Wired headphone sales are exploding

Post by kasey_junk » Sat, Mar 14, 2026, 1:51 PM UTC

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #78

tptacek wrote: post #72

I've never had a pair of headphones with a cable connection that survived more than 2 years. Can't say that about the Airpods Max. Like, I have opinions about high-end headphones based on how easy the cords are to replace. That shouldn't be the case. I was a discrete headphone amp guy, just to situate myself in this market. I didn't expect to get good wireless headphones and think "I'm never going back", but that's p…

Wired headphones are also 1/10 of the price of airpods. So they still come out ahead on the cost of ownership front.

Post by rahimnathwani » Sat, Mar 14, 2026, 1:53 PM UTC

rock_artist wrote: post #175

Audio engineer originally and a current audio software. In the pro audio, wireless was never a thing with an exception of live shows where you’d might want to be free on stage but avoid stage monitors. Notice that while Apple made everyone ditch the lovely 3.5”, on the MacBook Pros they’ve actually kept it and *improved* it. As this is HN, I’ll focus on technical aspects I didn’t notice in the article. - Active Noise…

Post by steve1977 » Sat, Mar 14, 2026, 1:54 PM UTC

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…

Post by steve1977 » Sat, Mar 14, 2026, 1:56 PM UTC

mikkupikku wrote: post #316

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…

Candles are better than lightbulbs at melting the ends of frayed nylon strings and ropes. :)

Post by fhcbix » Sat, Mar 14, 2026, 2:00 PM UTC

adzm wrote: post #90

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…

And latency!! Anything that needs to be real time is impossible without wired headphones. Even the lowest latency wireless is noticeable.