4 ms·

You know it won't be. Wireless headphones are disposable. My wired Sennheisers are 10 years old. I've replaced the foam pads on them, which are still available

by encom 7y ago

You know it won't be. Wireless headphones are disposable. My wired Sennheisers are 10 years old. I've replaced the foam pads on them, which are still available from 1st and 3rd parties. I know someone who just replaced the pads on her Sennheisers which are 25 years old now. I was basically called a luddite here the other day, because I thought firmware updating headphones is madness, but I stand by what I said. Wireless headphones are a solution to a manufactured problem, because Apple started removing the headphone port, and everyone copied them, as they always do. Now everyone is selling their own crappy AirPods.

Marsymars 7y ago
Sennheiser does make some nice home theatre (i.e. non-Bluetooth) wireless headphones that use replaceable and rechargeable AAA batteries.
hnra 7y ago
I'm guessing you mean earbuds? Wireless or not, earbuds don't seem to last long for me. I've owned multiple Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic buds over the last years and not a single one lasted a year. Bought a pair of "true" wireless ones this time around which seems a lot more durable, but time will tell.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 7y ago
  I just tossed my Bose earbuds that I took to Afghanistan in 2011.
- falcolas 7y ago
  I have a 5 year old pair of etymotics, and just recently replaced a pair of Shure IEMs due to a broken stem. I was able to buy the exact same model, and re-use my 3rd party cables and eartips.
matwood 7y ago
> Wireless headphones are a solution to a manufactured problem, You can think that, but getting rid of wires is an improvement over nearly any situation other than sitting at a desk. And even then, I still sometimes slide away from the desk and yank on the cord.
- hnra 7y ago
  It also completely disregards the fact that wireless headphones were popular before the headphone jack was removed.
- encom 7y ago
  On the face of it, no wires seem like a good thing, but it brings with it a range of drawbacks. Compatibility: Bluetooth isn't supported on all devices. And Bluetooth setup and pairing can still be a mess. Analog means round peg goes in round hole and it always works. Sound quality: Bluetooth, as far as I know, still doesn't transmit PCM, so audio is compressed, which may or may not be perceptible to you. Latency: Unavoidable, and may or may not be important to you. Longevity: Wireless means more complexity, and higher price and another battery I need to charge and that will only last N cycles before it dies. Stallman-ity: Wireless headphones run proprietry closed sourced code that you have no control over.
  - AshamedCaptain 7y ago
    I could argue for example that wires also bring a lot of problems. E.g. cables die, and the connectors tend to wear significantly depending with use. I am yet to see a TRS 3.5'' connector last me more than a decade. This includes the headphones connectors on expensive TV, and believe me, it is about as annoying to replace a headphone connector on a ~2010 "superglue manufactured" TV as it is to replace a battery on a 2010 "superglue" headset. Wireless does not have this problem, and batteries I can change (I only buy headsets with replaceable batteries, even when they cost triple or quadruple of "superglue" products). That said, wired USB-C doesn't have the problem either, and it's also uncompressed PCM to boot.
  - mikestew 7y ago
    On the face of it, no wires seem like a good thing, but it brings with it a range of drawbacks. Which does not make wireless headphones a "solution to a manufactured problem". You're fine with wires, fine, but others don't have the same use case you do. Your list of drawbacks? There's your "manufactured problems", none of those things matter to me when I'm out for a run.
  - 7y ago
AshamedCaptain 7y ago
There are wireless headphones with removable batteries that are most definitely not disposable.

by encom 7y ago

Marsymars 7y ago

Sennheiser does make some nice home theatre (i.e. non-Bluetooth) wireless headphones that use replaceable and rechargeable AAA batteries.

hnra 7y ago

I'm guessing you mean earbuds? Wireless or not, earbuds don't seem to last long for me. I've owned multiple Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic buds over the last years and not a single one lasted a year. Bought a pair of "true" wireless ones this time around which seems a lot more durable, but time will tell.

2OEH8eoCRo0 7y ago
I just tossed my Bose earbuds that I took to Afghanistan in 2011.
falcolas 7y ago
I have a 5 year old pair of etymotics, and just recently replaced a pair of Shure IEMs due to a broken stem. I was able to buy the exact same model, and re-use my 3rd party cables and eartips.

matwood 7y ago

> Wireless headphones are a solution to a manufactured problem, You can think that, but getting rid of wires is an improvement over nearly any situation other than sitting at a desk. And even then, I still sometimes slide away from the desk and yank on the cord.

hnra 7y ago
It also completely disregards the fact that wireless headphones were popular before the headphone jack was removed.
encom 7y ago
On the face of it, no wires seem like a good thing, but it brings with it a range of drawbacks. Compatibility: Bluetooth isn't supported on all devices. And Bluetooth setup and pairing can still be a mess. Analog means round peg goes in round hole and it always works. Sound quality: Bluetooth, as far as I know, still doesn't transmit PCM, so audio is compressed, which may or may not be perceptible to you. Latency: Unavoidable, and may or may not be important to you. Longevity: Wireless means more complexity, and higher price and another battery I need to charge and that will only last N cycles before it dies. Stallman-ity: Wireless headphones run proprietry closed sourced code that you have no control over.
- AshamedCaptain 7y ago
  I could argue for example that wires also bring a lot of problems. E.g. cables die, and the connectors tend to wear significantly depending with use. I am yet to see a TRS 3.5'' connector last me more than a decade. This includes the headphones connectors on expensive TV, and believe me, it is about as annoying to replace a headphone connector on a ~2010 "superglue manufactured" TV as it is to replace a battery on a 2010 "superglue" headset. Wireless does not have this problem, and batteries I can change (I only buy headsets with replaceable batteries, even when they cost triple or quadruple of "superglue" products). That said, wired USB-C doesn't have the problem either, and it's also uncompressed PCM to boot.
- mikestew 7y ago
  On the face of it, no wires seem like a good thing, but it brings with it a range of drawbacks. Which does not make wireless headphones a "solution to a manufactured problem". You're fine with wires, fine, but others don't have the same use case you do. Your list of drawbacks? There's your "manufactured problems", none of those things matter to me when I'm out for a run.
- 7y ago

AshamedCaptain 7y ago

There are wireless headphones with removable batteries that are most definitely not disposable.