Apple’s AirPods have been insanely popular, and I could never really get my head around this fact. Why? Simple, I found them so uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time that I literally could not use them.
If you’re making headphones, and you know that ears come in all shapes and sizes, surely it makes sense to create a set of headphones with soft, gel-like earbuds? This way they’ll slot nicely into any ear canal?
That’s always been my view of things. But it seems that Apple and Google do not share this sentiment. I’ve been playing with Google’s Pixel Buds for a few weeks now, and to my despair, they have the exact same problem as Apple’s AirPods.
They’re REALLY uncomfortable to wear for prolonged periods of time.
The plastic used in the actual earbuds section is hard and unforgiving and my ears really don’t like this style of material. I’ve tried and tried, but they simply will not get used to them.
After about 30 minutes, I get this dull ache inside my ears and have to remove them. Again, this leads me to my original point: had Google used a soft, gel-like material, a material that moulded to the shape of your ear canal, the Pixel Buds would be infinitely better.
Another benefit of this type of design is that it cuts out tons of exterior noise and, as a result, improves the overall listening experience. As it stands, there is a lot of leakage when listening to music and the sound never really feels immersive – and that’s not good for a £160 pair of headphones.
The sound quality is decent enough, mind, and I do like the overall design of the Pixel Buds, save for the hard, unforgiving material the actual buds are made from, as well as how it interacts with my phone via Google Assistant.
But ALL of this is made redundant when you can’t wear them for longer than 30 minutes without getting an achy ear :(
I much prefer my over-ear HAMMO Wireless headphones.
by rgoodwin via Featured Articles
Posts
No comments: