AirPods are Amazing.

I got some AirPods recently. I got the 2nd-gen model (not the Pros), and I love them. I know I’m not the first person on the internet to gush about AirPods, but I have a blog and what’s the point of it if I can’t talk about things I like?

And I really like AirPods.

I’ve used cheap Bluetooth headphones before. They mostly sucked. Pairing is a pain, the controls are inconsistent and don’t always work as expected. Plus moving between devices is an awful experience. They sound pretty good, though, and are really cheap.

I’ve also used some more expensive, wired headphones. Both pairs I’ve had sound fantastic, but are bulky and tethered. Also while the pairs I’ve used are not noise-cancelling, they do isolate me from the world quite a bit. I don’t always want that. In fact, more often than not, I don’t want that.

I’ve also used Apple’s EarPods (the ones that come with iPhones and iPads). I actually like them. They sound good enough and are comfortable enough. Plus the remote always works and they are easy to come by. I think I have at least 3 sets somewhere in my house, plus another in my laptop bag.

But AirPods. Just so good. Here’s why:

• Bluetooth, but not shit. Pairing them with an iPhone or iPad is a breeze. Plus they are smart about knowing when to connect and disconnect because they know when they are in your ear.
  • Related to that, they also know how to correctly report their battery status. My previous Bluetooth earbuds would always stay at 100% for a while, drop to ~80%, then spontaneously die.
• Speaking of knowing when they are in your ear, that opens up some fun things they can do. The best is automatically pausing when one side is removed, and automatically resuming when put back in.
• Auto-routing both channels of audio to one ear when only one AirPod is being used. I spend most of my day with only one AirPod in since I like to be able to hear what is going on around me. This sucked with normal earbuds (and more with headphones) since stereo mixes would mean I lose various instruments in songs. But AirPods can switch to mono when you only have one in. It’s perfect.
  • Plus, it’s really satisfying when it switches back to stereo automatically when the other one is put back in.
• Easy device switching. Ok, only between iOS devices, but that’s where I listen anyway. Also I don’t love the tiny icon in Control Center on iOS to choose where the audio goes. It’s better than buried in Bluetooth settings, but not perfect.

AirPods are something I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone with an iPhone or iPad. So long as you don’t hate the fit of the standard EarPods, you’ll love AirPods.