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- they last forever. I still have sennheiser hd380 pro cans from 25 years ago that sound great. - cannot overstate lack of lag and simplicity. You plug in and
by NikolaNovak 7mo ago
- they last forever. I still have sennheiser hd380 pro cans from 25 years ago that sound great.
- cannot overstate lack of lag and simplicity. You plug in and it works, perfectly, every time, forever.
- easily switch devices. I use my headphone on my phone, tablet, laptop, Synthesizer, Groovebox etc without a blink. And my phone never stops playing music and connects to our car my wife just started the way bluetooth ones do :-)
- to me, it's like email. Icq, aim, msn messenger come and go, yet email is old and boring but survives.
There's absolutely a time and place for wireless headphones and I probably use them more at this point. But killing 3.5mm from phones has been a Massive annoyance.
- doubled112 7mo agoI prefer wired ones, mostly playing devil’s advocate here. Every pair of cheaper earphones or earbuds I’ve had fail have failed due to the cable. We switched my oldest to a pair of BT headphones because he seems incapable of keeping track of the cord. It gets caught, he pulls, and something has to give. Longest lasting set he had in 2025 was BT.
- hamdingers 7mo agoGoing cheap is the problem here, good earbuds and headphones have replaceable cables. I'm the same way as your oldest, if I'm up and moving around while wearing earbuds/IEMs I run the cable through my shirt.
- tjoff 7mo agoExpensive headphones have much higher quality cables...
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- andoando 7mo agoSame. Either the jack fails or the one of the buds stops working or the cable on one side of the buds gets cut somehow.
- exitb 7mo agoI’ve used many pairs of wired headphones over the years, cheap and expensive, and never had ones with a cable that didn’t eventually fail, unless they mostly stay plugged into a single device. The article prominently highlights mobile usage, in which case wireless headphones easily win on longevity.
- NBJack 7mo agoMost high end headphones have a replaceable cable. What have you tried on the expensive end of the spectrum?
- hokumguru 7mo agoNot even high-end nowadays, you really have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for something with a nonreplaceable cable. Even for iems.
- colechristensen 7mo agoOne of the key features (for me) of my Sennheiser HD 600 was the replaceable cables. Plugs at both ends of the cable. I LOVED my Grado headphones but destroyed three pairs of them and was soldering my own ends on the cables over and over.
- macNchz 7mo agoI think it’s maybe close to a wash between non-replaceable batteries in wireless headphones dying and cords failing, in my experience at least. The ideal case IMO is over-ear headphones that have a replaceable cord—I have some 14 year old Bose QCs and some newer Beyerdynamics, both of which I’ve replaced the cord on.
- RevEng 7mo agoThe difference is I can easily fix a broken cable.
- kalleboo 7mo agoI bought a pair of Philips headphones with a replaceable cord. Instead the jack became loose. I’ve been using Bluetooth wireless headphones exclusively when I’m portable since 2006 (Sony Ericsson HBH-DS970 represent), with only wired use at a desk and I’ve never looked back.
- scns 7mo ago> they last forever Sadly have to disagree. I use Beyerdynamic though where you can order parts to repair em yourself, which i already did. [edit] cannot recommend their wireless stuff produced in China, the worst i ever had. The big corded cans are still manufactured in Germany.
- reactordev 7mo agoThose hd380’s will last your lifetime. Almost like Sony’s MDR-7506 if you can keep it from getting sat on.
- mbajkowski 7mo ago100% this. I have had the MDR-7506 since my DJ days about 30 years ago. These are by no means expensive headphones, but compared even to much more higher-end Bluetooth headphones they can easily hold their own. They have good depth and are well balanced. They are just about indestructible, only requiring the occasional pads replacement. Probably one of the best purchases I ever made
- reactordev 7mo agoRelationships come and go but MDR-7605’s are for life!
- LinXitoW 7mo agoThey also lack any and all useful features. Even just the ability to tap for pause is critical to my daily life. I just wonder if wired fans just never skip forward a song, or adjust the volume. Or even use active noise canceling.
- kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 7mo agoMany have a small box on the cord with those controls, and you could argue that's handier since it's closer to where your hands naturally are at any given moment.
- steezeburger 7mo agoTons of wired headphones have little controllers on them to change songs and pause.
- wiseowise 7mo agoOr ever do anything in parallel with listening. I’ve been working in my garden and went to a shed that’s like 15 meters away from my home only to notice that I’ve forgotten to take my phone with me - music never stopped.
- steezeburger 7mo agoI use a pocket for this scenario.
- TeMPOraL 7mo agoThat was solved long ago with invention of pockets.
- wiseowise 7mo agoMy favorite way to work in the garden: with a slab in my pocket and a cord around my neck.
- 4k93n2 7mo agobut it WILL cut out if you go far enough. wired headsets wont
- raffraffraff 7mo agoA friend worked at sennheiser about 15 years ago and I took advantage of his cost-price deal on a pair of HD700. They are, without a doubt, the best sounding and most comforted cans I've ever used. Now, I treated them badly, throwing them into ruck sacks etc, and eventually one of the transducers failed. I contacted Sennheiser who charged me €140 to "repair" them... They sent me a brand new set with the thick silver core cable (I never sent mine back so now I have two, and those cost over 100 bucks by themselves)
- f1shy 7mo agoHow do they compare to Bose QuietComfort? - sorry just kidding. I couldn‘t resist.
- shiandow 7mo agoIt is worth pointing out that not all parts age equally well. The cushions especially are not that durable and should be considered consumables. Sennheiser provides replacements should you need them. The effect they have on the sound is much bigger than you might think.
- perfect-blue 7mo agoYeah the sound stage definitely gets impacted. I tend to use leather cups in the winter and fabric ones in the summer. Nothing worse than sweating from your temples while you work.
- dylan604 7mo agoI've had to replace the pads on my Sony 7506 cans as well. I was very impressed with the parts that can be replaced on these cans. The packing includes an exploded diagram of the parts.
- faster 7mo agoI love my 7506s. And I have a recurring event on my calendar to remind me to buy new pads every 2 years. That's almost exactly how long they last. I've tried 3 brands and they've all lasted almost exactly 2 years. The original Sony pads also lasted 2 years.
- bzzzt 7mo ago> Sennheiser provides replacements should you need them. Not anymore for my old 380 pro. Had to settle for aftermarket versions that feel a little softer but also sound a bit different.
- NikolaNovak 7mo agoYeah, i got couple of third party replacements recently for my 2 hd380pros. The leatherette one was useless within 2 years. Outside became slimey / sticky, the inside just shrunk. The velour one works fine but feels different to original. I just ordered a mesh one to try too.
- parpfish 7mo ago> they last forever Until my cat finds them. Any serious set of wired headphones better have replaceable wires because apparently they are delicious
- t_mahmood 7mo agoAny cable, I tell you ... any cable. Ruined multiple USB cables, and almost went through two Laptop charger cable.
- TheAceOfHearts 7mo agoReplaceable cables have always been a high priority for me. I've been using SHURE SE215 for almost 2 decades at this point.
- asdff 7mo agoEhh I'm not considering it a dealbreaker. Easy to splice and fix 3.5mm. Donors found at thrift stores or in your drawer (or remaining length of undamaged wire).
- vladvasiliu 7mo agoThe issue is on the headset side. Some can be tedious to take apart and replace the cable.
- asdff 7mo agoWhy take it apart? You can just cut it mid line and splice directly to that. Chances are the failure point isn't right on the last bit of the headset end of the cable length.
- vladvasiliu 7mo agoIME it's either at the plug side, or at the headphone. I've never had a cable go bad in the middle. I think it's the same kind of issue as apple's power connectors: they always go bad next to the connectors.
- AStrangeMorrow 7mo agoYeah for me the main sell of wireless is mobility/freedom of movement. I can use them while charging my phone or working out. Can play a video while cooking and moving around the kitchen. Or while watching TV/playing a game in the TV where a cable can’t reach. However when static I used wired. That’s mostly when on the computer, but like many people here I am assuming that’s a good part of the day.
- randycupertino 7mo agoI got wired headphones after repeatedly losing airpods falling out of my ears onto the floor of planes. I like to sleep with my headphones in falling asleep to audiobooks, and I'm a side-sleeper so airpods would rub on the pillow and get lost in the seat machinery. Wired headphones at least if they fall out are still connected to a rope to get them back!
- devilbunny 7mo agoFor airplanes, Bose or Sony both have noise-canceling wireless headphones in over-ear format with battery life over 18 hours. I wouldn't try to side-sleep in either one, but the relative quiet on aircraft is wonderful, especially if you find yourself on a turboprop.
- blawson 7mo agoFor sleep a wired pillow speaker works great, the advantage being there is nothing to fall out of your ears, and you can isolate the sound so only you hear it through the pillow: https://www.amazon.com/Crane-Company-PS2-SoftSpeaker-Speaker/dp/B000AL6NVO/ref=sr_1_14 https://www.amazon.com/Crane-Company-PS2-SoftSpeaker-Speaker...
- consumer451 7mo ago> There's absolutely a time and place for wireless headphones and I probably use them more at this point. I've had a pair of Sony MD-7506s ever since I assisted in an analog recording studio, years ago. 7506s were the standard then, not sure about now. I am on my 5th set of cushion replacements. A few years ago I bought a high-ish quality bluetooth adapter I can put in my pocket and walk around. The one I bought is the Boltune BT-BA001. Looks like they are only $30 on eBay now, but there may be better ones out there. That little box is probably my most used piece of inexpensive electronics.