this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2024
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Not picky—it just needs to be there else I would be forced to buy Bluetooth e-waste.
I don't know what kind of shit you guys buy, but I have used one single pair of Bluetooth tws earbuds since pre-covid and never looked back to wired which, at least in my experience, are the ones more prone to breaking
Edit: and it's not like I got Apple airpods or anything, they are haylou gt1 that I paid like 25$ for in 2019 or 18
Edit2: and yes I do have a micro jack in my phone which I have not used once for the three years I have had this phone
Not my experience. I've spent way more on bluetooth headphones/buds than I ever spent on wired. 🤷
It's not about how much you spend, but rather what you spend it on
I bought AirBudz once like five years ago and they still bring me half’a day
Good luck producing more e-waste, because you can buy many wired earphones with replaceable cables, and those cables cost $10-20, as opposed to $200 Bluetooth garbage. Those earphone models start from $15.
And I suppose you can't see how replacing cables is producing e-waste regardless, unlike buying one proper pair of Bluetooth earphones and using it for many, many years without replacing any part of it whatsoever?
Firstly, a cable is going to outlast the lifespan of batteries that are irreplaceable inside earphone pieces, which make the whole set useless. With the wired earphones with replaceable cables, your earphone pieces are fully intact. Secondly, the wire is highly recyclable with plastic sheath, copper wires and plastic/metal ends. This is not the case with wireless earbuds that become obsolete as a whole set after a few years.
So with wired 2-pin or MMCX IEMs, you end up with just the wire becoming damaged in 3-4 years, while you save up on money and generate far less e-waste, and is far more environmentally better since those earphone pieces need to be produced or bought less.
Of course, it goes without saying that you can buy wired IEMs that cost upwards of $70 that have no equivalent in wireless audio gear space. So that is just another advantage.
I forgot to tell you that you can buy small wireless DACs for $40-50 which allow plugging 3.5mm audio gear, and also allow battery replacements, unlike throwaway TWS earbuds.
If you still insist after this knowledge on wireless, neckbands are a good bit better than TWS buds, as their batteries can atleast be replaced if you buy ones from good companies. Although wireless space is all about planned obsolescence, unless you pick one of the forementioned options I suggest.
It's kind of comical how many Bluetooth earbuds I've been through because they break and die so often. I was a very early adopter around 2017 or so and my first pair sucked (and broke). Next I got air pods which were great for sometime but broke too (case stopped charging). Got Samsung level U, they sounded decent but they had the lousiest, wet newspaper, build quality I've ever seen. Constantly cracking and separating at the seams. By the time I was done with them, there was probably more superglue than plastic.
I had some sound peats QY8 earbuds. They were uncomfortable and had poor design. The earbud protruded far from the body and was also very flimsy. Accidentally pressed them against a flat surface and the body basically disintegrated.
I also had a pair of Logitech artemis headphones, but those failed to connect after a year or so.
Oh, and ALL of them had poor battery life, later in their use. Within a year or 2 the battery life seems to be cut in half if not more.
Since then I have switched to Sennheiser hd600, DUNU TITAN S and Koss ksc75. Both of the former have replaceable cables and latter can easily be repaired if you can solder. Even then you can probably bring it to a shop and they can repair it quickly and cheaply.
I switched to wired IEMs exclusively & won’t be going back. The price-performance is totally there & they never need a damn data-collecting, third-party app for firmare updates or some garbage.
Yeah, cabled e-waste is so much more civilised.
Unless you are buying a DSP cable, there aren’t microchips or batteries or firmware updates for analog earphones. Kinds with even slight quality to them have detachable, replaceable cables (current IEMs are fine on their second cable) & headsets usually have simple parts a basic soldering iron or similar can fix (my old ones I got repaired in 3 countries in tiny shops by folks that’d never seen them). You gonna repair your earbuds when they break? Last shop I went to, the first question asked if they were wireless & only after confirming they aren’t do they even bother trying to help. You think analog needs worry about a new version of Bluetooth or some security vulnerability in the firmwares communicating to your smarter phone (& also used to fingerprint your physical presence)? I can plug mine in to a port built in ’70s & get a analog signal out.
I couldn't possibly tell you how many sets of wired headphones I've had to throw out in my life because of frayed/broken cables. Those things are e-waste too.
You are buying shitty headphones if you cant detach or otherwise repair the cables. The cables are just copper & some casing which is hardly e-waste & the rest is a magnet housed in plastic/resin. There isn’t lithium production for a battery or other rare minerals for a microchip.