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Wired headphone sales are exploding

bbc.com

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Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#151

Post by charcircuit »

an_guy wrote: post #105
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.

> interoperates with other products that don't exist yet. Are you claiming no other wireless earphones exist other than apples'??

That would implement Apple's proprietary protocol. He thinks Europe would think Apple is creating a monopoly for themselves for iPhone headphones since no other company could implement the protocol without Apple's approval.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#152

Post by elcapitan »

omnimus wrote: post #147

One segment I wish came back are bluetooth inear headphones wired together (untrue wireless, i guess). There are some models but none really explore their possible advantages (battery, ux, single signal source). I lost single wireless earpiece multiple times making the rest useless. This won't happen with wire. With wire its also so much easier and quicker to take them off they will just hang around your neck. There…

This is very true. Especially for sport, they are just great. I always found wired headphones annoying when running, because I need to take care of the wire somehow. Wired-together bluetooth in-ears like the Bose SoundSport kind of fill that niche, as I don't need to worry about one of them falling out. Looks like they don't make them anymore.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#153

Post by mcdeltat »

bob1029 wrote: post #128
dijit wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

You have to look beyond the audio engineering on this one. 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…

With this logic you can argue the best audio medium is dirt because if you made good music with dirt, the music must have been so incredible to have counteracted the flaws of dirt as a medium. Ignore the fact that dirt cannot be used as a music medium. (Vacuous truth)

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#154

Post by luag »

volemo wrote: post #119

Can someone recommend USBC earbuds with good ANC? Sometimes I’d love to avoid battery and interference concerns of Bluetooth, but noise cancellation became a must-have for me.

Is in-ear ok? With IEMs, you'll get passive noise canceling that I've found more than enough for most situations.

I have a pair of IEM with the usb-c converter attached most of the time for use with phones.

Give Truthear Hexa a try.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#155

Post by elcapitan »

ethagnawl wrote: post #26

While using wired headphones, my spouse's car never steals my audio when it starts or pulls into the driveway. Also, I can join a meeting seconds before it starts without spending a few minutes scrambling to verify that my BT headset will allow me to hear/be heard.

This experience of different devices competing for a BT headphone is really the most annoying aspect of BT to me. I pair my headphones regularly with my work laptop, my phone and my private laptop, and when working from home and walking around in my apartment, the headphones sometimes just randomly pick another device, even if the current device has audio going, and the other does nothing. Sometimes the Macbook does that when it's on standby, which is bizarre. I always wondered if that is an implementation bug on one of the sides. I fixed it by forcing the Macbook to shut off BT when going on standby.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#156

Post by atoav »

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…

Wired headphones are infinitely more durable when good. I had a single pair of Sennheiser HD25II for 16 years now and I use them to run 16km a week, often in the rain.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#157

Post by omnimus »

elcapitan wrote: post #152
omnimus wrote: post #147

One segment I wish came back are bluetooth inear headphones wired together (untrue wireless, i guess). There are some models but none really explore their possible advantages (battery, ux, single signal source). I lost single wireless earpiece multiple times making the rest useless. This won't happen with wire. With wire its also so much easier and quicker to take them off they will just hang around your neck. There…

This is very true. Especially for sport, they are just great. I always found wired headphones annoying when running, because I need to take care of the wire somehow. Wired-together bluetooth in-ears like the Bose SoundSport kind of fill that niche, as I don't need to worry about one of them falling out. Looks like they don't make them anymore.

Yeah sport is main reason companies are making them.

I also have to say i haven't checked this for two years but there seem to be some new models now (under banner of neckband earbuds). So maybe there is something nicer now.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#158

Post by kefabean »

bpev wrote: post #10

Please let this mean that they'll start bringing back the headphone jacks to phones. usb-c is too unstable, and I prefer not having to deal with charging more devices and with pairing shenanigans when switching devices.

Totally agree, as an iPhone user it’s literally the only ‘innovation’ that would make me lust after a new device.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#159

Post by atoav »

mcdeltat wrote: post #153
bob1029 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to look beyond the audio engineering on this one. 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…

With this logic you can argue the best audio medium is dirt because if you made good music with dirt, the music must have been so incredible to have counteracted the flaws of dirt as a medium. Ignore the fact that dirt cannot be used as a music medium. (Vacuous truth)

Yes, but your "IF" is doing the heavy lifting here and it would be your burden to proof how dirt would be a means of artistic expression before anybody could take your argument seriously.

As a musician myself I can assure you that the high stakes releases for any musician are vinyl releases. They also happen to be the ones with which most musicians earn the most money.

Now technologically vinyl isn't superior (and anybody who claims it is is an idiot in the sense of the word), but technology isn't everything. A noisy casette tape can evoke the same (and sometimes more) feelings than the digital recording. A vinyl record with a big cover, an inlay with band info, that you specifically chose to put on the record player while reading the liner notes and examining the design is in a ritualistic sense a thousand times more gratifying than having spotify select a song for you without knowing why, in the background of the daily life. That is like the difference between a candle light bath and getting wet in a rainshower.

Now that doesn't mean people will be binary either 100% vinyl or 100% digital. Vinyl is for the special occasion or for DJ sets, digital is for everything else.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#160

Post by camgunz »

I've had a set of Etymotic SR4s for years, I just replace the cable every 1-2 years. I love them to death, they're extremely flat though, so they make a version with bumped bass if that's your thing.

If someone made a cable with a mic on it for them I'd probably buy 10--it's pretty annoying to switch to Apple earbuds for calls, but whatever.

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