The Talk Show

00:00:00 ◼   ► - Are you tired of looking at new Apple products?

00:00:03 ◼   ► - I mean, I hesitate to say that.

00:00:04 ◼   ► It sounds uncharitable.

00:00:06 ◼   ► It has been quite an intense schedule.

00:00:08 ◼   ► I think it's obviously partially because they try

00:00:10 ◼   ► to dump everything at once normally,

00:00:12 ◼   ► and now it's strung out over weeks.

00:00:14 ◼   ► But yeah, it's a lot.

00:00:16 ◼   ► It's been a lot.

00:00:17 ◼   ► I can't phone any of it in.

00:00:18 ◼   ► I'm physically impossible at phoning stuff in,

00:00:20 ◼   ► so it's just exhausting, that's all.

00:00:24 ◼   ► - I have the same thought, and there's a part of me

00:00:27 ◼   ► that gets a little petulant, and it's like,

00:00:29 ◼   ► so we got, I was very excited to get the AirPods Max,

00:00:34 ◼   ► 'cause they look really neat, and they're very expensive,

00:00:38 ◼   ► and it sure is fun to be able to try them

00:00:41 ◼   ► without ordering a pair.

00:00:42 ◼   ► And now at this point, in addition to spending 550 bucks,

00:00:45 ◼   ► you have to wait weeks and weeks to get 'em.

00:00:47 ◼   ► But then when they're like,

00:00:50 ◼   ► and review embargoes drop Thursday morning,

00:00:53 ◼   ► and it's like, 24 hours, F you,

00:00:56 ◼   ► I'm just gonna phone this in and write three sentences.

00:00:58 ◼   ► Sound good, too heavy.

00:01:00 ◼   ► There, done, publish.

00:01:02 ◼   ► But I can't, I have to start, you know.

00:01:05 ◼   ► - Yeah, of course.

00:01:06 ◼   ► And it wasn't even the review embargo, right?

00:01:08 ◼   ► It's just like, hey, this is the next morning,

00:01:13 ◼   ► first look stuff, right?

00:01:14 ◼   ► So I refused personally to sort of review them officially,

00:01:19 ◼   ► because I'm like, there's no way.

00:01:20 ◼   ► And I felt it wouldn't do anybody a service to pretend

00:01:24 ◼   ► that I had some sort of fully formed opinion

00:01:27 ◼   ► on these things, but at the same time,

00:01:29 ◼   ► I can't just go like, oh hey, look, here's the pictures.

00:01:32 ◼   ► I don't know, I'm just incapable of it.

00:01:36 ◼   ► - Well, and I also feel like, and I get it,

00:01:38 ◼   ► in some sense, I feel a little less pressure,

00:01:42 ◼   ► because it looks like at this point,

00:01:44 ◼   ► nobody's getting them for Christmas,

00:01:47 ◼   ► if you haven't already ordered.

00:01:48 ◼   ► - Right, right, if you're not an early adopter,

00:01:52 ◼   ► who's gonna order 'em anyway,

00:01:54 ◼   ► you're not gonna get 'em yet.

00:01:55 ◼   ► Maybe you could still get the silver ones, I don't know.

00:01:58 ◼   ► - I don't know.

00:01:59 ◼   ► And there was that fun thing that you pointed out

00:02:02 ◼   ► that you could get engraved ones in December,

00:02:06 ◼   ► but you couldn't get non-engraved ones until January.

00:02:10 ◼   ► - Right, and it didn't last long,

00:02:12 ◼   ► but it lasted about an hour.

00:02:14 ◼   ► And it's like, what if you really want a pair

00:02:18 ◼   ► that's not engraved, you don't want any marks on them at all,

00:02:21 ◼   ► but you really want 'em by Christmas,

00:02:23 ◼   ► what is the least intrusive engraving

00:02:26 ◼   ► that they would let you put?

00:02:29 ◼   ► So they won't let you just put a space.

00:02:32 ◼   ► Their little engraving dingus

00:02:37 ◼   ► will interpret that as no engraving at all.

00:02:41 ◼   ► So if you go to say, I would like to get my AirPods

00:02:43 ◼   ► engraved, and this entire string you enter

00:02:47 ◼   ► is just a space or a series of spaces,

00:02:49 ◼   ► and then you hit OK, it goes back to the next screen

00:02:54 ◼   ► and it has no engraving selected, which makes sense.

00:02:58 ◼   ► - Oh, uh-huh, yeah.

00:03:00 ◼   ► What, did you try, this is random,

00:03:03 ◼   ► but did you try using a zero-width space?

00:03:05 ◼   ► - No, I didn't try any fancy Unicode.

00:03:08 ◼   ► - Okay.

00:03:09 ◼   ► - That would be clever.

00:03:10 ◼   ► I did try a dash, which would just look like a little,

00:03:13 ◼   ► you know, I also thought, I forget,

00:03:18 ◼   ► I think that the engraving goes on the left cup

00:03:22 ◼   ► because the right cup is the one with the controls.

00:03:25 ◼   ► So I thought, you know, what if you just put an L, right?

00:03:28 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:03:31 ◼   ► 'Cause that, even if you don't want them engraved,

00:03:36 ◼   ► you don't wanna put your name on them,

00:03:37 ◼   ► you don't wanna put something clever on 'em,

00:03:39 ◼   ► you don't want an emoji, just put an L.

00:03:41 ◼   ► - I like that it's minimal because it's very Appleistic,

00:03:46 ◼   ► it's like, hey, we only need one

00:03:47 ◼   ► because obviously the other one is R.

00:03:50 ◼   ► - Right, but it is, it's, how bizarre is it

00:03:53 ◼   ► that for a while at least you were able to,

00:03:55 ◼   ► and it's just, you know, I'm sure it would actually

00:03:57 ◼   ► be fascinating and it's the sort of thing

00:03:59 ◼   ► they're never gonna talk about,

00:04:00 ◼   ► but it would be fascinating to get Jeff Williams

00:04:03 ◼   ► to explain it, you know, like,

00:04:05 ◼   ► and I'm sure that it's a fascinating explanation

00:04:07 ◼   ► of the different supply chain paths

00:04:09 ◼   ► that engraved versus non-engraved ones take.

00:04:13 ◼   ► You know, in theory, engraving should take longer,

00:04:17 ◼   ► but, you know.

00:04:19 ◼   ► - Well, it's, in my mind, if you just go the dummy route

00:04:24 ◼   ► on the supply chain analysis here,

00:04:27 ◼   ► it would probably be that there's a certain amount

00:04:29 ◼   ► set aside for engraving because they go

00:04:30 ◼   ► to a facility for engraving.

00:04:32 ◼   ► And it's like if you're gonna get 'em engraved,

00:04:34 ◼   ► they come from this pool, which is usually less purchased,

00:04:38 ◼   ► people probably buy far more without engraving,

00:04:40 ◼   ► and then, you know, those are still in stock.

00:04:43 ◼   ► So that's probably, it just, you know,

00:04:45 ◼   ► the simplistic way of looking at it.

00:04:47 ◼   ► - Do you-- - By the way, I just tried,

00:04:48 ◼   ► I just tried to zero with space, does not work, so.

00:04:51 ◼   ► Sorry for anybody looking to do that.

00:04:53 ◼   ► - Do you get your stuff engraved when it's offered?

00:04:56 ◼   ► - Very, very rarely.

00:05:00 ◼   ► Literally the only thing I can, I currently own,

00:05:02 ◼   ► I have in the past, and like for my wife maybe,

00:05:06 ◼   ► gotten her a phone engraved, you know.

00:05:08 ◼   ► I think maybe even her current phone is.

00:05:10 ◼   ► But the only thing I currently own is an AirPods Pro case

00:05:14 ◼   ► with an emoji on it, and the only reason I did that

00:05:16 ◼   ► is 'cause I know which one is my current one

00:05:18 ◼   ► and which one is mine and not an Apple review unit

00:05:21 ◼   ► as they come and go, and that way I know,

00:05:24 ◼   ► you know, that one's mine.

00:05:25 ◼   ► Because there's, I have a lot of AirPods around here,

00:05:27 ◼   ► either that I've purchased or when Apple, you know,

00:05:30 ◼   ► drops new ones and I review a unit, it's sitting here,

00:05:33 ◼   ► and then I don't know which one's which.

00:05:35 ◼   ► - All right, I would like to get my stuff engraved,

00:05:39 ◼   ► but I can never decide what to get engraved on it.

00:05:43 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:05:46 ◼   ► And then I realize--

00:05:47 ◼   ► - A paralysis of choice.

00:05:48 ◼   ► - Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, it really,

00:05:52 ◼   ► I will sit there in front of the engraving form

00:05:55 ◼   ► for a very long period of time,

00:05:57 ◼   ► and then I'll think, well, this isn't getting me anywhere.

00:05:59 ◼   ► And then a sensible person would think,

00:06:02 ◼   ► this isn't getting me anywhere,

00:06:04 ◼   ► I'll just order no engraved and be done with it.

00:06:06 ◼   ► But what I'll do is I'll say, I'll think to myself,

00:06:09 ◼   ► I need to get up and walk around.

00:06:10 ◼   ► Maybe I'll take a walk, you know, put my coat on,

00:06:14 ◼   ► I'm gonna go pick up some bread or something like that,

00:06:18 ◼   ► just to clear my head so I can think about this.

00:06:21 ◼   ► And then I realize, you know, it's like,

00:06:23 ◼   ► I'm doing all this, you know,

00:06:24 ◼   ► and taking a walk to clear your head, you know,

00:06:27 ◼   ► get some ideas, that's all well and good and it works,

00:06:29 ◼   ► but it's like, I'm not doing it for like,

00:06:32 ◼   ► something clever to write about,

00:06:34 ◼   ► I'm doing it to figure out what should I get engraved.

00:06:38 ◼   ► - No, try to slice an editorial Gordian knot.

00:06:41 ◼   ► You're trying to figure out whether to do the rock emoji

00:06:44 ◼   ► or the okay emoji.

00:06:46 ◼   ► - Well, for me it'd be so super boring.

00:06:48 ◼   ► Should I just get like, JG or should I just get Gruber?

00:06:52 ◼   ► Or should I go with that?

00:06:54 ◼   ► They do give you a star emoji.

00:06:57 ◼   ► Hmm. - Right, right.

00:06:59 ◼   ► - Maybe just Gruber.

00:07:02 ◼   ► - Yeah, why are we the way that we are?

00:07:04 ◼   ► I don't understand this.

00:07:05 ◼   ► - Right, and then I would just wish, it makes me wish,

00:07:07 ◼   ► I was like, I gotta wish they would just charge $25

00:07:10 ◼   ► to engrave it, 'cause then I would say, ah, forget it.

00:07:13 ◼   ► - Exactly, exactly.

00:07:15 ◼   ► Free is the worst, you know?

00:07:17 ◼   ► Charge me a dollar, because then I have an excuse

00:07:19 ◼   ► to be like, ah, I'll just put the extra dollar.

00:07:21 ◼   ► - I'm not for like, AirPods Pro, right?

00:07:24 ◼   ► I ordered AirPods Pro last year and I got 'em,

00:07:28 ◼   ► and it's like, I'm not worried about like,

00:07:31 ◼   ► oh, if I get my name engraved on the case,

00:07:33 ◼   ► then the resale value is no, I'm not gonna,

00:07:36 ◼   ► who's gonna buy a used pair of AirPods Pro?

00:07:38 ◼   ► - Well, people do, but yeah,

00:07:39 ◼   ► I would never sell 'em personally.

00:07:41 ◼   ► - I'm not, so it has nothing to do with that,

00:07:44 ◼   ► it's just pure indecision.

00:07:46 ◼   ► Ah, terrible.

00:07:48 ◼   ► And again, and then there's something to me

00:07:53 ◼   ► with the AirPods Max, where it's like,

00:07:55 ◼   ► there's a little bit of an asymmetry there.

00:07:57 ◼   ► Now, they're permanently asymmetrical,

00:07:59 ◼   ► 'cause the controls are only on the right,

00:08:01 ◼   ► and the engravings on the left.

00:08:03 ◼   ► Anyway, paralysis, I don't know.

00:08:06 ◼   ► I don't know what I would do.

00:08:07 ◼   ► But anyway, you can't get 'em by Christmas,

00:08:08 ◼   ► so it's no worries.

00:08:10 ◼   ► You and I had very similar thoughts.

00:08:14 ◼   ► I always, I say this all the time,

00:08:16 ◼   ► it's always a relief, it's like,

00:08:19 ◼   ► I don't wanna go on and on about how heavy these things are,

00:08:22 ◼   ► and then I read all the other reviews

00:08:23 ◼   ► and nobody says anything, and it's like,

00:08:25 ◼   ► maybe this is completely normal, and--

00:08:27 ◼   ► - Or maybe, yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:08:29 ◼   ► Maybe I just have a weak neck.

00:08:30 ◼   ► - Yeah. (laughs)

00:08:31 ◼   ► - Let's go down with eight. - Right.

00:08:33 ◼   ► (laughs)

00:08:35 ◼   ► I think President Trump has actually

00:08:36 ◼   ► called people pencil decks.

00:08:37 ◼   ► Remember, that was--

00:08:38 ◼   ► - Right, right, yeah.

00:08:40 ◼   ► - That was big in the '80s,

00:08:41 ◼   ► to call somebody a pencil neck geek.

00:08:43 ◼   ► Yeah, there, is there something wrong with my neck?

00:08:46 ◼   ► - Yeah, I'm on the frat crowd, yeah.

00:08:47 ◼   ► - I don't know, it's, but these are heavy headphones,

00:08:52 ◼   ► in my opinion.

00:08:52 ◼   ► - They're about 100 grams.

00:08:55 ◼   ► I put 'em on my kitchen scale.

00:08:58 ◼   ► I have a fairly accurate one I use for baking and whatnot,

00:09:00 ◼   ► and I put 'em on there, and they're like 385

00:09:04 ◼   ► or 89 grams or something,

00:09:06 ◼   ► which is about 100 grams heavier

00:09:07 ◼   ► than a pair of Beats Studio,

00:09:10 ◼   ► which, obviously, sure, there are heavier headphones

00:09:12 ◼   ► in between somewhere,

00:09:13 ◼   ► but I do believe that's on the higher end of the scale.

00:09:17 ◼   ► - Yeah, and my, I have the Bose QuietComfort 35 IIs,

00:09:21 ◼   ► and I guess Bose has another one, a 700,

00:09:25 ◼   ► which I haven't looked at recently.

00:09:27 ◼   ► I mean, I just don't, I'm not enough of a traveler

00:09:29 ◼   ► and not enough of a,

00:09:30 ◼   ► I'm not a Marco Arman who's gonna collect headphones,

00:09:35 ◼   ► but the Bose are 200 and some,

00:09:37 ◼   ► so it's a little bit over 100 grams,

00:09:40 ◼   ► and you feel it, right?

00:09:41 ◼   ► It's also, it's not just 100 grams.

00:09:44 ◼   ► It's the fact that it's 100 extra or 50 extra

00:09:47 ◼   ► each on each ear cup, right?

00:09:50 ◼   ► 'Cause the weight is clearly all on the ear cups.

00:09:54 ◼   ► - Right.

00:09:55 ◼   ► - But again, I'm not saying it's a problem,

00:10:00 ◼   ► and I thought you put it pretty well.

00:10:02 ◼   ► It's like, I thought your review where you were just like,

00:10:05 ◼   ► look, if you don't like heavy headphones,

00:10:06 ◼   ► don't buy these, that's it.

00:10:07 ◼   ► But it's not like it's a problem,

00:10:09 ◼   ► but I also think you nailed it where it's,

00:10:12 ◼   ► and I think I sort of fall into that category

00:10:15 ◼   ► as somebody who doesn't follow the headphone industry.

00:10:19 ◼   ► You know, I get a pair I like, and that's it.

00:10:21 ◼   ► I was a little surprised at how heavy they were,

00:10:25 ◼   ► and maybe I shouldn't have been based on the fact

00:10:27 ◼   ► that they are really high end in terms of the drivers

00:10:30 ◼   ► and the quality they're trying to produce.

00:10:34 ◼   ► - Right.

00:10:35 ◼   ► - But it's, yeah, it's, I mean, I even put it in my headline

00:10:40 ◼   ► 'cause I wanted to be clever, but it, again,

00:10:44 ◼   ► I'm not saying this is a reason not to buy it,

00:10:46 ◼   ► not saying it's a product failure, but hmm,

00:10:49 ◼   ► this is something to think about.

00:10:51 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think, so it's sort of that same feeling

00:10:54 ◼   ► that you get when you buy, I don't know,

00:10:58 ◼   ► a really high quality pen, right?

00:11:00 ◼   ► Like a really high quality pen, very, very nice.

00:11:04 ◼   ► We're talking almost as, almost decorative, right?

00:11:08 ◼   ► Like it's usable, and in fact,

00:11:10 ◼   ► maybe one of the best pens made for writing

00:11:13 ◼   ► simply because they spent so much money making it

00:11:15 ◼   ► and the craftsmanship is high and all of that stuff.

00:11:18 ◼   ► But then you use it and you're like,

00:11:19 ◼   ► do I really want to scribble with this thing all day?

00:11:21 ◼   ► 'Cause it's pretty heavy, right?

00:11:23 ◼   ► It's kind of like that, where you know that the heaviness

00:11:25 ◼   ► is a sign of overall craftsmanship and quality,

00:11:30 ◼   ► which heaviness sometimes is.

00:11:32 ◼   ► Sometimes it's not, right?

00:11:34 ◼   ► Like I remember this is a little tiny anecdote,

00:11:36 ◼   ► but like back when I used to sell cameras,

00:11:39 ◼   ► one of the big things we'd do was people would come in

00:11:42 ◼   ► with these sort of knockoffs of Canon SLRs

00:11:47 ◼   ► that they would get sold by a mail order usually.

00:11:50 ◼   ► Like it'd be like, hey, mail order this SLR, right?

00:11:52 ◼   ► And they would get it, and it's a plastic body

00:11:55 ◼   ► that has the shape of an SLR,

00:11:57 ◼   ► but in fact, there's no real prism.

00:12:00 ◼   ► It's just a viewfinder, you know, rangefinder on top.

00:12:03 ◼   ► And then in its complete plastic body,

00:12:06 ◼   ► it technically does work,

00:12:08 ◼   ► but it's essentially a fixed lens pinhole camera, right?

00:12:11 ◼   ► Like it technically does,

00:12:12 ◼   ► you could put film in it in the whole bit,

00:12:14 ◼   ► but they think they got something special for a deal.

00:12:17 ◼   ► But then if you crack those things open,

00:12:19 ◼   ► what it is is it's an empty plastic shell

00:12:21 ◼   ► that's one step above a disposable camera,

00:12:23 ◼   ► only because it can be reused, right?

00:12:26 ◼   ► And then in the bottom, they put a slab of lead

00:12:30 ◼   ► to make it feel like pig metal or whatever.

00:12:33 ◼   ► They put a slab in the bottom of it to make it feel hefty.

00:12:37 ◼   ► So when they pick it up, they're like, oh, this is great.

00:12:40 ◼   ► This feels just like a Canon, you know?

00:12:42 ◼   ► But it's like really, it's like Canoon or whatever, right,

00:12:44 ◼   ► on the label.

00:12:46 ◼   ► And it happened all the time.

00:12:47 ◼   ► It was crazy.

00:12:48 ◼   ► It was this thing I had no idea about

00:12:50 ◼   ► until I started working in that business.

00:12:52 ◼   ► And I think there's some products out there that are that way.

00:12:55 ◼   ► You could see them.

00:12:56 ◼   ► They pop up now and then, and you could tell,

00:12:58 ◼   ► hey, there's absolutely no way,

00:13:00 ◼   ► no reason for this to weigh the way it does,

00:13:04 ◼   ► because they're trying to impart some sense of quality

00:13:07 ◼   ► in this, but in reality, you open it up,

00:13:10 ◼   ► and it's like, oh, it's just a weight in here

00:13:11 ◼   ► to make it seem like it's good, right?

00:13:13 ◼   ► And there's physical, actual, still products that do that,

00:13:18 ◼   ► but then there's also products that do it metaphorically,

00:13:21 ◼   ► where you're like, oh, wow, this has the feel of quality,

00:13:23 ◼   ► but it's not really quality.

00:13:24 ◼   ► And I don't feel that these fall into that category at all.

00:13:28 ◼   ► I actually do feel that they are the weight that they are,

00:13:30 ◼   ► specifically because of the materials that were chosen,

00:13:33 ◼   ► and the materials were chosen specifically

00:13:36 ◼   ► to impart a feeling of quality.

00:13:39 ◼   ► So it's not that they were,

00:13:41 ◼   ► they've got a slab of pig metal in each ear cup.

00:13:44 ◼   ► They're just heavy because they were like,

00:13:46 ◼   ► hey, what's the best material we could possibly use?

00:13:49 ◼   ► And the weight consideration is way down the list,

00:13:53 ◼   ► way down the list on these particular pair.

00:13:55 ◼   ► - Yeah, making the cups out of unibody aluminum,

00:13:59 ◼   ► I don't know if unibody counts,

00:14:01 ◼   ► but it's the outer shell other than the foam thing

00:14:06 ◼   ► is just one big, round piece of aluminum.

00:14:10 ◼   ► Again, I don't know-- - Yeah, it's a hunk of metal.

00:14:13 ◼   ► - It's a hunk of aluminum.

00:14:15 ◼   ► And here on the East Coast,

00:14:17 ◼   ► in a pretty chilly week in Philadelphia,

00:14:21 ◼   ► it is kind of cool, literally cool,

00:14:25 ◼   ► and figuratively cool,

00:14:28 ◼   ► that when I'd reach up to touch them,

00:14:30 ◼   ► they were very cool to the touch,

00:14:31 ◼   ► which is not something I'm used to with headphones.

00:14:33 ◼   ► And I'm sure there's a whole bunch of high-end,

00:14:36 ◼   ► German brands of headphones that are made of metal

00:14:40 ◼   ► that I don't own.

00:14:42 ◼   ► But for these, just sort of wear 'em

00:14:45 ◼   ► while walking around the house,

00:14:46 ◼   ► it was really weird to reach up

00:14:48 ◼   ► and feel this ice-cool aluminum.

00:14:52 ◼   ► And again, they don't make your head cool

00:14:53 ◼   ► because your cup, you're,

00:14:55 ◼   ► I'm not trying to say like,

00:14:56 ◼   ► hey, your head's gonna be cold

00:14:57 ◼   ► because there's aluminum cups.

00:14:59 ◼   ► The aluminum doesn't touch your head,

00:15:01 ◼   ► but it really feels premium.

00:15:04 ◼   ► And it's like very futuristic too, right?

00:15:08 ◼   ► Like where it's so smooth

00:15:11 ◼   ► and like aluminum eggs on your ears.

00:15:15 ◼   ► They're very organically shaped.

00:15:18 ◼   ► - Mm-hmm.

00:15:19 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah, they are.

00:15:21 ◼   ► And I do think that they have a,

00:15:23 ◼   ► they have a interesting shape

00:15:29 ◼   ► on the horizontal axis, I guess you'd call it,

00:15:33 ◼   ► like outwards from the head,

00:15:35 ◼   ► because many, many headphones out there,

00:15:38 ◼   ► premium headphones, I should say,

00:15:40 ◼   ► have a fairly large or deep cavity.

00:15:44 ◼   ► And that is a sort of a physics thing, partially.

00:15:48 ◼   ► They need space for the air to move around

00:15:51 ◼   ► and for a bigger driver and all of that, right?

00:15:53 ◼   ► But it is, somebody brought this up,

00:15:55 ◼   ► and this is obviously not everybody's use case

00:15:57 ◼   ► and maybe a fairly minimal use case,

00:16:01 ◼   ► but it does typify how these are different

00:16:03 ◼   ► from other headphones in the shape,

00:16:05 ◼   ► which is that because they're so flat on the outer side

00:16:09 ◼   ► and so close to the head,

00:16:11 ◼   ► they're actually extremely comfortable to lay down on.

00:16:14 ◼   ► Like somebody asked me in a Twitter,

00:16:15 ◼   ► hey, I wear noise canceling headphones to sleep,

00:16:18 ◼   ► like I put 'em on and I put white noise on or whatever.

00:16:22 ◼   ► And I'm like, okay, you know, I get it, right?

00:16:24 ◼   ► Maybe you live in a noisy place,

00:16:26 ◼   ► or you're next to the L,

00:16:27 ◼   ► and you're like, this is the only way I can get to sleep,

00:16:29 ◼   ► or you have anxiety or whatever, and it helps.

00:16:32 ◼   ► But he's like, I lay down on 'em,

00:16:33 ◼   ► 'cause how are they to lay down on?

00:16:35 ◼   ► And I know this is an edge case,

00:16:37 ◼   ► but it's funny to me that it actually typifies

00:16:39 ◼   ► how different they are, because they are extremely flat

00:16:42 ◼   ► and lozenge-shaped, and that lower profile

00:16:44 ◼   ► does actually make them easier to lay down on.

00:16:47 ◼   ► And while I don't think I'll be sleeping with them on

00:16:50 ◼   ► in a bed, I thought to myself,

00:16:53 ◼   ► how many times have I been uncomfortable on a plane

00:16:56 ◼   ► because I've been trying to lean up against the bulkhead

00:17:01 ◼   ► or against a seat rest or turn,

00:17:04 ◼   ► and rest against a seat rest as best I can

00:17:06 ◼   ► in an economy seat or whatever.

00:17:09 ◼   ► And it clanks against the thing,

00:17:10 ◼   ► and it makes my neck crick, and I can't really,

00:17:13 ◼   ► but I need 'em on, because I can't sleep with the roar

00:17:16 ◼   ► and everybody farting around me and all this.

00:17:18 ◼   ► And so I'm like, it makes some sense

00:17:21 ◼   ► that the shape, the way they are,

00:17:24 ◼   ► it actually is a sort of departure,

00:17:28 ◼   ► a left turn from the shape of a lot of premium headphones,

00:17:32 ◼   ► which typically look like Lobot a lot.

00:17:34 ◼   ► You know? - Yeah, right, right, right.

00:17:36 ◼   ► (laughs)

00:17:37 ◼   ► - I brought up the Lobot picture a couple of times,

00:17:41 ◼   ► and I'm like, yeah, see, those look cool.

00:17:44 ◼   ► Lobot looks really cool, but it's like,

00:17:46 ◼   ► yeah, he's got all these blinking lights,

00:17:48 ◼   ► and there's a lot of articulation,

00:17:50 ◼   ► and there's a lot of levels, just layers of stuff,

00:17:54 ◼   ► and these are just smooth, you know?

00:17:59 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:18:02 ◼   ► The smoothness, the egg shape, the kind of flatness of them,

00:18:06 ◼   ► I think a lot of it, all of it adds up

00:18:08 ◼   ► to a nice differentiation in design.

00:18:10 ◼   ► I think it's not as evident until you really bring up a list

00:18:15 ◼   ► and you kind of, I open a few tabs of all of the,

00:18:19 ◼   ► I really, this is probably another part of this discussion,

00:18:23 ◼   ► but I'm really not interested in comparing these

00:18:25 ◼   ► against non-noise cancellation headphones,

00:18:27 ◼   ► 'cause I think that's just a, you know,

00:18:29 ◼   ► if you're getting into non-NC studio monitor headphones,

00:18:33 ◼   ► it's just a different conversation,

00:18:35 ◼   ► and I don't feel that it's fair or necessary

00:18:37 ◼   ► to have that conversation personally.

00:18:39 ◼   ► I'm sure people will have that conversation,

00:18:41 ◼   ► oh, let me compare them against my $6,000 reference headphones

00:18:44 ◼   ► with no NC, you know, direct path of the audio

00:18:47 ◼   ► straight through with no processing.

00:18:49 ◼   ► It's just not that, right?

00:18:50 ◼   ► But if you open up all of the NC headphones

00:18:53 ◼   ► that are in this price range, or even more expensive,

00:18:56 ◼   ► some of them are, or a little bit less,

00:18:58 ◼   ► but certainly not cheap, it's a departure,

00:19:02 ◼   ► a great departure in ID from all of those headphones,

00:19:06 ◼   ► which are largely black and brown, some silver,

00:19:10 ◼   ► with a lot of bulk and a lot of, you know, very,

00:19:15 ◼   ► for lack of a better term, 90s Sony design aesthetic,

00:19:22 ◼   ► you know what I mean?

00:19:23 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

00:19:24 ◼   ► - Headphones are really stuck in that universe a lot,

00:19:26 ◼   ► and I think Beats did a lot to change that conversation

00:19:29 ◼   ► in that they're like, hey, headphones are a fashion accessory

00:19:32 ◼   ► and certainly there are other brands.

00:19:33 ◼   ► I'm not saying that only Apple affiliated brands

00:19:35 ◼   ► have done this.

00:19:36 ◼   ► Skullcandy, it springs to mind, they're cheap headphones,

00:19:39 ◼   ► but they changed the conversation around how they look.

00:19:41 ◼   ► But of course, of course, of course,

00:19:43 ◼   ► you cannot talk about any of this without saying

00:19:46 ◼   ► that the Apple earbuds really changed the game

00:19:48 ◼   ► as far as headphones becoming a thing

00:19:52 ◼   ► that people looked at and cared about versus just used,

00:19:55 ◼   ► right, and they certainly, you know,

00:19:58 ◼   ► if you had those white earbuds with the dangly thread,

00:20:01 ◼   ► people knew what you were up to

00:20:03 ◼   ► and they knew that you had an iPod

00:20:05 ◼   ► and that was the status symbol, for sure.

00:20:07 ◼   ► And I think these are in that same conversation, you know?

00:20:12 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:20:13 ◼   ► I agree, I mean, and again,

00:20:16 ◼   ► and I have not done anything even vaguely

00:20:19 ◼   ► like a deep dive on noise canceling headphones.

00:20:24 ◼   ► And I know people love the Sony, is it MX series, QX?

00:20:28 ◼   ► I don't know what the hell they are.

00:20:30 ◼   ► But there's a Sony one that's in that 200-some price range

00:20:33 ◼   ► that people really love,

00:20:35 ◼   ► where they say the noise canceling is great

00:20:37 ◼   ► and the audio quality is superior than the Bose,

00:20:41 ◼   ► say many.

00:20:42 ◼   ► I got the Bose, my family makes fun of me

00:20:47 ◼   ► 'cause I actually bought them at the airport.

00:20:49 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:20:52 ◼   ► - You're the guy.

00:20:53 ◼   ► You're the guy.

00:20:53 ◼   ► You're the reason that they sell them at the airport.

00:20:55 ◼   ► Got it.

00:20:56 ◼   ► - Right.

00:20:58 ◼   ► I forget where we were going like two or three years ago

00:21:01 ◼   ► and I got through security.

00:21:02 ◼   ► I forget what the story was,

00:21:08 ◼   ► but I had broken a pair, the headband of a pair

00:21:13 ◼   ► like a year or two earlier

00:21:14 ◼   ► and I'd been putting off getting a new pair

00:21:16 ◼   ► and I was like, "To hell with this.

00:21:17 ◼   ► "I'm not going on this flight

00:21:18 ◼   ► "without noise canceling headphones."

00:21:20 ◼   ► And I knew there was just your typical airport place

00:21:26 ◼   ► where you buy Bose headphones.

00:21:28 ◼   ► And I did.

00:21:29 ◼   ► I did quick Google, like, "Well, what are they?

00:21:32 ◼   ► "What do they cost at Amazon?"

00:21:34 ◼   ► And it was like the same price.

00:21:35 ◼   ► It was like $270.

00:21:38 ◼   ► And I'm like, "So who cares?"

00:21:40 ◼   ► I'm buying them there.

00:21:41 ◼   ► - It wasn't like the $70 sushi, right?

00:21:42 ◼   ► It was basically the same price, yeah.

00:21:44 ◼   ► - Right.

00:21:45 ◼   ► It was a perfectly fair price to pay

00:21:48 ◼   ► for a pair of Bose Quay Comfort II

00:21:50 ◼   ► and my wife and son still do not let me hear the end of it.

00:21:55 ◼   ► But once you have them, it just drives me crazy.

00:21:59 ◼   ► And I wrote my review.

00:22:00 ◼   ► I often use it if I'm writing something

00:22:03 ◼   ► or just reading, just reading a book,

00:22:05 ◼   ► I will put my noise canceling headphones on,

00:22:08 ◼   ► have them play nothing just to have the noise canceling

00:22:11 ◼   ► because it is an overall better experience

00:22:15 ◼   ► to have headphones on playing nothing

00:22:18 ◼   ► but canceling out the, to me, rather unpleasant white noise

00:22:22 ◼   ► of an airplane cabin than to sit there and listen to it.

00:22:26 ◼   ► So what do you get?

00:22:27 ◼   ► You get better audio when you're playing nothing

00:22:31 ◼   ► but just have more like closer to pure silence

00:22:35 ◼   ► but the physical discomfort of wearing the headphones.

00:22:39 ◼   ► I will take that trade off any day of the week.

00:22:43 ◼   ► And then if you actually are watching a movie

00:22:47 ◼   ► or listening to music or listening to a podcast,

00:22:50 ◼   ► it's almost unusable to me not to have noise canceling

00:22:55 ◼   ► 'cause you have to turn the volume up so high,

00:22:57 ◼   ► it's like you should be getting a warning

00:23:00 ◼   ► that you're listening to it too loud

00:23:02 ◼   ► to hear it over the cabin noise.

00:23:05 ◼   ► So I'm a fan but I'm not an expert

00:23:08 ◼   ► on the 20 different brands of them.

00:23:12 ◼   ► Doing it in the winter was pretty interesting.

00:23:16 ◼   ► My office here at the house has pretty loud heat

00:23:21 ◼   ► when the heat's on.

00:23:22 ◼   ► And especially, it's a little bit of serendipity

00:23:28 ◼   ► and a little bit of maybe just, well, it makes sense

00:23:32 ◼   ► that the vent was placed over there

00:23:34 ◼   ► and the windows were over here.

00:23:37 ◼   ► But I just sat down closer to where it's noisier.

00:23:41 ◼   ► What else did I test it with?

00:23:45 ◼   ► The oven, so like when Amy was baking something

00:23:48 ◼   ► and turned on the, what do you call the thing

00:23:53 ◼   ► that takes the exhaust out of an oven?

00:23:55 ◼   ► The-- - The hood.

00:23:57 ◼   ► - The hood, yeah.

00:23:58 ◼   ► - Oh, oh, no, the vent, yeah.

00:23:59 ◼   ► - The vent, you turn this on and it sucks up the stuff.

00:24:04 ◼   ► But it's good white noise.

00:24:06 ◼   ► And it's like, boy, they work,

00:24:07 ◼   ► and that's the best I could do, you know what I mean?

00:24:10 ◼   ► I'm not going on an airplane ride

00:24:12 ◼   ► in the 24 hours I've had 'em.

00:24:14 ◼   ► - Right, right.

00:24:14 ◼   ► - Noise canceling seems great.

00:24:17 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's good, it's good.

00:24:20 ◼   ► I mean, I do believe that there's a couple of things,

00:24:25 ◼   ► you know, a couple of natural advantages

00:24:26 ◼   ► that it has over something like an in-ear.

00:24:28 ◼   ► I mean, an in-ear, you're fighting with an in-ear,

00:24:33 ◼   ► you know, I'm talking like versus an over-ear headphone,

00:24:36 ◼   ► you're fighting the fact that the in-ear has a natural seal.

00:24:41 ◼   ► So it already blocks more noise than an over-ear, typically,

00:24:46 ◼   ► because of the foam and the gap between the foam and the ear

00:24:51 ◼   ► and kind of naturally, you're gonna hear more sound.

00:24:54 ◼   ► So the in-ear already has a better natural seal.

00:24:57 ◼   ► But I would guess that just comparing it, say,

00:25:00 ◼   ► 'cause I have QuietComfort 2s,

00:25:01 ◼   ► which is, they've traveled all over the world with me,

00:25:04 ◼   ► and do very well in an airplane setting.

00:25:08 ◼   ► They have less hiss and low-frequency noise

00:25:11 ◼   ► than a Beats Studio.

00:25:12 ◼   ► I have not tried the Sony MX series,

00:25:15 ◼   ► which everybody, you know,

00:25:16 ◼   ► a lot of people swear by over the Bose.

00:25:18 ◼   ► So I can't speak to personal experience there.

00:25:20 ◼   ► But they definitely, the QC2s are way better

00:25:24 ◼   ► than the Beats Studio for me,

00:25:26 ◼   ► for noise cancellation purposes.

00:25:28 ◼   ► And sound is more neutral, you know, too,

00:25:30 ◼   ► which I actually prefer.

00:25:32 ◼   ► But the AirPods Pro, obviously,

00:25:36 ◼   ► their noise cancellation, quite good for an earbud.

00:25:39 ◼   ► I mean, pretty stellar for an earbud.

00:25:41 ◼   ► But I would consider them a little less than the QC2

00:25:44 ◼   ► in terms of efficacy.

00:25:46 ◼   ► And I consider the AirPods Max to be above both of those.

00:25:51 ◼   ► Right, so I think that's the scale for me,

00:25:54 ◼   ► is that the QC2s are good,

00:25:55 ◼   ► but the AirPods Max do provide superior noise cancellation

00:25:59 ◼   ► in terms of blocking, you know,

00:26:01 ◼   ► low frequency and sharp sounds.

00:26:03 ◼   ► Sharp sounds, especially, are very hard

00:26:05 ◼   ► for noise cancellation because they're bursts of sound

00:26:08 ◼   ► that kind of pierce the NC white noise frequency.

00:26:12 ◼   ► But the Max does a better job at sharp sound stuff,

00:26:17 ◼   ► like clinking glasses, snapping fingers, stuff like that.

00:26:21 ◼   ► I found it does a little better job.

00:26:23 ◼   ► So I've been pretty happy with the noise cancellation.

00:26:26 ◼   ► Efficiency, whatever efficacy that you, you know, of these.

00:26:31 ◼   ► I think they're good.

00:26:31 ◼   ► I think they dull a lot of rustling

00:26:34 ◼   ► and a lot of, you know, kind of mid frequency sound very,

00:26:38 ◼   ► very well, which is a lot of the stuff that distracts,

00:26:40 ◼   ► you know, typically.

00:26:42 ◼   ► Just the low hum of life around you,

00:26:44 ◼   ► it kind of cuts that out pretty well.

00:26:47 ◼   ► - The other thing, I tested the first day I had them,

00:26:49 ◼   ► I wore them a lot, and I actually had to run out

00:26:52 ◼   ► to get some groceries.

00:26:54 ◼   ► And so rather than wear my usual AirPods Pro

00:26:59 ◼   ► to listen to podcasts while I do this,

00:27:01 ◼   ► I wore the AirPods Max, which I ordinarily wouldn't do,

00:27:05 ◼   ► but I realized that they do kind of work.

00:27:08 ◼   ► It wasn't freezing cold, I don't know,

00:27:10 ◼   ► it was like in the 30s here in Philly.

00:27:13 ◼   ► But it was sort of like, you know,

00:27:16 ◼   ► like having earmuffs on, you know,

00:27:19 ◼   ► rather than wear a hat, it was like,

00:27:21 ◼   ► "Hey, my ear's aren't getting cold."

00:27:23 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:27:24 ◼   ► But then I realized it is, you know, it was like, huh.

00:27:29 ◼   ► And then all of a sudden I had to take them off,

00:27:31 ◼   ► put my mask on, then put them back on.

00:27:33 ◼   ► - Yes, definitely not as convenient there, same thing.

00:27:38 ◼   ► - But once, you know, when I leave,

00:27:39 ◼   ► I don't take the mask off, you know,

00:27:41 ◼   ► it's like I mask up in the house, leave,

00:27:43 ◼   ► and I don't have to take the mask off

00:27:46 ◼   ► while I'm in the store, I'm not like taking free samples

00:27:48 ◼   ► or anything like that, so, you know.

00:27:50 ◼   ► But when you're using earbuds, you don't have to,

00:27:54 ◼   ► you don't have to worry about which order you mask up.

00:27:57 ◼   ► - It is valid, it's valid to point out.

00:27:59 ◼   ► I mean, I ran into the same thing,

00:28:00 ◼   ► I was running to take a package to the store,

00:28:02 ◼   ► but because I live in a driving city, not a walking city,

00:28:06 ◼   ► I don't wear my mask in my car,

00:28:08 ◼   ► and I don't wear my mask when I leave the house, right?

00:28:11 ◼   ► So it obviously, yes, you're probably not gonna be driving,

00:28:14 ◼   ► or most people are not gonna be driving around

00:28:16 ◼   ► with these things on, but just as a test,

00:28:18 ◼   ► and because I'm trying to get as much

00:28:20 ◼   ► listen time as possible, I wore them out.

00:28:22 ◼   ► And yeah, you have to do the juggling thing

00:28:24 ◼   ► where you lift them and put a mask loop on

00:28:27 ◼   ► and lift the other side and put a mask loop on,

00:28:29 ◼   ► and all of that stuff to get it on and off.

00:28:31 ◼   ► - I've mentioned this many times, I write about it,

00:28:34 ◼   ► and I don't know, maybe it's me,

00:28:35 ◼   ► maybe it's a neurotic aspect of my personality,

00:28:39 ◼   ► but for years, I mean, going back to the wired earbuds era,

00:28:44 ◼   ► I've always listened to podcasts when I'm out running errands

00:28:48 ◼   ► and living in the city, I've run most,

00:28:52 ◼   ► almost all errands on foot, so it's not like I'm driving

00:28:55 ◼   ► while listening to something with headphones on.

00:28:59 ◼   ► And whenever I check out, or if I'm at the butcher counter

00:29:03 ◼   ► and I'm ordering some meat, I take the buds out of my ear,

00:29:08 ◼   ► or at least one of them out of my ear,

00:29:10 ◼   ► even if my audio is paused as a social signal

00:29:15 ◼   ► to the person I'm dealing with,

00:29:18 ◼   ► that you've got my audio attention.

00:29:20 ◼   ► And the conundrum I've been in since AirPods Pro come out

00:29:25 ◼   ► is that I hear better with my podcast paused

00:29:30 ◼   ► and transparency on than I do if I take one out.

00:29:35 ◼   ► And the whole taking one out thing, like the problem era--

00:29:40 ◼   ► - For those of you listening under 30, just wait.

00:29:45 ◼   ► - The problem era of my life was the regular AirPods era,

00:29:51 ◼   ► because what do you do with the one you take out, right?

00:29:54 ◼   ► It's like now you've got a delicate little thing.

00:29:57 ◼   ► - You're gonna set it down on a dirty counter,

00:29:59 ◼   ► or no, you're not gonna do that.

00:30:00 ◼   ► Put it in your pocket, and then the sensors get covered

00:30:02 ◼   ► and it starts playing, it's just awkward.

00:30:04 ◼   ► What do I do with it?

00:30:05 ◼   ► - You're, exactly, exactly.

00:30:08 ◼   ► It's like my coat pocket, I feel, is clean enough

00:30:10 ◼   ► where I would do it, but you can put it in there

00:30:12 ◼   ► and it thinks it's in a, I don't know, it gets confused,

00:30:15 ◼   ► thinks your ear canal is, well, okay, his ears got bigger,

00:30:18 ◼   ► but start playing.

00:30:23 ◼   ► So transparency, technically, is a huge win.

00:30:27 ◼   ► It actually does, it is a superpower.

00:30:31 ◼   ► I think we're such a visual species

00:30:36 ◼   ► that we tend to think of augmented reality

00:30:39 ◼   ► as being primarily visual, but we as a technology

00:30:44 ◼   ► civilization are clearly ahead of the game on the audio side.

00:30:48 ◼   ► Like, these are augmented reality.

00:30:50 ◼   ► And for me, again, in my hearing, I get an annual physical,

00:30:55 ◼   ► my hearing, I get two thumbs up every year

00:30:58 ◼   ► with the hearing test, you hear the beeps, beep,

00:31:00 ◼   ► left, right, you know, so my hearing is good.

00:31:02 ◼   ► But I definitely, in like a grocery store

00:31:07 ◼   ► with that white noise, background noise of a grocery store,

00:31:10 ◼   ► I hear better with transparency, talking to the clerk

00:31:14 ◼   ► or the deli person than I do taking them out.

00:31:18 ◼   ► But it looks like I'm listening to music or a podcast,

00:31:22 ◼   ► right, like I wish that there was some,

00:31:24 ◼   ► I don't know what it would be, like a flashing light

00:31:26 ◼   ► obviously isn't going to happen, but like--

00:31:30 ◼   ► - A red light, you're on air now with me.

00:31:33 ◼   ► - Right.

00:31:34 ◼   ► - We're on the line, caller, welcome.

00:31:39 ◼   ► - Yeah, like a red T, like transparency mode,

00:31:42 ◼   ► this person is paying attention to you.

00:31:44 ◼   ► - But it's way worse with over ears, right,

00:31:47 ◼   ► like the whole social signal with over ears,

00:31:49 ◼   ► it's like fuck you, don't talk to me,

00:31:50 ◼   ► or pardon my French, but you know, don't talk to me,

00:31:54 ◼   ► get lost.

00:31:55 ◼   ► - That's what I look like going to the grocery store,

00:31:57 ◼   ► and I know, and I wanted to like, I love this story,

00:32:01 ◼   ► you ever hear this story about the card,

00:32:02 ◼   ► I don't know if he still carries them,

00:32:03 ◼   ► but that Steve Martin carries around cards that say,

00:32:08 ◼   ► like when people come up and they're like,

00:32:09 ◼   ► hey, you're Steve Martin, can I have your autograph?

00:32:11 ◼   ► He has these cards in his pocket that he gives out,

00:32:14 ◼   ► and it's a card that just says, this card certifies

00:32:17 ◼   ► that you have met Steve Martin.

00:32:18 ◼   ► And then the transaction's over,

00:32:22 ◼   ► he doesn't have to sign anything,

00:32:24 ◼   ► and people, you know, they've got, you know,

00:32:26 ◼   ► and it's charming and funny, and oh so Steve Martin.

00:32:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, they've got a memento, yeah, a physical memento,

00:32:31 ◼   ► it's so much better even than a autograph

00:32:33 ◼   ► on some random slip of paper or whatever.

00:32:35 ◼   ► - Right, I felt like I needed to take cards around

00:32:38 ◼   ► that say I'm listening to you in transparency mode

00:32:41 ◼   ► with these headphones, and you've got

00:32:43 ◼   ► my full audio attention.

00:32:45 ◼   ► But I really felt like I needed it yesterday,

00:32:47 ◼   ► or the day before when I had these over-the-ear cans on.

00:32:52 ◼   ► And it's like, I want you to know,

00:32:54 ◼   ► A, I want you to know I hear you loud and clear,

00:32:57 ◼   ► but B, also, I really kinda need to test these

00:33:01 ◼   ► in the next 24 hours, and this is it.

00:33:03 ◼   ► - I'm not just that guy.

00:33:05 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:33:07 ◼   ► - I did, when I checked out, I couldn't do it though.

00:33:09 ◼   ► I put 'em down around my neck,

00:33:12 ◼   ► and that's when I realized that if you leave them,

00:33:15 ◼   ► if you take 'em off your ears long enough,

00:33:17 ◼   ► they stop playing.

00:33:19 ◼   ► Which brings us to the fact that they don't have

00:33:24 ◼   ► an on/off switch, which is a very Apple-like design choice.

00:33:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, and I think there's some confusion about that.

00:33:32 ◼   ► I know some of the early reviewers

00:33:33 ◼   ► or early looks that were published,

00:33:36 ◼   ► people seemed confused about that

00:33:39 ◼   ► and thought that the only way to stop them

00:33:42 ◼   ► from draining essentially at full power,

00:33:45 ◼   ► you know, like they're on, is to put them in the case.

00:33:49 ◼   ► Which does, if you say, if you assume

00:33:52 ◼   ► that that's the only way to turn them off fully,

00:33:55 ◼   ► that is kind of annoying, right?

00:33:56 ◼   ► Hey, I gotta use this case at all times

00:33:59 ◼   ► unless I want my headphones to drain, you know,

00:34:02 ◼   ► completely over the course of 10 hours or whatever.

00:34:05 ◼   ► But that's not true.

00:34:08 ◼   ► So the case is, it puts them into what they call

00:34:13 ◼   ► an ultra low power mode, right?

00:34:15 ◼   ► Which is, the way I compare this is

00:34:19 ◼   ► if you take the headphones off,

00:34:20 ◼   ► actually, let me run it through,

00:34:21 ◼   ► 'cause this is a couple things that I picked up.

00:34:23 ◼   ► So if you take the headphones off,

00:34:24 ◼   ► immediately they stop playing, right?

00:34:26 ◼   ► Just ear detection or head detection.

00:34:28 ◼   ► The sensor inside says, hey, this isn't on an ear,

00:34:30 ◼   ► I'm gonna stop.

00:34:31 ◼   ► That's an AirPods thing, all the AirPods do that.

00:34:33 ◼   ► Then after about 15 seconds or so,

00:34:36 ◼   ► they actually shut down the connection

00:34:39 ◼   ► between the device that it was connected to

00:34:42 ◼   ► and the headphones.

00:34:43 ◼   ► So that saves a ton more power, right?

00:34:45 ◼   ► 'Cause it says, hey, I'm no longer connected to this phone.

00:34:47 ◼   ► I'm just gonna go, you know, you're not playing anything

00:34:49 ◼   ► from the phone right now, I'm not on your head,

00:34:51 ◼   ► and in fact, maybe I'm still,

00:34:53 ◼   ► 'cause remember the H1s have accelerometers in them.

00:34:55 ◼   ► It says, I'm gonna chill out and cut off this connection,

00:34:58 ◼   ► 'cause that's using up power that's not necessary.

00:35:00 ◼   ► And then I believe there's one more stage

00:35:03 ◼   ► of sort of hibernation that is not,

00:35:06 ◼   ► you know, it's essentially what you would call

00:35:08 ◼   ► a low power mode.

00:35:09 ◼   ► And so the difference between that state

00:35:12 ◼   ► and what you're talking about with the case,

00:35:15 ◼   ► the way that I've come to think of it is that it's like,

00:35:18 ◼   ► I'm asleep versus I'm in,

00:35:20 ◼   ► versus I'm in carbonite, right?

00:35:23 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - I'm frozen in carbonite.

00:35:25 ◼   ► If you're frozen in carbonite, you're alive, but barely.

00:35:28 ◼   ► Isn't that the phrase?

00:35:31 ◼   ► Is he alive?

00:35:32 ◼   ► Barely, I don't know.

00:35:32 ◼   ► But I can't remember.

00:35:34 ◼   ► That's the basic states.

00:35:36 ◼   ► Like it's carbonite frozen,

00:35:39 ◼   ► the only sensor that's on is,

00:35:41 ◼   ► is this in the case or not?

00:35:44 ◼   ► That's pretty much the only sensor that's alive

00:35:46 ◼   ► in the headphones when it's in a case,

00:35:48 ◼   ► which is why it can last so long once it's in there.

00:35:50 ◼   ► And it's obviously just a magnet, right?

00:35:52 ◼   ► That says, hey, yo, you're in this case.

00:35:53 ◼   ► Just like the iPad Smart Cover.

00:35:55 ◼   ► But then when you take them out and like you wear them

00:35:58 ◼   ► and then you take them off and you set them down,

00:36:00 ◼   ► they go into a state that, yes,

00:36:02 ◼   ► we'll use more battery than is in the case,

00:36:04 ◼   ► but it's not the same thing as on, right?

00:36:08 ◼   ► And this whole disambiguation of the term on or off

00:36:13 ◼   ► is very Apple.

00:36:14 ◼   ► Like what does on even mean in a world

00:36:18 ◼   ► with low power chips, right?

00:36:20 ◼   ► Like you can see the conversation,

00:36:21 ◼   ► the philosophical conversation happening, right?

00:36:23 ◼   ► In the audio department at Apple where they're like,

00:36:25 ◼   ► but what does on even mean?

00:36:27 ◼   ► What is on?

00:36:28 ◼   ► You know, what is off, right?

00:36:30 ◼   ► But I think that's like where some of the confusion

00:36:32 ◼   ► came from, which is too surprising.

00:36:34 ◼   ► If you make assumptions that, hey,

00:36:37 ◼   ► the case puts them into the lowest power mode possible

00:36:40 ◼   ► and there's no off switch,

00:36:41 ◼   ► maybe they don't get turned off until you put them

00:36:43 ◼   ► in the case, but that's not technically true.

00:36:44 ◼   ► There's shades of off there.

00:36:47 ◼   ► - Yeah, and it's also the exact sort of thing

00:36:50 ◼   ► that by its nature is extremely difficult to write about

00:36:54 ◼   ► within 24 or 36 hours of getting them

00:36:58 ◼   ► if you're going to spend most of your waking hours

00:37:01 ◼   ► in those 24 hours using them.

00:37:03 ◼   ► (laughs)

00:37:05 ◼   ► So here's what I did.

00:37:06 ◼   ► I actually, I should have written it down.

00:37:08 ◼   ► I believe when I went to put them down last night,

00:37:12 ◼   ► I put them down outside the case

00:37:14 ◼   ► and I think they were at 81%

00:37:16 ◼   ► and I just looked right now as you were speaking,

00:37:20 ◼   ► they're at 74%.

00:37:22 ◼   ► So don't quote me on that.

00:37:24 ◼   ► It was somewhere around 80.

00:37:26 ◼   ► So maybe they lost 5% of their power

00:37:29 ◼   ► over the last 14 hours.

00:37:33 ◼   ► - So I could give you a little bit more accuracy on that.

00:37:35 ◼   ► See, I ran essentially the same test.

00:37:39 ◼   ► And so they, I think about 4 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. yesterday,

00:37:44 ◼   ► I had charged them full and then unplugged them.

00:37:49 ◼   ► And then I used them for maybe a handful of minutes

00:37:52 ◼   ► and then after work I had to cook dinner

00:37:54 ◼   ► and all of that stuff.

00:37:55 ◼   ► So I actually didn't use them much last night.

00:37:57 ◼   ► So I actually took them off, set them on my desk

00:38:00 ◼   ► around 5 p.m. and left them there all night.

00:38:04 ◼   ► So that's over 12 hours, almost 14, 15 hours, right?

00:38:09 ◼   ► Or almost 20 hours.

00:38:10 ◼   ► Now, when we started this call,

00:38:13 ◼   ► which was let's say about 40 minutes ago,

00:38:17 ◼   ► I put them on and started using them for this call.

00:38:20 ◼   ► I'm using them right now, right?

00:38:21 ◼   ► To listen to this call or to listen to you.

00:38:23 ◼   ► And they are at 96%.

00:38:26 ◼   ► So it's whatever power they're using overnight,

00:38:30 ◼   ► they're not on in the traditional sense.

00:38:33 ◼   ► - Right, right. - Or sorry,

00:38:34 ◼   ► whatever the power they're using laying on a desk

00:38:36 ◼   ► or off your head, but not in a case, right?

00:38:39 ◼   ► I did not put them in the case.

00:38:40 ◼   ► And so I think that there's, that's a pretty easy tell

00:38:43 ◼   ► that they're definitely not on, on.

00:38:46 ◼   ► - All right, let me take a break

00:38:47 ◼   ► and thank our first sponsor.

00:38:48 ◼   ► It's our good friends at Mack Weldon.

00:38:51 ◼   ► I did not cook the books on this.

00:38:52 ◼   ► The fix is not in, but I didn't even know

00:38:56 ◼   ► that they were gonna be sponsoring this episode

00:38:58 ◼   ► until I came down and I was already dressed.

00:39:00 ◼   ► I'm wearing a Mack Weldon waffle shirt

00:39:03 ◼   ► and then on top of it, a Mack Weldon hoodie.

00:39:06 ◼   ► As I record this read, I do, I wear their stuff and love it.

00:39:11 ◼   ► When it comes to holiday gifting for guys,

00:39:16 ◼   ► they've got a lot of stuff and you've got time,

00:39:19 ◼   ► if you order, as you listen to this, when it's new,

00:39:21 ◼   ► you could definitely get some stuff delivered in time

00:39:24 ◼   ► for the holidays.

00:39:25 ◼   ► Mack Weldon sells men's basics that are guaranteed

00:39:28 ◼   ► to keep everyone on your list comfortable.

00:39:30 ◼   ► Their stuff is great.

00:39:32 ◼   ► I love the style of it, I love the fit of it,

00:39:35 ◼   ► I love the, it lasts.

00:39:37 ◼   ► I don't even know which of my stuff from them

00:39:38 ◼   ► is my older stuff from a year or two back

00:39:41 ◼   ► and which is the stuff I've bought recently.

00:39:43 ◼   ► They started with stuff like the under the clothes stuff,

00:39:47 ◼   ► like hoodies, or not hoodies, underwear and undershirts

00:39:51 ◼   ► and socks, but they have everything.

00:39:54 ◼   ► They've got polos, they've got hoodies.

00:39:56 ◼   ► The hoodie I'm wearing right now, I absolutely love.

00:39:58 ◼   ► It's one of my favorites.

00:40:00 ◼   ► My son has the same hoodie in a slightly smaller size.

00:40:03 ◼   ► He loves it too.

00:40:04 ◼   ► Really, it's just great stuff.

00:40:06 ◼   ► Just really, really great stuff.

00:40:10 ◼   ► Don't even get me started on the slippers.

00:40:11 ◼   ► Merlin and I, a couple episodes ago,

00:40:13 ◼   ► told you all about the slippers, but the slippers,

00:40:15 ◼   ► I mean, for God's sake, they're just the best.

00:40:18 ◼   ► Anyway, they've also got a loyalty program.

00:40:22 ◼   ► It is so easy.

00:40:24 ◼   ► All you have to do is buy stuff

00:40:25 ◼   ► and it just puts you into the loyalty program.

00:40:29 ◼   ► Once you get to level one, you get free shipping for life

00:40:32 ◼   ► and when you reach level two,

00:40:34 ◼   ► which all you have to do is spend 200 bucks.

00:40:38 ◼   ► If you buy $200 worth of stuff,

00:40:40 ◼   ► you just automatically get into level two

00:40:42 ◼   ► and then from that point, you get 20% off every order

00:40:45 ◼   ► for the next year.

00:40:46 ◼   ► It's a great deal.

00:40:47 ◼   ► You don't have to do anything to qualify.

00:40:48 ◼   ► All you have to do is just buy stuff

00:40:50 ◼   ► and then the more you buy, the cheaper the stuff gets.

00:40:53 ◼   ► They've got a great guarantee.

00:40:55 ◼   ► If you don't like your first pair of underwear,

00:40:57 ◼   ► you can just keep 'em.

00:40:58 ◼   ► Don't send 'em back.

00:41:00 ◼   ► Do not send back your dissatisfying underwear,

00:41:03 ◼   ► but they will refund you, no questions asked.

00:41:06 ◼   ► So here's what you can do.

00:41:08 ◼   ► Get 20% off your first order

00:41:10 ◼   ► by going to mackweldon.com/talkshow

00:41:14 ◼   ► and enter the promo code talk show.

00:41:16 ◼   ► That's Mack, M-A-C-K, Weldon, W-L-E-L-D-O-N dot com.

00:41:21 ◼   ► Mackweldon.com/talkshow with promo code talk show

00:41:27 ◼   ► and you can get 20% off.

00:41:29 ◼   ► All right, we gotta talk about this case

00:41:32 ◼   ► before we get off there, Puds Max.

00:41:34 ◼   ► The case. (laughing)

00:41:37 ◼   ► I know people were dunking on it immediately,

00:41:42 ◼   ► but it wasn't until I saw it in person

00:41:44 ◼   ► that I realized how much,

00:41:46 ◼   ► and I don't know, I don't know.

00:41:48 ◼   ► My joke is that it's like,

00:41:50 ◼   ► I don't know which half of the bikini emoji it looks like.

00:41:53 ◼   ► Does it look like a butt from behind?

00:41:56 ◼   ► Or does it look like a bikini top from the front?

00:41:59 ◼   ► It's a funny looking thing.

00:42:03 ◼   ► It's obviously that they designed the headphones.

00:42:08 ◼   ► Here's my guess as to how this happened.

00:42:10 ◼   ► They designed the headphones.

00:42:11 ◼   ► They made the headphones they wanted to make

00:42:14 ◼   ► and then they were like,

00:42:15 ◼   ► well, how do we put these in a case?

00:42:16 ◼   ► And then they designed a case around the headphones.

00:42:18 ◼   ► And if the case turned out looking a little funny,

00:42:21 ◼   ► well, that's just it.

00:42:23 ◼   ► They're not gonna make the headphones different

00:42:25 ◼   ► just to make the case look better, I guess.

00:42:28 ◼   ► I did not draw the comparison to the Duo dock,

00:42:35 ◼   ► the MagSafe Duo dock.

00:42:38 ◼   ► You did in your review.

00:42:40 ◼   ► And it's like when that part of your review,

00:42:42 ◼   ► it was like boom, light bulb, yes, that's the problem.

00:42:47 ◼   ► The MagSafe Duo charging dock

00:42:50 ◼   ► feels like a cheap jack piece of,

00:42:54 ◼   ► if it cost 50 bucks, it would be like,

00:42:58 ◼   ► yeah, fine, I'll buy one.

00:42:59 ◼   ► 50 bucks, that's a cool thing to take in my travel case.

00:43:02 ◼   ► For $140 or $130 without the $20 charger it requires,

00:43:08 ◼   ► it just doesn't feel commensurate with the price.

00:43:13 ◼   ► It feels like a $50 charger.

00:43:14 ◼   ► - Even that thing has the redeeming quality

00:43:18 ◼   ► of having a couple of pieces of nice aluminum in it.

00:43:20 ◼   ► The mounts for the watch and the magnet ring for the phone,

00:43:26 ◼   ► at least those scream like,

00:43:30 ◼   ► hey, there's some Apple stuff in here.

00:43:32 ◼   ► Whereas this is, I don't know what this is.

00:43:36 ◼   ► You know what it reminds me of, John?

00:43:38 ◼   ► (laughing)

00:43:40 ◼   ► It reminds me of when you don't have a paper towel

00:43:45 ◼   ► and you wrap your sandwich in a napkin.

00:43:49 ◼   ► Where you know a paper towel is more durable.

00:43:53 ◼   ► It's got some heft to it.

00:43:55 ◼   ► I mean, I'm not saying that everybody wraps

00:43:57 ◼   ► your sandwich in a paper towel,

00:43:58 ◼   ► but let's say you're gonna pick it up

00:43:59 ◼   ► and you're gonna eat it and it's a little sloppy,

00:44:00 ◼   ► it's got some juice on it.

00:44:02 ◼   ► And you're like, I wanna wrap something

00:44:03 ◼   ► around the bottom of this.

00:44:04 ◼   ► Like you made it at home.

00:44:06 ◼   ► It's like you wrap a Subway wrapper

00:44:07 ◼   ► around the bottom of the sandwich and eat the top

00:44:08 ◼   ► if you're walking and talking.

00:44:10 ◼   ► When you wrap a paper towel around it,

00:44:14 ◼   ► you're like, this paper towel's gonna last.

00:44:15 ◼   ► It's gonna absorb, it's gonna soak some stuff up.

00:44:18 ◼   ► It's gonna be chill.

00:44:19 ◼   ► You wrap a napkin around it, you got holes in that thing,

00:44:22 ◼   ► you got fibers coming off.

00:44:24 ◼   ► That's what this looks like.

00:44:25 ◼   ► It looks like you took the headphones

00:44:27 ◼   ► and wrapped them in a napkin and it got holes in it.

00:44:29 ◼   ► It's like, oh, hey, I just need to wrap this

00:44:31 ◼   ► in something real quick and just take it down the block

00:44:33 ◼   ► and give my neighbor some chocolate chip cookies.

00:44:34 ◼   ► I just need to wrap it in this napkin.

00:44:37 ◼   ► And then by the time you get there,

00:44:38 ◼   ► the napkin's barely holding on.

00:44:39 ◼   ► That's what this looks like.

00:44:40 ◼   ► It's like, why?

00:44:41 ◼   ► Why go through all the effort to produce

00:44:45 ◼   ► what is probably one of the more over-engineered,

00:44:50 ◼   ► precision-machined pieces of headphone gear I've ever seen

00:44:55 ◼   ► and then wrap it in this?

00:44:57 ◼   ► It's honestly insulting to the product itself.

00:45:03 ◼   ► I don't get it.

00:45:04 ◼   ► It's really awkward.

00:45:05 ◼   ► - I think a couple of the other reviewers

00:45:10 ◼   ► have mentioned this.

00:45:11 ◼   ► I haven't caught up on all the YouTube reviews,

00:45:13 ◼   ► but when I unboxed it, my son was here,

00:45:16 ◼   ► and he was keenly interested.

00:45:17 ◼   ► My son is probably more of a headphone fan than I am.

00:45:20 ◼   ► - What kid is it, John?

00:45:24 ◼   ► We all loved headphones 'cause they shut our parents up.

00:45:26 ◼   ► - I know. (laughs)

00:45:28 ◼   ► Well, but now in addition to shutting up his parents,

00:45:31 ◼   ► it also connects with his friends.

00:45:33 ◼   ► So it's, from my era, it's a combination headphones

00:45:38 ◼   ► and telephone.

00:45:40 ◼   ► - And telephone, exactly, 'cause I got Discord

00:45:43 ◼   ► and he's talking to his friends and all that.

00:45:45 ◼   ► - So he's, of all the stuff that's come in,

00:45:48 ◼   ► he was more keenly interested in these

00:45:50 ◼   ► than anything recently, I think.

00:45:53 ◼   ► Although the M1 Mac definitely interested him.

00:45:56 ◼   ► But he couldn't believe that the case

00:46:02 ◼   ► wasn't part of the packaging.

00:46:04 ◼   ► (laughs)

00:46:05 ◼   ► And it's weird because there is packaging around the case.

00:46:09 ◼   ► There is a typical white, not onion paper,

00:46:14 ◼   ► but Apple's version of onion paper around it.

00:46:17 ◼   ► But you take that off and it feels like

00:46:19 ◼   ► there's just this second level of wrapping

00:46:22 ◼   ► around the headphones, and it's like,

00:46:23 ◼   ► "No, no, that's the case."

00:46:24 ◼   ► And they have a soft touch material inside.

00:46:28 ◼   ► I'm sure it's not suede.

00:46:30 ◼   ► There's no way they're gonna ship leather,

00:46:33 ◼   ► actual leather to everybody, both cost-wise

00:46:36 ◼   ► and the fact that some people don't wanna buy leather stuff.

00:46:39 ◼   ► It's some kind of artificial suede soft touch thing.

00:46:44 ◼   ► And it's not bad to the touch,

00:46:45 ◼   ► but that outer material is either identical to

00:46:49 ◼   ► or might as well be the kissing cousin

00:46:52 ◼   ► of that rubbery stuff that they make

00:46:54 ◼   ► like iPad covers out of,

00:46:58 ◼   ► and the Duo charging dock in particular.

00:47:01 ◼   ► It's like, "Yeah, that's the same stuff."

00:47:03 ◼   ► And it's not a bad material,

00:47:05 ◼   ► but it is not a premium material.

00:47:08 ◼   ► And there is no doubt in my mind,

00:47:10 ◼   ► even if you're a, you know,

00:47:12 ◼   ► like I'm thinking about how I travel,

00:47:17 ◼   ► when I go on an airplane.

00:47:18 ◼   ► And it's not like I fill up my backpack

00:47:22 ◼   ► or briefcase or whatever bag I'm taking with me.

00:47:24 ◼   ► I've switched to a briefcase,

00:47:26 ◼   ► but right before the pandemic hit.

00:47:29 ◼   ► So I was like, "Why did I spend all this money

00:47:32 ◼   ► "on a leather briefcase?"

00:47:33 ◼   ► And I don't go anywhere.

00:47:34 ◼   ► It's like, you know,

00:47:37 ◼   ► I'm not putting unwrapped candy bars in there.

00:47:42 ◼   ► I don't have potted plants in there.

00:47:45 ◼   ► It's like, you know, it's computer stuff

00:47:47 ◼   ► and books and magazines.

00:47:49 ◼   ► So it's all clean stuff.

00:47:51 ◼   ► But yet somehow my hard case for my bows

00:47:56 ◼   ► is kind of beat up, right?

00:47:58 ◼   ► It's just the nature of travel, right?

00:48:01 ◼   ► You can be as neat as you want

00:48:04 ◼   ► and put clean stuff in a bag,

00:48:06 ◼   ► but you're stuffing it into overhead bins.

00:48:08 ◼   ► You're stuffing it under the seat.

00:48:10 ◼   ► - It happens.

00:48:14 ◼   ► It just picks up battle scars over time.

00:48:17 ◼   ► - And I'm a careful person.

00:48:18 ◼   ► Like other people may not be so careful, you know?

00:48:22 ◼   ► Yeah, it picks up scars.

00:48:23 ◼   ► This stuff, especially the non-space gray colors,

00:48:26 ◼   ► there's just no way it's gonna stay clean looking.

00:48:29 ◼   ► Space gray maybe will take a beating

00:48:33 ◼   ► and maybe will look better with the beating,

00:48:35 ◼   ► but like the blue and the green and the silver,

00:48:39 ◼   ► it's like, it just does not seem meant for that.

00:48:42 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:48:43 ◼   ► It's like there's a certain part of Apple

00:48:45 ◼   ► that just, as practical as they mostly are,

00:48:48 ◼   ► and I think the headphones themselves

00:48:51 ◼   ► are very practically designed for the real world.

00:48:54 ◼   ► The case, it just is not.

00:48:56 ◼   ► And it's not a case, it's a pouch, right?

00:48:59 ◼   ► - Mm-hmm, yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:49:02 ◼   ► - And it's $550. - I don't know.

00:49:06 ◼   ► It is, it's just insane.

00:49:08 ◼   ► And there's no justifying it.

00:49:10 ◼   ► I'm not gonna dance around trying to go like,

00:49:12 ◼   ► oh, well, maybe this is clearly, clearly

00:49:16 ◼   ► one of those things where at the last minute,

00:49:17 ◼   ► they're like, shit, did anybody decide?

00:49:21 ◼   ► Did anybody think about a case?

00:49:23 ◼   ► Because like, I don't know.

00:49:25 ◼   ► Like the product shots show people holding it

00:49:27 ◼   ► by the handle and all of this stuff.

00:49:29 ◼   ► - Like a purse, right? - I don't know.

00:49:30 ◼   ► - You know, it's like-- - Yeah, like a purse.

00:49:32 ◼   ► I think that it would have been better

00:49:33 ◼   ► for them to ship it without a case,

00:49:35 ◼   ► because you know what that tells people?

00:49:37 ◼   ► This is for the home, and if you're gonna travel with it,

00:49:39 ◼   ► we'll come up with something for you,

00:49:41 ◼   ► or you can fit it into your life, right?

00:49:43 ◼   ► Put it in a pouch, put it in a bag, put it in whatever, right?

00:49:45 ◼   ► Like, you know, put it in, even a drawstring bag,

00:49:48 ◼   ► a lot of premium headphones.

00:49:51 ◼   ► Like a lot of studio monitor headphones

00:49:53 ◼   ► come with a drawstring bag, right?

00:49:55 ◼   ► Some of them come with something fancier,

00:49:56 ◼   ► but a lot of them come with like a, you know,

00:49:59 ◼   ► a nice kind of pouch, drawstring bag type thing

00:50:02 ◼   ► that either you use because you are that kind of person,

00:50:06 ◼   ► or you put in the box and never ever take out, right?

00:50:09 ◼   ► They would have been better off

00:50:11 ◼   ► to go with that kind of situation than something half-assed,

00:50:15 ◼   ► because I do believe it lowers the,

00:50:18 ◼   ► it lowers the whole product, right?

00:50:20 ◼   ► It doesn't elevate the product, it lowers the product.

00:50:23 ◼   ► Everything about the packaging and execution of this thing

00:50:27 ◼   ► screams expensive, high-quality headphones.

00:50:30 ◼   ► The box has that lovely emboss,

00:50:33 ◼   ► the headband has this mesh

00:50:36 ◼   ► that nobody else would think to execute,

00:50:38 ◼   ► because it's like, who would think to do that, right?

00:50:41 ◼   ► That you can't, you know, that's hard to do,

00:50:44 ◼   ► materials-wise, to attach it with very little glue

00:50:47 ◼   ► and very little attachment, you know,

00:50:48 ◼   ► to bond it in the way that they did.

00:50:51 ◼   ► The pistons on the headphones that extend them,

00:50:54 ◼   ► it's not some cheap like rail system,

00:50:56 ◼   ► it's like a car piston that slides out.

00:50:59 ◼   ► All of this stuff screams like,

00:51:01 ◼   ► we worked on this a long time and it was hard,

00:51:04 ◼   ► and here it is.

00:51:06 ◼   ► And then the case screams like, you know,

00:51:09 ◼   ► here's this shit too. (laughs)

00:51:10 ◼   ► - Right, the piston feels like you could use the piston

00:51:15 ◼   ► for extending the cups out, further out,

00:51:19 ◼   ► to accommodate a larger, smaller head,

00:51:22 ◼   ► pull 'em out, push 'em back in for fit.

00:51:25 ◼   ► The pistons alone feel like you could teach

00:51:28 ◼   ► half a semester of industrial design at a university

00:51:32 ◼   ► by studying the piston design alone.

00:51:34 ◼   ► It's that interesting, materials,

00:51:37 ◼   ► and it's like, how does this, it feels magical, right?

00:51:41 ◼   ► Because it doesn't click, it doesn't have steps,

00:51:44 ◼   ► but it does, it holds its shape.

00:51:46 ◼   ► I mean, will it over time?

00:51:48 ◼   ► Again, who knows, you know, three,

00:51:49 ◼   ► come back to me in three years and see if it still is tight.

00:51:53 ◼   ► But yeah, super premium.

00:51:56 ◼   ► Just the pistons alone, very, very premium

00:51:59 ◼   ► in a way that just blows away the Bose that I have,

00:52:02 ◼   ► which are fine, right?

00:52:03 ◼   ► They click, you know, and they feel way sturdier

00:52:07 ◼   ► than the Bose Quiet Comforts of old,

00:52:09 ◼   ► which used to snap after 18 months.

00:52:12 ◼   ► Like, guaranteed to snap 18 months after you fry 'em.

00:52:15 ◼   ► - Right.

00:52:17 ◼   ► - You know, it's like, but the case, Jesus.

00:52:21 ◼   ► I don't know what they're thinking.

00:52:24 ◼   ► - Me neither, it's almost not--

00:52:28 ◼   ► - And then the worst part is you kinda need it

00:52:30 ◼   ► to put 'em in the hibernate, right?

00:52:32 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, exactly.

00:52:33 ◼   ► Like, if you would've had a nice shell case

00:52:37 ◼   ► that said, hey, this is a little bulky on the case side,

00:52:42 ◼   ► but it's the nest that your headphones live in, right?

00:52:47 ◼   ► - Right.

00:52:48 ◼   ► - They go in there to hibernate and you keep them safe

00:52:50 ◼   ► and they're protected.

00:52:51 ◼   ► Like, imagine, like the Bose QCs have that hard shell,

00:52:55 ◼   ► you know, deal that zips up.

00:52:58 ◼   ► Or I think it's like a soft hard shell now, you know,

00:53:01 ◼   ► it's like a combination floppy thing.

00:53:03 ◼   ► But something like that, even in the same exterior material,

00:53:08 ◼   ► I could see the complaint being,

00:53:09 ◼   ► oh man, this is gonna get dirty, but hey, you know,

00:53:11 ◼   ► it's a safe home for my $500 or $550 headphones.

00:53:15 ◼   ► I get it, right?

00:53:17 ◼   ► That makes sense.

00:53:18 ◼   ► This doesn't make any sense.

00:53:20 ◼   ► Because it leaves the most delicate part

00:53:22 ◼   ► of what you would think to be the headphone exposed.

00:53:24 ◼   ► Like the material, sure, if you don't want

00:53:27 ◼   ► these aluminum things to scratch, I get it.

00:53:30 ◼   ► But at the same time, who cares, who gives a crap, right?

00:53:34 ◼   ► The headband though, it's a mesh.

00:53:37 ◼   ► - Like we're gonna stick it in there

00:53:38 ◼   ► with my pens and pocket knives

00:53:39 ◼   ► and I forget to close it all the way or whatever.

00:53:41 ◼   ► Like, protect that, you know?

00:53:43 ◼   ► I mean, it's weird, it's weird, it's just all weird.

00:53:46 ◼   ► - Right, like you could get a scratch on the ear cups

00:53:48 ◼   ► and it's a scratch.

00:53:49 ◼   ► It's like getting a scratch on the back of your phone,

00:53:50 ◼   ► who cares?

00:53:51 ◼   ► I mean, you know, people might care,

00:53:53 ◼   ► but I don't wanna get a hole poked in the mesh, you know?

00:53:57 ◼   ► - Right, right.

00:53:58 ◼   ► - Anyway, I'm still not quite sure what to make of it.

00:54:02 ◼   ► I'm glad, I know, I guess we, you know, 550 bucks.

00:54:07 ◼   ► It is premium and it's a bad year to come out

00:54:10 ◼   ► with premium $550 headphones.

00:54:13 ◼   ► I mean, times are tough.

00:54:14 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah. - The world is a mess.

00:54:16 ◼   ► But, you know, there is this whole world of high-end audio

00:54:22 ◼   ► and $550 isn't even the highest of the high by far.

00:54:30 ◼   ► I'm glad Apple is making, shooting

00:54:33 ◼   ► for super premium headphones.

00:54:35 ◼   ► And same way with HomePod, right?

00:54:40 ◼   ► And it's like, I know, you know, people are,

00:54:42 ◼   ► a lot of people think, you know, the reason Apple is behind

00:54:45 ◼   ► in market share on home talk-tier dingus devices

00:54:50 ◼   ► is that HomePod was their only standalone device

00:54:52 ◼   ► until they came out with the Mini

00:54:54 ◼   ► and it started at 300 bucks.

00:54:56 ◼   ► Or maybe it was 350 when it first came out.

00:54:57 ◼   ► And that's a lot more than all these $50 pucks

00:55:00 ◼   ► that everybody else makes.

00:55:02 ◼   ► But I'm glad they make HomePod that sounds so amazing.

00:55:05 ◼   ► I really am.

00:55:07 ◼   ► But it's, you know, there seems to be a bit of a gap

00:55:13 ◼   ► in price between AirPods Pro and AirPods Max

00:55:17 ◼   ► where there could be another set of headphones in between.

00:55:20 ◼   ► - In between, yeah.

00:55:22 ◼   ► It's a pretty big, I mean, they shot for the outside edge

00:55:26 ◼   ► before the middle edge, right?

00:55:28 ◼   ► Now it is gap filling, right?

00:55:30 ◼   ► You have people who are obviously buying

00:55:33 ◼   ► and Apple can see obviously very well

00:55:35 ◼   ► that people buy Beats, right?

00:55:37 ◼   ► And they know how many people buy them

00:55:38 ◼   ► and they know that that price is, you know,

00:55:41 ◼   ► in the middle of the $300 bracket.

00:55:43 ◼   ► And, you know, they're still benefiting from that

00:55:46 ◼   ► in that they own Beats and all of that.

00:55:49 ◼   ► But that also proves out the need and the desire for people

00:55:53 ◼   ► to have something in that universe

00:55:55 ◼   ► that supports the most advanced features

00:55:58 ◼   ► that Apple has shipped in any audio devices so far, right?

00:56:01 ◼   ► Which to me is really the point of these headphones.

00:56:05 ◼   ► It's not, you know, at the beginning of this conversation,

00:56:08 ◼   ► I was like, hey, I'm not really interested

00:56:09 ◼   ► in comparing these to non-NC headphones

00:56:12 ◼   ► because by nature, anytime you introduce processing

00:56:14 ◼   ► into the audio path,

00:56:16 ◼   ► it's no longer a pristine audio device, right?

00:56:20 ◼   ► It's just, that's not about that transmitting

00:56:23 ◼   ► the pure fidelity of the original recording directly

00:56:28 ◼   ► to your ears as little, you know, fuss as possible.

00:56:31 ◼   ► There are absolutely headphones and applications for that.

00:56:35 ◼   ► I get it, you know, recording audio files,

00:56:39 ◼   ► listening to the original vinyl and, you know,

00:56:42 ◼   ► if you've got a $1,500 vinyl record player, you know,

00:56:46 ◼   ► this is nothing, you know,

00:56:47 ◼   ► you want headphones that transmit that, you know,

00:56:50 ◼   ► or $2,000 record player or more, whatever,

00:56:53 ◼   ► you get the drift.

00:56:54 ◼   ► But this, that's not that at all.

00:56:56 ◼   ► So then you have to ask yourself, like, what is this about?

00:56:59 ◼   ► Like, what's the purpose of shipping these?

00:57:04 ◼   ► And the two H1 chips, nine microphones,

00:57:09 ◼   ► like every trick that they've learned so far in audio

00:57:13 ◼   ► is in these things.

00:57:15 ◼   ► And it's tied to, of course,

00:57:16 ◼   ► all of the tricks that they've introduced on iOS

00:57:20 ◼   ► for, you know, positional audio, the spatial audio

00:57:24 ◼   ► that they're shipping, right?

00:57:25 ◼   ► You have the adaptive EQ, which says,

00:57:27 ◼   ► hey, I'm gonna read the seal of your ears.

00:57:29 ◼   ► Some other headphones do this,

00:57:30 ◼   ► but not to the efficacy of these.

00:57:33 ◼   ► It's better than any of the others I've tried.

00:57:36 ◼   ► I will say that there is a,

00:57:37 ◼   ► there is a case to be made here that what they're doing

00:57:42 ◼   ► is exactly what you were alluding to on the AR front,

00:57:44 ◼   ► that they are building out this sort of platform.

00:57:48 ◼   ► And in my original first, you know,

00:57:52 ◼   ► gasp review of the AirPods,

00:57:54 ◼   ► 'cause they came out at the same time as an iPhone,

00:57:56 ◼   ► and I like tucked my AirPods review into that,

00:57:58 ◼   ► but I also broke it out 'cause I felt like,

00:58:00 ◼   ► you know, it's worth talking about on its own a little bit.

00:58:03 ◼   ► And it was like, hey, this is audio AR, you know,

00:58:06 ◼   ► get ready, you know, we're gonna be looking at this.

00:58:08 ◼   ► And that was, you know,

00:58:10 ◼   ► I can't remember when they came out now,

00:58:11 ◼   ► the years blend together, several years ago, right?

00:58:14 ◼   ► But that was basically, you know,

00:58:16 ◼   ► me trying to be all fun and future looking and say,

00:58:19 ◼   ► hey, what if, what if, what if, what if?

00:58:20 ◼   ► Well, we're in what if now.

00:58:22 ◼   ► You know, it's creating, when you put these on,

00:58:24 ◼   ► the larger drivers, the ear cup, the comfort,

00:58:28 ◼   ► and the, now the content that supports that most

00:58:31 ◼   ► and all of this stuff,

00:58:33 ◼   ► it crafts a soundstage for you that feels real.

00:58:36 ◼   ► It feels like you're listening to the audio

00:58:38 ◼   ► without headphones on.

00:58:40 ◼   ► If you're looking at this, you know,

00:58:41 ◼   ► if you're watching the kind of content that supports it,

00:58:43 ◼   ► right, it's not all content,

00:58:44 ◼   ► it's only on iOS devices.

00:58:47 ◼   ► There's a lot of limitations here so far, right?

00:58:49 ◼   ► - Right.

00:58:50 ◼   ► - But if you are looking,

00:58:51 ◼   ► you're watching an episode of a show on the iOS device

00:58:56 ◼   ► that supports that most and the spatial audio is on,

00:59:00 ◼   ► and you turn it off, the soundstage like vanishes

00:59:04 ◼   ► and you're getting a single flat kind of,

00:59:06 ◼   ► hey, here's audio presentation, sounds good, but whatever.

00:59:10 ◼   ► When you turn it on, it really is insane.

00:59:13 ◼   ► Like it's really incredible the breadth and depth

00:59:16 ◼   ► of the soundstage there.

00:59:17 ◼   ► I mean, I've spent, I spent years,

00:59:19 ◼   ► like 10 years installing home theater audio,

00:59:22 ◼   ► and I know what a good soundstage sounds like.

00:59:24 ◼   ► I'm not the world's expert on this stuff,

00:59:27 ◼   ► but I know how to set up a home theater system.

00:59:29 ◼   ► I know how to set up 7.1 and 5.1.

00:59:32 ◼   ► It's actually really good.

00:59:36 ◼   ► Definitely not to the par of some sort

00:59:38 ◼   ► of actual physical installation,

00:59:40 ◼   ► it would never probably will be,

00:59:42 ◼   ► but maybe, you know, it's actually really getting close.

00:59:46 ◼   ► It's way, way better than any of those like

00:59:49 ◼   ► fake sound bar-y type things where they're like,

00:59:51 ◼   ► hey, we'll project your audio for you.

00:59:53 ◼   ► And they just kind of like use a little beam forming.

00:59:55 ◼   ► It's way better than that.

00:59:56 ◼   ► It's pretty incredible.

00:59:58 ◼   ► And so I think that it's really a test bed

00:59:59 ◼   ► for all of those technologies.

01:00:01 ◼   ► It is the best you can get right now

01:00:04 ◼   ► in a headphone version of a home theater audio setup.

01:00:09 ◼   ► But the downsides, of course,

01:00:11 ◼   ► we're all still there.

01:00:13 ◼   ► It only works on iOS.

01:00:14 ◼   ► It's only on portable devices like an iPad or whatever.

01:00:16 ◼   ► You can't watch your Apple TV and get that spatial audio.

01:00:19 ◼   ► It doesn't work yet, you know, that kind of thing.

01:00:21 ◼   ► - It seems crazy to me.

01:00:22 ◼   ► I blew a chunk of my review complaining about it.

01:00:25 ◼   ► It seems crazy that it doesn't work with Apple TV.

01:00:27 ◼   ► I mean, like, it is quite possibly

01:00:32 ◼   ► a better audio experience than you could get

01:00:36 ◼   ► from any speakers, right?

01:00:38 ◼   ► 'Cause it's right there personally for you,

01:00:41 ◼   ► like in the way that VR goggles

01:00:45 ◼   ► are gonna give you a better VR experience

01:00:47 ◼   ► than a screen ever could, right?

01:00:51 ◼   ► - Right.

01:00:52 ◼   ► - It's like, you know, like the old Star Trek holodeck.

01:00:55 ◼   ► Never really added up the way, like, wait,

01:00:58 ◼   ► if it's just a bunch of, if it's just four walls

01:01:01 ◼   ► in like a racquetball court,

01:01:02 ◼   ► how are they protecting stuff in the middle?

01:01:04 ◼   ► But whatever is the future.

01:01:07 ◼   ► Like, in the way that for true VR,

01:01:11 ◼   ► you really need goggles that are personal for you,

01:01:14 ◼   ► and if you and I are having the same experience,

01:01:16 ◼   ► we both need goggles so that we're both

01:01:18 ◼   ► getting a personal experience.

01:01:19 ◼   ► I think that it's quite possible that for that spatial audio

01:01:23 ◼   ► you're getting a better experience from these headphones

01:01:25 ◼   ► than you would from any speaker set up in a room.

01:01:28 ◼   ► 'Cause it's for you.

01:01:29 ◼   ► And maybe you could set the speakers up

01:01:31 ◼   ► so there's one sweet spot in the middle

01:01:33 ◼   ► where like two people sitting in the middle of the room

01:01:36 ◼   ► get the perfect experience.

01:01:37 ◼   ► But everybody else aren't because they're not in the center.

01:01:41 ◼   ► Why, you get this, the best possible audio experience

01:01:47 ◼   ► to watch a blockbuster action movie

01:01:49 ◼   ► and you have to watch it on an iPad?

01:01:52 ◼   ► To get, that's the biggest screen you can get?

01:01:54 ◼   ► It's insane.

01:01:57 ◼   ► It just seems crazy to me.

01:01:58 ◼   ► Anyway, I'll pick this up 'cause I wanna keep going.

01:02:00 ◼   ► But let me take a break while I'm thinking about it

01:02:01 ◼   ► and thank our next sponsor.

01:02:03 ◼   ► Oh, I love this company.

01:02:04 ◼   ► They're sponsoring Daring Fireball this week.

01:02:06 ◼   ► It's the rare two shot where their sponsorship coincides

01:02:11 ◼   ► with the website and the podcast.

01:02:13 ◼   ► 'Cause I'm not good at juggling things.

01:02:16 ◼   ► Kolide, or Kolide, actually I learned

01:02:18 ◼   ► that I mispronounced their name among many others.

01:02:21 ◼   ► But it looks like Kolide, K-O-L-I-D-E,

01:02:23 ◼   ► but they pronounce it Kolide.

01:02:25 ◼   ► Anyway, they're an endpoint security company

01:02:26 ◼   ► for teams at Slack and they have just released

01:02:29 ◼   ► a free guide called Honest Security.

01:02:32 ◼   ► And they want me to tell you about it.

01:02:35 ◼   ► In the guide, Kolide, Kolide shares and expands

01:02:39 ◼   ► on everything they've learned over the last year,

01:02:41 ◼   ► working on their own product in the hope

01:02:43 ◼   ► that they can inspire others to embrace and expand

01:02:45 ◼   ► on the same honest approach.

01:02:48 ◼   ► The guide discusses five key tenets.

01:02:50 ◼   ► The values your organization stands behind

01:02:52 ◼   ► should be well represented in your security program.

01:02:55 ◼   ► A positive working relationship between the end user

01:02:58 ◼   ► and security team is incredibly valuable

01:03:00 ◼   ► and worth fostering.

01:03:02 ◼   ► This relationship is built on a foundation of trust

01:03:05 ◼   ► that is demonstrated through informed consent

01:03:09 ◼   ► and transparency.

01:03:10 ◼   ► The security team should anticipate and expect

01:03:13 ◼   ► that end users use their company-owned devices

01:03:17 ◼   ► for personal activities and design their detection

01:03:19 ◼   ► capabilities with this in mind.

01:03:22 ◼   ► End users are capable of making rational

01:03:25 ◼   ► and informed decisions about security risks

01:03:27 ◼   ► when educated and honestly motivated.

01:03:31 ◼   ► You can read this guide completely for free at,

01:03:34 ◼   ► and this is like my favorite little detail,

01:03:37 ◼   ► the guide is called Honest Security.

01:03:39 ◼   ► The guide is at the domain name honest.security.

01:03:43 ◼   ► That's swear to God, that's the URL, honest.security

01:03:47 ◼   ► for their honest security report.

01:03:50 ◼   ► No forms, collect your email and there's nothing else

01:03:52 ◼   ► to slow you down.

01:03:53 ◼   ► It's not like, oh, give us your email

01:03:54 ◼   ► and then you can read it.

01:03:56 ◼   ► Just go to honest.security and read the guide for free.

01:04:01 ◼   ► That's all they want me to tell you.

01:04:02 ◼   ► So my thanks to Collide, AKA Collide,

01:04:06 ◼   ► for sponsoring the show.

01:04:08 ◼   ► Go to honest.security and read their guide.

01:04:10 ◼   ► So here's where I'm going with this,

01:04:15 ◼   ► with the spatial audio.

01:04:16 ◼   ► To me, and this is why I love talking to you about it,

01:04:18 ◼   ► 'cause I think you know what I'm talking about.

01:04:20 ◼   ► To me, it is Disney-esque in terms of its immersiveness.

01:04:27 ◼   ► It is visceral when you're watching something

01:04:31 ◼   ► that is hooked up with this.

01:04:33 ◼   ► It is crazy.

01:04:34 ◼   ► So Apple, you know, the reviewers guide

01:04:39 ◼   ► some suggested scenes of movies

01:04:42 ◼   ► that really show off spatial audio

01:04:44 ◼   ► and it was sort of like their,

01:04:46 ◼   ► look, in normal times, I probably would've gone to New York

01:04:49 ◼   ► and I guess they maybe would've had you

01:04:51 ◼   ► go down to Cupertino or something.

01:04:53 ◼   ► But they probably would've had a product briefing

01:04:57 ◼   ► in New York and had one set up for the press to go over

01:05:02 ◼   ► and now here, try this and we'll show you.

01:05:05 ◼   ► Although I guess they probably would've just would've had

01:05:06 ◼   ► an iPad set up in front of everybody

01:05:08 ◼   ► 'cause it doesn't work with Apple TV.

01:05:11 ◼   ► But here are some of the scenes they might've shown us.

01:05:13 ◼   ► And I looked at them, 'cause it's like, yeah,

01:05:16 ◼   ► I wanna, you know, show me what spatial audio is awesome at.

01:05:20 ◼   ► And one of them was a scene from Ford versus Ferrari,

01:05:23 ◼   ► which I love, which is a great movie.

01:05:26 ◼   ► Do you see that guy, what's his name?

01:05:27 ◼   ► James Mangold, he's gonna direct the--

01:05:29 ◼   ► - Yeah, James Mangold's directing the new indie.

01:05:31 ◼   ► - The new indie. - I'm stoked.

01:05:33 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah, hopefully.

01:05:34 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think he has the right sensibility to it.

01:05:36 ◼   ► It's like, you know, Ford versus Ferrari,

01:05:38 ◼   ► while not the world's most amazing cinema ever,

01:05:41 ◼   ► had really exciting photography,

01:05:44 ◼   ► really, you know, really like deft hand

01:05:47 ◼   ► as far as the character beats.

01:05:49 ◼   ► And in a movie like that, that's like,

01:05:50 ◼   ► has that kind of arc where you know

01:05:52 ◼   ► where it's headed in general

01:05:53 ◼   ► and you know it's a known story,

01:05:55 ◼   ► it had the right moments of like,

01:05:57 ◼   ► you know, kind of joy and catharsis.

01:05:58 ◼   ► I thought he did a really good job.

01:06:00 ◼   ► He'll do good with an indie, I think.

01:06:01 ◼   ► - I thought it was kind of crazy serendipity

01:06:03 ◼   ► that this, did the news break?

01:06:05 ◼   ► I saw the news that he's gonna helm indie five yesterday.

01:06:10 ◼   ► 'Cause I know Disney had this big announcement

01:06:11 ◼   ► where they announced all their stuff for the next year.

01:06:14 ◼   ► I think if it didn't come out yesterday,

01:06:16 ◼   ► it came out the day before.

01:06:18 ◼   ► But I thought it was such serendipity,

01:06:20 ◼   ► 'cause a friend of the show, Todd Visserie,

01:06:25 ◼   ► was tweeting recently,

01:06:26 ◼   ► just some sound design clips from Raiders of the Lost Ark,

01:06:30 ◼   ► which is like, seriously,

01:06:32 ◼   ► maybe my favorite movie of all time.

01:06:34 ◼   ► Always, always in the top five.

01:06:37 ◼   ► And if you say, you know,

01:06:38 ◼   ► "Give me the best movies you've ever seen."

01:06:41 ◼   ► Raiders is always in my top five.

01:06:43 ◼   ► And the sound is one of my favorite things about Raiders.

01:06:46 ◼   ► Always has been, and it's always been confounding to me

01:06:50 ◼   ► that more action movies don't just go back to Raiders.

01:06:53 ◼   ► Like, one of the great things in Raiders is,

01:06:58 ◼   ► okay, action movies, what happens in action movies

01:07:00 ◼   ► that doesn't really happen in real life all the time?

01:07:02 ◼   ► People are always firing guns, right?

01:07:05 ◼   ► It's guns, boom, boom, boom.

01:07:07 ◼   ► People are firing guns all the time.

01:07:08 ◼   ► In real life, a gunshot is a hell of a thing, right?

01:07:12 ◼   ► - Yeah, it's intense. - Anytime, right.

01:07:15 ◼   ► Every time a gun goes off in Raiders of the Lost Ark,

01:07:17 ◼   ► it is a hell of a thing.

01:07:19 ◼   ► It is like, boom!

01:07:21 ◼   ► It's one gunshot is a hell of a thing.

01:07:25 ◼   ► And it sounds like it.

01:07:26 ◼   ► It's like, turn that up loud.

01:07:28 ◼   ► Ford versus Ferrari has that sort of,

01:07:31 ◼   ► hey, if you take a $9 million race car in 1968

01:07:35 ◼   ► or whatever the hell year this was,

01:07:37 ◼   ► and just had a guy run it at top speed around a race course,

01:07:41 ◼   ► that's gonna be, that's a hell of a machine

01:07:44 ◼   ► to put up into the red.

01:07:46 ◼   ► Like, if you put that race car in the red,

01:07:48 ◼   ► that's a hell of a-- - It's overwhelming, right?

01:07:50 ◼   ► It's overwhelming.

01:07:51 ◼   ► And I've been in cars with,

01:07:53 ◼   ► not one of those specifically,

01:07:55 ◼   ► but I've been in cars at that level

01:07:57 ◼   ► with somebody else driving

01:07:58 ◼   ► who really knows how to hone it around.

01:08:00 ◼   ► It's an overwhelming experience.

01:08:02 ◼   ► Your body is just sort of, you know, it's intense.

01:08:06 ◼   ► And that's why F1 drivers

01:08:08 ◼   ► are some of the best athletes in the world,

01:08:09 ◼   ► because you can't imagine the stresses that they go under.

01:08:14 ◼   ► - Anyway, that was just a fun serendipity,

01:08:17 ◼   ► because I thought it's what makes the sound design

01:08:19 ◼   ► of Ford versus Ferrari such a great example

01:08:22 ◼   ► is exactly the sort of thing that, in my opinion,

01:08:25 ◼   ► the Indy franchise has gotten away from,

01:08:28 ◼   ► and it's sort of devolved into standard action fare.

01:08:31 ◼   ► And that, man, when you go back to Raiders,

01:08:34 ◼   ► and just like, hey, like a whip crack, just boom.

01:08:37 ◼   ► Just focus on this one thing

01:08:39 ◼   ► instead of trying to pick one crayon out of the box.

01:08:44 ◼   ► Don't use all 64 of them at once, right?

01:08:47 ◼   ► - Right. (laughs)

01:08:50 ◼   ► - Anyway, Ford versus Ferrari, wow.

01:08:52 ◼   ► It was, the scene they suggested was the scene

01:08:55 ◼   ► where the Matt Damon character, what's it, Shelby,

01:08:58 ◼   ► takes the Ford grandson and (laughs)

01:09:02 ◼   ► he like, not really tricks him, but like just,

01:09:05 ◼   ► hey, take a seat in the car,

01:09:06 ◼   ► let me take you around the track.

01:09:07 ◼   ► And it's both the race car sound and the tire squealing

01:09:12 ◼   ► and the bits of dialogue mixed in,

01:09:17 ◼   ► where there's characters talking

01:09:19 ◼   ► while there's this crazy noise.

01:09:20 ◼   ► And it's not just that you can hear them loud as day,

01:09:24 ◼   ► clear as a bell, but that there's direction to it.

01:09:28 ◼   ► And if the character is like slightly off

01:09:30 ◼   ► to the right center on screen,

01:09:33 ◼   ► their voice is coming, like, and it, again,

01:09:37 ◼   ► does not sound like it's coming from the iPad,

01:09:40 ◼   ► arms reach away from you.

01:09:42 ◼   ► It sounds like there's a man six feet off,

01:09:46 ◼   ► a little bit to your right, talking to you.

01:09:49 ◼   ► It is, and that visceral nature of it

01:09:53 ◼   ► sounds like there's a person right there,

01:09:55 ◼   ► and it sounds like you're in a tiny little race car

01:09:58 ◼   ► where your knees are up by your chin

01:10:00 ◼   ► with this crazy engine that could kill you,

01:10:04 ◼   ► revving right in front of you.

01:10:07 ◼   ► It all sounds so real, and it just is like the best

01:10:10 ◼   ► of like a modern Disney attraction.

01:10:12 ◼   ► Like, yeah, it feels like you're riding

01:10:15 ◼   ► one of those crazy flying things in Avatar, you know?

01:10:20 ◼   ► - Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

01:10:23 ◼   ► Yeah, it really does.

01:10:23 ◼   ► And like the experience, I've said this,

01:10:27 ◼   ► I just like said this on Twitter and other people are like,

01:10:28 ◼   ► oh, yeah, yeah, this happened to me too.

01:10:31 ◼   ► The experience of watching one of these movies

01:10:33 ◼   ► with the, you know, even the AirPods Pro,

01:10:35 ◼   ► but obviously even more intense with the Max,

01:10:38 ◼   ► is that it feels like you don't have headphones on

01:10:41 ◼   ► and that the sound is actually projecting out

01:10:43 ◼   ► into the room itself from the device.

01:10:46 ◼   ► And I think somebody took this to mean

01:10:47 ◼   ► that I thought the iPad sounded great.

01:10:49 ◼   ► That's not what I mean.

01:10:50 ◼   ► It's just, I mean, it's better than, you know,

01:10:53 ◼   ► iPads in the past if you're talking about like the iPad Pro,

01:10:55 ◼   ► but it really has nothing to do with that.

01:10:57 ◼   ► It's really that the sound feels like it's filling

01:11:00 ◼   ► the room that you're in.

01:11:01 ◼   ► And so like I had the experience of, you know,

01:11:04 ◼   ► sitting in bed watching a movie on the iPad

01:11:08 ◼   ► and the spatial audio turned on,

01:11:11 ◼   ► and when I was watching it,

01:11:12 ◼   ► I actually thought I was gonna wake my wife up

01:11:14 ◼   ► 'cause I thought that my headphones had disconnected.

01:11:17 ◼   ► And that it was playing through the iPad speakers

01:11:19 ◼   ► out into the room, right?

01:11:22 ◼   ► And I took 'em off multiple times.

01:11:24 ◼   ► Like I did it once, I'm like, oh no, I guess not.

01:11:27 ◼   ► 'Cause then it pauses and you're like,

01:11:28 ◼   ► is it playing or not?

01:11:30 ◼   ► And no, I guess not.

01:11:31 ◼   ► And I put it back in, it starts playing.

01:11:33 ◼   ► I'm like, oh yeah, that's definitely the head,

01:11:34 ◼   ► and then a couple minutes later, I did it again.

01:11:35 ◼   ► I didn't believe myself.

01:11:37 ◼   ► It's actually kind of remarkable.

01:11:39 ◼   ► And I think there's, people are getting

01:11:41 ◼   ► a little bit hung up on the Atmos thing

01:11:43 ◼   ► because they're like, oh, does this really sound

01:11:46 ◼   ► like height level speakers plus 5.1,

01:11:49 ◼   ► which is really what makes Atmos different?

01:11:50 ◼   ► And it's like, no, you know, not really, right?

01:11:54 ◼   ► Like Atmos is Atmos for a reason.

01:11:56 ◼   ► And sure, if you have physical speakers

01:11:59 ◼   ► filling a physical space and,

01:12:01 ◼   ► and they're all calibrated correctly

01:12:03 ◼   ► and you have the right room for it,

01:12:05 ◼   ► and the screen is the right distance away

01:12:08 ◼   ► and you're sitting in the optimal position

01:12:09 ◼   ► to listen to this, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right?

01:12:12 ◼   ► Not, yeah, how many people are gonna have

01:12:15 ◼   ► the experience of Atmos in their home?

01:12:18 ◼   ► Very few, proportionately speaking.

01:12:21 ◼   ► Like I have an Atmos system in my house

01:12:23 ◼   ► because I'm fortunate enough to have the space

01:12:24 ◼   ► that works for it and I know how to set it up,

01:12:26 ◼   ► so I did it all myself, so it didn't cost me

01:12:28 ◼   ► a arm and a leg to install it, right?

01:12:30 ◼   ► - Right.

01:12:31 ◼   ► - But most people don't.

01:12:33 ◼   ► And I do believe that that is one interesting thing

01:12:36 ◼   ► about this that yes, these are $550,

01:12:39 ◼   ► but the AirPods Pro are not

01:12:41 ◼   ► and they both do spatial audio

01:12:43 ◼   ► and as they build out this platform,

01:12:45 ◼   ► I do believe it is actually,

01:12:46 ◼   ► and this is why I think this is driven

01:12:49 ◼   ► from the executive level a lot

01:12:50 ◼   ► because I believe that there are a lot of cinemaphiles

01:12:52 ◼   ► in Apple and a lot of people who love high-end audio

01:12:55 ◼   ► and all of this stuff, which is why we got HomePod

01:12:57 ◼   ► and not, you know, Apple Alexa,

01:13:01 ◼   ► is that they're democratizing quality of sound

01:13:05 ◼   ► in a pretty aggressive way.

01:13:07 ◼   ► So yes, you may not get 100% of Atmos,

01:13:10 ◼   ► but you may get 60 to 70% of Atmos in a headphone

01:13:15 ◼   ► that somebody could buy for $550

01:13:17 ◼   ► instead of spending eight grand on an Atmos setup.

01:13:19 ◼   ► - Right.

01:13:20 ◼   ► - And it's definitely a different way

01:13:23 ◼   ► to frame this conversation

01:13:25 ◼   ► and I'm sure people will bitch at me about it,

01:13:26 ◼   ► but I, as somebody who has gone through the trouble

01:13:30 ◼   ► to do this and help people set these up over the years,

01:13:32 ◼   ► I'm just telling you, it's actually a really impressive

01:13:35 ◼   ► sound stage that they've built virtually

01:13:37 ◼   ► and it will give a lot more people exposure

01:13:40 ◼   ► to the kind of home theater type sound at home

01:13:44 ◼   ► if they're using these devices.

01:13:46 ◼   ► I just wish it worked with Apple TV

01:13:47 ◼   ► the way it's supposed to, you know?

01:13:49 ◼   ► - Right.

01:13:50 ◼   ► - And I need to do some more testing.

01:13:52 ◼   ► - It has to be coming to Apple TV.

01:13:53 ◼   ► Whether it really does require some sort of hardware

01:13:56 ◼   ► for locating the headphones versus where the TV is

01:14:01 ◼   ► and we really have to wait for another Apple TV

01:14:04 ◼   ► hardware update or if it could be done in software,

01:14:07 ◼   ► I don't know, but I mean, it seems criminal to me

01:14:10 ◼   ► that Apple TV is $200 and you're gonna have to buy

01:14:15 ◼   ► another new one to get spatial audio,

01:14:19 ◼   ► but if it does, it does.

01:14:20 ◼   ► I mean, if it really does require hardware

01:14:23 ◼   ► that's only currently in iPhones and iPads,

01:14:25 ◼   ► then what are they gonna do?

01:14:26 ◼   ► But it has to be coming 'cause it's so frickin' good

01:14:30 ◼   ► and there really are, it's not just if you don't wanna spend

01:14:35 ◼   ► for the speakers, but if you've got like a small apartment

01:14:37 ◼   ► and a sleeping baby down the hall

01:14:39 ◼   ► or your wife is sleeping on the couch

01:14:42 ◼   ► or if you've got a TV in the bedroom

01:14:43 ◼   ► and you wanna watch this movie on the TV in your bedroom

01:14:48 ◼   ► and your spouse is sleeping next to you,

01:14:52 ◼   ► headphones are the way to go,

01:14:54 ◼   ► but with these, you don't have to sacrifice

01:14:56 ◼   ► and I'm with you.

01:14:57 ◼   ► It is like you get absorbed.

01:14:59 ◼   ► It's like 15, 30 seconds, a minute in,

01:15:02 ◼   ► and it's like I'm thinking like a reviewer

01:15:05 ◼   ► and I'm trying to figure out how this works

01:15:07 ◼   ► and I'm thinking about how this and where sources,

01:15:12 ◼   ► and then all of a sudden I realize another two minutes

01:15:14 ◼   ► have gone by and I'm just into the movie

01:15:17 ◼   ► and it's like whoa, I cannot believe

01:15:18 ◼   ► that this is in my headphones.

01:15:20 ◼   ► It is so immersive.

01:15:22 ◼   ► It is incredibly impressive

01:15:24 ◼   ► and it is like multi, you know,

01:15:28 ◼   ► multi $10 million Disney attraction immersiveness

01:15:32 ◼   ► that you can get.

01:15:33 ◼   ► Again, 550 is a lot for headphones,

01:15:35 ◼   ► but $550 for this world-class immersion

01:15:38 ◼   ► and you don't have to know any technical details.

01:15:40 ◼   ► There's no EQs to turn up or down.

01:15:43 ◼   ► It's just make it sound good, you know?

01:15:46 ◼   ► It is so immersive.

01:15:48 ◼   ► You've got a good sound system.

01:15:50 ◼   ► I set up, I finally got around to hooking up two HomePods

01:15:54 ◼   ► to my Apple TV in my living room.

01:15:58 ◼   ► My audio situation is that we were having renovations done

01:16:03 ◼   ► last year and we didn't know,

01:16:06 ◼   ► but it turned out being like incredible.

01:16:08 ◼   ► It was like, you know, Indiana,

01:16:10 ◼   ► let's go back to Indiana Jones.

01:16:11 ◼   ► You know, Indiana Jones slipping under the door

01:16:13 ◼   ► and then goes back and grabs his whip

01:16:16 ◼   ► before the door closes.

01:16:19 ◼   ► That was our contractors finishing up before COVID shut down.

01:16:24 ◼   ► It was just, they finished up in like the first week of March

01:16:26 ◼   ► and it was like, huh, that worked out really well.

01:16:29 ◼   ► So we got a new TV 'cause we redid the living room

01:16:34 ◼   ► and it's, you know, I got the big 77-inch LG OLED thing

01:16:39 ◼   ► and I didn't buy a sound system yet.

01:16:42 ◼   ► And I was like, well, we'll just play,

01:16:45 ◼   ► let's just play audio through the TV.

01:16:48 ◼   ► And it's like, hey, the audio through the TV is not bad.

01:16:51 ◼   ► And neither Amy nor Jonas really complain about it.

01:16:54 ◼   ► I'm surprised Jonas doesn't,

01:16:56 ◼   ► but it's for TV, sound coming out of the TV, it's not bad.

01:17:01 ◼   ► And so I've just procrastinated all year long

01:17:04 ◼   ► 'cause it's 2020 and I haven't bought anything.

01:17:06 ◼   ► So I didn't have to unhook anything to set up.

01:17:09 ◼   ► I just had to move HomePods from other rooms in the house

01:17:12 ◼   ► to put them in the living room.

01:17:14 ◼   ► It sounds really good.

01:17:19 ◼   ► Obviously it can't fake coming from behind you,

01:17:23 ◼   ► but I'm not really into that.

01:17:24 ◼   ► I don't really want speakers behind me.

01:17:27 ◼   ► Like I'm fine with having all the audio coming

01:17:29 ◼   ► from before me, but the HomePods as home stereo thing

01:17:34 ◼   ► sounds way better than they have any right to sound

01:17:37 ◼   ► in my opinion.

01:17:38 ◼   ► And I love the idea and it scores me points with the wife

01:17:45 ◼   ► that if I go this route,

01:17:47 ◼   ► I don't have to have a separate woofer.

01:17:51 ◼   ► I don't have to have a woofer,

01:17:53 ◼   ► which is, I score some political points on that.

01:17:56 ◼   ► It's really impressive.

01:17:57 ◼   ► I just love what Apple's doing in this arena.

01:18:01 ◼   ► I really do think it comes to exactly what you said,

01:18:05 ◼   ► that there are people in the company who love movies,

01:18:08 ◼   ► but really want to democratize it.

01:18:11 ◼   ► And again, it is this weird,

01:18:14 ◼   ► to me that's the explanation.

01:18:16 ◼   ► Like why in the world are they selling $550 headphones?

01:18:19 ◼   ► Why are they selling $300 smart speakers?

01:18:22 ◼   ► Well, they're not $300 smart speakers.

01:18:25 ◼   ► And why do they work better with a pair?

01:18:27 ◼   ► So it's a $600 setup.

01:18:29 ◼   ► And it's like, if you think of them as gadgets

01:18:32 ◼   ► competing with Alexa stuff,

01:18:35 ◼   ► yes, $600 is a lot.

01:18:37 ◼   ► But if you think of it compared to what Bang & Olufsen

01:18:41 ◼   ► wants to sell you, it's really not.

01:18:45 ◼   ► If you come at it from the other side of the market,

01:18:49 ◼   ► these are democratizing prices.

01:18:51 ◼   ► - Yeah, and it's, look,

01:18:52 ◼   ► at the bottom level of this, you go, money is real.

01:18:58 ◼   ► $550 is a lot of money.

01:18:59 ◼   ► So if you decide to buy these things,

01:19:01 ◼   ► you need to be comfortable spending $550.

01:19:04 ◼   ► If you're comfortable spending that,

01:19:05 ◼   ► it's actually a really fascinating product

01:19:07 ◼   ► with some distinct benefits for people

01:19:09 ◼   ► that are tightly integrated with the iOS system,

01:19:11 ◼   ► especially if you watch a lot on iPad.

01:19:13 ◼   ► Like that's my summary.

01:19:15 ◼   ► If you listen to a lot of music,

01:19:19 ◼   ► like straight up music from Apple Music

01:19:22 ◼   ► or stream from an iOS device, it'll be great there too.

01:19:25 ◼   ► If you watch movies from iPad,

01:19:27 ◼   ► I think you're gonna get a better experience.

01:19:29 ◼   ► And theoretically, you're buying into a future platform

01:19:34 ◼   ► that will work for home theater as well,

01:19:36 ◼   ► like in terms of like watching it on an Apple TV.

01:19:39 ◼   ► But if you just want a pair of headphones

01:19:41 ◼   ► that work great for noise cancellation,

01:19:43 ◼   ► fold up really well and travel really well,

01:19:45 ◼   ► don't buy these.

01:19:46 ◼   ► They're not for that.

01:19:47 ◼   ► They won't work well for that.

01:19:49 ◼   ► As it stands, there's no case

01:19:50 ◼   ► that I'd really recommend traveling with them with.

01:19:53 ◼   ► It's just not good for that, period.

01:19:57 ◼   ► - Yeah, and my suggestion, if you want the Apple stuff,

01:20:01 ◼   ► just seriously try AirPods Pro for that.

01:20:04 ◼   ► 'Cause I've flown, there wasn't a big window

01:20:07 ◼   ► between AirPods Pro coming out last October

01:20:10 ◼   ► and the March shutdown,

01:20:11 ◼   ► but I had a couple of flights in there.

01:20:13 ◼   ► And I stopped carrying the Bose,

01:20:16 ◼   ► not because I'd given up on them,

01:20:18 ◼   ► but just specifically so that,

01:20:20 ◼   ► well, if I'm going to try AirPods Pro on the flight,

01:20:23 ◼   ► I took at least one flight where I had them both

01:20:25 ◼   ► so I could try them both side by side in the cabin.

01:20:28 ◼   ► And it went well enough where like the next trip I took

01:20:32 ◼   ► before everything shut down and I stopped taking trips,

01:20:34 ◼   ► I just took AirPods Pro.

01:20:35 ◼   ► They really worked pretty well for that

01:20:38 ◼   ► where the noise cancellation is good enough

01:20:41 ◼   ► to get out the cabin noise

01:20:42 ◼   ► and you're just listening to music or movies

01:20:45 ◼   ► and it sounds clear, but it's not like this.

01:20:47 ◼   ► And like in my review, I touched on this where it's like,

01:20:50 ◼   ► I don't know what to say because it's like the movies

01:20:53 ◼   ► where this would make the biggest difference

01:20:54 ◼   ► and be worthwhile are the sort of movies

01:20:58 ◼   ► where I really want to watch on my TV at home.

01:21:00 ◼   ► But if I am going to watch a movie on a plane,

01:21:04 ◼   ► why not completely satiate one of my senses?

01:21:08 ◼   ► Like there's nothing you can do on a plane

01:21:10 ◼   ► to give yourself a 77 inch OLED,

01:21:13 ◼   ► but you can give yourself a truly world class

01:21:16 ◼   ► audio experience, why not?

01:21:18 ◼   ► Like and I could totally see if I got into a good movie

01:21:21 ◼   ► with these on, I feel like it would be like somebody

01:21:24 ◼   ► like sitting in the middle seat next to me

01:21:27 ◼   ► who wants to go to the bathroom

01:21:28 ◼   ► and they're gonna tap me on the shoulder

01:21:29 ◼   ► and I'm gonna be like shocked

01:21:30 ◼   ► 'cause I forgot I was over there.

01:21:32 ◼   ► Like I really do.

01:21:33 ◼   ► I think that even though you're watching

01:21:35 ◼   ► on like an 11 inch iPad, I feel like the audio

01:21:38 ◼   ► could immerse yourself enough that you could forget

01:21:40 ◼   ► you're on an airplane.

01:21:41 ◼   ► And if you travel enough, that's a huge win, right?

01:21:43 ◼   ► It's like--

01:21:44 ◼   ► - Yeah, you just have to dedicate yourself

01:21:46 ◼   ► to traveling with these things in a way

01:21:47 ◼   ► that you don't have to dedicate yourself

01:21:49 ◼   ► to traveling with a pair of headphones

01:21:51 ◼   ► that has more folding and articulation, right?

01:21:53 ◼   ► So you gotta understand that trade off going in.

01:21:56 ◼   ► Like I'm gonna create a dedicated space for these in my bag

01:22:00 ◼   ► and those are gonna go in there.

01:22:02 ◼   ► But when I get on that 11 hour flight to the UK

01:22:06 ◼   ► and I watch three movies and sleep

01:22:08 ◼   ► and then watch another movie and then have a little breakfast

01:22:11 ◼   ► or whatever, I mean, hey, an 11 inch iPad

01:22:14 ◼   ► or 13 inch iPad, two and a half feet from your face

01:22:16 ◼   ► is the equivalent of an 80 inch screen, right?

01:22:19 ◼   ► So that plus the headphones and yeah,

01:22:22 ◼   ► you've got yourself a really nice portable

01:22:24 ◼   ► home theater setup, which doesn't,

01:22:27 ◼   ► it doesn't really exist in the way that it exists here

01:22:31 ◼   ► with existing 5.1 capable headphones

01:22:34 ◼   ► because it is not, there's no two way communication.

01:22:38 ◼   ► And that is really, I think where we're talking about

01:22:40 ◼   ► like the hardware stuff in the,

01:22:42 ◼   ► that's not in the Apple TV, how are they gonna figure that

01:22:44 ◼   ► or can they do it in software?

01:22:45 ◼   ► 'Cause the iPad knows where the headphones are

01:22:48 ◼   ► and vice versa.

01:22:49 ◼   ► There is a two way communication there

01:22:51 ◼   ► and at least in orientation and a little bit in distance,

01:22:55 ◼   ► right, 'cause it does a ranging check.

01:22:58 ◼   ► And so it kind of knows where you are

01:23:00 ◼   ► and that back and forth comms is what keeps it locked in

01:23:04 ◼   ► and keeps it feeling like the soundstage is accurate

01:23:07 ◼   ► so that when you as a physical person

01:23:09 ◼   ► are moving around in the soundstage,

01:23:11 ◼   ► either your head or turning or whatever,

01:23:13 ◼   ► the sound stays in the proper position.

01:23:15 ◼   ► 'Cause what normally happens when you turn your head,

01:23:18 ◼   ► when you're watching a screen is at the center

01:23:20 ◼   ► of the soundstage travels with your face.

01:23:23 ◼   ► And so you're looking to the left,

01:23:25 ◼   ► but the sounds and the soundstage is to the left

01:23:27 ◼   ► but the screen is to the right.

01:23:28 ◼   ► And like that difference is huge.

01:23:31 ◼   ► It's the same difference that you see in VR headsets

01:23:35 ◼   ► with good tracking because the moment you lose tracking

01:23:38 ◼   ► on that, your body's like, this ain't real

01:23:40 ◼   ► and by the way, I'm sick because the physical world

01:23:45 ◼   ► doesn't match my inner ear, right?

01:23:48 ◼   ► And with a good tracking of your headset,

01:23:51 ◼   ► it sells it immediately.

01:23:52 ◼   ► It makes you feel immersed.

01:23:53 ◼   ► It makes you feel like this is a real thing.

01:23:55 ◼   ► Your body and your glands and your cerebellum

01:24:00 ◼   ► are all working in conjunction to tell you,

01:24:04 ◼   ► this thing is real, this is working, everything is cool.

01:24:07 ◼   ► What you're seeing is real life.

01:24:09 ◼   ► And that kind of two-way comms is what sets this apart

01:24:13 ◼   ► from others 7.1 or 5.1 compatible headsets

01:24:17 ◼   ► that do not have any communication with the device

01:24:20 ◼   ► that they're watching it on.

01:24:21 ◼   ► And that's the differentiation factor for now here.

01:24:25 ◼   ► - Yeah, it reminds me of like an optical illusion.

01:24:30 ◼   ► There's a lot of them, like there's the famous one.

01:24:32 ◼   ► It's like, it looks like a chalice centered in the square

01:24:35 ◼   ► but if you stare at it long enough,

01:24:36 ◼   ► it suddenly looks like two faces in profile staring.

01:24:40 ◼   ► - Or Pepper's ghost with the mirrors and glass.

01:24:43 ◼   ► - Yeah, yeah.

01:24:45 ◼   ► And it's like you put these on

01:24:48 ◼   ► and you know you're doing spatial audio

01:24:49 ◼   ► and you're moving your head a little bit left to right

01:24:52 ◼   ► and you're like, oh yeah, yeah.

01:24:54 ◼   ► And you're thinking about it.

01:24:56 ◼   ► And no matter what you do, a minute in,

01:24:59 ◼   ► you completely forget.

01:25:01 ◼   ► And it's like instead of studying the chalice,

01:25:04 ◼   ► it's like you're just immersed and it's uncanny.

01:25:08 ◼   ► It really is, I cannot emphasize it enough,

01:25:10 ◼   ► it is not a gimmick.

01:25:12 ◼   ► It is a real thing that takes the headphone experience

01:25:16 ◼   ► up to another level.

01:25:17 ◼   ► And if you watch enough movies on an iPad,

01:25:20 ◼   ► it is seriously worthwhile.

01:25:23 ◼   ► Anyway, just a good segue into our third and final sponsor,

01:25:26 ◼   ► speaking of travel, Away.

01:25:29 ◼   ► Away Suitcases.

01:25:30 ◼   ► Look, travel is weird right now, no doubt about it.

01:25:33 ◼   ► But no matter where you need to go this holiday season,

01:25:35 ◼   ► Away offers a range of suitcases, bags,

01:25:38 ◼   ► and other travel products made of different materials

01:25:41 ◼   ► like polycarbonate, aluminum, and durable nylon

01:25:45 ◼   ► in a variety of colors and sizes.

01:25:48 ◼   ► So whatever you need to bring with you,

01:25:49 ◼   ► Away has luggage that will make your trip more seamless

01:25:53 ◼   ► whenever it may be, wherever or whenever it may be.

01:25:58 ◼   ► All of their suitcases from Away

01:26:00 ◼   ► are designed to last a lifetime.

01:26:01 ◼   ► Mine is years old at this point, still looks fantastic.

01:26:04 ◼   ► Wheels still roll great.

01:26:06 ◼   ► Can't say enough about the durability of this thing.

01:26:10 ◼   ► And again, this is my overhead thing

01:26:12 ◼   ► that takes the most abuse.

01:26:14 ◼   ► With durable exteriors that can withstand

01:26:16 ◼   ► even the roughest of baggage handlers,

01:26:19 ◼   ► every suitcase comes with an interior organization system

01:26:22 ◼   ► that includes a built-in compression pad

01:26:24 ◼   ► to help you pack more in.

01:26:26 ◼   ► I swear that works, really keeps your shirts nice and pressed

01:26:29 ◼   ► put them in there, cinch them in with a compression pad,

01:26:32 ◼   ► then pile other stuff on top.

01:26:33 ◼   ► And they have a hidden and removable laundry bag

01:26:37 ◼   ► that separates your dirty clothes

01:26:38 ◼   ► and it's a great place to stash your dirty stuff

01:26:41 ◼   ► while you're on your trip.

01:26:42 ◼   ► They've got those 360 spinner wheels

01:26:46 ◼   ► that are guaranteed the smoothest roll, really great.

01:26:49 ◼   ► TSA approved combination lock, their newest line

01:26:52 ◼   ► are made with a durable water resistant nylon exterior

01:26:57 ◼   ► that is made to last a lifetime.

01:26:58 ◼   ► And they're designed to expand by 1.75 inches

01:27:03 ◼   ► so you have the flexibility to pack even more on your trip

01:27:06 ◼   ► or less if you're packing less.

01:27:08 ◼   ► It's really great, they're just great products.

01:27:11 ◼   ► They have good handles, the carry-ons

01:27:14 ◼   ► have built-in USB chargers.

01:27:16 ◼   ► Good, good, good stuff.

01:27:19 ◼   ► I have one, or a couple actually,

01:27:21 ◼   ► but the carry-on is my go-to that I never,

01:27:24 ◼   ► I can't remember the last time I took a trip without it.