Sound Surround — My speakers, headphones & earbuds.

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Timi’s Backpack

8 min readApr 23, 2020

I was considering writing a separate review for each of these devices but given that I haven’t written any such thing since December 2018, I couldn’t trust myself to follow through with that plan.

Instead, what you’re gonna get is a mashup style review of every single device I use to output sound.

Speakers

HomePod

The HomePod isn’t the only speaker in my home but it’s the only one we’ve been using for almost 2 years. That’s because it excels in certain, important aspects:

The sound is amazing. It’s obviously impressive for it’s size and when you pair two (which we sometimes do) for stereo sound, it’s magical. The bass doesn’t even get annoying when the volume is maxed out. It’s just very loud, very crisp sound. I can’t say I can audibly notice any changes to the sound when it’s positioned differently or moved to a different space but I’m willing to bet that my inability to pick that up is a sign that it’s working perfectly.
Beaming music to your HomePod from your macOS, iOS or tvOS devices (without using Siri) is straightforward and intuitive with AirPlay once everything is all on the same WiFi.
The mics are pretty good. Standing across the room and telling it turn down the music or to shut up entirely isn’t a shouting match even when music is really loud.

However, for anything other thing except listening to music or podcasts with fantastic sound quality, the HomePod is honestly not that great.

Siri is still Siri. It’s very difficult to get into that without elongating this post unnecessarily.
There’s always an annoying almost 1 second wait between when you click “play” on any content you’re playing and when it starts playing.
Using Siri + HomeKit (or Siri Shorcuts) to control my smart home devices (smart light bulbs, IR controller for my air conditioner) is a hit or miss. I’m not sure if it’s Siri’s fault, the HomePod’s fault, iOS’s fault or my Nigerian accent’s fault. I just remember having less issues with this when I mostly used the Google Home.

However, it does seem like a lot my issues with the HomePod can be fixed with software updates, if Apple ever elects to do so.

Also, if you live in Nigeria and don’t plan to very frequently clean your HomePod, do not buy the white one. My white one is now quite the mess and I can’t think of any way to clean it really well without risking water damage.

The HomePod now retails at $299 (down from $349).

B&O Beoplay P2

These are tiny portable speakers that I pretty much only use when I travel (or like not sleeping in my own home). Very portable, decent sound and a pretty good (10 hour) battery.

It gets surprisingly loud for it’s size and it’s really light (275g). It has this little strap that I like to use to hang it on my wrist (or pretty much anywhere in the entire hotel room) while listening to podcasts as I get ready for the day.

I don’t use it often though, but I’m always glad it exists whenever I need it.

The only annoying thing is the power/pairing button. It’s not a button, it’s just a softer section on the back of the thing. It can be a bit stressful to press and hold when you’re trying to pair something.

Oh and it charges via USB C. This is always great. The dream of only taking a USB C charger everywhere is becoming a reality.

This retails at $175.

Earbuds

AirPods Pro

I honestly couldn’t believe how much better than the regular AirPods the Pros are. You can read my 2017 review of the first generation AirPods here. They’re better in literally almost every way:

I didn’t think it was possible for there to be this much of a reduction in the physical size of the AirPods. The regular AirPods now kinda look comically huge to me.
The sound. It’s much better sound than you’d think is actually possible with buds that small. It has added a bit more confusion to my life when I have to decide whether to use headphones (and which headphones to use) because the sound quality is actually good. Of course, it isn’t as good as any of the over-ear cans I use but it’s good enough that combined with the fact it’s extremely lightweight (none of that headphones pressure or weight), it’s a really solid contender.
Noise cancellation. Lmfao. Man. I don’t know what to tell you, it actually bloody works. It works so surprisingly well, it makes no sense. Again, not as good as with over-ears (because those literally cover your ears), but definitely better than anything with this form factor. I rarely ever use the “transparency mode” because I rarely ever want to hear things from my surroundings while listening to something, but it comes in pretty handy sometimes.
It’s also noticeably faster at connecting to/switching devices than even the 2nd Generation AirPods (which was actually noticeably faster than the first). Battery life is about the same but I think it degrades slower than the older AirPods (I can’t be certain but it feels that way).

There are only two things I don’t like about the AirPods Pro. For one, I generally don’t like buds that need to go into my ear at all. ANY rubber protrusion that’s intended to exist in my inner ear is bound to annoy me somewhat. Fortunately, the Pros rubber tips aren’t that “long” and there’s a smaller sized one in the box. Not perfect as I often reach out to “adjust” it whenever I’m running but totally worth it.

The other thing is that sometimes, when I want to go for a run with just my Apple Watch & AirPods, it just won’t connect till I restart the watch. It’s very possible (even likely) that this is a Watch problem but I don’t remember having this issue with any of the previous generation AirPods.

The AirPods Pro is just amazing. I use it mostly for workouts (running, tennis etc) & 90% of all phone calls. Sometimes at airports whenever I’m in motion/walking. Other times when I just don’t want the weight of over-ear headphones on my head.

The AirPods Pro are going for $250

Over Ear Headphones

I use these when mostly when I’m working and I want to block everything out. Also very often on (long) flights – the AirPods Pro are sometimes not enough to completely drown out certain engines or crying kids.

I never use headphones with the headphone jack. Always wireless.

Bose Quiet Comfort 35 I

I’ve had these for a while, probably since 2017 (maybe even earlier). They sound great, noise cancellation is fantastic and they’re mostly quite comfortable.

They’ve been pretty reliable thus far. The battery was once great and it’s still pretty good. The volume control buttons (and noise cancellation switch) are easy to find and have enough tactile feedback that you’re always sure when you’ve pressed something.

They also connect to multiple devices and you don’t need to do anything to switch. Just start playing music from your MacBook and that’ll start playing. Done working? Close your computer and start playing jams from your iPhone. It just works.

I have a pair of these in the office all the time, so that I don’t always have to remember to bring headphones in.

I only have two problems with these:

After a while, the ear pads start to wear out. I’m sure this is something that happens to all headphones with these kinds of pads/cushions.
Even in its most expanded form, it starts to get a little tight for me if I’ve had them on for a couple of hours.

These are now ~$200. It’s selling at $185 (refurbished) on the Bose website right now but they don’t seem to be selling any new units.

Bose Quiet Comfort 35 II

These aren’t that different from the previous generation, they even look exactly alike. A few differences though:

Better battery life, maybe by like an hour or two.
A dedicated Google Assistant (or Siri) button. I never use this. I forget that it’s even there.
This one was a special gift so it’s actually custom painted by colorware in my favourite colours (red & black) and it has the word “timigod” on it. I’m definitely sentimentally attached to them.

Custom Colorware Bose QuietComfort 35 II

I used to use these a lot everywhere else outside the office: when I’m working at home, flights etc.

But these days, they’ve become a sort of backup headphones. I put them in my backpack because its carrying case is much smaller than that of what has now taken its place.

These are going for $299 right now. At the time, the headphones + the custom colorware job cost $500.

Surface Headphones

Microsoft did a great job. I love what they did with these cans.

I like the design a lot. Very clean, simple, lines and that light grey is just sweet. The actual ear covers are bigger than the QC’s and band is more stretchy. It’s generally more comfortable for me to use for long periods of time.
The sound is great. I don’t think it’s better than the QC’s though.
Battery life is so good. I rarely ever kill the battery of this thing and it charges quite fast.
Noise cancellation is good too. Again, not better than the QC but still good.
I like what they did with the volume & noise cancellation control dials on the side. You can actually adjust how much noise cancellation you want. I never use this feature though because I’m an extremist lmao – it’s either I want to hear things happening around me (no headphones) or I don’t want to hear y’all at all.
It also connects to multiple devices like the QC does and switches pretty seamlessly.
It stops playback whenever you take them off and continues whenever you put them back on. But this doesn’t always work. It feels great when it does though.
It’s USB C. It has definitely gotten to the point where I need everything to be USB C. Yes, even the iPhone (though that’s not happening).

The only thing I don’t like about these are the play/pause controls. The flat part of the ear covers are touch sensitive so it’s very easy to trigger play/pause when you don’t intend to. I also always have to remember to turn these off when I take them off because I might brush against the touch sensitive surface, unknowingly start playing music and reduce how much battery life I have for when I want to use it.