5 ms·

The "sustainable" and "environment friendly" choice for headphones are wired headphones that are built like a brick. A good pair will last basically forever. O

• ChuckNorris89 3y ago
  Not everyone wants to go jogging or working out with wired headphones. They always rub on your skin or on your clothes (especially in winter with may thick layers) with the rubbing sound transferring in your ears as you move around, or worse, snag on something and keep tugging down on my head giving me a bad neck posture (when the cable is routed under my shirt/jaket). The freedom of TWS earbuds can spoil you for life. Why don't we make TWS manufacturers to build their shit with replaceable cells? Most have normal Varta lithium cells inside. Surely they can make them replaceable the same way they are on the AirTags? They would be a bit bulkier and have less water resistance but I don't go swimming with them and as long as there's no cables I'm happy to tolerate a bulkier size.
  • paulryanrogers 3y ago
    I second this. After trying with many different kinds, it's just too big a hassle. Clips at strategic places can help, yet only work so long. Eventually something will snag and the headphones will break. Separate, wireless buds are significantly more comfortable.
    • Gigachad 3y ago
      I use Airpods most of the time but wired headphones on my desktop because bluetooth is so broken on desktops. Going back to the wired headphones feels like wearing a leash tied to my desk. Want to just go grab a drink from the fridge but I have to mute myself, take them off, then undo it all when I come back.
  • userbinator 3y ago
    I'm not sure TWS buds with the shape of an AirTag would work, but I do think they could make them with something like an easily removable cap on the stem that holds the cell in place.
    • ChuckNorris89 3y ago
      >TWS buds with the shape of an AirTag You missed the point. The target wasn't to shape the earbuds like the AirTags but to allow the user to unscrew the lithium cell like it's possible on the AirTags.
    • wkat4242 3y ago
      Microsoft was planning earbuds with a big round shape. I don't think they actually ever materialized though.
  • hummer_embark 3y ago
    [dead]
• stavros 3y ago
  But "repairable" and "upgradable" are not synonyms. I don't mind that my phone isn't upgradable, but I'd like to be able to easily change the battery when it dies of old age.
  • indrora 3y ago
    Okay but tell that to the mad lads that put an 11th gen processor (and complete custom motherboard) in the ThinkPad T60 from 2006: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/tdfea2/t700_crowdfunding_a_new_custom_motherboard_for/ https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/tdfea2/t700_crowd...
• ip26 3y ago
  Planned obsolescence can be a good thing. Cans from the fifties and sixties still work. Nobody wants to use them; they are heavy, uncomfortable, have poor performance, need an amp to drive, and use huge old school connectors. They are from a time when music was enjoyed seated in one place. Products that fail prematurely or wear out while the owner still wants them are poorly designed. The pinnacle of design is a product that works flawlessly until the day you are through with it, at which point every part fails simultaneously. Such a product wasted no excess material in being over-engineered, nor consumed exotic high performance materials when they were unwarranted, nor repair visits, nor extra fuel in transport.
  • alexvoda 3y ago
    > Cans from the fifties and sixties still work. Nobody wants to use them; they are heavy, uncomfortable, have poor performance, need an amp to drive, and use huge old school connectors. They are from a time when music was enjoyed seated in one place. And there is still a market for them because some people still want to enjoy music seated and do nothing else at the same time. Of course, plenty more people want something else.
  • adhesive_wombat 3y ago
    > The pinnacle of design is a product that works flawlessly until the day you are through with it Indeed, but for maximum utility, the second hand market is included in the "you" here. Things can continue to be useful to someone long after the first owner is through with them.
    • ip26 3y ago
      Fair, I should probably say "the public" instead of "you". Many things enjoy a long second-hand life before the public's appetite for the product is gone.
  • RobotToaster 3y ago
    >The pinnacle of design is a product that works flawlessly until the day you are through with it What about the 2nd, 3rd, etc user of the item? You're ignoring the second hand market. I use Cameras that were made in the 30's, they still work despite the original user being "through with it" some time ago.
• huehehue 3y ago
  Many IEM earpieces can be disconnected from the cable, so you can switch out between a wired connection and a bluetooth adapter (or replace/repair those as needed, while keeping the drivers). I don't use bluetooth headphones, but it seems like an okay compromise. I will say that going direct isn't without problems, though. I can't tell you how many adapters and dongles I've lost. At this point it feels like a wash with how much ends up in a landfill. I'd love for everything to support 3.5mm but that's not the world we live in.
• fgeiger 3y ago
  I work at Fairphone but am not at all involved with the headphones. Still, I know that this is an issue that we thought about and address. Headphones should keep working even if the manufacturer goes bust and stops providing software support. And even if your battery dies and spare parts are unavailable. That is precisely the reason why we also sell a cable with a 3.5mm jack for these cans. That way, this product is long-lasting and sustainable even in the (hopefully hypothetical) case that we are not able to support them anymore. That is the best out of both worlds: you get wireless connectivity and ANC now. And you will be able to use them for as long as you would with wired ones.
  • FeistySkink 3y ago
    Fairphone 4 doesn't have a 3.5 mm jack beacuse reasons. So much for sustainability.
    • tylerritchie 3y ago
      what's the issue here? if you buy large headphones from the same company you buy the your phone from, in a future where fairphone no longer exists (which playing the odds, is likely) at some point your also no-longer-supported phone (which functionally becomes slower every year because mobile application hardware requirements appear to double every year) might advance to support new fancy bluetooth things your headphones don't support? I honestly (not hyperbolicly) don't see how a phone not having a 3.5mm jack is relevant to the headphones _having_ a 3.5mm jack
      • lmm 3y ago
        If the headphones are meant to be used with the phone, then the idea that the headphones are future-proofed because they have a 3.5mm jack is pretty meaningless if you can't connect them to the phone with that jack.
        • hammyhavoc 3y ago
          In 2023, most people who give two shits about running wired headphones are using a USB DAC, even if their phone has a 3.5mm socket as the onboard AD/DA chipset is usually mediocre and struggles to drive most high-end cans.
• jlg23 3y ago
  > New bluetooth standard? New advances in noise-cancellation? You won't get them. > Wireless headphones last a couple of years, where wired headphones last decades. Those wired headphones that last decades also won't get any advances made during their lifetime...
  • recursive 3y ago
    I've had a pair of Sennheiser HD280s for at least a decade. Honestly, they don't need advances. They still work perfectly. The foam wore off the band, but I replaced it. For my application, batteries and bluetooth would cause a lot more problems than they solve. For my use case, they're basically perfect.
• stainablesteel 3y ago
  i've never had a pair of wired headphones last more than ~2 years i usually buy cheap wired ear buds that i can listen to while i walk to work
  • dublinben 3y ago
    If you only ever buy cheap disposable earbuds, they’ll never last very long. Nice headphones can last a decade or more, and be made of entirely user-serviceable parts.
• MagicMoonlight 3y ago
  My phone doesn’t have a port for your 20 year old headphones
  • recursive 3y ago
    Mine does because I considered that when I bought it.
• calvinmorrison 3y ago
  Eh. I've had to do more fiddling with my wired headphones (Sennheiser 380's) and replace the jack and wire more than once. I have had them for over a decade. My wireless set is a pair of quietcomfort 35's I got in 2026.. They've aged remarkably well, but I did have to replace the ear foam for both sets these years. So, I have been served wel by both.
  • ElFitz 3y ago
    > My wireless set is a pair of quietcomfort 35's I got in 2026 We’ve found the time traveler!
  • Faark 3y ago
    Same. Ear pads and cable are consumables. Especially the latter rarely lasted more than a year back when I was actually using headphones 12h a day on average. Thankfully, replacing cables on big headphones is a fitting challenge for newbies as soldering.
• Jarwain 3y ago
  I have these Shure SE215 in-ear monitors that detach from the cable using the MMCX standard. If a wire breaks, it's cheap to swap out, I can swap from a 3.5mm to a usbc to Bluetooth. There are probably other earbuds that use the standard too (I think there are a few standards?) But ultimately this means, as long as I don't lose them I can repair/replace the wire as needed.
  • steve_adams_86 3y ago
    I have a similar model and the wire swapping capability has saved them from the trash a couple times. The first time, they got sucked into a vacuum cleaner after only having them for two years or so. The second time, a dog chewed them severely. The in-ear monitor parts still have dog bite marks, but they work just fine. I guess I’ve had them about 15 years now, and they still sound excellent.
• Dwedit 3y ago
  Ancient outdated bluetooth standards will still play the sound.
  • dotancohen 3y ago
    While burning through the battery in under 72 minutes, and require you to stay within 3 meters of the phone, and will lose connection if the phone goes into your back pocket. I've got three pairs of wireless headphones that all suffer these three traits. My daughter's modern Sennheiser headphones though, work across the house, through two walls. And the battery literally lasts over eight hours, for all I know it might have lasted another eight. Seriously impressive.
• 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
  All true. I buy some of the cheapest Bluetooth headphones available. After all, what's the selling point of Bluetooth. Audio quality. Protocol quality. No, it's convenience. That's it. Encouraging to see some auto manufacturers calling out touchscreens. The marketing for so-called "tech" is some of the worst I have ever seen. The "technology" is half-baked. There's technology and then there's just data collection and surveillance, aka "tech". The later needs non-stop hype. No wonder it's goal is planned obsolescence. The stuff is not high quality. Never was and never will be.
• int_19h 3y ago
  > Wireless headphones last a couple of years That makes no sense; why would they only last a couple years? I've had a pair of Bose QC35 for 5 years now, and they're still working great and are compatible with any devices I used them with, from 10 year old laptops to recent Android and Apple phones.
• sandos 3y ago
  Im so sad my Sennheiser headphones from ~2001 are slowly deteriorating, and the parts are no longer available! There is an updated version that they still sell the parts for, but the specific ones I need are different. Still I believe Sennheiser is really good compared to an industry average in providing spare parts.