• solrize@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    People keep saying that, but wearing earphones while walking outside is a niche usage. It’s mostly an excuse because no one knows how to do total noise cancellation. Being able to work in quiet while others are yammering around you is priceless.

    • edric@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      There’s a difference between using closed-back noise-cancelling headphones in an office or plane and using open-back headphones or bone-conduction while riding a bike or running so you can hear vehicles and other runners/cyclists around you.

      Open-back headphones are not just niche usage. They are also used for music production, watching movies at home (feels like you’re listening to speakers in the room with you instead of small headphones), and gaming (open soundstage makes pinpointing sound around you like footsteps more accurate).

      • solrize@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Yes, it’s walking around outside while listening to music that is a niche usage. I know that some people do it and can’t live without it, but I tend to feel that is unusual. It’s annoying to see “these earphones let you keep hearing other people’s conversations around you” as if that was a desirable feature, which it almost never is.

        • ABCDE@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          You tend to feel? Mate, it’s not unusual, it’s been done for decades by lots of people. Go outside and look.

        • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          The Walkman, introduced in the 80’s, would like a word. As would the first electronic handheld radios in the 60’s.

          Niche? You keep using that word. I do not think that word means what you think it means.

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Being able to work in quiet while others are yammering around you is priceless.

      And they make headphones for that.

      But if you’re out walking around in the city you absolutely want to be aware of whats around you, and it’s absolutely not a niche usage. That’s why the airpods, and lots of other headphone offer both. Transparency for when you want to be aware, noise cancelation for when you don’t.

    • Tattorack@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Dude, there are people with earbuds EVERYWHERE on the street. It’s actually a problem on the bike lanes because the ones that are noise cancelling can’t hear when someone is right behind them ringing a bike bell.