There are many regular characters one sees when jogging (sub five min a km, no biggie) on the promenade between Camps Bay and Bantry Bay. There’s the lady with the white hair who carries a flower. There’s the girl walking and reading a book. There’s Marie. And then there’s that couple with the guy who always wears black, a cap and a scarf.

But something was different the last time I saw them – he was wearing Airpods. Good Lord, I thought to myself – that’s a massive departure from the norm.

I was struck by how bizarre they look, in a way. Just stopping in midair – where you would expect a cable to carry on, there is nothing. I couldn’t quite make up my mind if they were ‘bizarre’, or ‘cool’?

I listen to the Entrepreneur series on Monocle Radio when I run, and I’ve had a torrid time finding the right headphones. I established some time ago that I can only go with wireless bluetooth headphones – the endless untying of knots and constant tugging sensation on my ears was too much.

I’ve mowed through a number of bluetooth headphones which I found on Takealot. But just as I think I’ve found my groove, something goes wrong. Either I lose a special piece of rubber, which means they won’t stick in my ear, or I forget to charge them.

Another issue is they all have a cable joining the two sides, which ends up banging against my neck. Life shouldn’t be this difficult.

I wondered about those Airpods I saw the other day on the promenade. I contacted Digicape and got a pair. As with any Apple product, they arrived in simple, beautiful packaging.

The first thing I did was use them while riding my Vespa around town. Streaming Monocle’s live radio at a volume that doesn’t block out the sound of the traffic on the road, I quickly realised this was a game changer – especially when I received a phone call. If you’ve ever handled a phone call with a bog-standard bluetooth earpiece, you’ll know how crap it sounds. With the Airpods, I would go as far as to say the sound quality is better than speaking on the phone.

I’ve done tests with friends and no-one can tell the difference. And that counts for WhatsApp as well. It’s getting quite amusing now when I get into an Uber and just start rattling off random sentences to different people, as I send voice messages around. Just random soundbites.

“We need more dog food, can you collect?”

Then the Uber driver usually turns around and asks, “excuse me?”

I point to my ears and whisper “sorry, I’m just busy on my Airpods…” – subtly showing off.

When I got tired of listening to the radio, I streamed some chilled tunes via Spotify. We play music all the time at home, but I never attempted this whole music-all-day-in-your-ears thing. It was probably all the wires that put me off, initially. Whatever the reason, playing tunes during the day through Airpods has added a new level of chill for me, and I want more of it. And the sound? It’s fantastic!

So the dental-floss looking box charges the Airpods, and you can top up the charge in the box with a normal iPhone charging cable. A full charge on the Airpods gives you five hours of use, and the box holds enough charge to top them up for a full 24 hours.

But wait until you hear about how fast those Airpods charge in the case.

According to Apple’s official specs:

• AirPods with Charging Case: 24 hours listening time and 11 hours talk time
• AirPods (single charge): 5 hours listening time and 2 hours talk time
• 15 minutes in the case equals 3 hours listening time or over an hour of talk time

My Airpods went flat during a road trip the other day – it was convenient for me as the phone call I was on had to end because I was driving through a mountain pass. I put the Airpods into the charging case, and by the other side of the pass they were charged for a few more hours.

You can check your battery status anytime by flipping open the box and looking at your phone – this is what comes up.

I’m an intense mobile and tech user. I have a 30gb monthly phone data package and use up my phone’s full charge by 11am (I don’t leave home without a full charge battery booster). I have three Apple TVs and Sonos at home, with a 100mb fibre line and 400GB data. Our camera system is 100% mobile-based, with six cameras showing on my iPhone (email me if you want that – I can get you 20% off).

Everything I do when it comes to tech is to make my life easier. I am convinced these Airpods are not a gimmick and fully believe they are the missing piece to my tech setup. They’re not replacing headphones – they’re creating a whole new way of life – way beyond listening to music.

You know when you taste avocado for the first time and you realise this is the food you’ve been missing in your life? It’s like that. It’s like dopamine in a box.

But then the big test came – the promenade run. My ears have never worked well with Apple headphones in the past and I was worried they would fall out. But you know what? Because they don’t have the extra weight and tugging of the cables, they didn’t.

I was hoping to see the guy with the black cap during my run but, alas, he wasn’t there. I wanted to give him a knowing smile – acutely aware that we were both killing it. Maybe next time…

I cannot stress to you how awesome these Airpods are, and for people on the move it is a complete game-changer. And if you are riding around on a scooter – man – it’s like a whole new world…

Get in touch with Digicape – it’ll change your life.