
Apple AirPods satisfaction at a remarkable 98% for customers - Cherian_Abraham
http://www.experian.com/blogs/insights/2017/05/experian-airpods-survey/
======
tedmiston
> New Experian survey explores consumer satisfaction with AirPods and other
> voice-first hardware

> Conversational user interfaces are now mainstream.

I really like my AirPods, but... this is a strange comment to make about them.
The Siri integration / audio controls is the most awkward part of using
AirPods. Honestly really hoping they revisit in v2.

~~~
minimaxir
If you have an Apple Watch, you can control audio/volume from there. (having
the Now Playing complication helps too)

~~~
tedmiston
I don't have a watch myself... I've been pulling out my iPhone and doing all
of the controls there.

Not sure if my AirPods are defective, but I'm getting a successful detection
from a tap on the AirPod sensor maybe 1/3 of the time.

~~~
MBCook
Mine are about 100%, but it does seem to require a decent little thunk. You
can't just touch it. I've heard people say they don't like it because it feels
uncomfortable in your ear when you hit it hard enough. It doesn't bother me
but I'm not going to say it feels _good_.

I don't think it's capacitive, I think it's based on the little chip's gyro
sensor.

~~~
nardi
Just to be sure—you're both doing a double tap, right? It has to be a double
tap. Mine responds just fine unless I hit it weird, which has only happened a
couple of times.

~~~
tedmiston
Yeah, looks like I wasn't thunking it hard enough. I was tapping it with the
force of a tap to click trackpad.

------
smnscu
I don't doubt the ergonomics are amazing, but it's somewhat surprising to me
that people are happy with such mediocre audio performance.

~~~
pwthornton
Audio quality on them is average, not bad, but their strengths balance out
those weaknesses. In particular, I find myself using headphones more often now
because I always keep these in my pocket. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and
podcasts with them.

Apple AirPods are the real deal. Best new Apple product in years.

~~~
burke
I'm sad that Beats was the one headphone brand that Apple ended up purchasing
when they wanted to expand that space. B&O felt like a natural synergy for
them too.

I would _love_ to be able to buy better-sounding AirPods under an Apple/B&O
label.

~~~
derefr
Apple didn't buy a headphone maker for expertise at making headphones that
sound good. Apple Stores _sell_ headphones from any number of brands—including
B&O—so there's nothing to gain by making their _own_ headphones more
audiophile-friendly. They still make money off of other companies' audiophile-
targeted headphones, without having to actually design and produce any.

Instead, Apple bought the headphone maker whose products make money through a
combination of visually-distinct brand-recognition and a high level of "fit
and finish"—the same way their own hardware does. Beats slots into Apple's
product-design paradigm as naturally as if they had created the brand
themselves.

~~~
MBCook
There's a pretty good argument they bought Beats for the music service (and
it's people and relationships), which they turned into/merged with Apple
music. They seem to have left the headphone business alone (other than giving
one kind of Beats have the same chipset that the AirPods have).

~~~
derefr
> They seem to have left the headphone business alone

Well, why wouldn't they? Going by my argument, it was already being done "the
way they would have done it."

It's like moving in with someone who already has the same cleaning habits that
you do: you can just leave them alone and trust them to do the right thing,
and then be happy with the results.

~~~
MBCook
Apple has never really bought something and left it alone before. While the
Beats headphone brand was good, some people wondered if they would change it
somehow. "Beats presented by Apple" or something like that. Start putting
their logo on the product, etc.

I'm not saying it would be a smart idea. I think Apple did the right thing.
But Apple couple years ago may well have made a change like that.

------
primitivesuave
I can't get the damn things to stay in my ears if I'm doing any physical
activity beyond brisk walking. Working out in them is out of the question, so
I'm still using my regular bluetooth headphones, and I looked quite comical
running to catch the train with both hands over my ears so they wouldn't fall
out. I'm surprised only 1 out of every 50 people who bought Airpods are
experiencing similar dissatisfaction.

~~~
ForrestN
Mine have never fallen out, even when running or jumping or leaning over. Do
apple's wired earbuds fall out of your ears? Seems like this varies by body.

~~~
primitivesuave
That's a good point, I hadn't researched into this and it seems like there are
solutions out there for ear shapes that don't conform well to Apple
headphones.

[https://appadvice.com/post/airpods-dont-
fit/732275](https://appadvice.com/post/airpods-dont-fit/732275)

~~~
tedmiston
The covers are a cool idea, and I think I'll end up getting the ones that look
like Bose tips.

That said, the friction that they add by being too bulky to fit in the case
makes any of these half-baked at best. The case is such a core part of what
differentiates AirPods. Having to keep track of and put on / take off covers
all the time sort of kills the magic.

IMO it's really a problem Apple should solve, or at least accommodate as
opposed to leaving up to a hacky third party solution.

------
ChildOfChaos
AirPods are amazing. Best Apple product launch since the original iPhone.

------
MBCook
I'd love to know why they're _still_ being sold at a 6 week delay. Tim Cook is
really good at operations stuff, and this isn't like Apple. They certainly
know the demand is there by now.

Seems like the only possibilities are some sort of part shortage (maybe it's
really hard to get those tiny batteries) or a very high defect rate (there
were rumors of that around launch).

I wonder how long this will last.

------
aphextron
To any of they naysayers, I'd say survey the competition for AirPods. They are
far beyond anything else available in terms of ergonomics and battery life for
wireless earbuds. Audio quality is less of an issue in the first place if
you're talking about Bluetooth anyways. Audiophiles should stick with wired.

~~~
kemayo
They're also, at least as of a month or so ago when I last looked, fairly low-
priced for their product category.

If you want a "true wireless" headphone (and, from personal experience with
these, I find it quite compelling), you're not going to pay much less than
Apple's price. I think the cheapest I've seen is $150, and that's lacking the
Apple polish.

------
bobsam
I'm confused, is this a new kind of blogspam?

~~~
Obi_Juan_Kenobi
It's 100% an add for Experian services/data.

It is interesting that the product is well-received, but obviously the post is
light on details and could be a lot better.

~~~
notatoad
Of course it is, every single post on every company blog is marketing. That's
how the internet works.

------
pwthornton
Apple AirPods are the real deal. Best new Apple product in years.

------
Nullabillity
And suddenly Apple's usual marketing strategy makes a whole lot more sense.

Price it high enough that nobody who has to care about money would buy it, and
make it crappy enough that nobody who cares about quality would buy it.

And, apparently, it seems the people who aren't filtered by that will say
anything is the second coming of christ as long as it comes in a shiny enough
box.

~~~
eridius
> _make it crappy enough that nobody who cares about quality would buy it._

This is a remarkably bizarre thing to say in response to a 98% customer
satisfaction rating.

~~~
polotics
I do not find it bizarre, we are talking about 98% of the customers who
actually bought the product, despite its low sound quality.

~~~
eridius
Your theory relies on nearly 100% of consumers having a priori knowledge about
the quality of the product, sufficient to decide if they want to purchase it
or not _without having actually tried it yet_.

Also, if your theory was true, then why does any product anywhere have a less
than near-perfect satisfaction rating? If consumers can have magical knowledge
about AirPods, why can't they have the same knowledge about all the other
products they purchase?

And finally, the sound quality isn't bad. It's better than earbuds. If you're
comparing it to a high-end pair of headphones, sure, it's not going to be as
good, but if you're comparing it to products in the same category as AirPods
then it holds up pretty well.

------
pklausler
My office has some really noisy people, so I wear my AirPods under a set of
big ugly 3M ear protector 30dB earmuffs. Works great!

~~~
meursault334
This is a case where these might actually make sense for me. I hadn't thought
about the lack of cord making them more usable underneath hearing protection.

Any experience with my number one reason not for buying them which is the fear
of losing them?

~~~
post_break
Why not get the Bose QC35s then? Much longer battery life, tune the world out.

~~~
meursault334
I haven't liked active noise cancellation in the past. For office work I tried
an old Bose quiet comfort (10 years ago) and decided I much preferred
Sennheiser HD 280s for isolation.

Also I've heard bad things about the microphone.

~~~
mordant
Sennheiser Momentum 2 Wireless ANC is far superior to Bose.

------
dlevine
I'm curious as to why Airpods have 98% satisfaction rate? I don't have a pair,
but it seems like a lot of people I know who have them feel similarly.

Is it because the battery life is good and they connect super easily and stay
connected? Or is there some other feature that pushes people over the top?

~~~
kemayo
Speaking just for myself, it's two things:

First, there's that Apple "it just works" whole-package experience. If you're
bought into the Apple ecosystem, using macOS and iOS, it's really incredibly
seamless and gets rid of all those bluetooth hassles. Plus, as you say,
battery life is good enough that I've never personally run up against it.

Second, and the part which surprised me to discover after I got mine, it turns
out that headphone wires had been subconsciously bothering me. Experiencing
earbuds without them is genuinely _better_ in feel, and I find I use earbuds
so much more as a result.

~~~
meursault334
Reading this I might actually buy these. I was pretty set against because of
the fear of losing them. I've been annoyed on many occasions at not being able
to use my lightning headphones with my Macbook Pro while traveling and I can
see this being a superior option to any corded headphone solution. I use video
chat a lot and using corded Apple headphones with a laptop is definitely
awkward.

~~~
kemayo
I had some worries about losing them, as well. These have proven to be
unfounded over the last few months... though I haven't done anything _intense_
while wearing them. In the course of my day to day life walking around, maybe
occasional light running through the rain, they've never fallen out.

I did try some experimental jumping around and shaking my head wildly after I
got them, and they didn't slip out from that.

I suspect a lot of this comes down to your ear shape. The fit of the wired
EarPods are a decent proxy for how the AirPods will fit. The AirPods are less
likely than the EarPods to fall out, because the wires aren't there tugging on
them as you move your head, which turns out to be a useful difference.

------
nunez
i belive it. i love love love mine. best purchase of 2016

------
forgotmyacc
how is it on android? or mac? or windows?

~~~
bobsam
Works on Android, but you don't get all functions.

Samsung has a similar product for Android, check it out.

~~~
MBCook
I seem to remember those has pretty bad battery life.

I've used my AirPods with a Mac that didn't have the latest software (so they
were just treated like any other Bluetooth headphones) and something else and
they work just fine. You don't get the double tap control (I think) or the
auto pause? (not sure) but they sound just as good. If you want really tiny
headphones that are easy to charge they'd be a good candidate.

But the experience on updated Apple products is amazing.

------
bsagdiyev
Do the comments on this seem a bit weird?

See: [http://i.imgur.com/AZe6fCF.png](http://i.imgur.com/AZe6fCF.png)

~~~
MBCook
It's hard to say. I have a pair and I really do love them. I've heard a number
of people on podcasts I listen to call them their favorite product Apple has
released in years. It could be real.

~~~
bsagdiyev
Yeah I definitely won't discount that, it just seemed interesting that they
said basically the same thing a minute apart.

~~~
thoughtsimple
With a 98% satisfaction rating, I would think that most people who own them
are going to say approximately the same things.

~~~
glhaynes
They've also been discussed a lot in those terms because of the prevailing
narrative of Apple being in a slump or not being able to innovate anymore.

~~~
MBCook
I've also heard the guys on ATP, rebound, and Gruber use nearly identical
language. It would be easy to subconsciously pick up those phrases.

~~~
kreisquadratur
Cryptomnesia.

------
burntrelish1273
I recently evaluated AirPods, Beats x and Bose QC 35. The Bose won in the
feature depts, esp. NC and multipoint BT. I don't care what brand it is so
long as it works well.

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loxias
Looks like some advanced level trolling to me. The only way I can imagine 98%
of a group being satisfied with such a product is some variant of Stockholm
syndrome.

Some days it feels like the "Next "Great" Apple product will be ... a place
where you can work for free, to benefit Apple. And then we'll hear the usual
suspects extolling the benefits of that.

(warning, audio geek, also wireless protocol geek, and also their damned
overpriced P.O.S. don't even fit in my ears >.>)

------
ksubedi
People are satisfied because they need to justify their purchase. If the
airpods costed much less, im sure we would have people complaining about audio
quality and other minor issues, but when you pay that much you overlook the
little things to justify your purchase.

~~~
glhaynes
Nope, I'm actually satisfied. Bought a couple for friends because I liked them
so much. They're both satisfied despite having paid $0.

~~~
mordant
My girlfriend loves her Airpods, too. First Bluetooth headphones she's been
willing to put up with, heh - because _they just work_.

