I like wired earbuds. They are fine. I won’t lose them. They last for years. I think the removal of the standard headphone jack from devices is user hostile. USB wired headphones suck. They are...
I like wired earbuds. They are fine. I won’t lose them. They last for years.
I think the removal of the standard headphone jack from devices is user hostile.
USB wired headphones suck.
They are taking up the charging port and sometimes oddly disconnect.
Depending on the age of Apple devices, you may need a different plug (lightning or usb c)
The cord gets twisted more because the jack can’t be rotated when it is plugged in
I don’t want to get wireless headphones and worry about losing them and worry about charging them. I don’t want Apple to “win” this battle of forcing me to buy wireless because they removed the jack.
I have a tiny tiny concern that I don’t want the radio waves from the headphones so close to my brain. Yes I know there are radio waves passing through me all the time. Yes I know it’s unscientific to be concerned about this particular thing.
I’m old enough that I’ll probably never change my mind about this.
I agree except one thing: almost all bluetooth chips nowadays contain simple digital signal processing capabilities, which allow the manufacturer to improve their frequency response. This is not...
I agree except one thing: almost all bluetooth chips nowadays contain simple digital signal processing capabilities, which allow the manufacturer to improve their frequency response. This is not as crucial with earbuds, which can already be made reasonably neutral for a relatively low price, but it still helps, and it can help tremendously with large headphones, which almost all have unwanted resonances and other aberrations on the frequency response because avoiding those is just really difficult and/or expensive.
This has pretty much no downside and frequency response is the most important thing in sound quality, so paradoxically wireless headphones can give you better sound for less money even though you're paying for some additional electronics and batteries instead of just a cable.
That said, I still use wired headphones as well and one of the reasons why I chose the phone that I use is that it has a headphone jack.
I think that Apple's Airpod Pros are their best product. Sure you're letting them "win" if you buy them, but you also win because they're so excellent.
I think that Apple's Airpod Pros are their best product. Sure you're letting them "win" if you buy them, but you also win because they're so excellent.
Counterpoint from another old man. Keeping the jack and trying to achieve a waterproof phone seems like it would be a hard problem when considering reliability and thickness. In my opinion,...
Counterpoint from another old man.
Keeping the jack and trying to achieve a waterproof phone seems like it would be a hard problem when considering reliability and thickness. In my opinion, waterproofing is way more important than a 3mm jack.
I have a cheap pair of air pod imitators I got for $20 a couple of years ago. They still have great battery life and I haven't lost them yet lol (Fairly surprising for me, but at least they are cheap to replace if I do lose them). I forgot them at home on a recent trip and had to use wired earbuds and I literally hated my life. They snag on everything, they get tangled in my pocket or backpack -- I hated using them. If I never have to use wired headphones away from my desk again I'll be happy.
Counter-counterpoint from another old man. Waterproof phones with headphone jacks were already a solved problem as there were several on the market. It is no coincidence that the initial companies...
Counter-counterpoint from another old man. Waterproof phones with headphone jacks were already a solved problem as there were several on the market. It is no coincidence that the initial companies that removed it also directly sold first party wireless headphones. Everyone else followed because it allowed minor cost cutting.
I’m skeptical that a headphone jack is harder to waterproof than the usb port. But I’m sure they want to remove that too once induction chargers are common enough. I concede that headphone wire...
I’m skeptical that a headphone jack is harder to waterproof than the usb port. But I’m sure they want to remove that too once induction chargers are common enough.
I concede that headphone wire snagging is very annoying.
Apple is one of very few phone designers that actually does need the space saved by removing the headphone jack. I’m sure they have every cubic millimeter assigned and accounted for per each team....
Apple is one of very few phone designers that actually does need the space saved by removing the headphone jack. I’m sure they have every cubic millimeter assigned and accounted for per each team. As soon as the jack left it’s like finding out there’s a new uninhabited island off the coast.
They could have made it work, but there would be tradeoffs.
Exactly. Look at the work that went into designing the iPhone Air. Having a physical SIM card doesn’t seem like it would take up that much space, but when you’re trying to be as efficient as...
Exactly. Look at the work that went into designing the iPhone Air. Having a physical SIM card doesn’t seem like it would take up that much space, but when you’re trying to be as efficient as possible with space, removing it makes a big difference.
A headphone jack isn’t huge, but Apple engineers decided that the space it would take up would be better used for another purpose.
I've heard this since ever, but honestly can't noticed any latency at all. Is this something related to music production, or one of those things you need a very good ear to be annoyed by?
I've heard this since ever, but honestly can't noticed any latency at all. Is this something related to music production, or one of those things you need a very good ear to be annoyed by?
When you watch videos with Bluetooth earphones the video portion is delayed specifically to deal with the audio delay. If you try to play an instrument while using Bluetooth it’s very apparent....
When you watch videos with Bluetooth earphones the video portion is delayed specifically to deal with the audio delay. If you try to play an instrument while using Bluetooth it’s very apparent.
There are low latency codecs out there but they tend to be very low quality.
You probably wouldn't notice it unless you're doing something that's highly sensitive to it. For example I have an EP-133, which is a sampler and synthesizer that basically looks like a big...
You probably wouldn't notice it unless you're doing something that's highly sensitive to it. For example I have an EP-133, which is a sampler and synthesizer that basically looks like a big calculator for making music. The one time I used a bluetooth dongle to output its audio to my bluetooth speakers was the last--even though the latency was barely noticeable to me between pushing a button and hearing the sound, it was off just enough that everything I did was coming out not-quite-right and made everything about 10% more aggravating than usual. For normal video watching and gaming I don't notice bluetooth audio latency at all though.
In this context “monitor” means you have the audio device plugged into a special output of an audio interface or device so you get live feedback of what the end user would hear. It is more of a...
In this context “monitor” means you have the audio device plugged into a special output of an audio interface or device so you get live feedback of what the end user would hear.
It is more of a musician/broadcaster thing. Even the AirPods Pro Max, which can be used as monitors, has a wired connection for this.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought "monitor" in this context means the audio has not been 'colored' by any EQ (that sometimes happens within headphones) and that the sound is as...
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought "monitor" in this context means the audio has not been 'colored' by any EQ (that sometimes happens within headphones) and that the sound is as "authentic" as possible...
Yes, certain kinds of speakers that are called “studio monitors” are made this way because they’re used for audio mixing in a studio. But in the context of a live performance, a “stage monitor” is...
Yes, certain kinds of speakers that are called “studio monitors” are made this way because they’re used for audio mixing in a studio. But in the context of a live performance, a “stage monitor” is a speaker that musicians use to hear themselves, in contrast with the speakers that are pointed at the audience. Also, “in-ear monitor” means headphones that musicians wear on stage to hear themselves play, if they choose to use headphones.
I’m a hobbyist, not a professional, so I would just want nice headphones to wear while practicing music on a keyboard. It would be nice to wear Airpods, but typically you use wired headphones plugged into the headphone jack or wired speakers.
As previously explained, but I thought I would add on to it, in the audio world there are two types of monitors: Audio engineer/tech monitors (commonly referred to as studio monitors/monitoring...
As previously explained, but I thought I would add on to it, in the audio world there are two types of monitors:
Audio engineer/tech monitors (commonly referred to as studio monitors/monitoring headphones). This is what you thought of when hearing monitor, where they try to be flat as possible. These could either be speakers or headphones. Use cases involve monitoring audio during recording (either music or for video production) to make sure things are being recorded well (not normally what the talent is listening to, but instead the tech listening during the performance) or for doing post production audio adjustment (think mixing the separate audio tracks down in a song). The idea is that you do not want your audio device coloured during this stage as it would sound good only on devices that are coloured the same way.
Musician monitors to listen to what they need to hear while playing. This could either be wedge monitors (what you normally see on concert stages of the speakers on the floor angled up towards musicians) or in ear monitors (IEMs). For wedges, these almost always have EQ to reduce feedback. This is where latency is most noticeable, because the delay between saying something and hearing it is extremely jarring and actually can cause people to freeze and be unable to speak.
With these two distinctions, it is also worth pointing out with the rise of home studios in recent years, the lines are being blurred. Someone may be using studio monitors (category 1) to mix their music that they record at home, but since they are the speakers they have, they will also use it as musician monitors as they are recording additional tracks.
The crucial difference is that there's a significant delay between the physical response of playing the instrument and the audio reaching your ears, in a setting where timing sound is important. I...
The crucial difference is that there's a significant delay between the physical response of playing the instrument and the audio reaching your ears, in a setting where timing sound is important. I don't think you need a particularly good ear for it: handfuls of milliseconds of delay can be absolutely jarring. Some musicians may be able to compensate for it in their playing to some degree, but to most, maintaining rhythm is a matter of both feeling and hearing the instrument.
There are other contexts where that level of difference is not as important (e.g. some video games, phone calls) and others where it can be mitigated altogether by delaying whatever it's synchronized with accordingly (e.g. watching a video).
You can keep them looking pretty clean without much trouble. Just put some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip and swipe them around the ear tips. It even gets rid of the yellow discoloration that ear...
You can keep them looking pretty clean without much trouble. Just put some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip and swipe them around the ear tips. It even gets rid of the yellow discoloration that ear wax can cause on the white silicone tips.
I landed on the Openfit 2 as well, my son has some of the first Openfit and I was surprised at the sound quality for the way they work. I wasn't expecting much, but they surprised me. I have a...
I landed on the Openfit 2 as well, my son has some of the first Openfit and I was surprised at the sound quality for the way they work. I wasn't expecting much, but they surprised me.
I have a real problem with in ear buds falling out. Closest I got was some Soundcores with ear hooks, but they still keep coming out, they just don't fall down the drain because of the hooks.
I used to use memory foam tips from Comply, they were great but it became too hard to keep up with the need to buy new ones every time the headphones were replaced.
I've done the opposite, going from wireless for the last 5+ years to wired this year. My wireless experience was (suspiciously) amazing, spending $80 on a pair of JAM Live Loud earbuds for about a...
I've done the opposite, going from wireless for the last 5+ years to wired this year. My wireless experience was (suspiciously) amazing, spending $80 on a pair of JAM Live Loud earbuds for about a year until they had charging issues, then spending another $100 on some Sony WF-C500s which are seemingly indestructible, with an infinite battery life that never degraded in the 4 years I was using them (which is the complete opposite of what reviews say, and the general wisdom around TWS, so I guess I just got a standout unit).
This year I picked up an iPod in an attempt to get away from music streaming and my smartphone, so I needed some wired earbuds to go with them. After doing some research, I spent $40 on a pair of Tanchjim One earbuds. It is truly insane how much better the sound quality is on these inexpensive wired earbuds compared to my TWS that were nearly double the price. It's not quite night-and-day, but I instantly noticed more detail in my music upon the first listen. It's slightly annoying having a cable that can get caught, but it's a minor gripe (and the cables can be replaced on this model so even if something breaks, it's a temporary and inexpensive setback).
I think the main thing that made this switch so easy was the fact that I do not use noise-cancelling. I'm super sensitive to the "pressure" feeling that noise cancelling generates, so I prefer to rely on the physical noise isolation and just deal with the degraded listening experience. If I'm commuting I'm not going to be actively listening to my music, so it's not a big deal.
I went wireless because I really really wanted noise cancelling headphones to help with migraines/stress. I got some Sony ones that were garbage. Expensive but they didn’t fit well and didn’t work...
I went wireless because I really really wanted noise cancelling headphones to help with migraines/stress.
I got some Sony ones that were garbage. Expensive but they didn’t fit well and didn’t work well, and didn’t have an Apple Store app.
I finally bit the bullet and got the air pods pro 2 because they kept coming up and they wouldn’t hate my iPhone obviously. They really are great for noise cancelling and help a lot on rough days.
I don’t miss wired that much because it’s nice to be able to leave whatever device I’m hooked up to and wander around with them in and do chores (since that’s usually my computer). I do wish that the jack was still an option but I do see why most people don’t care anymore.
I’ve never lost them, but find my being able to tell me where they are/make them scream helps there.
The rest of my complaints all stem from the limitations of Bluetooth and it’s “70 protocols in a trench coat” design
I’m really enjoying my AirPods Max. I’ve long had problems keeping ear buds in, and while I do have some HD600 I begin to hate the cable. The Max sounds great, they’re comfy, and the latency on...
I’m really enjoying my AirPods Max. I’ve long had problems keeping ear buds in, and while I do have some HD600 I begin to hate the cable.
The Max sounds great, they’re comfy, and the latency on Apple devices is imperceptible for music production and video watching. On Steam Deck they’re useless though, as is the way with standard Bluetooth except for aptx LL which almost no modern headphones support any more, thanks Qualcomm.
For running I now use Shokz Open Fit. They have ear hooks so I don’t lose them, and they don’t go in my ear, so it solves that problem too.
The Shokz are surprisingly good for how they work. Much better than bone conductors.
To me though, this feels more like a theoretical problem. I switched to wireless back in 2015 - many years ago now - but I went with Anker ones that still had a wire connecting one earbud to the...
The second reason was my conscience, which took a while to accept that wireless earbuds have a limited lifespan because of the battery. On average, after two years capacity hits about 80%, the threshold for good performance. Except for rare (and expensive) exceptions, earbud batteries aren’t replaceable, which means most wireless earbuds are destined to the nearest landfill.
To me though, this feels more like a theoretical problem. I switched to wireless back in 2015 - many years ago now - but I went with Anker ones that still had a wire connecting one earbud to the other, even though the device itself was wireless. Used them for 5 years and generally didn't complain about the battery life. And they didn't even have a charging case! I had to replace them because one side stopped playing completely, not because of battery issues.
Then in 2020 I bought Anker Liberty Pro 3s - now completely wireless earbuds with noise cancellation and all that jazz - and I'm still rocking them. Battery capacity problems are almost completely nonexistent since there's the charging case and they charge pretty fast. That being said, I did run into charging issues quite early on (one side wouldn't charge sometimes), but I started regularly cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and I think that solved the problem.
Before wireless, I had these expensive wired earbuds - I don't even remember the company - they cost around 80 euros. After a couple of years I also had to replace them because one side was no longer playing.
So yeah, from my experience it seems like you're more likely to replace them eventually because of some other non-battery related issue and they last generally okay.
My experience is very similar. Almost every pair of wired headphones I've ever owned has failed physically, usually due to the cable getting snagged or a connector wearing out (I say almost...
My experience is very similar. Almost every pair of wired headphones I've ever owned has failed physically, usually due to the cable getting snagged or a connector wearing out (I say almost because I still have a pair of Sennheiser HD-something over-ear cans which are over 25 years old and still going strong despite countless hours of DJing gigs, parties and home/work wear).
I've never worn out a pair of wireless headphones/buds. My Sony earbuds lasted five-ish years with no noticeable battery degradation but did recently succumb to an ANC-related issue - I need working ANC for my daily-wear earbuds, otherwise they're still perfectly usable. My Sennheiser over-ear phones are at least eight years old and still going strong. Although they do have a headphone jack if I wanted to use that, but I've long since lost that cable..
My current Bose earbuds claim six hours battery life but I just never wear them for that long in one go. As soon as they're back in their case they're charging, and even just a few minutes of charging seems to add a lot of listening time. If that six hours turned into five or even four or three I'm not sure I'd notice, let alone think it a problem.
Of all the Apple products, the AirPods Pro 2, to me, are one of the cooler things out there. Having the volume slider on the AirPods rather than having to reach for the phone or watch is awesome....
Of all the Apple products, the AirPods Pro 2, to me, are one of the cooler things out there. Having the volume slider on the AirPods rather than having to reach for the phone or watch is awesome. Transparency is awesome. The sound quality is great. I still have some pairs of big wired open headphones if I want the top audio quality, but 90% of the time the AirPods are enough. Like the author, I did resist wireless headphones for years. I still don’t love the idea of a Bluetooth device antenna so close to my brain.
My favourite pair of headphones before this was the Sennheiser PX-100 which they don’t make anymore. They lasted for years.
I like wired earbuds. They are fine. I won’t lose them. They last for years.
I think the removal of the standard headphone jack from devices is user hostile.
USB wired headphones suck.
I don’t want to get wireless headphones and worry about losing them and worry about charging them. I don’t want Apple to “win” this battle of forcing me to buy wireless because they removed the jack.
I have a tiny tiny concern that I don’t want the radio waves from the headphones so close to my brain. Yes I know there are radio waves passing through me all the time. Yes I know it’s unscientific to be concerned about this particular thing.
I’m old enough that I’ll probably never change my mind about this.
#oldmanyellsatcloud
I agree except one thing: almost all bluetooth chips nowadays contain simple digital signal processing capabilities, which allow the manufacturer to improve their frequency response. This is not as crucial with earbuds, which can already be made reasonably neutral for a relatively low price, but it still helps, and it can help tremendously with large headphones, which almost all have unwanted resonances and other aberrations on the frequency response because avoiding those is just really difficult and/or expensive.
This has pretty much no downside and frequency response is the most important thing in sound quality, so paradoxically wireless headphones can give you better sound for less money even though you're paying for some additional electronics and batteries instead of just a cable.
That said, I still use wired headphones as well and one of the reasons why I chose the phone that I use is that it has a headphone jack.
I think that Apple's Airpod Pros are their best product. Sure you're letting them "win" if you buy them, but you also win because they're so excellent.
Counterpoint from another old man.
Keeping the jack and trying to achieve a waterproof phone seems like it would be a hard problem when considering reliability and thickness. In my opinion, waterproofing is way more important than a 3mm jack.
I have a cheap pair of air pod imitators I got for $20 a couple of years ago. They still have great battery life and I haven't lost them yet lol (Fairly surprising for me, but at least they are cheap to replace if I do lose them). I forgot them at home on a recent trip and had to use wired earbuds and I literally hated my life. They snag on everything, they get tangled in my pocket or backpack -- I hated using them. If I never have to use wired headphones away from my desk again I'll be happy.
Counter-counterpoint from another old man. Waterproof phones with headphone jacks were already a solved problem as there were several on the market. It is no coincidence that the initial companies that removed it also directly sold first party wireless headphones. Everyone else followed because it allowed minor cost cutting.
I’m skeptical that a headphone jack is harder to waterproof than the usb port. But I’m sure they want to remove that too once induction chargers are common enough.
I concede that headphone wire snagging is very annoying.
Apple is one of very few phone designers that actually does need the space saved by removing the headphone jack. I’m sure they have every cubic millimeter assigned and accounted for per each team. As soon as the jack left it’s like finding out there’s a new uninhabited island off the coast.
They could have made it work, but there would be tradeoffs.
Exactly. Look at the work that went into designing the iPhone Air. Having a physical SIM card doesn’t seem like it would take up that much space, but when you’re trying to be as efficient as possible with space, removing it makes a big difference.
A headphone jack isn’t huge, but Apple engineers decided that the space it would take up would be better used for another purpose.
The main limitation I see is that Bluetooth connections have pretty high latency, which isn't ideal for monitoring the sound when playing music.
I've heard this since ever, but honestly can't noticed any latency at all. Is this something related to music production, or one of those things you need a very good ear to be annoyed by?
When you watch videos with Bluetooth earphones the video portion is delayed specifically to deal with the audio delay. If you try to play an instrument while using Bluetooth it’s very apparent.
There are low latency codecs out there but they tend to be very low quality.
You probably wouldn't notice it unless you're doing something that's highly sensitive to it. For example I have an EP-133, which is a sampler and synthesizer that basically looks like a big calculator for making music. The one time I used a bluetooth dongle to output its audio to my bluetooth speakers was the last--even though the latency was barely noticeable to me between pushing a button and hearing the sound, it was off just enough that everything I did was coming out not-quite-right and made everything about 10% more aggravating than usual. For normal video watching and gaming I don't notice bluetooth audio latency at all though.
In this context “monitor” means you have the audio device plugged into a special output of an audio interface or device so you get live feedback of what the end user would hear.
It is more of a musician/broadcaster thing. Even the AirPods Pro Max, which can be used as monitors, has a wired connection for this.
It is pretty niche tbf.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought "monitor" in this context means the audio has not been 'colored' by any EQ (that sometimes happens within headphones) and that the sound is as "authentic" as possible...
Yes, certain kinds of speakers that are called “studio monitors” are made this way because they’re used for audio mixing in a studio. But in the context of a live performance, a “stage monitor” is a speaker that musicians use to hear themselves, in contrast with the speakers that are pointed at the audience. Also, “in-ear monitor” means headphones that musicians wear on stage to hear themselves play, if they choose to use headphones.
I’m a hobbyist, not a professional, so I would just want nice headphones to wear while practicing music on a keyboard. It would be nice to wear Airpods, but typically you use wired headphones plugged into the headphone jack or wired speakers.
thank you for the clarification!
As previously explained, but I thought I would add on to it, in the audio world there are two types of monitors:
Audio engineer/tech monitors (commonly referred to as studio monitors/monitoring headphones). This is what you thought of when hearing monitor, where they try to be flat as possible. These could either be speakers or headphones. Use cases involve monitoring audio during recording (either music or for video production) to make sure things are being recorded well (not normally what the talent is listening to, but instead the tech listening during the performance) or for doing post production audio adjustment (think mixing the separate audio tracks down in a song). The idea is that you do not want your audio device coloured during this stage as it would sound good only on devices that are coloured the same way.
Musician monitors to listen to what they need to hear while playing. This could either be wedge monitors (what you normally see on concert stages of the speakers on the floor angled up towards musicians) or in ear monitors (IEMs). For wedges, these almost always have EQ to reduce feedback. This is where latency is most noticeable, because the delay between saying something and hearing it is extremely jarring and actually can cause people to freeze and be unable to speak.
With these two distinctions, it is also worth pointing out with the rise of home studios in recent years, the lines are being blurred. Someone may be using studio monitors (category 1) to mix their music that they record at home, but since they are the speakers they have, they will also use it as musician monitors as they are recording additional tracks.
The crucial difference is that there's a significant delay between the physical response of playing the instrument and the audio reaching your ears, in a setting where timing sound is important. I don't think you need a particularly good ear for it: handfuls of milliseconds of delay can be absolutely jarring. Some musicians may be able to compensate for it in their playing to some degree, but to most, maintaining rhythm is a matter of both feeling and hearing the instrument.
There are other contexts where that level of difference is not as important (e.g. some video games, phone calls) and others where it can be mitigated altogether by delaying whatever it's synchronized with accordingly (e.g. watching a video).
AirPods get disgusting pretty quickly. EarPods (without flexible tips) are much cleaner overall.
You can keep them looking pretty clean without much trouble. Just put some isopropyl alcohol on a q-tip and swipe them around the ear tips. It even gets rid of the yellow discoloration that ear wax can cause on the white silicone tips.
Just think of them as silicone Q tips.
Which open ear "earbuds" did you end up going with? I don't like the feel of earbuds either and have been looking for a replacement.
Not the person you were asking, but I really like my Cleer Arc II Sports!
Do you happen to wear glasses? If so, do they stay secure?
Oh... Hm! I don't, but at some point today I'll put them on with my sunglasses and see how they feel
I landed on the Openfit 2 as well, my son has some of the first Openfit and I was surprised at the sound quality for the way they work. I wasn't expecting much, but they surprised me.
I have a real problem with in ear buds falling out. Closest I got was some Soundcores with ear hooks, but they still keep coming out, they just don't fall down the drain because of the hooks.
I used to use memory foam tips from Comply, they were great but it became too hard to keep up with the need to buy new ones every time the headphones were replaced.
Gotcha, thanks. Do you happen to wear glasses and if so do they stay put?
I've done the opposite, going from wireless for the last 5+ years to wired this year. My wireless experience was (suspiciously) amazing, spending $80 on a pair of JAM Live Loud earbuds for about a year until they had charging issues, then spending another $100 on some Sony WF-C500s which are seemingly indestructible, with an infinite battery life that never degraded in the 4 years I was using them (which is the complete opposite of what reviews say, and the general wisdom around TWS, so I guess I just got a standout unit).
This year I picked up an iPod in an attempt to get away from music streaming and my smartphone, so I needed some wired earbuds to go with them. After doing some research, I spent $40 on a pair of Tanchjim One earbuds. It is truly insane how much better the sound quality is on these inexpensive wired earbuds compared to my TWS that were nearly double the price. It's not quite night-and-day, but I instantly noticed more detail in my music upon the first listen. It's slightly annoying having a cable that can get caught, but it's a minor gripe (and the cables can be replaced on this model so even if something breaks, it's a temporary and inexpensive setback).
I think the main thing that made this switch so easy was the fact that I do not use noise-cancelling. I'm super sensitive to the "pressure" feeling that noise cancelling generates, so I prefer to rely on the physical noise isolation and just deal with the degraded listening experience. If I'm commuting I'm not going to be actively listening to my music, so it's not a big deal.
I went wireless because I really really wanted noise cancelling headphones to help with migraines/stress.
I got some Sony ones that were garbage. Expensive but they didn’t fit well and didn’t work well, and didn’t have an Apple Store app.
I finally bit the bullet and got the air pods pro 2 because they kept coming up and they wouldn’t hate my iPhone obviously. They really are great for noise cancelling and help a lot on rough days.
I don’t miss wired that much because it’s nice to be able to leave whatever device I’m hooked up to and wander around with them in and do chores (since that’s usually my computer). I do wish that the jack was still an option but I do see why most people don’t care anymore.
I’ve never lost them, but find my being able to tell me where they are/make them scream helps there.
The rest of my complaints all stem from the limitations of Bluetooth and it’s “70 protocols in a trench coat” design
I’m really enjoying my AirPods Max. I’ve long had problems keeping ear buds in, and while I do have some HD600 I begin to hate the cable.
The Max sounds great, they’re comfy, and the latency on Apple devices is imperceptible for music production and video watching. On Steam Deck they’re useless though, as is the way with standard Bluetooth except for aptx LL which almost no modern headphones support any more, thanks Qualcomm.
For running I now use Shokz Open Fit. They have ear hooks so I don’t lose them, and they don’t go in my ear, so it solves that problem too.
The Shokz are surprisingly good for how they work. Much better than bone conductors.
To me though, this feels more like a theoretical problem. I switched to wireless back in 2015 - many years ago now - but I went with Anker ones that still had a wire connecting one earbud to the other, even though the device itself was wireless. Used them for 5 years and generally didn't complain about the battery life. And they didn't even have a charging case! I had to replace them because one side stopped playing completely, not because of battery issues.
Then in 2020 I bought Anker Liberty Pro 3s - now completely wireless earbuds with noise cancellation and all that jazz - and I'm still rocking them. Battery capacity problems are almost completely nonexistent since there's the charging case and they charge pretty fast. That being said, I did run into charging issues quite early on (one side wouldn't charge sometimes), but I started regularly cleaning the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and I think that solved the problem.
Before wireless, I had these expensive wired earbuds - I don't even remember the company - they cost around 80 euros. After a couple of years I also had to replace them because one side was no longer playing.
So yeah, from my experience it seems like you're more likely to replace them eventually because of some other non-battery related issue and they last generally okay.
My experience is very similar. Almost every pair of wired headphones I've ever owned has failed physically, usually due to the cable getting snagged or a connector wearing out (I say almost because I still have a pair of Sennheiser HD-something over-ear cans which are over 25 years old and still going strong despite countless hours of DJing gigs, parties and home/work wear).
I've never worn out a pair of wireless headphones/buds. My Sony earbuds lasted five-ish years with no noticeable battery degradation but did recently succumb to an ANC-related issue - I need working ANC for my daily-wear earbuds, otherwise they're still perfectly usable. My Sennheiser over-ear phones are at least eight years old and still going strong. Although they do have a headphone jack if I wanted to use that, but I've long since lost that cable..
My current Bose earbuds claim six hours battery life but I just never wear them for that long in one go. As soon as they're back in their case they're charging, and even just a few minutes of charging seems to add a lot of listening time. If that six hours turned into five or even four or three I'm not sure I'd notice, let alone think it a problem.
Of all the Apple products, the AirPods Pro 2, to me, are one of the cooler things out there. Having the volume slider on the AirPods rather than having to reach for the phone or watch is awesome. Transparency is awesome. The sound quality is great. I still have some pairs of big wired open headphones if I want the top audio quality, but 90% of the time the AirPods are enough. Like the author, I did resist wireless headphones for years. I still don’t love the idea of a Bluetooth device antenna so close to my brain.
My favourite pair of headphones before this was the Sennheiser PX-100 which they don’t make anymore. They lasted for years.