Why everybody is making earbuds
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ส.ค. 2021
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►►► About this video ◄◄◄
Bluetooth earbuds and other wireless audio accessories are on the rise and are quickly becoming the most important new product category. They are also incredibly profitable. Here's why!
The Story Behind - ep. 79
This episode plus bonus footage on Nebula: nebula.app/videos/techaltar-t...
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►►► Attributions ◄◄◄
Intro music by Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com/creator
Main music by Edemski: / edemski
Source for Ray J clip: AP Archive - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
The Nebula / CuriosityStream bundle is no longer active. Instead, you can sign up for Nebula directly with my discount now for about $2.5 a month with a yearly plan, which includes Nebula Originals AND the whole Nebula Classes platform, too, including my own class. Sign up here: go.nebula.tv/techaltar
Wait... What? Where?
Is this her? 7:07
What sus
7.09 obviously nah had to double check
*cries in the corner
I saw research videos on ear😜
I've never seen anybody ever in the real world actually wearing Raycons.
I know a couple people in real life, the kinda people who spend a lot of time online but are a bit unskeptical. They swear by the quality, but they're not exactly audiophiles, and if they have any issues they just blame themselves for not getting the "better version".
I was gifted a pair. Nothing to write home about. Battery life sux
@@x54xHantamachine so stupid people
I’ve seen 1
They’re… fine. But not fine at their price point. You could get a pair of something like Ankers that are just as good for easily half the price.
Its kinda hilarious to me how celebrity advertising is still so effective. If I see celebrities advertising anything, I know that its either a complete scam, or the product is not very good while being horribly overpriced, since the company needs to recoup huge marketing costs, which are passed onto the consumer.
It surely works in a similar way to most impression-based advertising. Celebrity endorsements increase the visibility of the ad, and tbh I don't think a significant fraction of the viewers buy the product because they think it'll make them as cool as the celebrity. Nor does anyone buying a product remember which celebrities had endorsed it.
However, what happens later is that someone who realizes they want new headphones will be deciding between Beats, Sony, and Bose because those are brands they've heard of, whereas brands like Sennheiser or Audio-Technica would be likely overlooked or may feel unfamiliar to the buyers who haven't seen those names before. The celebrity is just there to increase the number of eyes on the product/brand, I think.
@@thatcherfreeman Yes I think u are correct. We have oppo and vivo ads all over India and many of my relatives(The non techie & who don't listen to me) buy them because by seeing the ads, they think "these brands are selling quite well and therefore should definitely be good".
@@Tom-li9xq salman khan would like to know your address
TechAltar has already made a video about this same topic. You can watch that to understand why they are effective. Basically they increase the perception of the brand from an unknown one to a familiar one. When you buy your next product you will also think of that brand.
BOOM SUCCESS
Humanity in a nutshell
Would’ve been funny if at the end he said “this video is sponsored by Raycon!”
Was thinking the same thing 😆🤣
Dave2D does this frequently :D he jokes about sponsorships :D
Raycons are absolute horseshit
@@martonmehesi-melis5072 we all know that's why it's funny
I stopped watching certain channels during the height of the raycon bombardment. It just made some creators look like absolute shills.
Shocking 🙄
Raycons are the “raid shadow legends” of earbuds. If history teaches us mass Marketing campaigns are used to cover up the lack of quality of a product. If they took the marketing budget and put it into the quality of the actual earbud they could make a better product but they also know u can mass market a literal turd and someone will buy it. 🙄
There are really only two types of marketing:
Good = Trying to let people know that you are selling something they might find worthwhile.
Bad = Trying to trick people into buying crap
PS: I actually appreciate well targeted ads of the first sort. Years ago I was designing some electronic hardware with colleagues...lots of email flying back and forth. I was using Gmail, and an ad caught my eye because it was for a drop-in replacement part for one of the components we were having trouble sourcing. I started paying a bit of attention to the ads after that, and a fair number ended up being actually useful (better alternative components and such).
The thing is, Sony made more money selling audio equipment than selling phones since like, ever
Legend has it that Walkman sales are still blowing through the roof.
Sony acquired respected brand status as audio markers. meanwhile AKG about to lose it
@@den-iq1cv AKG as a company is not independent since 1994. Today it is just a brand of Samsung. I don't see why you brought it up.
Have they really made any profit selling phones last couple of years?
@@walterclements7968 smartphone division finally turned profitable last year, keen to see how it fares this year as well. the xperia 1iii and 5iii are extremely desirable phones
the real reason they are killing headphone jacks.
it's better to arrive late than never 👍
@@RealLifeTech187 Never removing it would be preferable. There are no *truly* good wireless buds and it'll take a long time for one to appear.
@@narcissisticnarcissus4956 much more so considering the current state of the market as explained in this video. They will only pour money into developing something revolutionary when they feel that the current cashcow is drying up.
How does the usb to 3.5mm convertor work on these phones. Is it any good? (right now using a ohone with the jack)
@@amansaxena5898 unlikely to be amazing in a small form factor if it needs to contain the amp and DAC, but I think some can pass an analogue signal through a type-C port?
The best part is if you lose or break one of the three pieces you will have to replace everything. And don't forget there are three tiny batteries that will degrade real fast.
I mean Apple will sell you an airpod replacement for $69 and a pro one for $89. So you don’t have to replace everything
You can change the battery on the Sony's xm3
@@fran2911 this is exactly why I got them lol
@@toptiertech7291 let me know when they sell those for $4
@@Ba5edAF I don’t see how $4 is relevant
Step one: remove headphone jack from the phones, along with an SD Card slot. Now people can't use regular headphones, and need to pay way more for higher internal storage.
Step two: launch your own wireless headphones, which cost x10 times as much as the ones people used previously. Also release a super-overpriced USB-C to 3.5 mm adapter, sell it as a bundled optional accessory with your phones.
profit!
Then release a high quality audio streaming service which can't work with your existing devices, so people have to keep buying completely new device to make use of it. These ridiculous business practices must be banned for the benefit of environment and mankind.
For the SD slot, while I personally still find it a must on my phone, with most phones going to 128-256gb standard they are becoming something most people will really never need.
As for the usb-c dac's the main concern is not their price, just that using them is a lot more inconvenient than using the 3.5mm port. Still the point stands
@@qlum well you don't really have a choice now - if you get a lower capacity phone you're gonna run out of space. Previously you just paid for SD card once, and unless it died, you could use it in all phones. Now you pay more for storage, and pay for it each time you get a new phone vs paying once for the card.
Previously you didn't need to get those 128 GB+ phone models, but now you do.
@@Shajirr_ Sure, but often unless you want to go really cheap, 256gb really does not cost much anyway. Internal storage is much faster than the SD card for most uses. So for most people, it's really not something they care about. Even the pretty much base spec of 128gb is plenty for most people.
That being said I still have a 400gb micro-sd in mine and when I just got a new phone this week I put the micro-sd slot as a strict requirement.
Comes with the territory of wanting your entire music library locally on your phone. Even converted to opus it would still take up too much on a 256gb model, especially factoring in future growth.
Either way I believe people who want to use them are a small niche, and not wanting to cater to that niche is perfectly valid. As there are component costs and board space involved.
@@qlum Component cost and board space are not the reasons companies are removing the SD card slot (though I'm sure companies will happily claim that). They want people to either pay for a higher capacity phone or want them to pay for cloud storage.
The thing about headphones is that most people are used to the wired headphones that they get with their phones. The sound quality of those is pretty bad, but that's what most people are used to. So sound quality isn't really something that is a big selling point for most people. That's why they can sell mediocre sounding true wireless headphones for 200$ as long as it has some other features.
I use Samsung galaxy buds and the sound quality is really good. Not on the same level as Bose but you can enjoy high quality music.
@@JoeNokers OK thanks. Can I ask what brand of headphones do you use and are they wired? I want the best sound.
Can you blame them tho? Bad headphones is all people get, and unless you do your proper research, entering the audiophile world is kind of scary because of how high the cost may be.
@@edmundoaguilar3236 You really need to spend more than 20$ on headphones once and once you do, you can't go back. Once you discover the audiophile side of the headphone market, it takes a lot of research to buy the right headphones, specially if you have a limited budget.
@@Rainhands22 LOL sure dude
The main specs to look for when buying a audio product is frequency response, distortion. If a closed headphone check for sound isolation graph. If it's a wireless one you can check for battery life and supported codecs etc. Like PC monitors and TVs, specs do exists to describe how a product will perform but the manufacturer almost never cares to disclose them
In my experience this is partially true. For example soundstage, I am not aware if there is a objective way to measure it, but it's also very important when you're taking about high-quality sound. Also someone may prefer baseier headphones even thought they are objectively not as accurate as flat ones. You really can't decide what headphones you prefer based solely on frequency response, so your best bet is watching reviews of people that you trust.
A good frequency response is a good starting point (nothing too crazy on the low end and a well tuned high end), but that doesn’t really have much to do with soundstage and detail in the headphones. You can EQ a crappy set of headphones to have a perfect frequency response and it may sound “better”, but it’s not enough to just look at frequency response. You basically have to try the headphones for yourself and compare your headphones to a set of nice studio headphones and to a set of mediocre headphones to see the differences between detail and soundstage. I’ve heard some headphones with a perfectly flat frequency response that sound really crappy and muddy, and some headphones with a “V” response that sound amazingly detailed.
If you get a spectral graph on that response sure. But so long as you’re showing the 3db cutoff range you can claim a range between those numbers without risking fraud claims and frankly it’s not that hard to make a 20hz to 20kHz audio device these days. It’s what happens inside that range that matters
@@markhaus You can have a really good frequency response graph and no distortion while still having a weird or bad sounding set of headphones though.
you should talk abt zoom. it went from super obscure to dominating millions of people's lives in weeks, would be interesting to see a retrospective on that.
government psychological operation
follow the money
They had the best product for replacing meetings at the time, most other video call software was focused on one to one meetings or bad. It is an interesting story though.
And their ties with the Chinese government
@@szurketaltos2693 I can't say Jitsi or even Teams are _that_ behind technologically. I would even say that for some of my needs Jitsi provides better solutions (like setting up rooms that keep working regardless of whether I, as administrator/organiser, attend them or not), but they didn't explode quite as much. So it's not that Zoom was simply the first one to fit an empty niche. Would definitely watch.
@@igorchistyakov8876 see, I didn't even know about Jitsi. As for teams, it was pretty bad at the beginning of the pandemic as far as I heard.
Reminds me of Beats back in the day, where they were/are terrible, but it felt like everyone would buy them anyway. Because of what that would say about them, celebrity endorsement, etc.
They do talk about that in the video.
the non-important build quality was good though, hard to fight that.
@@christianwongmanee1266 I do have some $200 Beats with my HTC One for free, so they'll be nearly 10 years or something. And the paint is starting to come off the band, but they still work just fine. So that's a fair comment.
@@christianwongmanee1266 they were priced higher than AKG, so build quality had to be good to not turn customers off right away
@@illdeletethismusic unlike Raycons, that have nothing good even when sold at more than triple their worth.
This is why Rtings are heroes in my book. They actually measure stuff and put it out there. They go beyond just unboxing videos and stating all the marketing material and features. and saying....
"These pairs of earbuds sound amazing for the price!
Their judging system is a bit of a mess thought.
In their website they stated the HD800S is the best audiophile headphones, but based on what? Purely subjective opinions? How about the Focal Utopias, Hifiman Susvara, ZMF Verité, etc...etc? The only good thing about the HD800S are the soundstage and details, the tonality of that thing is a bit of a mess with the massive bass/ subbass roll-off and the absolutely wonky upper-mids and treble. Literally looks like a mess on paper, though of course a lot of owners do enjoy them.
@@ggtest4468 To be fair, audio devices are very hard to review and rate objectively...
@@ggtest4468 You just answered yourself there buddy. "The Best of" list is always gonna be just a starting guide for your own research. Any author has to balance with compromises and their own biases. Still better than Cnet's best of list. At least you can hear the sample and see the graphs for your self
yeah, after I bought a couple of shitty headphones based on reddit's "audiophiles" recommendations, rtings was the best thing that helped find headphones suitable for my needs.
@METhOdhowtoKilLnoObS You're right, it's truly annoying
It's ironic that a product that get hyped the most is usually the one I'd stay away from. I kinda developed that sense of distrust as I learn more about these tech companies. Usually when they spend their money for marketing, the price for the product gets higher than the value that we actually get. Like, i get it, of course companies want to make money out of their product, but dude, just put out a good product and be transparent about them.
I try to run away from ecosystem as well. I have galaxy there is no way that I am buying Samsung earbuds no matter how good they are.
@@vaibhavgupta20 galaxy buds are actually a good headphones
@@onestep873 yes they are one of the best. but samsung tries to promote there ecosystem through them. For ex they cannot connect to 2 devices at once if they are not made by samsung. Sony can do it why not samsung.
@@vaibhavgupta20 I can connect to my notebook and phone(samsung) at the same time, but I understand what you mean. It's why I dont want to buy macbook pro because I dont have any apple devices and beside screen and battery life it's not that good for its price
@@onestep873 galaxy buds aren't that great compared to some good hi-fi audio equipment but if the utility and build are there i guess
Not to mention unlike similarly priced wired IEMs or Headphones, TW buds have irreplaceable batteries that will definitely fail in 2-3 yrs leading to more sales and e waste. It's planned obsolescence as a convenient feature
Tbf I used to change my wired earphones every 3 or 4 months, and I'm not talking about cheap ones. I switched to wireless like 2 years ago and didn't change my earphones since, plus I have no battery problems for now. For my case wireless is less wasteful than wired
Only reason for me not to spend more than $20 on a pair of TWS.
@@Raven-uw2vi which earphones you ere using that break in 3-4 months ?
@@Raven-uw2vi It just fits your priority and lifestyle. For me, changing within 4 months smells like a reckless handling of wired earphones. I like hi-fi audio more than freedom of movement. If TWS matches that, I'll switch right away.
@@Raven-uw2vi Yeah, but you can get a decent pair of wired ones for $8, whereas decent wireless ones will cost you like $50. (And you are not a typical user either, if you wear wireless ones outside they will inevitably fall out of your ears and break. That's why I use wireless inside and USB-C ones outside.)
For the life of me I still cannot find myself parting with $200 for these products, no matter what they do or how well they do them-because they are extremely perishable products. You will eventually throw these out because they can’t hold a charge, and they are too difficult to open to responsibly ♻️ recycle the batteries. Plus, you risk losing at least one of them at any given time, they could easily break, and the sound quality of these products are pinned down by the limits of Bluetooth, and thus are usually not good enough to justify the expense.
Yup. Surely can be long before they can contain an eSim and stream the content themselves, only controlled by a phone? Like a Sonos system does, but mobile.
Edit: clearly this won't be done as soon as it is technologically feasible because too few consumers care and the margins on Bluetooth are so good.
Not even $80. The most I would pay for wireless earbuds would be $30, and they would have to be good quality too. Until then, not interested.
Get yourself a pair of Moondrop aria and be happy :)
I use my AirPods pretty much all day. Was well worth it.
@@codycast eww airpods
I still despise companies removing features to create a problem and then sell you the solution, they'll catch me dead before I'll buy airpods, samsung buds or whatever other earbuds made from a phone company or that's not great value overall.
But how will you obtain self-actualization and real happiness instead of being a mindless zombie?
@@lordofthecats6397 By critical thinking ;-)
This is going to be my go-to video when people ask me why I prefer phones with headphone jacks.
Bro wires are a cancer once you get used to wireless. It’s soo much better. Just get the right ones.
As gamer the delay that come from wireless is a turned off from me
@@daniel_960_ I don't like wireless earphones. Just another thing I have to charge
@@daniel_960_ Nah, i'll take my EJ07Ms over any wireless trash.
@@oxaile4021 I mean yeah, the exception are audiophiles. I don’t even know what you’ve said right there
Ngl after seeing many of my favorite youtubers do ad spots for raycon for months, I considered buying some. I’m glad I took the time to watch an actual review and not just a sponsorship spiel before taking the plunge.
I still prefer the old style wire earphones.
The audio quality is better by far in wired headphones/earphones/speakers. Bluetooth can't battle the silver and gold wiring in quality
Same, been rocking m50's for 8 years and counting now. Saving a cool hundo a year
Same !
@@KOL630 oh lord your one of those boomers who say 5G gives corona virus and vaccines “mind control” people
@@KOL630 ok monster drinks are bad but what’s wrong with wireless ear buds ?
I am low-key loving your b-rolls. A lot of it has to be due to the fact that it is a breath of fresh air, compared to what we have seen.
Happy to hear!
What's b roll
@@TechAltar 11:01 is where it hit me the most. Not used to seeing these type of videos (sorry for generalizing) without much stock footage. I like it and I appreciate it.
@@iansunemoji B roll might also be background shots, wide shots etc. Matt Grey and Tom Scott have some good videos about how they do editing and filming, and why they prefer cutting to B roll instead of doing jump cuts. It's informative and instructive.
I miss the good cheap wired earphones. Now it's either expensive or dodgy looking models made by new companies I've never heard of.
i used kz earphones, some of the best earphone i have ever used, well... ive been using earphone that come bundled with my phone so i cant really say much
It was nearly impossible for me to find a set of good wired earbuds. 99% of the market is wireless stuff (which isn’t terrible but i don’t want them), $5 cheap wired knockoffs, or $300 hand made boutique wired headphones that have limited production runs. Nothing in between, at least where I live.
@@Chevsilverado Same here. It used to be under ₹1400( about 20USD) you'd get competition from Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Sannheiser etc. But now they may or may not have a single model or you need to go for higher price or a new company like Boat or Boult. Seems like Mi is going to be my repeat choice.
Highly recommend IEM's. They have some noise canceling from the seal, much much much higher sound quality and a nice gradient of price from 17 dollars to 2000 dollars
The wired headphone jack in my phone gives me no end of grief.
One other important aspect of this wireless earbud gold rush is the the fact how sound quality is highly subjective. There really is no easy way of quantifying how good or bad something sounds apart from.some rudimentary nubers, that mean nothing to the average person.
Audio equipment have always been the perfect go to product category for snake oil sales men. And now that they have their own built in batteries, they can charge a premium, while ensuring the product has a limited lifespan due to battery wear.
Sound quality is surely subjective in the higher end market. Having been a user of numerous headphones and earpieces, there’s certainly a huge difference in quality between $10, $50, $100, $200, $500. The funny thing like what you mentioned is between Brands, they would fine tune certain aspects like treble, bass etc. Certainly the jump from $200 to $500 is minuscule compared to the lower to mid range or Low to high range quality jump. It all comes back down to the concept of diminishing returns.
Personally I currently own a pair of AirPods which is my current go to earpiece because of its convenience. I bought them few years back when AirPods was clearly the market leader in wireless earbuds category. Certainly when I’m looking for a new pair, I’ll check out other Brand’s as the technology gap has narrowed.
1000$ cables aren't snake oil, just believe us when we say they make everything sound like unicorns and rainbows!
What are you smoking?
I kind of agree. I'm a media producer and everyone has a different opinion on whether audio sounds good or not. I may EQ it to my liking, but then that doesn't work for others. There is no "correct" sound for anything. It's what the viewer enjoys.
Yeps, many people can talk shit on a headphone labeling it as worst or bad but that also meant there’s also just as much if not more people that likes it too
Wireless earbuds are the golden cash cow, I'm so thankful for this video as it confirmed all of my suspicions. Personally I will never buy anything being pushed by influencers as there will always be a better value alternative. Other than maybe Nebula because it's a service that isn't easy to replace.
Same, the fact that Raycon spends so much on marketing means that the earbuds are $5 manufacturing cost trash. They even have con in name, because that is what it is.
The pie chart at 10:48 shows JBL as it's own company. Harman International Industries owns JBL and then Samsung owns Harman International Industries. So the Samsung slice could be even bigger.
Qcy is also sub brand of xiaomi. Which has a 3% market share. So xiaomi pie is also bigger.
Well that was more like the brand chart I think.
But if so, where's Beats. They should own like at least 2%
@@saisibi6708 beats is almost ghost nowadays, even if they show it in charts it'll be connected to Apples revenue
Harman and AKG used to be respected brand among audiophiles. now they just selling logos
@@den-iq1cv, audio brands have been selling logos for years in cars. Bose, Harman/Kardon, JBL, Dynaudio, Bowers&Wilkins, Burmistr, ...
With this quality of content, so far you have made the strongest case for me to subscribe to Nebula + Curiosity Stream.
Keep up.
I have been constantly using Bluetooth earphones since 2006. Until recently I felt like a techno geek, since it was not often that I saw somebody using these gadgets. Some time ago truly wireless earbuds appeared and still not many people used them. I personally did not find this form factor convenient over other types of Bluetooth phones.
Than Apple launched the Airpods and suddenly everybody wants a pair of truly wireless phones.
This is yet another example that most of the people are like sheep. They go where they are told to go by smart guys from marketing departments of big companies.
This reminds me of the early 2000s with the whole mp3 thing. Everyone scrambling to define a market or at least an identity/position in said market. It was chaotic but fun.
I think many consumers are still unaware that "decent" wireless earbuds can be bought online for a few dozen euros. I get notifications for articles from tech websites reviewing earbuds. According to them, 100 euros earbuds are a budget pick, and cheaper ones are not mentionned at all and simply do not "exist".
What are these “decent” earbuds you speak of?
The Airdots by Xiaomi are pretty good full stop, not only for the price. And they are around 30 dollars from a recognizable company, you can go lower than that and still find good ones
@@alejandrobailon1761 thanks for the reply! I’ll check those out.
@@alejandrobailon1761 Can confirm. Their sound quality is closer to my €200 Sony WH-1000XM3, than the old wired Apple Earbuds.
Generally, don’t go for the loud brands. If they’re trying really hard to convince you it’s good, there’s a decent chance it isn’t. Sennheiser, jaybirds, audio technica, are just a few manufacturers that stay fairly reserved while marketing and let their reputation do the talking
i dont like that theyre basically disposable earphones.. will end up in a landfill as ewaste
Wish there was a way to easily replace batteries on those.
Yep. That's why I'm going to stick to wired earphones.
it depends, in my experience wired earphones died more quickly than tws and the headphone jack often busted on me.
@@smug_slime Did you buy $5 earphones and expected them to last?
@@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStart the thing is they are both 50 dollars
A big kudos for even mentioning FR graphs. I mean, I read tons of audio reviews from mainstream media, and NONE of them even mention a frequency response graph. 99% of the time you just have to buy their words when they say "it's good".
Yes, I admit, FR graphs aren't perfect. They can't really show technicality of an IEM for example (instrument separation, sound stage, timbre, etc). But one thing they can show is if said IEM has a really wacky tonal balance. And many will debate me for this, but I'd say we have a benchmark for what a "good sound" looks like in FR graph; the Harman in-ear target.
So yeah, honestly, if audio market got more scrutiny and proper reviews, then we as a consumer can start judge things on our own and form our own opinion. There are already tools to do that, albeit it's not quite perfect yet. But for now, we just have to take our "influencers" words as-is; "it sounds good".
In curious how these other effects are expressed in the actual audio wave if they're not in the frequency response. Is it that FR is only for pure frequency and in mixed spectrums the response is not a simple average? Is there Fourier phase information that's somehow relevant? Is it changes in frequency that are a problem?
Given that speakers are so theoretically simple, it's odd to me that these effects wouldn't show up on at least some sort of graph, even if it's not the FR. Perhaps it's partially that they are just as hard to measure with a microphone?
@@SimonBuchanNz Other characteristics: speed of the driver, which will determine how clearly you can hear little variations in amplitude; harmonic distortion; phase/transient repose; impulse response. Instrument separation probably comes from impulse response. Timbre probably comes from speed/harmonic distortion. Overall sound engineering is something that is pretty hard to understand, I'm not sure we'll ever be able to have standardized measurements that the public can understand and use to reliably predict how the product will sound in their ears. It's not as simple as "higher frequency = faster processing" (which is itself a very simplified analysis), in the case of PCs.
@@son_guhun actually, I think that's a pretty good analogy: CPUs have core count, instructions per clock, cache size, core to core latency, memory channels, etc..., but it's still basically impossible to just look at the numbers and tell which would be faster.
That doesn't stop people from creating benchmarks though, so I'm a little surprised we don't have those as a thing in audio. It's not perfect: now everyone's arguing over whether and which benchmarks are representative, you have devices detecting and cheating on benchmarks, and it can lead to stagnation as only things that push that number up get tried. But at least we would have ballpark numbers that push out the overpriced dross...
There's also the fact that there's not as much competition in the CPU/GPU market, maybe a better comparison would be the monitor or RAM market, where you'll find more snakeoil salesmen.
Like, if you see two products from the same manufacturer, it's a pretty safe bet that the more expensive one will be better, so when you only have Intel/AMD and Nvidia/AMD, it's easier to navigate for the average consumer. But even that's not much of a given in the audio market, as some people will argue that certain cheaper headphones are better than a more expensive pair from the same manufacturer (this is fairly rare, though, but it's basically unheard of in the CPU/GPU space, I believe).
Marton, thank you for another wonderfully edited, narrated, informative, and thorough video on the subject. I always look after a video whenever I see that you uploaded a new one. Love them!
Do you know why Zara as brand is so successful. In lifestyle product people can manage anything with average quality, but their preference is buy something that looks cool & Luxury.
Same in case of these truly wireless.
I Guess you watched Think school
@@nandhu8288 yup
Except in the case of fashion the fast fashion brand and the luxury brand are probably made by the same workers in the same factory in Bangladesh.
Probably the only difference is materials and time spent per unit.
@@deus_ex_machina_ iss comment k yaha home ka koi reason?
@@siddharthparakh568 The point is there actually are differences between different models of wireless earphones, and convenience is the main reason people choose wireless, not style.
Aur tujhe kaise pata chala ki mujhe Hindi aati hai?
"Where there is ambiguity there is profit for the companies." The Golden statement.
8:42 first time someone actually brought up the topic of a fashion choice! well done, most youtubers completely ignore this point
I'm so glad you mentioned the fact that raycons aren't at all good for the price, and it really shows how nonchalant its become for literally thousands of creators to just lie to their audience for monetary gain
You mentioned on Twitter you thought that Raycons might be a drop shipping item, and that the quality (connection, sound) is just bad. I'd love to hear more about your experience with them particularly, since I've always been a little wary that so many TH-camrs advertise them.
Dank Pods made Raycons review.
I used the unbranded earbuds since years before they were branded as raycons and they're OK, 3 hour battery with both connected, 8 hour battery with just one but when using just one there is a huge decrease in sound quality and volume (you'll always be at 100%) because it uses the bluetooth codec for phone calls, not headphones.
The raycon version has a custom EQ that makes them sound even worse by boosting low-end and highs and costs way more.
Even if you're considering the unbranded version, just buy any Moondrop IEM in the $30-$99 range and some Dekoni bulletz foam eartips (after looking at good reviews that is) and you'll actually get the "$500 sound in a $70 earbud" raycon claims to have, and if you need bluetooth, they all have removable 0.78 2-pin connectors so you can replace the stock cable with a bluetooth adaptor.
Basically all products that are pouring huge amounts of money in to youtube sponsorships are bad/overpriced.
Dankpods is what you want
i'm going to continue to use wired earphones as they have better audio quality, better latency, are super reliable, and ofc will save my wallet due to the longevity compared to wireless :)
Isn't the biggest issue with most normal wired earbuds that the cable breaks. That has been my experience the past 10-15 years though...
I always used wired earbuds until 1.5 years ago when I bought a pair of truly wireless, fitness earbuds (the kind that hooks behind your ears) to wear when I exercise. It is honestly a game changer. I wear them when I jog, exercise at the gym, go for walks etc. Since there are no wires and I got the fitness kind, which means that there is zero risk of them falling out, it's honestly like they aren't even there. Even if I'm just casually listening to music, I can headbang, dance etc. Complete freedom of movement. I doubt that I will ever buy headphones that require a wire ever again. It makes that big of a difference. You don't realize how obnoxiously annoying wires are until they're gone. I got a no-name brand pair for roughly $40. The sound quality is similar to standard earbuds that come bundled with phones. They're even great for phone calls. Solid battery life. No degradation in quality in 1.5 years. I seriously recommend giving the product category a try. The cost of the technology has dropped to the point where, if you shop around, you can pick up a solid pair for not much more than a wired pair. Just don't pay for overpriced, over-marketed crap that is probably the same quality as the $40 pair I got. Either shop around for decent quality cheap ones or get something high-end that is of excellent quality. I'm pretty sure that most of the stuff in between the two is just overpriced, overmarketed crap.
@@Biru_to not if you get something actually quality. Products nearing the professional category would have removable cables. But these days with the emergence of 'chi-fi' (chinese hi-fi), earphones and headphones with removable cables have actually become very affordable now.
@@user-yf4mw bot post
@@Biru_to Plenty of headphones/in-ears have removable cables. Personally, I have a pair of Shure SE315's and they have a removable cable. That said, I haven't had the cable break in over 3 years. The cables are really durable.
I remember some watch brands started doing this a few years ago. They targetted first-time watch buyers and used famous TH-camrs for the promotion. So the watches that probably cost $5 USD were then being sold for $300 :).
Have subscribed for a long time and this is your best so far! Great category chosen, insightful and with some celeb drama make a great watch.
Happy to hear that you liked it!
Thinking about the amount of ewaste this might create, kinda scary
*is going to create
People do buy phones more frequent than these things…
Also wired earbuds broke waay more often
@@daniel_960_ they definitely do not buy more phones than earbuds
@@daniel_960_ back your "way more often" with data and sources. Until then we all know that wired earphones will outlast and outlive any pair of TWS earphones in the market. Period. (Unless of course you are use them rashly)
I don't have hard data, but anacdotally my friend used to break the cables on his IEMs within 4-7 months of every pair he got. His Galaxy Buds have lasted him a couple years now.
The one thing though is regular buds don't use batteries. So even if these last longer on average I'm not so sure if it offsets the cost there.
Your videos are awesome! Pure quality! Exceptional editing! They should be feature length! You are an educator! And you are a genius! I absolutely love watching your videos!
Glad you like them!
Great video as always your in depth analysis with perspective of business side is something no other youtuber can match
These videos are really informative. I'm learning so much from you.
I bought a pair of Xiaomi earbuds 3 years ago for $29.99 and I'm just fine.
11:04 2022 July and there you have it:)
Absolutely love this series!
That intangible quote was something else!
15$ wired earbuds with 5$ memory foam buds and a 5 to 10 $ type c to 3.5 mm beats 90% of the wireless earbuds that cost less than 200$ dollars. If you can get a dap or just a dac on the adapter it self you get even more value.
the best of two world is get detachable iem and get a tws adapter
@@smug_slime Kinda like getting a Moondrop Aria and combine them with the Fiio UTWS3 or a Quedelix 5K.
Now I feel stupid for buying jabra elite 65t for over $300 a couple of years ago. However, they still last and they have been working flawlessly ever since, and sound quality is great.
Bought apple pro airpods and mic stopped working less than 1 year later. Got a replacement for free but headphones are way to go. My beats solo have lasted more than 5-6 years now and still going strong
Jabra is cheapy
@@nomads7978 Dr Dre Beats are 2x worse than Apple crap phones. buy Sennheiser CX 300S
For a tws jabra is quite good tho
Thank you so much. As usual, the story behind hits exactly the question i wanted answered in an informative and entertaining way.
Love how you held up the intro to the episode for several minutes with sense preparatory into.
11:05 HE JUST PREDICTED THE NOTHING PHONE (1) !!!!!!
The clue to Ray's junk wireless earbuds is in the name, Ray*CON*
😂😂
That is why I am still using my wired headsets that came with my old phone.
"RayPROs" will be their next product ;-)
I really love your Neon Sign back there! :D
Good one brother ☺
Make some more videos. This really gives us information to start up some profitable businesses.
You predicted the Nothing phone
right
7:00 I am actually scared by that graph
That 20dB boost around upper mids and treble, Jesus Christ even Harman research just pissed themselves.
It's basically a visual description of how well a device can reproduce the frequencies of sound that most people are able to hear
@@easygoingdude9990 is that was the graph that was considered good. So If people can make site to compare them we can say it was a Benchmark ?
Great video as always. Thanks for your work.
The B-roll is _chef's kiss!_ Looking fly!
@Marton - I think you forgot the one main fact.. these things are highly perishable.. 1-1.5 years is the max we can expect them to last... and the diminishing battery capacity as it ages... so all in all, it is a great product category
Uh, my Galaxy buds plus that I got with my phone back in mid 2019 are still fine. And last most of the day the same as when I got them. And I still fucking hate that I can't conveniently use my Shure wired earbuds anymore, so it's not like I'm fanboying here.
These are an improvement over the 1st gen buds. th-cam.com/users/postUgkxK5mc3yw4xA7Mf2j6k6n1Uqv_KUgrKdeM Pros: The fit is fantastic. This is the biggest plus. They stay in my ears when running and become unnoticeable. They are tight but comfortable. The sound quality is about the same as the 1st gen buds. They pair more easily with my LG G8 ThinQ and immediately reconnect when removed from the case. The sound balance is excellent, good but not overpowering base and clean mid tones and highs.Cons: The noise cancellation is good but perhaps a little less effective than the Bose ANC on the 1st gen buds. Passthrough mode as not as good as the 1st gen buds making it a little more difficult to hear conversations when in passthrough.
Boy do I love the Nothings techy design, the white with grey, bit of transparency, the way letters are written like code....oof... man thats really good. Way better than raycons.
Amazing video! So well explained!
2:04 "Sony makes more money selling audio than phones"
...yeah, Sony has always been like that. Their phones were never that successful to begin with. Meanwhile, audio has been their bread and butter from the beginning.
timestamp fails
Even headphones had some specifications to compare between different one but choosing right earbuds is too tough
Very well-researched, impressive video!
Genuinely bro, this was a very informative videos. Thanks.
One of the reasons I'm hanging on to my old Samsung S9..
The Google pixel A series also still has an audio jack. Though I still prefer to use wireless earbuds
Get galaxy a device mid range better than s9 Audio jack with charger brick included in the box with 90hz display and modern look.
It is still a decent phone (both in terms of looks and speed, which matches today's mid-rangers)- you should consider replacing battery instead of upgrading, unless you have display burn-in.
Check out Chinese phone's. Theres way more competition in china and India, so a lot of features, like massive batteries and headphone jacks, are available in cheaper phones
I love your vids dude
Can't believe you came up with so much content on this topic
I like what you are doing. You are answering questions that I have before I ask them.
This is why I just end up buying a no-name Chinese brand on Amazon for €20. At least if I'm getting something pretty crappy, I'm going to do it cheaply.
I think there are a few good ones, mainly the wf-1000xm3 and galaxy buds, since they have standardized and replaceable batteries
We need an "actual" battery life standard marking like in electric cars so these companies don't lie, especially Apple.
It exists and it's called mAh.
@@xavier6130 most companies like jbl sony dont declare it. Just random battery life hrs.
@@xavier6130 mWh doesn't account for usage.
Grüße aus Großbritannien Marton! Just wanted to say that I always enjoy your videos, production quality is great and it's clear you research your content thoroughly
Hey, thanks and I'm glad you enjoy it!
I bought 3 pairs of BeatsX wireless in the last 3 years. All of them broke shortly after 1 year warranty period. Still love them! Going to buy the 4th one!
Well, when you remove the headphone jack you've generated a need that you're "Brave" enough to fill.
COURAGE
Why is a privacy web browser relevant?
"And where there's ambiguity, there's profit for companies"
You did an amazing job on this video.
I come to this from a totally different perspective than most people. Because of my sound sensitivity, sometimes I need to wear earphones over earplugs to help myself get through some situations. That has had me stick with the old iPod Classic so that I can do so.
I bought some to run with and they fell out of my ear repeatedly and the sound quality was pretty terrible and these were from a well known audio brand. I also lost them!
I now have some bone conduction ones and they work really well.
Long story short: They are so damn profitable because the material costs are actually really low, while people are willing to pay a lot for them.
I mean, in my country at least, airpods pro are more expensive than the sony XM4 headphones. The pricing is absolutely ridiculous.
hmmmmmmmm look like u dutch
@@crew4841 That's not a secret because it says so in the about page of every channel.
Just bought some AirPod pros at target on sale and they are amazing, they double as hearing aids too pretty neat
Awesome analysis.
Saw 1st time.
Subscribing now.
What I have been looking for is a good in-ear monitor earbud but there just don't seem to be any out yet.
In-ear earbud is an oxymoron.
Also, you didn't specify wired or wireless.
@@ErebosGR , would love to be wireless but the only in ear monitors I have seen so far are wired. Especially if you go for professional multi speaker in ear monitors like they use on concert stages and so. I know they will cost anything from 1000€ upwards but you pay for quality.
5:23 "the windows laptop market is extremely transparent"
_Laughs in illegitimate ssd speed drops_
True
Great Video, although one sees laptop manufactures also get better at intangibles - the keyboard, trackpad buillt materials, cooling solutions play a larger role these days. I applaud that, because performance is sufficient for most people for a decade as netbooks have shown
your channel is a little gem that I'm really glad I found
My current earbuds is a pair of Galaxy Buds.
And after using them, I still don't think wired earphones are that big of a hassle if you're not moving around a lot. Some instances, I still rather used my wired earphones.
Complaints are more like "First World Problems".
@@CozzyB Why would you not put the cables underneath your shirt? Just, like, try using your brain.
Yeah I use Galaxy buds and I love them. They are quite comfortable (not as comfortable as airpods) and the sound quality is really good. It also has long battery life.
I wonder why so many TH-camrs are shilling Raycons, they seem quite low spec buds.
Money.
They're mostly inoffensive and they work even if they're not a top tier value. Gotta get the sponsorships you can get your hands on, short of selling dick pills for some channels I suppose.
They get you to buy these cheap EarPods while they use their AirPods👀👀🤪🤪🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️💁🏽♀️💁🏽♀️💁🏽♀️😆😆😆😂😂💁🏽♀️🤣 they always sell us low budget stuff and keep the good things for themselves, treat us like step children 🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️
Same reason so many youtubers promoted Raid Shadowlegends. They pay stupid well and will offer just about anyone money to shout them out. I can't blame them for taking the offer cause you gotta pay the bills somehow. If someone buys a product just cause a youtuber got sponsored by them without researching more thats on them imo
Raycon incorporates a much larger portion of the final price into their advertising.
Crazy how he predicted that Nothing would make phones in the future too, and now we’re at Nothing Phone (2)
Love and cheers to TechAltar for this wonderfully made video. This really and truthfully still highlights that with "unlimited resources" (FUNDS and FUNDING) you will definitely have a very wide room for error to launch and try anything. This is the sort of project that CAN afford to do two things 1) it can afford to not profit or possibly have low sales but this company still can stay afloat. 2) This project can afford to FAIL and it can still peacefully cease to exist without any problems. Basically project close and thats perfectly fine. No consequences.
Raycons have such poor sound quality that cutting ones ear of with a rusty spoon is likely to be more enjoyable.
I used a rusty fork, but the analogy still stands
I mean their tuning literally looks like a frying pan.
did you personally tried it? from what i heard, they overemphasize the base
and of course, it is overprice.
@CGGS_Gaming it doesn't matter to me at all... i'm just asking lol
@CGGS_Gaming then*
Wires are so practical: they allow for better quality than bluetooth, they don't need a charger, signal can't be blocked and it's harder to lose. If you don't want it to get twisted in your pocket there are models braided in a way they stay put. But when something becomes a status symbol reason is no longer in the equation.
This
I would absolutely never buy one of these not because I am broke which is true but because the transparency part, I am okay with looking like a fool using 3.5 to usb c extension I don't care.
@@harshpandey5228 In the audiophile space where people spend thousands upon thousands on Audio products, I can safely say that wires are cool : ). The sound quality of wired iems are unmatched compared to similarly priced TWS.
Normies are idiots, all they care is that a product must have an atleast 30dB bass boost to sound good.
You guys do some serious mental gymnastics to justify not following the trend.
If you aren’t an audiophile wires are a cancer. Bluetooth is infinitely more convenient.
You aren’t tethered to your device, they never get ripped out your ears, no wire annoying you, sound quality is usually just as good and only depends on the product you get, you can walk across a room without having to carry your phone with you (imagine working out in the gym with wires on you and a phone in the pocket lmao), you can easily switch between devices or sometimes even use them simultaneously, there’s no wire breaking after one year of use, no removing knots before using, literally every device supports Bluetooth like smart watch, TV…
@@daniel_960_ Literally , is the wireless convenience a big selling point in your case compared to anything else ? If the answer is no then you don't really need them and you are just a clout chaser , the only one making crazy mental gymnastics to buy them is you
Tech altar videos are always great
These video are the reason why I've been subscribed to TechAltar from the time the channel started! ♥️
I'm sticking with my 3.5mm jack.
Because most people don't know what they should cost and they just pay whatever.
Great analysis!