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Posted by andrem 6 days ago

The AirPods Pro 3 flight problem(basicappleguy.com)
512 points | 271 commentspage 9
Lucian6 5 days ago|
I've run into similar interference issues when building real-time audio processing systems. The AirPods Pro's use of Bluetooth 5.3 in the 2.4GHz band makes them particularly susceptible to Wi-Fi interference, especially on planes where you have dozens of devices competing in a metal tube.

One mitigation strategy we found effective was implementing dynamic frequency hopping with adaptive channel selection. By monitoring RSSI levels and packet loss rates across different channels (typically seeing -85 to -95 dBm on crowded channels vs -65 to -75 dBm on clear ones), we could proactively switch to less congested frequencies. This reduced dropout rates by about 70% in high-interference environments.

The real challenge is balancing frequency agility with audio latency - each hop adds ~2-3ms of overhead. Has anyone experimented with using the 5GHz band for wireless audio? The higher frequency would mean more attenuation but potentially much less interference.

Bud 5 days ago||
[dead]
bluSCALE4 6 days ago||
Use foam, problem solved.
bigstrat2003 6 days ago|
Use normal ass headphones that cost $5, problem solved even better. I think wireless earbuds are the dumbest product ever made. They are worse than normal headphones in every way.
sceptic123 6 days ago||
Not every way. For one thing, I've never had a pair of wireless headphones get ripped out of my ears because the cord got snagged.
iwontberude 6 days ago||
It’s been doing this since AirPods Pro 1, surprised it took author this long to realize it.
mcphage 6 days ago|
> surprised it took author this long to realize it

I don't think "realize" is the right word here. "Realize" would require them to have been affected by this issue but unaware. Instead, they were not affected with their previous models, only with the new ones.

lvl155 6 days ago|
OT but Apple is getting worse and worse in all aspects. I hate the fact that I am locked into their monopoly.
letmetweakit 6 days ago||
You are locked in your mind only ...
herval 6 days ago|||
I have 1tb of data on icloud, including all my photos. Moving to a different platform is literally not an option (I was a happy Dropbox paid user until they decided to shut down the photos app, and Google Photos is a huge no no for multiple reason). The only alternative I can think of is self-hosting, which on itself is a nightmare, or a home NAS (not an option for me specifically). The lock-in is real.
scottbez1 6 days ago|||
Dropbox recently broke (accidentally or intentionally) hosted images/thumbnails from their Paper docs product (which they're quietly but noncommittally killing off) and that was a good wakeup for me to stop trusting hosted storage. And I'm saying this as a former Dropbox engineer of ~6 years who has plenty of free Dropbox storage for life. The brain drain and profitability crunch is real.

Recently bought a 14TB HDD and downloaded my entire Dropbox, Google Photos, and Lightroom photos. Planning to set up an off-site copy as well, and will probably build out a proper NAS within a few years.

herval 6 days ago||
Dropbox is just hard to trust. I used to pay for it, until they suddenly decided to shut down the photos app. Then the password app, recently. I don’t expect Apple to shut down Photos any time soon, so I find it easier to trust them with my data
cortesoft 6 days ago|||
Why is moving to a different platform literally not an option? 1TB of data is tiny. You don't even need a NAS, 1TB is a trivial amount of data.

If you don't want to self host (which has actually become quite simple with immich), you could switch providers (even if you want to avoid google).

herval 6 days ago|||
which alternative platform exists? Onedrive is absolutely awful (it gets stuck in sync and crashes on Mac frequently), Google Drive/Photos doesn't respect your privacy and actually changes the resolution of your photos. The only alternative is Dropbox, which doesn't have a photos app anymore, or a bunch of disjointed small apps that together would cost multiples of what I pay for iCloud.
lvl155 6 days ago|||
Name me one service outside of Google and Apple that’s seamlessly tied to your devices. Once you buy into the system you’re basically stuck. Apple is quickly becoming Oracle.
velocity3230 5 days ago||
Samsung?

Disclaimer: not touched a Samsung device in over a decade

andy99 6 days ago|||
Not sure what the OP meant but I too feel locked into them. I dislike both the company and in some cases the product, but they currently provide the least bad option - almost certainly for laptops and probably for phones.
cortesoft 6 days ago||
I feel like a provider having the 'lest bad option' is a LOT different than 'locked in'. Locked in means that you are forced to keep using an inferior product even if a better option exists because you can't move your data; not having a better option is something else.
scottbez1 6 days ago|||
Lock-in usually just refers to a situation where switching costs are (perceived to be) higher than the net benefit, within some reasonable payoff period. It can include things like high cost to extract data, but it can also include things like network/social effects.

The latter is a huge reason companies strive to establish "platforms" and suites of connected apps - even if competition is cheaper/better in a vacuum, it still may not be worth the effort to switch if you're already established within an ecosystem. The goal is vendor lock-in even if they're not holding your data hostage (though they might do that too).

cortesoft 6 days ago||
Yeah, I agree with that. I didn’t mean to imply that it had to be impossible to move your data.

However, I do think that it has to mean something besides “there are no other good providers of a service”. Integrations, platforms, etc make sense as being “locked in”, but not “no one else provides the service”

To me, the key would be, “if you were starting from scratch and weren’t using any service at all, would you choose a different one than what you actually currently use?”

If the answer is “I would still choose the one I am using”, then I don’t think that is locked in.

herval 6 days ago|||
Locked in doesn't imply "inferior", nor it has anything to do with an option being better or worse.
cortesoft 6 days ago||
Ok, it seems I don’t understand what locked in means then. What does it actually mean?
herval 6 days ago||
it means that the cost of moving from X is too high (be it in terms of time, cost or lack of suitable alternatives).

In the case of iCloud, for most people, it's probably a combination of convenience (no other tool is so well integrated with the OS) and cost (you can sorta replicate the combo of photos + files + vpn + fake emails, but it'll be more expensive and complex to maintain)

mrkstu 6 days ago||
Yeah, VMWare post-acquisition is trying to help what the limits of lock-in are...
veidr 6 days ago||
I mean... I did too, but you do know it's actually optional, right?
lvl155 6 days ago||
Is it optional? When there is basically Apple and Android? If you add family to the mix then you’re basically stuck with Apple ecosystem. It’s actually nice until something goes wrong and you realize their customer service is awful. They’ve gotten too big. It’s basically a big black box and you’re trapped.