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Wired headphone sales are exploding

bbc.com

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Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#631

Post by fluoridation »

eptcyka wrote: post #560
macNchz wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s maybe close to a wash between non-replaceable batteries in wireless headphones dying and cords failing, in my experience at least. The ideal case IMO is over-ear headphones that have a replaceable cord—I have some 14 year old Bose QCs and some newer Beyerdynamics, both of which I’ve replaced the cord on.

All my corded headphones lasted at most 2 years of mobile use. My QC35s are still going strong. Wired sucks for mobile use. And if the cord doesn’t go, the 3.5mm socket does. I replaced multiple sockets on my iPod and iPhone 3g. That replacement process sucks.

What are you doing that destroys cables and jacks like that? I use wired earbuds while riding my bike and I've never broken a jack, and the one time I broke the cable was because I made a mistake and dropped them while riding, which got them tangled up in the spokes.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#633

Post by 4k93n2 »

squarefoot wrote: post #504
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…

When the internal non replaceable battery dies the product dies; that's also one reason to prefer wired over wireless. I wrote product instead of headphones because the principle is applicable to every product whose battery can't be replaced by design. All those discarded single use vapes are a good example of that, and... surprise! All of them actually contain rechargeable cells but no recharging circuitry and port,…

it will be interesting to see what the consensus is 50 years from now when people have more hindsight on this. how long will a wireless headset last until the battery no longer holds a charge, and if its only something like 10 years then that means someone is having to buy 4 or 5 headsets over the course of their whole life instead of 1 or 2 cheaper wired headsets

theres also the issue of whether the wireless protocols that are in use now will still be supported in 50 years. removing the headphone jack from phones was mostly just a money grab to force people to buy wireless headsets so i wouldnt be surprised to see other tactics in the future where support is dropped for older versions of bluetooth, or whatever gives them a slight uptick in sales

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#634

Post by themafia »

y-c-o-m-b wrote: post #537
happyopossum wrote: post #383

Setting aside debates about which is “better”, this article appears to be based on crap. The link to the supporting analysis uses the words “through the roof”, but here’s what it says: “ wired headphones rebounded in 2025, growing 3% (about $15M).” So now a 3% growth in sales is “exploding” and “through the roof”? No, I don’t think so…

This is the BBC. I've been reading their site every day for many years now. They're mostly good, but at times they have a way of steering their audience towards an agenda through bunk articles like this. It was especially evident with the remote work hit-pieces they published regularly during the RTO movement a couple of years ago. It was clear someone was pulling strings at the BBC to generate negative headlines abo…

> They're mostly good, but at times they have a way of steering their audience towards an agenda through bunk articles like this.

Real-time Gell-Mann amnesia.

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#635

Post by 4k93n2 »

crote wrote: post #204
mcdeltat wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What annoys me the most is that the industry collectively decided that 3.5mm jacks are obselete, removing the option of using wired headphones, for no(?) good reason. We could at least agree that wired and wireless each have their own pros and cons, but no, we're shoehorned into wireless because corporate decided it. Here, you must use simply because we said so! It's just the peak of trend following bullshittery and…

> removing the option of using wired headphones I am personally a fan of wired headphones with USB-C connectors. I am only ever going to use it with my phone, laptop, or desktop anyways - and all of they have at least one USB-C port. In theory it could also be the best option for audio quality: if you move the DAC all the way to the headphone itself you minimize the length of the analog chain, which should also reduc…

i have a headset that does all three, 3.5mm, usb-c and bluetooth and i usually go with usb-c when using them with a laptop or desktop.

im not sure using them with a phone would be good in the long run, especially when you are moving around a lot more with the phone in your pocket. the usb-c connection isnt as tight as 3.5mm so its going to put a lot of strain on the usb-c port. if that goes on a phone youre in big trouble

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#637

Post by asdff »

parpfish wrote: post #463
NikolaNovak wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- they last forever . I still have sennheiser hd380 pro cans from 25 years ago that sound great. - cannot overstate lack of lag and simplicity. You plug in and it works, perfectly, every time, forever. - easily switch devices. I use my headphone on my phone, tablet, laptop, Synthesizer, Groovebox etc without a blink. And my phone never stops playing music and connects to our car my wife just started the way bluetooth…

> they last forever Until my cat finds them. Any serious set of wired headphones better have replaceable wires because apparently they are delicious

Ehh I'm not considering it a dealbreaker. Easy to splice and fix 3.5mm. Donors found at thrift stores or in your drawer (or remaining length of undamaged wire).

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#638

Post by hetspookjee »

I bought a bunch of wired cables as switching devices and making sure Teams is able to work with the device never worked smoothly with Bluetooth. I only miss wireless when i get snagged or the wires are entangled but both are easy to prevent and all the benefits of wired far outweigh the wireless setbacks

Re: Wired headphone sales are exploding

#639

Post by asdff »

ziml77 wrote: post #424
exitb wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve used many pairs of wired headphones over the years, cheap and expensive, and never had ones with a cable that didn’t eventually fail, unless they mostly stay plugged into a single device. The article prominently highlights mobile usage, in which case wireless headphones easily win on longevity.

Same here. Wired headphones never lasted anywhere near as long for me as wireless ones. Any with inline controls were especially prone to failure.

It depends on how you treat them. Some people burn through them like nothing. I have some 20 year old earpods still.
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