[HN Gopher] Users reporting moisture inside Apple's $550 headphones
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       Users reporting moisture inside Apple's $550 headphones
        
       Author : neya
       Score  : 29 points
       Date   : 2021-01-01 18:03 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (interestingengineering.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (interestingengineering.com)
        
       | michael1999 wrote:
       | Designed in California.
        
         | michael1999 wrote:
         | I remember my wife's iPhone 5 dying one winter just from
         | condensation corrosion. The operating range is still 0deg-35deg
         | non-condensing. So never use them outside and then inside. My
         | nokias never had this problem.
        
       | nikau wrote:
       | So who is going to be first to patent ear pads that are stuffed
       | with silica gel instead of foam?
        
       | tanelpoder wrote:
       | They were probably just wearing them wrong
        
         | frompdx wrote:
         | I know this is a tongue-in-cheek comment, but this really was
         | my experience with the faulty, extra-space-inserting butterfly
         | keyboard on my 2019 MackBook Air. The repair tech actually said
         | maybe it is the way I type. I explained that I have a 2007
         | MacBook that still types flawlessly and my typing style hasn't
         | changed. It took six trips to the Apple store to get my
         | keyboard replaced under warranty.
         | 
         | And yeah, my 2007 MacBook still types flawlessly. It and the
         | 2013 MBP I had for work a while ago really sold me on Apple's
         | hardware. Disappointing.
        
           | nikau wrote:
           | Ahh yes the legendary support that is always touted as an
           | advantage of Apple products.
           | 
           | All I have found with apple techs is they are better salesman
           | at trying to gaslight you into thinking the problem is with
           | you not their product.
        
       | mensetmanusman wrote:
       | Metals have very high heat transfer coefficients.
       | 
       | In cold weather, the heat that usually conducts from your head to
       | warm a plastic interior is instead being instantly transmitted to
       | the environment.
       | 
       | With a cold spot right next to your head, it acts as a
       | condensation point for a water that is always being emitted from
       | the human body. (A fun experiment you can do in dry cold weather
       | is hold up a warm finger to a window and watch condensation
       | immediately appear even at a distance.)
       | 
       | The design is especially prone to this failure mode in the dead
       | of winter when you have the highest temperature gradients.
       | 
       | Because these aren't waterproof, I doubt they did much testing
       | outside where you would experience such large deltas in
       | temperature.
        
         | alpaca128 wrote:
         | According to the article this issue can also appear indoors.
         | Which, if true, would be even more concerning.
        
         | netsharc wrote:
         | Also it probably suffers from the "worked fine when we tested
         | it in sunny California" phenomenon.
        
       | 076ae80a-3c97-4 wrote:
       | This could be the butterfly keyboard all over again. I find it
       | really hard to believe that Apple isn't testing their products
       | with real people, it's more likely such issues are just getting
       | ignored or shrugged off when discovered. Which is possibly more
       | disturbing.
        
         | eznzt wrote:
         | ...or the rattlegate, which is very much happening with the
         | current generation of airpods pro.
        
           | lights0123 wrote:
           | Still annoyed that Apple made me use one of my $29 AppleCare
           | replacement slots for that when many forums say that they've
           | gotten theirs replaced under warranty.
        
       | hhanesand wrote:
       | Not debating the actual content of the article, but what kind of
       | English is this? Did anyone proof read this? Emphasis mine.
       | 
       | ... reported long wear times in _gold_ rooms ...
       | 
       | ... with their _sleep_ premium ...
        
       | alexwasserman wrote:
       | Took me a couple of goes to realize "in gold rooms" is a typo for
       | "in cold rooms", and wondering if gold rooms are a new audiophile
       | thing.
       | 
       | That said, hot ears trapped in cold metal headphones seems like a
       | recipe for condensation.
       | 
       | Do they not test outside of warm Cali temperatures at Apple?
        
         | superhuzza wrote:
         | Oh, I thought it might be a dig at the high price of the
         | headphones. But your explanation makes more sense.
        
         | rickyc091 wrote:
         | I've always assumed, no. If you use their laptops in clamshell
         | mode without the AC on in the summer connected to a monitor,
         | it'll start throttling and slowing down to a crawl. The only
         | solution is to turn on the AC or disconnect from an external
         | monitor.
        
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       (page generated 2021-01-01 23:02 UTC)