By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
For those who were quick enough to order Apple's anticipated AirPods, they began arriving today and were available in limited quantities at Apple Retail Stores. We received our order today and have just set up the AirPods to work with our main smartphone, the iPhone SE.
Out of the box, the AirPods are encased in their tiny charging case. This small, white case does look like a fancy case for dental floss, contact lenses or some other medical apparatus. There are hints of metal in the design of this case as well as a small recessed button. Apple does provide a lightning charger in the box.
Pairing the AirPods to the iPhone is dead easy. Simply make sure that your iPhone's Bluetooth connection is on and place the AirPods case near the phone. Flip open the magnetic cover and you will be asked if you want to pair your phone, super easy. Once paired, you can see the remaining battery life for each AirPod.
Connecting to a MacBook Pro is similarly easy, simply click on your Bluetooth icon, drop down and click on the AirPods and you're done.
Placing the AirPods in each ear will generate a soft tone to let you know they're on. Double tapping brings up Siri (it takes around two seconds for Siri to 'appear'). Playing music or podcasts on your iPhone, as well as taking calls all route to the AirPods.
Siri is really the only way to control volume on the AirPods without the iPhone. You can double tap and tell Siri to make audio louder or softer, skip songs, rewind, repeat and shuffle. Siri also works with the usual Siri commands.
First Impressions
Fit is quite good and strangely better than regular EarPods. Not having a wire connecting the two AirPods is a huge improvement over any existing Bluetooth headsets I have used. The AirPods rest easy in your ear canal and are even more comfortable for me to wear than other in-ear earphones that have silicone or rubber tips.
Audio quality ranges from very good to great. It is generally well balanced and great for voice and for music. I need to really run more tests, but listening to The Weekend's Starboy, Star Wars Themes and various podcasts was enjoyable. The AirPods passed my Aja test, streaming a high-quality version of Steely Dan's song Aja, I was able to appreciate and pick up various nuanced layers in that song, specially that searing Steve Gadd drum solo, very impressive.
Most of my early tests were done indoors or in a quiet office.
I'll need a few weeks to really see where the the AirPods fall in comparison to my daily driver JayBird Freedom and X3 as well as the Jabra Sport Coach bluetooth headsets I use in my gym and workout rotation.
Early on, I already love the convenience that the AirPods offer, I like how they just fit in with the iPhone, how they are comfortable and light but also well built.
Apple's AirPods do take away some of the sting of not having a headphone jack on iPhone 7 phones but they're also great all around stereo bluetooth headphones that can be used with iPads, notebooks and even non-Apple products.