My old ones broke two days ago and I needed new ones. I chose earbuds from NOTHIHG because according to reviews they are really good for the money. Now, their app is asking me to accept this privacy policy. Maybe this policy is just some general place holder for other products because they sell phones too. And they would have browser history there. Or I could use the earbuds without the app. But the default tuning on them is very bass heavy and I need to change that.
I use DNS resolver on my phone with a lot of filters, so this shit will get blocked. I think I will bite the bullet for now but this is probably the last thing I bought from this company.
Why is an app necessary in the first place?
(edit) AH, they went with the classic "it has bass therefore high quality" approach with a little bit of top end sprinkled on. They sure seem to use a lot of post-processing, right after claiming "just how the artist intended". Algorithmic bass boost, equalizer, noise cancellation all running on that tiny little DAC.
I hate technology so much.
An app can be very useful, I use my Bose app to update my headphones' firmware and to manage a few Bluetooth settings.
The app itself isn't the issue, the requested permissions are.
I am an IT guy and let's run through the permissions and see what makes sense...
What I truly hate about these is that they are basically an all/nothing deal, you have to press the button or mark the checkbox to set $EULA_AGREE = $true for the app to work, you can't just agree to parts of the EULA, you have to give them everything they ask for, preferably while looking lovingly into the camera of the phone so they can send the photo to their CEO.
The last part was obviously hyperbol, but thatbis how it feels from time to time...
Bose headphone owner + IT guy here,
their app is filled to the brim with spyware last time I checked!
Uninstalled it immediately after de-compiling and scanning for known trackers with ClassyShark3xodus.
No regrets, the headphones work perfectly well without that stupid app!
"tech enthusiast" vs "IT guy" in a nutshell.
Tech enthusiast: a little privacy breach is okay, as a treat for the headphones I already paid them money for. It's not their fault their app wants to know these things. It's mostly all good.
IT guy: shoot it 417 times after you uninstall it to make sure it's truly no longer on your phone.
Side story: I forgot my good earbuds at home one day and decided I didn't want to hear tools all day, so I bought a new pair at the store I was working at that day. 2 minutes later I'm at the counter again to return them because they wanted me to download an app and wouldn't pair without it. Bought a $1 pack of earplugs instead.
All the big apps are the same shit. The Sony app for wf and wh 1000xm3 have the same distopia conditions on the terms.
Oh yeah I know!
Lately I aim to only install FOSS apps from F-Droid for that reason.
If no F-Droid app available / only Play Store, then I always scan them with ClassyShark3xodus against trackers.
If they're filled with trackers (very likely) and not absolutely nessecary for my daily workflow, I uninstall them immediately.
Currently about 75% of my apps come from F-Droid, and hope to only increase that percentage! :)
Install on old phone
Setup equalizer
Never touch app ever again
I know that there was a big hubub about the app reporting what songs you listened to, to be fair that isn't that terrible as it gives them data about how to tune new headphones.
As for anything else, I don't have the knowledge or experience to determine if an app is spying on me outside of the permission requests.
I am on an iPhone and checked, bose didn't need my location, that is at least something....
No, it absolutely does not.
Why in the world would you need to update your headphones' firmware in the first place?
Getting rid of bugs?
I have noticed that from time to time, my Bose QC35 II may suddenly loose the clarity of the sound, a restart solves it but It is annoying, this could probably be a thing to be patched in a new firmware release.
That is absolutely wild to me that there are people out there with software bugs in their headphones. The few BT headphones I've used just connect and stream audio without much to mess up. But 95% of the time I'm rocking out with some wired cans.
Thanks for the response!
Why buy the ZSN when you could buy the AE01, AS10, AS10 Pro, AS12, AS16, AS16 Pro, AS16 Pro X, AS24, AS24 Pro, ASF, AST, ASX, BTE, Carol, Castor, Castor Pro, x Crinacle CRN, D-Fi, Dawn, DQ6, DQS, E10, ED, EDA, ED4, ED9, EDC, EDC Pro, EDCX, EDS, EDX, EDX Lite, EDX Pro, EDX Pro X, EDX Ultra, EDXS, ESX, GP20, H10, x HBB DQ6S, Krila, Libra, Ling Long, Merga, PR1, PR1 Pro, x HBB PR2, PR3, PRX, S1, S1D, S2, SA08, SA08 Pro, Saga, SK10, SK10 Pro, SKS, Sonata, Symphony, T10, Vader, VX10, VXS, VXS Pro, XTRA, Z1, Z1 Pro, Z3, ZAR, ZAS, ZAT, ZAX, ZES, ZEX, ZEX Pro, ZNA, ZS10 Pro, ZS10 Pro 2, ZS10 Pro X, ZS12 Pro X, ZS3, ZS3E, ZS4, ZSN Pro, ZSN Pro 2, ZSN Pro X, ZST X, ZSX, ZSX Pro, ZVX, or ZVX Pro?
“Get these instead” “links to out of stock headphones”
jk I’ve heard those are good. I also highly endorse returning to wired headphones. I got one set of wireless earbuds (sony xm3) and while wireless is nice the battery longevity sure isn’t. Thankfully changing the battery is easy on these but it’s a proprietary battery that’s expensive and impossible to buy through legit channels. And good luck if you have airpods or whatever, it’s technically possible but a goddamn nightmare to change that battery
For full headphones I still use my hd600s from like 2003, the marbled ones they don’t make anymore, and yet my wireless headphones that cost almost the same price 20 years later would die after 20 minutes making them useless.
The hd600s aren’t great for like doing stuff outside or moving around but I do use them wirelessly with a Bluetooth dac. The battery in that has lasted a few years because it’s not extremely tiny to fit in an iem and when it does die (I assume) it’s just a basic lipo pack or maybe an 18650 (or similar) that’s much easier and cheaper to source
Wired headphones are the way to go for sure, assuming the wire and pads are easily replaceable (which is basically always the case unless they’re so cheap they’re considered disposable). I can’t ever imagine paying hundreds for headphones that rely on a battery again unless battery technology changes significantly
That' one reason why I can respect Sony's WH-1000 series (that's the over-the-ear Bluetooth ones). They have a headphone jack so you can use them as regular headphones with a male-to-male cable. That can extend their useful life by a bit. So it's not all doom and gloom on the Bluetooth front.
I am getting rapidly disillusioned with "true wireless" earbuds, though. Far too fiddly and breaky. I had fewer issues with cable telephony than with TWS touch controls.
Does that power them?
and for what’s it’s worth the earbud equivalent of those is what I was referencing. at least for the xm3 variant the batteries are pretty simple to change out at least. I wish they had gone with a cell that was cheaper and easier to obtain but that’s also partially on the actual battery vendors who refuse to sell directly to consumers or even to parts distributors like mouser or digikey and will only sell in huge volumes to vendors like sony or whoever.
In the land of Bluetooth in ear headphones they’re definitely one of the most repairable models out there, but I just don’t think it’s worth bothering when a cable isn’t that big of a deal and you can still ultimately make cabled headphones wireless in a way that will usually result in headphones that last exponentially longer
The cable for the audio doesn't power them. In that mode the noise cancelling also doesn't work. So it's really useful but you lose features using the cable. But I think the mic works. Although it sucks anyway.
Love my ZSN Pro X buds, but unfortunately the adhesive holding em together isn't fantastic. I've had to hit it with solvents on multiple occasions because it'd leaked out melting adhesive.
Let me tell you, pulling your buds out only for them to be sticky is not a fun experience xD
100% KZ with Bluetooth...best cheap amazing headphones I've ever owned. They're my daily drivers
Are there any good BT adapters that you know of? And do they have ANC?
Cheap and good ANC? Nah. I really hate saying this, but if you want good wireless with active noise cancelling, consider Apple. The new airpods are said to be the best.
Otherwise, try in-ear monitors, and try getting large silicone ear dinguses that performers use during concerts.
Get a pair of IEMs with great passive noise cancelling qualities, like etymotics.
Pair those with a qudelix 5k.
Problem solved.
$20 ANC is gonna be difficult (or impossible), maybe a used pair?
I meant a bt adapter that can make wired headphones have ANC. I don't think I mentioned a low price though.
ah yeah i got confused. it would be physically impossible for a bluetooth adapter to make headphones perform as if they have hardware that they don't have. so i thought you were referring to the $20 headphones as having ANC.
here is a great explanation of how ANC works: https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/audio-music/noise-canceling-headphone3.htm
but tldr is that you need a microphone on each ear and good circuitry to calculate the exact noise canceling frequencies to play.
KZ ZSN looks cool, but I am mostly listening to audiobooks while on the job, and the cable with Bluetooth adapter will get in my way a lot. But I will keep them in mind for some other use.
Run the cable under your clothes and it will stop getting in the way. I regularly use IEMs with a Bluetooth adapter in my pocket and its fine this way.
People have forgotten the old ways.
Bluetooth ear hooks are also available