Why I love my Apple EarPods

Jay Peters is a news editor for The Verge, which means, he explains, “I write and edit news about tech, gaming, and all of the many things The Verge covers. I also write a lot about indie video games. And I’m taking over David Pierce’s Installer newsletter while he’s on parental leave – please subscribe!”

He adds that he’s been here for nearly six years, “which, as an obsessive reader of the site before joining the team, is hard for me to fathom.”

When we asked him what his current favorite device was, it took him a day or two to run through his list, but in the end, he focused on a pair of wired EarPods.

When did you buy the EarPods, and what went into the decision to buy them?

I’ve been an AirPods evangelist for a long time, but I started to get slightly annoyed by occasional pairing issues and worrying if my mic sounded bad on calls. I picked up a pair of USB-C EarPods earlier this year just to see if I’d like switching back to wired headphones – at $19, I felt it was a low-stakes gamble – and it’s been great.

I still use my AirPods every once in a while, but I usually opt for my EarPods.

What do you like about them?

With EarPods, a solid connection is as easy as plugging the headphones into a device, and they’re compatible with basically every device I use day-to-day, including my iPhone, Mac, and gaming handhelds. I also like that I can bank on my voice sounding great in meetings and for the occasional recording for The Verge, too. 

Is there an advantage to using wired instead of wireless?

Improved mic quality. No battery to worry about. Low price. The physical buttons for adjusting volume and playing / pausing audio. And this is a weird one: if I need to step away from my computer, the fact that the headphones are wired means I need to take them off, which helps me unwind when I’m not at my desk.

Is there anything about them that you dislike, or that you think could be improved?

I wish the cord was just a tad longer. Sometimes it gets in the way of my keyboard. 

Who would you recommend it to?

Anyone who wants a solid pair of affordable headphones. And at $19, they aren’t too expensive to replace if you lose them – much cheaper than if you have to replace a pair of AirPods! (Ask me how I know.)