another volume slider on my phone. Now that would be amazing to have.

My Bose QC20 from 4 years ago have a specific function for this in their noise cancellation (so eg you can ear and talk with the flight attendant for your food, while still having strong noise cancellation of other things like plane engine noise).

So not only what you're talking about is entirely possible, you can also have it done by type/frequency of noises.

Certainly knew it was possible but I didn't know if it was on the market. That's really cool and I'll check it out.

Not sure I want to attenuate different frequencies as much as I just want to reduce the volume of my kids.

If you check the QC20 (3.5 jack) or the QC30 (bluetooth) on google images, the side button on the remote/control pad switches between full cancellation and "cancel everything but voices".

My Sony MDR-1000Xs do the same thing. Also if you hold your hand over the ear piece, it temporarily puts it in passthrough mode so you can talk to people without removing your headphones.

Noise cancelling cans can kinda do that already... but they usually only have on/off for 'conversation mode' (ie, when someone is trying to speak to you)

None of these things that people are saying are the feature I want. I want a volume slider.

QC35 (not an ina-ear but a full blown headpiece) offers half mode, where noise cancellation is only at half level. Enough to not be distracted by the noises, yet also enough to ear that your kids are still playing in the next room.

Many stores will let you try them before you buy, so you check if it does what you want.

They literally do this. Not with much precision but you just squeeze them and you can talk to the shop assistant or whoever and have a chat. Another squeeze and it’s all so calm again. I commute on London every day and I tell you I feel so much more relaxed with the noise cancelling on.

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