Comment by leokennis
10 hours ago
The average Joe, via AirPods and the like, in 2026 has access to vastly better audio than in 2005.
In 2005, you had serious and expensive high end audio from the established brands (Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic etc.) and you had consumer audio for consumer prices that sounded pretty terrible: no bass extension, flat mids.
In 2026 you have:
- Serious and expensive high end audio from the established brands (maybe even some of the same models as 2005...)
- A new category of convenience driven "mid-fi" like all the Sony, Bose etc. ANC headphones and AirPods Pro - often with the "laid back, a lot of bass, slightly recessed mids" sound signature but still producing very acceptable sound
- Consumer audio for consumer prices, but now even the cheap earbuds and headphones (JBL, chinese brands etc.) sound by all means passable, are wireless, have good battery life
I would say there has never been a better time to be a "good sound enjoyer" than now.
The other day I needed something wired for reasons and plugged in some lightning EarPods (not AirPods!) and they sound crappy. These were the earbuds that came with iPhones and that most people used.
You can now get AirPods Pro 3 or Galaxy Buds4 Pro for under 200 Euro that will not only blow away those old earbuds, but more importantly (since 200 Euro open back Sennheisers sound even better), the transparency mode on these buds are extremely good, so it's much safer to use them while listening to music or a podcast when cycling or running.
This is, in my experience, absolutely true.