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I know, I’m late.
I know. I know, the Apple Airpods came out in 2016. I know that there’s a Gen 2 that came out in 2018. I, however, was not in a place financially to buy the airpods when they came out. I also was not a fan of the design, because for the past few years, I’ve only rocked over the ear headphones. The airpods older brother, the earpods, didn’t stay in my ears and I figured the airpods wouldn’t either. It’s a new day. I was wrong. Let me explain.
Affordable at last
So let’s start with my first problem, the price. I was not about to shell out $200 for earphones when I wasn’t a fan of the design and didn’t know whether they would stay in my ears or not. I could have easily spent that money on a nicer pair of Bose, Beats, Sony, or hell even Skullcandy headphones where I know I’m going to enjoy my listening experience.
When Gen 2 was released last year, I knew the price on the Gen 1 would drop. This alone made them slightly more appealing. I didn’t need all the cool new features of the Gen 2 if I didn’t care for Gen 1. To make this even more appealing, AT&T allows you to finance them and add the cost to your cell phone bill for, get this, $13/mo.
All these things fit together at a time where it made sense to try them out, so my wife bought me these as a surprise. She didn’t spend an arm and a leg. She’s spending $13 a month and if we don’t want them on our bill anymore, we can just pay the difference.
Working with the design
My next problem with the airpods was the design. Like I mentioned earlier, the earpods didn’t exactly stay in my ears. Nevermind the wires, they just would not grip to the inside of my ear.
Well, my brother got some airpods and I mentioned that I was interested in getting some. He let me try his and to my surprise, they stayed in pretty well. I walked around. I bumped my ear. I even did a shake test and the airpods stayed in my ear.
I also did some research to get little grip pieces to help them stay in my ear in the off chance that they decide to fall out. So far so good.
Ok, Let’s talk about sound
Now that I’ve addressed my two biggest concerns let’s get to the actual point of earphones, the sound. I’ve had the airpods and have been using them as my go to earphones for about 2 weeks. As many reviewers have already mentioned, the sound is just ok.
The sound is better than a super cheap pair of headphones and rivals that of a pair of cheaper Sony earbuds I have. However, they are not noise-canceling at all. I can hear everything around me when they are sitting in my ear with no sound coming through.
Because of the design, they don’t sit in my ear canal entirely. After a minute or two, they become slightly dislodged and sit near my ear canal if that makes sense. Either way, this causes the sound to slightly alter. It’s not bad, I just know it’s not the sound Apple was going for when they designed this earphone. I’m not chalking that up to design, I’m chalking it up to my ear shape.
Overall verdict
I actually enjoy my airpods experience. They are small, light and easy to carry. The connection process is seamless, and I haven’t had any problems at all. They stay in my ear for the most part. I use them at work and in public places where I don’t need the sound to be completely blocked and I’ve enjoyed the experience.
If you’re looking for a nice pair of truly wireless earbuds with decent sound quality and you can afford them, I have no problem recommending the airpods Gen. 1. Even if you have a different shaped ear, there are cheap accessories to help you get the most out of your airpod experience.
