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Wired headphone sales are exploding

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Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#101

Post by yallpendantools »

soramimo wrote: post #89
glimshe wrote: post #84

I'm the trendsetter. I've never stopped using wired headphones and, after being made fun of for years despite much better audio quality, cost, simplicity and reliability, the rich finally decided to imitate me. Never let go of your convictions!

Yep, same boat. That's why I had kept my pixel 4a for years until is finally kicked the bucket 2 years ago.

> That's why I had kept my pixel 4a for years until is finally kicked the bucket 2 years ago.

RIP I'm sure it was a noble device. My Pixel 3a is currently my wireless router for very German reasons. I worry this will kill off the still-decent battery life, as has happened with my OG Pixel.

I have since allied myself with what I personally consider the devil of consumer electronics just to stay on this boat.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#102

Post by unsungNovelty »

I have two wireless sony headphones for handling the battery issue. So yesterday before 5mins to my meeting, I plugged in one and it was out of juice. I plugged in the second one and it was also out of juice. Mind you, I was travelling and hence didn't follow the usual charging cadence I follow.

I charged my wireless headphone for 5 mins and took the call and it went out of juice mid way through the call. I had to run to find a free conference room in the office which was present since it was friday.

I also often connect my wireless headphone through the weekend and not know that it is still connected since friday with my work mac. Wired solves all of this.

Thanks to this article, I just ordered a Apple Earpods USB-C 5 mins ago in Blinkit. It is going to be delivered in another 5-10mins. Good bye wireless. I will use it for work with my Mac and my personal Samsung phone.

Edit after 4 mins: Earpods Delivered!

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#103

Post by gucci-on-fleek »

yallpendantools wrote: post #99
blululu wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to be clear the parent is still 100% correct that wired headphones: * Do not need charging * Are hard to lose. * Offer better audio * Never glitch out with pairing. BLE Audio offers lower need for charging and better (but not equivalent) audio. So 2/4 are not as bad with BLE Audio (and arguably only 1 since you still need to charge). The other two 2/4 are related to the form factor. Wireless headphones have adva…

Is BLE the only way for Bluetooth to have multiple connections? I'm no audiophile but in my experience, the audio quality noticeably drops when multiple devices are connected (I've only ever had at most two at a time). I reasoned out that the bits were being divided so `quality /= 2` as well. I've only ever done this accidentally so I can't be certain the connection was really over BLE. Granted, I've only ever done m…

> Is BLE the only way for Bluetooth to have multiple connections?

I think (?) that it's possible with Classic Bluetooth too, but like everything else with Classic Bluetooth, it's kinda buggy and unreliable.

> I'm no audiophile but in my experience, the audio quality noticeably drops when multiple devices are connected (I've only ever had at most two at a time).

I haven't personally noticed any audio quality difference with two devices connected over BLE, but I've never tried to play audio simultaneously from two sources. My phone and my laptop both auto-connect to my headphones, so I usually have two devices connected simultaneously, but I only ever play audio from one at a time.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#104

Post by loeg »

beloch wrote: post #83

This isn't a Vinyl vs CD thing where a clearly inferior technology lives on due mainly to sentimental reasons. There are a number of concrete advantages to wired headphones over bluetooth headphones. - They don't need charging. Charging may seem like a minor inconvenience, and we're used to charging a lot of devices. However, even a minor inconvenience is still an inconvenience. - They're harder to lose. When Apple a…

> With Apple's proclivity for proprietary standards, I'm amazed they (or others) haven't rolled their own wireless audio standard by now.

Can you imagine Europe's reaction? They'd fine Apple to the moon -- no innovation allowed unless it interoperates with other products that don't exist yet.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#105

Post by an_guy »

loeg wrote: post #104
beloch wrote: post #83

This isn't a Vinyl vs CD thing where a clearly inferior technology lives on due mainly to sentimental reasons. There are a number of concrete advantages to wired headphones over bluetooth headphones. - They don't need charging. Charging may seem like a minor inconvenience, and we're used to charging a lot of devices. However, even a minor inconvenience is still an inconvenience. - They're harder to lose. When Apple a…

> With Apple's proclivity for proprietary standards, I'm amazed they (or others) haven't rolled their own wireless audio standard by now. Can you imagine Europe's reaction? They'd fine Apple to the moon -- no innovation allowed unless it interoperates with other products that don't exist yet.

> interoperates with other products that don't exist yet.

Are you claiming no other wireless earphones exist other than apples'??

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#106

Post by mstipetic »

loeg wrote: post #104
beloch wrote: post #83

This isn't a Vinyl vs CD thing where a clearly inferior technology lives on due mainly to sentimental reasons. There are a number of concrete advantages to wired headphones over bluetooth headphones. - They don't need charging. Charging may seem like a minor inconvenience, and we're used to charging a lot of devices. However, even a minor inconvenience is still an inconvenience. - They're harder to lose. When Apple a…

> With Apple's proclivity for proprietary standards, I'm amazed they (or others) haven't rolled their own wireless audio standard by now. Can you imagine Europe's reaction? They'd fine Apple to the moon -- no innovation allowed unless it interoperates with other products that don't exist yet.

Oh yes, Europe bad, regulation bad. Maybe add some nuance to your thinking.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#107

Post by esperent »

loeg wrote: post #104
beloch wrote: post #83

This isn't a Vinyl vs CD thing where a clearly inferior technology lives on due mainly to sentimental reasons. There are a number of concrete advantages to wired headphones over bluetooth headphones. - They don't need charging. Charging may seem like a minor inconvenience, and we're used to charging a lot of devices. However, even a minor inconvenience is still an inconvenience. - They're harder to lose. When Apple a…

> With Apple's proclivity for proprietary standards, I'm amazed they (or others) haven't rolled their own wireless audio standard by now. Can you imagine Europe's reaction? They'd fine Apple to the moon -- no innovation allowed unless it interoperates with other products that don't exist yet.

> Can you imagine Europe's reaction?

And they'd be right to do so. The correct approach to creating a new standard is plan interoperability from the start. If a vendor plans lock in by introducing a new standard, they should get shut down immediately and told to do better.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#108

Post by Schnitz »

Except on the go, I don’t see the point for Bluetooth headphones. Due to the built in batteries that are uneconomical to replace they are essentially consumables, even high end ones like AirPods Max. Pairing and (re) connecting is a never ending pain. For less than $200 you can get a set of wired open back headphones that sound so good that unless you are in the audiophile niche they are your forever headphones. Models like Beyer Dynamic DT990 are built to last and very repairable, it just makes sense.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#109

Post by [deleted] »

mstipetic wrote: post #106
loeg wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With Apple's proclivity for proprietary standards, I'm amazed they (or others) haven't rolled their own wireless audio standard by now. Can you imagine Europe's reaction? They'd fine Apple to the moon -- no innovation allowed unless it interoperates with other products that don't exist yet.

Oh yes, Europe bad, regulation bad. Maybe add some nuance to your thinking.

[deleted]

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#110

Post by ahhhhnoooo »

beloch wrote: post #83

This isn't a Vinyl vs CD thing where a clearly inferior technology lives on due mainly to sentimental reasons. There are a number of concrete advantages to wired headphones over bluetooth headphones. - They don't need charging. Charging may seem like a minor inconvenience, and we're used to charging a lot of devices. However, even a minor inconvenience is still an inconvenience. - They're harder to lose. When Apple a…

Vinyls are not necessarily the inferior technology. Given the choice, I'd prefer to play vinyl in some cases. In social settings vinyl's short length and need to be flipped creates a dynamic social environment. Someone has to regularly choose new music to play, acting with intent to do so. Someone has to regularly walk to the machine. These create dynamism and flow. CDs are much longer, and less tactile. There's less of the my turn your turn, who is going to flip the thing.

They sound worse, if clarity is your goal. And they are huge and wear out. I agree with you 99%, I just wanted to point out that across some dimensions they are the superior technology.

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