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It's hard to imagine a wireless technology that can improve on the experience of debugging a wire. You can always adjust the length of the wire or splice in a n

It's hard to imagine a wireless technology that can improve on the experience of debugging a wire. You can always adjust the length of the wire or splice in a new one. I don't understand why the industry forced a move to wireless before the technology was up to it. The only company that's figured this out is Apple and they refuse to give up this market advantage. Until device management improves i'll stick with wired.

mingus88 2y ago
Wired is absolutely superior but the fact is most people don’t care. There is an entire generation of people that grew up ripping audio from YouTube and could not care less about lossless or latency issues with wired headphones. The industry realized this and honestly for most people a water resistant phone is worth losing the 1/8” jack and they win with fewer components and thinner phones The Apple dongle actually measures very well. I’m using one right now for my wired headphones. As someone who has spent too much money on headphones and accessories I don’t miss OTG cables and external DAC/Amps and feel the OEM Apple equipment is great for $10
- nukem222 2y ago
  > The industry realized this and honestly for most people a water resistant phone is worth losing the 1/8” jack and they win with fewer components and thinner phones This would make sense if people didn't turn around and spend more than is saved on wireless headphones. I don't understand what people see in airpods (they work sufficiently but they're bleached and molded plastic; vomit, way too expensive for any possible use-case), but they're enormously successful and more than validated the removal of the jack. By like multiple orders of magnitude. Anyway, I've definitely had waterproof phones with a headphone jack. I'm guessing they removed it just to save on space. I wish I gave a shit about the shape of the phone, but the primary difference is I view my phone as more of a toy than a tool.
  - coldtea 2y ago
    >I don't understand what people see in airpods (they work sufficiently but they're bleached and molded plastic; vomit, way too expensive for any possible use-case) "They work sufficiently" is already a high bar given experiences people had with earlier wireless headphones. They were also the very first reliable detached (split ear) headphones. And they added excellent ANC (at least in the Pro version). As for being "bleached and molded plastic" what else would they be? Wood? Metal and genuine leather?
    - nukem222 2y ago
      I can't say I claim to have heard of ANC before, but the rest of these reasons to purchase apple headphones are true of the $20 chinese knockoffs I bought on amazon. And they come in a cute orange/salmon color rather than blanched. The only perceptual difference is that apple special-cases airpod management to ease switching of devices. They trash their own product by making such consumer-hostile ux obvious.
  - askafriend 2y ago
    Have you ever tried to play basketball in the gym or go running with a wire? AirPods are a total game changer for any athletic scenario.
    - nukem222 2y ago
      I run with wired headphones. I also don't need to chase after them when they fall out of my ears.
      - askafriend 2y ago
        If you're happy with that then great! That's wonderful. But for me there's just no going back - it's that big of a difference. I'll happily pay any price to have a wire-free experience. It's just magical, especially as someone who lives in a city and walks a lot / takes the subway / plays sports / spends time in the gym / etc.
- jack_pp 2y ago
  Wired is absolutely inferior if you move at all and the cable hits something or the wind hits the cable etc.
  - nukem222 2y ago
    I suggest not wiring with tissue paper if this is a serious issue for you. Anyway, you can simply not run into stuff with a wire. There's nothing you can do about bluetooth glitching out randomly for five seconds. Not to mention playing the "what device is playing into my headphones" game. Wireless is for people who don't care.
    - coldtea 2y ago
      >Anyway, you can simply not run into stuff with a wire. There's nothing you can do about bluetooth glitching out randomly for five seconds. Sure you can. Buy a quality headphone and transmitter device. Never had a BT issue with several airpod models (v1, v2, pro) and an iPhone for 7+ years. And I'm pretty sure most other brands have solved this by now too.
      - nukem222 2y ago
        How do you recommend vetting brands? This is simply not a problem wired technology ever had. I can't imagine ever trusting a brand to get things right without my fixing their mistakes.
        coldtea 2y ago
        >How do you recommend vetting brands? Just try what most buy and report positive experience with. Do a test drive and return if not satisfied. Try a friend's device. It's not rocket science.
        baseballdork 2y ago
        > This is simply not a problem wired technology ever had. I had plenty of wired sets where you had to hold the cable just so in order to get audio to play through. Happened a ton with those cheap crappy skullcandy earbuds, but would also eventually happen with the higher quality stuff too.
- coldtea 2y ago
  >for most people a water resistant phone is worth losing the 1/8” jack fun fact: the 1/8th jack was never an issue with making a phone water resistant. It doesn't need to expose the internals any more than USB-C does (actually, even less).
  - Kirby64 2y ago
    It’s another component that requires water resistant components. Obviously you can make it water resistant, but it comes at an additional cost. More importantly though, the 3.5mm jack is physically quite large inside the phone. It’s much larger than a USB-C jack, for instance. Easily 2-3x the size internally.
    - nukem222 2y ago
      Yea but this only matters if you're considering fatness as a factor. This factor disappeared long before the headphone jack did. I have never in my life heard "i won't use that phone cuz it's too fat". Apple just irrationally hates wires. God forbid someone ask for a button!
      - Kirby64 2y ago
        No, I'm considering footprint as well. The interior volume of a 3.5mm jack is substanial compared to the total volume of a phone.
coldtea 2y ago
>I don't understand why the industry forced a move to wireless before the technology was up to it. The industry lives on selling units. A technology that "is not up to it" and can have several iterations re-sold as improved versions is the very thing the industry prays to God for.
- nukem222 2y ago
  Ok, but don't they want my money? Why not cater to my money? The tech scam only works if people actually think the tech is better. What's so hard about offering a jack? Especially in any situation outside of phones. You could market it with "this will actually last" or "we ship headphones". I just pray we are not stuck with current versions of bluetooth in perpetuity. What a nightmare.
  - coldtea 2y ago
    >Ok, but don't they want my money? Why not cater to my money? The tech scam only works if people actually think the tech is better. Since APPL and the rest have trillion dollar market caps, it appears to work fine so far

mingus88 2y ago

Wired is absolutely superior but the fact is most people don’t care. There is an entire generation of people that grew up ripping audio from YouTube and could not care less about lossless or latency issues with wired headphones. The industry realized this and honestly for most people a water resistant phone is worth losing the 1/8” jack and they win with fewer components and thinner phones The Apple dongle actually measures very well. I’m using one right now for my wired headphones. As someone who has spent too much money on headphones and accessories I don’t miss OTG cables and external DAC/Amps and feel the OEM Apple equipment is great for $10

nukem222 2y ago
> The industry realized this and honestly for most people a water resistant phone is worth losing the 1/8” jack and they win with fewer components and thinner phones This would make sense if people didn't turn around and spend more than is saved on wireless headphones. I don't understand what people see in airpods (they work sufficiently but they're bleached and molded plastic; vomit, way too expensive for any possible use-case), but they're enormously successful and more than validated the removal of the jack. By like multiple orders of magnitude. Anyway, I've definitely had waterproof phones with a headphone jack. I'm guessing they removed it just to save on space. I wish I gave a shit about the shape of the phone, but the primary difference is I view my phone as more of a toy than a tool.
- coldtea 2y ago
  >I don't understand what people see in airpods (they work sufficiently but they're bleached and molded plastic; vomit, way too expensive for any possible use-case) "They work sufficiently" is already a high bar given experiences people had with earlier wireless headphones. They were also the very first reliable detached (split ear) headphones. And they added excellent ANC (at least in the Pro version). As for being "bleached and molded plastic" what else would they be? Wood? Metal and genuine leather?
  - nukem222 2y ago
    I can't say I claim to have heard of ANC before, but the rest of these reasons to purchase apple headphones are true of the $20 chinese knockoffs I bought on amazon. And they come in a cute orange/salmon color rather than blanched. The only perceptual difference is that apple special-cases airpod management to ease switching of devices. They trash their own product by making such consumer-hostile ux obvious.
- askafriend 2y ago
  Have you ever tried to play basketball in the gym or go running with a wire? AirPods are a total game changer for any athletic scenario.
  - nukem222 2y ago
    I run with wired headphones. I also don't need to chase after them when they fall out of my ears.
    - askafriend 2y ago
      If you're happy with that then great! That's wonderful. But for me there's just no going back - it's that big of a difference. I'll happily pay any price to have a wire-free experience. It's just magical, especially as someone who lives in a city and walks a lot / takes the subway / plays sports / spends time in the gym / etc.
jack_pp 2y ago
Wired is absolutely inferior if you move at all and the cable hits something or the wind hits the cable etc.
- nukem222 2y ago
  I suggest not wiring with tissue paper if this is a serious issue for you. Anyway, you can simply not run into stuff with a wire. There's nothing you can do about bluetooth glitching out randomly for five seconds. Not to mention playing the "what device is playing into my headphones" game. Wireless is for people who don't care.
  - coldtea 2y ago
    >Anyway, you can simply not run into stuff with a wire. There's nothing you can do about bluetooth glitching out randomly for five seconds. Sure you can. Buy a quality headphone and transmitter device. Never had a BT issue with several airpod models (v1, v2, pro) and an iPhone for 7+ years. And I'm pretty sure most other brands have solved this by now too.
    - nukem222 2y ago
      How do you recommend vetting brands? This is simply not a problem wired technology ever had. I can't imagine ever trusting a brand to get things right without my fixing their mistakes.
      - coldtea 2y ago
        >How do you recommend vetting brands? Just try what most buy and report positive experience with. Do a test drive and return if not satisfied. Try a friend's device. It's not rocket science.
      - baseballdork 2y ago
        > This is simply not a problem wired technology ever had. I had plenty of wired sets where you had to hold the cable just so in order to get audio to play through. Happened a ton with those cheap crappy skullcandy earbuds, but would also eventually happen with the higher quality stuff too.
coldtea 2y ago
>for most people a water resistant phone is worth losing the 1/8” jack fun fact: the 1/8th jack was never an issue with making a phone water resistant. It doesn't need to expose the internals any more than USB-C does (actually, even less).
- Kirby64 2y ago
  It’s another component that requires water resistant components. Obviously you can make it water resistant, but it comes at an additional cost. More importantly though, the 3.5mm jack is physically quite large inside the phone. It’s much larger than a USB-C jack, for instance. Easily 2-3x the size internally.
  - nukem222 2y ago
    Yea but this only matters if you're considering fatness as a factor. This factor disappeared long before the headphone jack did. I have never in my life heard "i won't use that phone cuz it's too fat". Apple just irrationally hates wires. God forbid someone ask for a button!
    - Kirby64 2y ago
      No, I'm considering footprint as well. The interior volume of a 3.5mm jack is substanial compared to the total volume of a phone.

coldtea 2y ago

>I don't understand why the industry forced a move to wireless before the technology was up to it. The industry lives on selling units. A technology that "is not up to it" and can have several iterations re-sold as improved versions is the very thing the industry prays to God for.

nukem222 2y ago
Ok, but don't they want my money? Why not cater to my money? The tech scam only works if people actually think the tech is better. What's so hard about offering a jack? Especially in any situation outside of phones. You could market it with "this will actually last" or "we ship headphones". I just pray we are not stuck with current versions of bluetooth in perpetuity. What a nightmare.
- coldtea 2y ago
  >Ok, but don't they want my money? Why not cater to my money? The tech scam only works if people actually think the tech is better. Since APPL and the rest have trillion dollar market caps, it appears to work fine so far