

Apple Headphone, Camera Patents Reveal Obsession With Design Details  - jrwoodruff
http://www.fastcompany.com/1690956/headphone-camera-patents-reveal-apples-obsession-with-design-detail?partner=homepage_newsletter

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TrevorJ
I wish this obsession carried over to the UX of some of the more recent
software, most notably the new itunes. I'm floored with how many clicks it
takes to purchase something in the itunes store these days :(

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stcredzero
Then how about making earpods/headsets that don't suck and fall apart? (To be
fair, I've heard that the Apple in-ear ones are decent, at least to start.)

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cstross
Apple's in-ear phones are indeed vastly better than the default earbuds -- in
fact, they compare favourably with similarly-priced offerings from Shure and
Etymotic, and are competitive on price.

I suspect Apple's standard "free" earbuds are actually deliberately bad
because they're intended to upsell the customer on a better pair of earphones
-- and a customer who's buying in an Apple store will of course be exposed to
Apple's in-ear phones as a possible upgrade.

(Full disclosure: I use a pair of Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10's which kick the
shit out of the Apple ear canal phones ... on the other hand, they're a lot
more expensive. In the sub-$100 earphone range, the Apple in-ear phones are
fine.)

~~~
stcredzero
I have a pair of Etymotic ER4P's. <http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er4.aspx>

They are truly reference-class equipment. (My Brain-Age2 word-discrimination
score would jump a whopping amount just by using those!) I don't use them
unless I'm on a plane, though. In-ear is just too much effort/overhead for me.

These Sennheisers had decent sound and folded up to fit in a dandy little
case. However, my girlfriend at the time told me that they look so dorky, she
didn't want to be seen in public with me wearing them.
<http://amzn.com/B001NZ8PHQ>

Then I told her that there's even better sounding headphones (non-iPhone) in
the same price range that look even dorkier. She didn't believe me until I
sent her the link. <http://amzn.com/B00001P4ZH>

Apple needs to solve the headphone/headset design problem!

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Groxx
That last one does deserve a 'wow'. There's just something about them that
makes me say 'no'.

Grados, on the other hand, are full of gooey retro goodness:
<http://www.gradolabs.com/product_pages/rs1.htm> I have an 80, and it's
amazing how many random music geeks will start talking to you just because you
have them on.

Since you've used some: have a recommended starting point for Etymotics? I've
been looking for something isolating to complement the I-can-hear-that-ant-
tapdancing-through-my-music of the Grados.

~~~
stcredzero
A coworker of mine had the made-for-iPod Etymotics. (6i) The build quality
wasn't even half as good as my ER4's. The ER4's are really robust. I can't
imagine them wearing out, ever! The 6i's are an old model, though. I don't
know what the newer ones are like.

I bought my sister some bluetooth Etymotics which are no longer made. She
really liked those. I also have an Ety.com headset, which is really good at
what it does. (Allows you to have a phone conversation in really noisy
environments.)

My advice: try some from a store with a really good return policy. They are
not for everyone. Also, I'd just buy the ER4's, unless you want an iPhone
headset. They are a very good in-ear phone with superb isolation, especially
if you are sitting still, and you can use them to do serious sound work.

I've bought mine from <http://www.headphone.com/>. (Not affiliated with them
in any way.)

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Groxx
Another question then, if you don't mind:

I (apparently) have rather large ear canals, and a _lot_ of in-ears don't seal
properly. I've had the worst luck with the triple-flange style. As such, I
kind of need something with larger sizes than normal, and / or get something
custom molded (which I'm seriously considering). Know a good place to look for
any of that?

~~~
stcredzero
Etymotic has a custom in-ear mold voucher program, which costs $100. You can
also look up the Make DIY instructions, which uses a $12 kit.

<http://makeprojects.com/Project/Custom-Fit-Earbuds/199/1>

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InclinedPlane
Every company has engineers who obsess over every tiny design detail. The
trick is having a management structure that allows the good ideas to flourish
without getting swamped by all the impractical or unhelpful ideas.

This is an incredibly difficult problem which is itself composed of several
incredibly difficult problems (related to corporate culture, hiring,
promotions, process, etc, etc.) The difficulty of this is easy to see when you
compare the fit and finish of the average piece of software or hardware on the
market, for example. Most are just agglomerations of feature-sets that have
been whacked with a mallet until they fit together roughly and hit with a bit
of sandpaper to take off a few of the biggest splinters and sharp corners.

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protomyth
"Obsession with Design Details" lead to high profits.

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edwincheese
However many management people believed that customers don't care design
details and it can't sell

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gloob
It is worth noting that, as evidenced by the fact that (e.g.) Toshiba still
sells plenty of computers, many customers really don't care that much about
design details. No doubt there are many who do, and no doubt there is a third
group that vacillates back and forth depending upon what seems trendy that
year or what their friends have or whatever.

~~~
protomyth
Some of the "no design still sells" can be attributed to "corporate buyer
doesn't care about people using what buyer is buying".

// I should say that Toshiba does have some good design in some of their
products

