Return of wired headphones is restoring friction to our convenience-addled lives

20 pointsposted 21 hours ago
by walterbell

18 Comments

wkjagt

17 hours ago

I don't get the convenience argument for wireless earbuds. I am the only person in our family without wireless earbuds, so I see wireless buds users up close daily, and it's a pretty common occurrence that someone can't find their buds, or the case isn't charged, or something won't connect. Seeing all these alternative inconveniences to a thin wire doesn't convince me to go wireless at all.

volemo

14 hours ago

> the case isn't charged, or something won't connect

I wish there were wired earbuds with ANC compared in quality to my AirPods Pro 2.

veidr

13 hours ago

There it is.

nephihaha

17 hours ago

All these people will be complaining about hearing loss in twenty years time. I had to stop using ear buds because they were giving me an ear infection.

wolvoleo

15 hours ago

That's a completely unrelated issue to hearing loss.

And you don't need to get hearing loss. You can use a sensible volume. Which is easier to do with current noise cancelling buds because part of the reason for loud music was to drown out the noise.

nephihaha

14 hours ago

A lot of these people will end up with hearing loss as previous generations have.

If you use any in ear devices you'll need to clean them thoroughly every time, otherwise there is a hygiene issue. They can cause infections and press ear wax further into the canal which is what will give you hearing problems for sure.

walterbell

8 hours ago

Hydrogen peroxide?

nephihaha

8 hours ago

A good steriliser for sure but I doubt most people will use it. I probably should have done.

walterbell

6 hours ago

Used in some ear drops, as it also breaks down ear wax.

resfirestar

20 hours ago

I think this article misses the main reason the white wired Apple EarPods and their imitators are popular: they're great for phone calls. Wireless earbuds all have awful microphones, technical measures to mitigate this seem to be futile against the fact that they're sitting on the sides of your head while your mouth is on the front. Earpods make you sound good on calls while also being cheap and fashionable. That's the appeal for most people, I think, nothing to do with their suitability for music.

nikau

18 hours ago

I saw some buds where the charging case had a microphone which is a clever solution i hope more brands adopt.

wolvoleo

15 hours ago

That's the nothing new ear 3 buds yes. Pretty cool feature though they're too expensive compared to my Xiaomis to upgrade for it.

y0eswddl

12 hours ago

...so I have to walk around holding the case to my face of I want to take a phone call?

nikau

43 minutes ago

I mean it's better than having wind and background noise because the mics are by your ears...

metalman

19 hours ago

the nuisance of another charger, little fiddly bits that are easy to loose, discomfort for some and expense,can add up the stress to the fuck it level personaly I like a standard 1/8 jack, as it is backwards compatible with a huge amount of equipment I removed the infotainment system from my truck, and replaced it with a shelf in the dash that has a 1/8 going to a power amp with a "high z" input, hit play, bumpin tunes, everything is local

euroderf

17 hours ago

So if you "share" a track by each person using one ear-thingie, does stereo separation mess it up ? How many audio players (HW or SW) have a "mono" button ?

wolvoleo

15 hours ago

Most songs don't have a lot of audio separation anyway. The stereo effect is subtle.