I bought an AMPLIFI Alien at the start of the pandemic for reliable remote work. It doesn’t have 6E support, but in my mind it’s the closest thing to the old AirPort Extreme in user experience (e.g. “it just works, although it’s definitely not as configurable as many other things on the market” - but it does static dhcp leases, port forwards and separate 5 and 2.4ghz SSIDs etc), reliability (no need for constant reboots and shit. I Only reboot when there’s an update to install… so run it like 4-6 months between reboots), and performance (solid speed everywhere, no weird IOT-devices dropping off Wi-Fi issues, no messing with my Sonos speakers etc), and it’s powerful and performant so that it covers my entire condo with great speeds, meaning I don’t have to worry about mesh solutions and inconsistent handovers, devices having a hard time deciding which mesh point they should be connected to etc. I’ve got a 300/300 fiber connection, and the router is never a bottleneck. Still do a lot of remote work, and no issues with video conferencing jitter or any other performance while my SO is streaming 4K/UHD or doing whatever she wants at the same time.

Unfortunately it’s also very Apple:esque when it comes to price. Still worth it, and I would buy a new one immediately if it failed, despite being the same hardware and despite not having 6E support.

They were awesome, but AMPLIFI Alien is an easy, reliable and performant spiritual successor in almost every aspect to the airports extremes in my experience.

Yup. And with the overall sound level being so high, what is being let through still sounds great., but “appropriately” loud rather than deafening.

I’ve been to 17 concert occasions this last year, ranging from 100 people crowds to 65k crowds and sound levels from around 95-100 dB but occasionally upwards of 110 dB (according to Apple Watch Series 8). I’ve tried using musicians hearing protection plugs from $20 to $150 that are supposed to be “transparent” and “balanced”. Despite trying a multitude of different tips (the last set came with like 15 options). they’ve all let me down either in comfort or sound quality/muffling of frequencies. My AirPods Pro (1st gen) have been the most comfortable, and have provided the best sound quality overall. My ears seem really picky when it comes to the fit of the tips (and this has been my general experience for the last 25 years or so). For me the AirPods Pro just work. Way better than the “real” ones. My SO recently got AirPods Pro Gen2, and her experience for the last couple of concerts we’ve been to mirrors mine (we’ve been to all of these concerts together, and have both tried using “musicians” ear plugs before eventually switching over to AirPods)