
Amazon warns Alexa Echo Buds earphones pose overheating safety risk - pbhowmic
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53422863
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cactus2093
Seems pretty mundane, the headphones can overheat while charging in rare cases
and it's fixed with a software update. It's not like they're burning people's
ears during regular use or catching on fire.

Lots of comments taking the opportunity to complain about Amazon the
storefront, and issues with fake reviews, counterfeiting, etc. but that
doesn't really have anything to do with this story. Amazon's hardware
generally has a pretty decent reputation, from Kindle and Echo that have been
huge successes and basically created brand new product categories, to amazon
basics cables and batteries and whatnot that are reliable at a good price.

~~~
choward
> it's fixed with a software update

How is it fixed with a software update? Why is it running software when
charging?

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CamperBob2
Everything runs software, all the time.

~~~
choward
Even when there is no source of power?

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bearjaws
$129 and lesser quality than most ear buds, this isn't even a new design,
there's dozens of ear buds that look similar.

~~~
bowmessage
Really? I hear they're the hottest earbuds on the market.

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ValentineC
I preordered the Echo Buds when they were first announced, and tried them out
for a while.

Had to return them because the microphonics while walking were _really_ bad,
and the noise cancellation didn't seem comparable to the Bose QC30's I still
use, even though the Echo Buds's were supposedly "powered by Bose".

~~~
wenc
Can't comment on microphone while walking because I rarely talk while walking.

But Amazon's were advertised as Bose "noise reduction" rather than straight
out "noise cancellation" (this was made very clear in the specs and in
reviews), and in that respect, it does what it's supposed to. I wear my Echo
Buds on my daily walks listening to podcasts and for all purposes it works
pretty well. (I also own a pair of Bose headphones which are too bulky to wear
on walks)

I will say that the Echo Buds' noise reduction don't work well on a plane,
I'll give you that. Tried it.

Apple's AirPods Pro has real noise cancellation, but it's also double the
price.

I'd say Echo Buds are pretty good deal at the $100+ price range.

~~~
ValentineC
> _Can 't comment on microphone while walking because I rarely talk while
> walking._

I was talking about microphonics [1][2] i.e. the noise caused by the earbuds
vibrating(?) when I walk.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics)

[2]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/dd4gqi/tws_iem_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/dd4gqi/tws_iem_microphonics/)

~~~
wenc
Thanks, I wasn’t familiar with that technical term.

I just put on my Echo Buds and started walking. If I’m understanding
microphonics correctly, it means a rustling electrical sound when there’s
mechanical vibration. This does not happen with my Echo Buds.

However, I do hear the thud of my footsteps. I’ve accepted that this happens
with any in ear headphones. Not sure if there are any IEMs out there that
don’t have the footstep problem.

~~~
ValentineC
> _However, I do hear the thud of my footsteps. I’ve accepted that this
> happens with any in ear headphones. Not sure if there are any IEMs out there
> that don’t have the footstep problem._

The thuds annoy me _a lot_ , but I found that in the Bose QC30 (which I still
use), the Sony WF1000XM3, and the AirPods Pro (which I've tried), it somehow
seems less obvious.

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josefresco
Meanwhile I couldn't be happier with my $16 earbuds that I got for free. Sound
quality isn't great but for watching streaming video, podcasts or a quick
workout they're fantastic. If I lose them or they break, no big deal.

~~~
ebg13
I like that you're happy with the ones you have, but it's a weird flex to say
that you "couldn't be happier" _and_ that "sound quality isn't great". Would
you not be any happier if sound quality _were_ great?

I know that there's a kind of pleasure from not worrying about disposably
cheap products, but there's also a kind of pleasure from having nice things
with extra features where the trade is usually just taking care of them
slightly better.

Personally I'll never go back to wired headphones after experiencing the
freedom of wireless ones. Know of any wireless $16 throwaways?

~~~
deepinthewoods
Yes! Just search eBay/AliExpress. They work and sound great. I get the appeal
of having nice things, but earbuds? They're tiny plastic things that just sit
in your ear and could easily fall down a sewer grate at any moment.

~~~
ebg13
Knowing what I know about the expected quality of things found on AliExpress,
I'm hesitant to put batteries found there in my ears.

~~~
josefresco
You overestimate the quality of your "trusted" brands.

~~~
ebg13
Nearly every problem I've ever had with electronic components in my life has
been caused by counterfeits that either lie about their capabilities, lie
about what they're made of, or lie about whether they were QC tested. Maybe
that means the SD card only stores a few real megabytes before trashing all of
your photos. Maybe that means your phone charger destroys your phone. Maybe
that means the battery in your ear explodes [0]. The thing about trusted
brands is that at least they have brands to protect.

[0] -
[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/lithi...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/lithium-
ion-batteries-amazon-are-exploding/587005/)

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venki80
Amazon is the new Walmart. Low quality products. Increasingly the top brands
aren't even available on the site and all you have is Chinese no-name crap.

~~~
evanriley
For me its even worse than Walmart. No matter how shitty it is, at least I
know what I'm getting at there.

With Amazon its pretty much a gamble whether or not I'm getting what I
actually ordered or some cheap knock-off crap.

For the entirety of quarantine I've been ordering directly from companies and
its saved a lot of headache, sure theres no 2-day shipping, but I'm no longer
receiving a fake Anker charger four times in a row.

~~~
libraryatnight
Quarantine has also taught me Amazon is just terrible at handling some stuff.
I ordered a new French press from them, which came broken both times. Ordered
from Crate & Barrel and it came wrapped and packaged beautifully. Special
bubble wrap with creased edges for folding to the contours of the box, and a
box that actually fit the product (as opposed to Amazon: "let's toss this in a
box 3 times the size of the item, with 3 squares of inflated plastic. Surely
nothing bad will happen as it bangs around in there.") I'll never order any
glassware or glass products from Amazon again.

And before I tried Crate & Barrel I actually was making excuses for Amazon.
"Well, shipping glass and ceramic is hard. I knew there was a chance it would
break in shipping." Still valid concerns, but easier to stomach a bad
experience when it shows they put forth effort and thought.

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m3kw9
Is there a phrase from ear drums melting?

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MegaDeKay
This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "My ears are burning."

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orthecreedence
I guess playing sound while simultaneously recording and broadcasting all your
conversations back to the mothership is CPU intensive. Who knew.

~~~
choward
Some people may not take your comment seriously, but I don't understand how a
software update fixes this unless something like this is going on. When I put
my earbuds in the charging case, they power off (which disconnects from
bluetooth) which means they shouldn't be running software to the best of my
knowledge. Do the Amazon ones not do this?

I would be interested to know. If you have these can you please let me know if
the bluetooth disconnects from your phone when you put them in the charging
case?

They could still be storing audio on the earbuds or charging station itself
then transmitting when connected but that seems somewhat unlikely.

