Well, I have a pretty nice setup. iPhone and AirPods. Both Pro, for whatever that’s worth. More marketing than function these days, though it used to mean something. I wouldn’t use a base 16, but base 17 is the best of this year’s lot. And AirPods 4 are good enough for anyone.

Anyway, I think sticking AirPods in your ears in public is kind of a rude gesture. It indicates “don’t bother me.” And I like strangers far less than normal people, neurotypical, whatever you call them. And I’m hard of hearing, so even if I’m not listening to music, I benefit from Apple’s “hearing aid” mode (which I have set up). We also have this thing, it’s buried in accessibility, called Live Listen. Superhuman hearing. Takes whatever the phone mic picks up and amplifies it. I stick the AirPods in my wife’s ears, go into the bedroom and shut the door, place the iPhone on the bed, then go past the bedroom into the bathroom, and whisper a phrase, and she hears it, clear as day. It’s that good. It’s literally spy tech. “Leave” your iPhone hidden and completely out of sight in a room, leave the room, pop in AirPods, hear every word spoken in that room. (When you first set up the feature, it actually tells you not to do exactly that.)

So, yeah. I can hear way better with them on. But mostly I just do what I came to do and GTFO. I listen to the music in the car. Weird stuff like K-Pop (and not just the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, though that’s good too) or Enya.