I accept that fact when it comes to some of their products, just not their ear buds, and I'm sure not these either. Apple is a fashion company, it's time to wake up to that fact. Think back to their old iPod ear buds (if you're old enough), the white wires were a statement that you were affluent (why do you think they had them so prominent in their commercials with the dancing silhouettes?) Those earbuds were horrible. That was fashion, this is the same.
I have a pair of fairly premium headphones with excellent sound quality, and I also have AirPods — I actually grab the AirPods more often than my nice headphones just because of how convenient they are.
I got them for cheap, and I definitely wouldn’t pay $500 for convenience without exceptional sound quality (so I’m completely not interested in these new ones). But to say that apple’s headphones are not good is, honestly, just wrong. I love the AirPods for background music, podcasts, audiobooks, and phone calls as I go about my day. I owned a different set of wireless earbuds before the AirPods which were actually higher-quality and more expensive, but I didn’t like them nearly as much. Convenience and decent sound quality make the AirPods perfect for casual listening. Of course, still having a separate pair of actual high-end headphones for sitting down and really enjoying the detail in music in other scenarios.
