iPhone 5’s New EarPods Have More Bass Than Dre’s Beats Earbuds [First Impressions]

My oh my, is Apple getting a lot of hate from professionals reviewers for the new EarPods. Gizmodo calls them “garbage,” and The Wirecutter’s mixed review says they are no better than $10 earphones. But lots of new iPhone 5 users on Twitter today are saying “ftw.”

I actually like them too. Then again, I liked Apple’s old earbuds as well. They were cheap and cheerful. The price to performance ratio was really good.

The new EarPods sound way, way better than the old ones. In fact, to my ears, the new EarPods have more bass than a pair of $160 Tour earbuds from Beats by Dr. Dre, which are marketed for their extra bass boom. And they cost $130 less to boot.

Read the rest of this post »

iFixit Teardown Of Apple’s New EarPods Reveals More Durable Design [Gallery]

What makes the EarPods so special? iFixit takes a closer look.

Our own Charlie Sorrel gave Apple’s EarPods a glowing review, and now the fine folks at iFixit have dug deep into the internals of Apple’s latest earbuds to see what they’re made of. It took Apple three years of R&D to design the EarPods, so we’re all hoping they mark a huge improvement over their predecessor.

According to iFixit’s teardown, Apple uses a single-driver setup to power the EarPods, although the Cupertino company claims that the EarPods will perform at the level of higher quality, multi-driver earphones. With a completely redesigned shape that’s been molded to fit the average human ear, iFixit is saying that the EarPods boast “significant improvements in durability.”

Read the rest of this post »

Apple’s EarPods: Finally A Pair Of EarBuds Worthy Of The iPhone [Review]

As of next week, when Apple starts shipping the iPhone 5, the standard earbuds supplied with its portable devices will be superseded by the new EarPods. From the outside, these look a lot like the iconic white buds they replace. But yank them out of your ear and you’ll see that the design is quite unlike any earbuds you’ve ever seen.

The product blurb tells us that they’re resistant to sweat, and that they sound as good as headphones many times the price. It also says that they tenaciously hold on to your earholes, even when doing sports, and that they do this while remaining comfortable. So how do these claims hold up?

Read the rest of this post »

These Are The First EarPods Sold In Spain

I just got back from the friendly Apple Store at Barcelona Passeig de Gràcia, and I'm the proud owner of Spain's first set of EarPods. The Apple Store service was — as ever — spectacular, and the salesman, Manel, told me I had bought the first pair of EarPods sold in Spain. But how did he know?

Read the rest of this post »

Why Apple Poked Three Holes In The New EarPods

Apple’s new EarPods have been in development for three years as Apple tried to create the best earphones that fit everyone’s ear. Not only are they supposed to fit everyone’s ear better, but they’re also engineered to have better sound performance than any earphones Apple’s ever made.

The first thing you notice when you see the new EarPods is that they have a very unique shape, along with three little holes poked in them. Why are those holes there? Well, it has everything to do with speaker diaphragm movement and an airtight seal created with your ear canal.

Read the rest of this post »

Everything Apple Announced At Yesterday’s iPhone 5 Event [Mega-Roundup]

Tim Cook and the gang at Apple were in full force at yesterday’s keynote. Yes, the iPhone 5 was announced, but there was so much more than that. EarPods, Lighting, crazy new iSight cameras, iTunes, and much more.

The keynote was packed with info, but we’ve broken everything down  into delicious bite-size information nuggets so you can know all of the essentials of what happened today without having to read 3000 different blog posts.

Here’s everything that Apple announced at today’s keynote:

Read the rest of this post »