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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!
I wonder what percentage of the people driving this trend have either only had AirPods (they make me dizzy, and I think the sound quality is terrible), Beats (even worse) or no-name $20 bluetooth headsets. I have a nice high-end set of Sennheisers that cost ~ $150, and they're much better than my old wired set (both in-ear, both noise isolating, similar prices). The bluetooth ones win because they eliminate cable noi…
My wired headphones never run out of battery. They also don't drop the connection if my pocket is at the wrong angle from my ears.
All that and they cost a fraction of the price! Wireless headphones are a strictly inferior product to wired, and it astonishes me that Apple convinced anyone to buy them. They're a total rip off.
Lots of good theories here, but none saying "TikTok", which I think is the answer. TikTok is a big reason wired headphones are popular. AirPod microphone quality is spotty and improving the quality is non-deterministic. With wired earpods, people put the mic next to their mouth and get above-average audio quality. Like the article says, wired headphones have also become a fashion statement akin to vinyl culture.
It's just much harder to get good sound quality when the mikes are by your ear rather than on a wire near your mouth
Not to mention that it completely removes the risk of running low on headphone battery mid-call
My wired headphones never run out of battery. They also don't drop the connection if my pocket is at the wrong angle from my ears.
Mine do. The phone's lightning connector socket has become "flaky" (from age, or lint..), and at this point I must hold the phone in hand rather than in pocket while walking, for uninterrupted playback.
Sony experia, Asus zenphone, Motorola Moto G, and a few others
They're rare nowadays, but they're inherently superior when it comes to audio just working
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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
This is like saying “Candles are superior to lightbulbs because they burn out quicker and thats an advantage in some situations”. I’m not sure how, its an aesthetic choice but an inferior technology by every metric that counts. Candles still have a place, we still buy them, but we can’t reasonably call them superior either- even if, candles actually would have a real advantage of not requiring power. Vinyl doesn’t ev…
Using constrained mediums on purpose is often how the best artistic expression is achieved. For example, if the artist knows their channel is noisy and band-limited they can get a lot more liberal with the kinds of samples they use throughout. CD/SACD is kind of like 4K for television. The medium becomes so transparent that it causes upstream shocks in every other part of the process. You can no longer rely on the camera or audio chain to cover it up (unless you hobble yourself intentionally).
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…
All valid points, but I don’t miss having a tangle of wire in my pocket or that wire failing after a couple of months meaning I have to get a new set of headphones.
If your wired headphones are only lasting a couple months, then likely you're buying at a price point where quality suffers.
Agree with the tangle of wire, though.
Every phone has a Type-C port, so why aren't headphone manufacturers following the trend?