61–70 of 496 posts
1. So-called chi-fi (Chinese Hi Fi) has made huge strides and I was able to get a really great pair of IEMs from a company called TinHiFi for $70. Definitely the best sounding pair of in-ear headphone's I've ever had, and rival some wired regular headphones I've owned in the past as well.
2. Bluetooth is worse than Hitler.
The 1/8th inch RCA stereo jack is the best interface ever created. The fact that it's essentially unchanged from when this 44 year old used it in middle school is pretty good proof.
It has some very significant design flaws. The ground pin is connected last, and while a plug is being inserted or removed the connections get all jumbled up and even shorted together. This causes all sorts of hums, crackles, and pops while inserting or removing a plug, which may be only a minor annoyance for headphone users but can be extremely loud and/or damaging when using large amps & speakers. (It's also very e…
I've got a guitar cable (1/4", but some basic design) that has some sort of trick setup in the plug where it shorts everything until the ground is firmly connected... no pops or crackles.
Edit: This is the plug used.. https://www.amphenolaudio.com/products/14-2/t-series-switch-...
One of the issues with wireless buds/headphones for me is the DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter). The DAC is quite critical for final sound quality (responses to different frequencies, amount of noise...). Most wireless use built-in DAC and provide no method for using an external/standalone one. Another obvious issue would be the connection stability which is why I still use 3.5mm on my iPhone 6s (or previously iPhone…
I have never really gotten used to wireless buds, and still find myself reaching for wires half the time: - Wireless buds don’t connect 100% reliably; sometimes I get one and not the other, or neither. Sometimes they will randomly disconnect during use. - Sometimes the sound glitches out randomly, which is so irritating that I don’t care how good the sound supposedly is the rest of the time. - Gestures and voice are…
1. Wireless buds
2. Wireless non-buds (some sort of wrap-around design to keep them on)
3. Wired buds
4. Wired non-buds
I go with (2) personally, but mainly because Apple stopped me using wires. My main problem with bluetooth is that the headphones aren't loud enough (yeah you have to watch the line between loud and damaging but headphones are my opportunity to play music loud). Recommendations for loud wireless headphones appreciated!
One of the issues with wireless buds/headphones for me is the DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter). The DAC is quite critical for final sound quality (responses to different frequencies, amount of noise...). Most wireless use built-in DAC and provide no method for using an external/standalone one. Another obvious issue would be the connection stability which is why I still use 3.5mm on my iPhone 6s (or previously iPhone…
How would you envision using an external DAC with Bluetooth headphones?
The idea a 3.5mm jack takes up a huge amount of space in a phone is so much bullshit.
Perhaps Airpods do a better job here, but my experience with Bose and Sony wireless headphones has been terrible on switching sources... I have to manually unpair from device A and repair with device B. In the case of Bose this handoff is mediated by an iOS app that seems to crap out 50% of the time. It often takes several minutes to get everything working as it should. This does not feel like a $350 UX.
It makes me rage when I think of the ease and speed I had in the past with wired headphones that can be instantly unplugged from A and plugged into B quickly with 100% reliability.
I have never really gotten used to wireless buds, and still find myself reaching for wires half the time: - Wireless buds don’t connect 100% reliably; sometimes I get one and not the other, or neither. Sometimes they will randomly disconnect during use. - Sometimes the sound glitches out randomly, which is so irritating that I don’t care how good the sound supposedly is the rest of the time. - Gestures and voice are…
My problem is I lose them. I bought the Bose QuietComforts earlier this year and have lost one or the other a couple of times already. Right now one is sitting in the console of my truck and i can’t find the other one. No clue where it could be and of course the batteries are dead. It would be nice if they all had Tile or similar tech, but if their batteries go dead just sitting there (super annoying thing about the…
I'm always amazed that more people aren't bothered by having to constantly charge wireless headphones. Wired ones never run out of battery.