The 'Look What the Postman Brought Me' Thread - Technology Edition

[Mantis]

Man, I'm a fan of expensive peripherals when it's worth spending the extra, but £250 for a wired set of earbuds with a really inconvenient looking amplifier thing? Are they as amazing as the price tag would make you hope?

I would say that they're worth £150. ¬_¬

They are definitely the best pair of buds I've ever owned, but then the most I've ever paid prior to this was £120. The noise cancellation is really excellent and the sound quality is top notch, the strength/EQ of the bass frequencies is particularly impressive considering they are only little earbuds. The battery isn't quite as bothersome as it may seem because I tend to listen with whatever device in my pocket, so it doesn't feel any different to just fold the battery pack behind my phone or iPod.

To be honest, as great as they are I think they were a bit of an impulse buy. I lost my old pair last week and was faced with needing some new ones pronto so I just sort of went for it after reading a few reviews. I don't really regret my decision, but it is going to be a pain when my new phone arrives and I have to use a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter; it's going to look ridiculous with the battery pack hanging off one of those. I'm still strongly considering buying a new high-end dedicated audio device, but the market for them seems to be really limited nowadays.

[Raid]

Oh it's a battery pack, that didn't even occur to me, but I suppose it's necessary for noise cancellation. Wired earbuds that you need to keep charged. What a world.

It doesn't really feel like there's an ideal portable audio solution these days. I like wireless stuff, but it's fairly clear that the technology isn't quite there yet, from poor battery life to overly large earbuds that look like bluetooth headsets that we all mocked a few years back, to just lack of reliability. Wired solutions are getting more awkward because phone manufacturers seem to think that we won't be happy until phones are the thickness of paper and so 3.5mm jacks are impossible to keep. I get the feeling that streaming has largely replaced song ownership, or is well on the way to doing so (why would I buy an album for £10 when that same sum will get me unlimited music for a month through software that learns what I like to listen to and presents me with custom tailored playlists?), so dedicated high-end players aren't really suitable.

[Mantis]

It's not too bad, they still work without the battery having any charge, though the quality of sound is noticeably different. The battery does last for 16 hours between charges though, so it's a lot better than your typical Bluetooth set.

I really hate wireless audio, it just pales in comparison to a decent wired set, battery life on most models is just woeful and it nukes your phone too quickly when you switch Bluetooth on too.

I enjoy streaming quite a lot but I like to support artists directly too, the streaming industry is screwing a lot of people over so I still buy albums physically or off Bandcamp for artists that I really like. It's nice to have a collection of high quality tunes to listen to at home with a decent audio set-up. I've never been as bothered about quality whilst listening on the go as I tend to stream Spotify off my phone mostly nowadays, but now I have these Bose earphones I'm still tempted to find a high quality solution.

[Drarok]

Have you done any testing on a modern phone re: Bluetooth battery life? I always leave mine on and never struggle for battery throughout the day.

Old chipsets were a power hog, but moderns ones are incredibly efficient.

[Alan]

Yeah I use wireless headphones for hours and hours a day and my old iPhone SE has no trouble getting through the day.

[Raid]

The hour it takes me to get to the supermarket and back tends to use about 10-15% of my phone's battery, though it has to be said that I'm quite impressed with this phone's longevity (it's a six month old Pixel 2 XL and seldom gets below 50% over the course of a day) so that may be better than it appears. That's using bluetooth earbuds and streaming music via 4G.

[Alan]

It’s airpods I have (love them to bits) so I’m not sure if the W1 has any effect on phone side battery life, I don’t think it would. Works good for me anyway, 70/30 between Spotify and podcasts

[Drarok]

Streaming over 4G will be way worse on battery than any Bluetooth connections. The worst things on battery are the screen itself and the 3G/4G modems, by far.

Try downloading stuff when you’re on WiFi and listen to that, 10% in an hour is criminal.

[Jez]

The new machine is here.

Doing it's updating and installing at the moment.

It's ERRIE...So quiet I don't know it's here.


New machine https://imgur.com/gallery/d7ovyOL

For info:

i5 8600K 3.6Ghz with corsair 100i cooler
GTX 1070ti
32 RAM
1Tb SSD
3Tb Regular drive

[Sly Boots]

Nice looking rig, mate

[Jez]

So tidy inside and all. It's about fifth of the size of my last machine and all.

[Medicine Man]

Noice!

[Mantis]

Had my new phone since Monday and am very impressed with it so far. I'm carrying two around with me at the minute as I'm still waiting for my old number to transfer over to the new device, so the Huawei hasn't been my primary messaging device. I have used it for a bit of Netflix, some Mini Metro, Snapchat, emails, a bit of browsing and testing the camera though; and I charged it on Monday night when it arrived. Thursday evening and still sitting at 42% battery, pretty sure my Nexus never managed anything like that even when it was brand spanking new.

Ah, the delights of waiting four years between phone upgrades, this genuinely feels like a big step up.

[Drarok]

Have you actually got a SIM in it, and connected to the phone network? That's monster battery life if so…

[Mantis]

That was with a SIM in on 4G and using it as my main device apart from for texting and WhatsApp.

My number has transferred now so I'm going to really put it through the ringer over the next week or so.