Consumers shifting from Bluetooth to wired headphones (BBC article)

[EERecordist]

No surprise to ASR readers. Young people are rediscovering vintage technology including vinyl, cassette, and instant cameras.

Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?

Is the return of wired headphones driven by a simple desire for better sound quality or is it part of a backlash against modern tech? Thomas Germain tries to find out.

www.bbc.com

I would be glad to ditch the dongle and go back to a TRS jack on my phone.

 

[_thelaughingman]

No surprise to ASR readers. Young people are rediscovering vintage technology including vinyl, cassette, and instant cameras.

Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?

Is the return of wired headphones driven by a simple desire for better sound quality or is it part of a backlash against modern tech? Thomas Germain tries to find out.

www.bbc.com

Well somewhat true that they're going back to the old technology, but the underlying reasoning is the elitist, class wars. "It's becoming a class thing, Wearing wireless 24/7 tells me you don't own any land." as phrased in the story. It's been an en vogue thing on social media to be sporting wired headphones as a fashion accessory.

 

[JeffS7444]

Another example of how I've fallen so far behind some trends that I'm on the leading edge once again Had intended to pick up a set of Airpods Pro from the start, but kept "never getting around to it", and here we are. Was always a little nervous about losing the things, and then there's the matter of having yet another device which needs to be charged.

 

[Soandso]

My cellphone is deliberately still a 2015 iPhone 6s because I never graduated from wired headphones. It's chipped with screen cracks and the oldest cell phone model with compatibility my streaming service (Deezer) works on.

 

[Mr. Reeee]

Another example of how I've fallen so far behind some trends that I'm on the leading edge once again Had intended to pick up a set of Airpods Pro from the start, but kept "never getting around to it", and here we are. Was always a little nervous about losing the things, and then there's the matter of having yet another device which needs to be charged.

Yeah, there’s nothing quite like Air Pods Pro running out of juice 15 minutes before the end of a movie or midway through the third period of a hockey game.

My damn LG 4K TV disables the headphone port when using an HDMI eARC cable!

 

[muza_1]

The reality is that it comes down to price and longevity, the majority of consumers are young and in a harsh economic position, fashion statement has become secondary and just for few people and personally for what I have seen I think people use big Bluetooth full headphones to make fashion statements not small wired IEMs.

Wireless set batteries have a small shelf life and sets are more expensive some by a lot, you can find good sounding wired sets for just a few dollars (that never run out of juice).

 

[HalSF]

No surprise to ASR readers. Young people are rediscovering vintage technology including vinyl, cassette, and instant cameras.

Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?

Is the return of wired headphones driven by a simple desire for better sound quality or is it part of a backlash against modern tech? Thomas Germain tries to find out.

www.bbc.com

I would be glad to ditch the dongle and go back to a TRS jack on my phone.

A similar retro-trend — using digital audio players instead of phones for music — was recently covered in the New York Times [gift link].

Bring On Defunct: The iPod Enthralls Young Music Listeners

It’s not exactly going analog, but people looking to move away from streaming say Apple’s old device is a small step away from constantly being online.

www.nytimes.com

 

[voodooless]

You guys know that the article at best just described a micro-trend. In the grand scheme of things, wireless headphones still dominate and are a growing market.

 

[HalSF]

You guys know that the article at best just described a micro-trend. In the grand scheme of things, wireless headphones still dominate and are a growing market.

Niche, modest, minority, small, “micro-trend” ≠ non-existent.

I’ve been enjoying vinyl records “just a niche” discourse for 25 years now, yet somehow vinyl music continues to be a thing in audio.

 

[respice finem]

A part of this may come from the modern Chinese IEM "wave".
This performance level "for a handful of dollars" is almost unreal.

 

[Mr. Reeee]

The reality is that it comes down to price and longevity, the majority of consumers are young and in a harsh economic position, fashion statement has become secondary and just for few people and personally for what I have seen I think people use big Bluetooth full headphones to make fashion statements not small wired IEMs.

I definitely see a lot of people lately with over ear Bluetooth headphones.
I have a pair, but only use for movie or hockey game watching and business video conferencing.

Wireless set batteries have a small shelf life and sets are more expensive some by a lot, you can find good sounding wired sets for just a few dollars (that never run out of juice).

Wired headphones/earphones definitely sound better than Bluetooth for a lot less money.
No batteries to run out or charge, either.

I have a pair of Grado SR325 wired headphones I probably bought around 2005 and used for at least 14 years.
They still work. I’ve only had to buy new foam ear pads for them a couple times.
I don’t use them now, because I upgraded to Grado RS1x headphones, but I could.

I have Apple Air Pods Pro. They’re okay, not great.
I only use them in bed late at night for movie watching.

 

[nereis]

I only use TWS when sleeping, and it really has more to do with not having to worry about cable eventually breaking with a wired connection. That said, there is the Fairphone Fairbuds which I'd like to support on principle of user replaceable battery, but only to find out parts are not sold outside of the EU.

 

[RPoitou]

I have a wired pair of headphones which I might use once a year but I've never plugged them into my 18 month old phone which has a TRS socket. Only use for bluetooth in our house is the remote control for the TV box, would certainly never consider using it for audio! Some of these 'trends' articles just don't consider how many normal people live.

 

[Talisman]

Assuming that using earphones is intended for mobile use and not for critical listening (I would never do critical listening with earphones), I'm going against the grain and saying that I would never dream of using wired headphones in everyday life. I used them for a lifetime, then I got the second-generation AirPods, which sounded pretty good and were very comfortable. When they broke after 6 years of daily use, I switched to the AirPods 4 ANC, which sound really good and are just as comfortable.
Honestly, I can't imagine walking around again with a wire dangling from my ears and going into an adapter that goes into my phone, with the cable getting tangled everywhere, one wrong move and the headphones rip out of my ears, etc., etc. I don't understand how people would want to go back to this life after discovering the convenience of TWS.

 

[G|force]

In other news: Consumers shifting from BBC to Substack.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Assuming that using earphones is intended for mobile use and not for critical listening (I would never do critical listening with earphones), I'm going against the grain and saying that I would never dream of using wired headphones in everyday life. I used them for a lifetime, then I got the second-generation AirPods, which sounded pretty good and were very comfortable. When they broke after 6 years of daily use, I switched to the AirPods 4 ANC, which sound really good and are just as comfortable.
Honestly, I can't imagine walking around again with a wire dangling from my ears and going into an adapter that goes into my phone, with the cable getting tangled everywhere, one wrong move and the headphones rip out of my ears, etc., etc. I don't understand how people would want to go back to this life after discovering the convenience of TWS.

I'm with you man! I just last week got a set of Soundcore P31i TWS buds. They are fantastic. I got them specifically to get away from wires. $40cdn, with a great app and once you EQ them I'm pretty impressed by the SQ. Decent ANC too. They are going to be great for taking nice long walks this summer. As an old dude who endured the Walkman & mixtape era with it's wow and flutter and 2 hours of listening on a set of AA batteries I have no problems at all with bluetooth and 8 hours of rechargeable battery power for audio on the go from a couple wireless earbuds and a tiny DAP containing thousands of tracks. It's actually sort of living the dream! lol...

 

[mhardy6647]

"It's becoming a class thing, Wearing wireless 24/7 tells me you don't own any land."

If wires are associated with land ownership -- I must be a freaking baron or something...



I'd insert a photo of one of several boxes full of miscellaneous hifi wires ensconced here... but I don't have one and I am far too lazy than to go take one... at least... tonight.

 

[Ropeburn]

I would be glad to ditch the dongle and go back to a TRS jack on my phone.

Honestly? I wouldn't, because those are way too weak for low impedance headphones. Not anywhere enough juice. Now if they actually made them powerful, then yes. Which would be no problem at all because phones effortlessly power dongles. Uh.