I plugged some old wired headphones into my iPhone a little while ago and it reminded me how truly awful an experience having wired headphones is. I caught the wire with my hand and nearly sent the iPhone flying off my desk, and just how generally irritating it is having a cable dangling around your body.
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Apple Seemingly Discontinuing Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter Introduced Alongside iPhone 7
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Your Beats Studio 3s can’t hold a candle to a high end Focal,Stax ,Audeeze, Sennhiser etc.
Give any of these brands a listen , you’ll be amazed how far and deep audio can really go. You’ll hear details in your favourite tracks that you didn’t know existed in the first place
Maybe, but I don’t need any new headphones, and I’m not buying any with cables.
That’s your choice
but you can’t dismiss wired without having knowing what high end audio sounds like .
I dismiss it based on having a wire! No amount of perceived sound quality enhancement is worth having a wire dangling around your neck, especially when wireless headphones already supply great sound quality.
I'm guessing there are thirty versions on Amazon that work for $7.99. I haven't used wired headphones in maybe 10 years. But I only use headphones on planes and when running.
you don’t really know how far sound quality can go , that’s the reason you feel that way. To you , it’s just how much further can it be ? There’s actually a lot . Unless you experience it , this is a pointless conversation
To say that wired isn’t good because it’s inconvenient regardless of the insane quality difference is a bit immature
Firstly I think it's generally true that audio bit rate is not going to dramatically transform most music because most music (or audio in general) that people casually listen to won't take advantage of lossless quality. Good recordings will benefit greatly. Good recordings are rare and you have to be a dedicated audiophile to seek them out.
Modern Bluetooth codecs on Android like aptX are getting very good, Apple have an opportunity to introduce lossless audio streaming somewhere down the line (like AirPods Pro 2 are capable of with Vision Pro) but the question is: Is it worth it? If the drivers themselves are not going to do a lossless input justice, then why bother with the compute overhead (which will increase power consumption)?
Speaking of power consumption that's probably a big reason why AirPods Pro 2 are not matching the performance of similar priced IEMs. Apple have to balance overall system efficiency with sound quality, wired IEMs don't have to care about that most of the time. Apple use a lot of software EQ tricks to make the bass hit harder but they don't compare at all with a dynamic driver.
Price is another consideration. My favorite IEMs at the moment cost $1k. Many IEMs in that price range have a ton of drivers (10-12+ balanced armatures for example, or a combination of those with other driver types such as dynamic drivers or electrostatics) so that adds to the cost (along with labor because of the complicated construction). More drivers will likely mean more power so battery life takes a hit, but also the unit cost goes up. Unlike wired IEMs which can you use for many years, the moment you introduce an integrated battery that cannot easily be replaced all of a sudden these devices become disposable consumables.
The market for expensive IEMs is small, the market for disposable IEMs that have a ton of compromises across the board (in audio input quality due to bluetooth limitations and the limited shelf life issue) is even smaller. With that said, I'm in that market lol.
Not always, many have detached cables that you can swap out for whatever connector you need. I like 4.4mm balanced. Some other headphones I have use XLR.
If I'm on a roadtrip or something I don't use the Apple 3.5 adapter, I use a USB DAC/AMP combo. Apple's 3.5mm adapter is really great in a pinch and is generally considered to have a surprisingly good onboard DAC, my only issue is it doesn't have enough power for me.
I don’t think any amount of perceived sound quality increase is worth sacrificing wireless for.
You can't speak for others though on this matter, only yourself.
Life is always about tradeoffs, my dude. Both of your “stances” have merit. The non-wire option is worth the trade off of losing some fidelity for some (including myself).
I know what sound quality is. I ran old ZAPCO amps/eq’s back when it was the original ZAPCO. Those powered FOCAL mids/highs. Now, I couldn’t care less about any of that. Give me a decent stock stereo and I’m golden. The trade off for me is, nobody will want to steal my factory audio equipment.
I had 3 “systems” stolen because of what I had in those vehicles. The hassle of body work, interior work, and insurance claims put an end to high fidelity car audio.
You trade a lot of sound quality for a lot of convenience. That`s fine, and your choice.
....but Beats are seriously not great. I got a set of Pros and they made me miss my original PortaPros 😉
You are 100% right. Long time since I fell off the hifi bandwagon, but my ears still works, and for proper sound quality the proper cabled headsets makes a huge difference. Most B/T kits are made for music consumption, not listening.
I heard that high end audio is a dying interest.
I’m not really surprised seeing the comments here , soon we’ll have worse audio for the sake of convenience
No, but you repeated the same point 5 times like the other people are wrong, when in fact neither of you are, its preference.
I prefer bluetooth headphones for the convenience too, but I am well aware that there are no bluetooth headphones out there that provide equally as good sound quality as high end wired headphones. It all comes down to whether sound quality is a deal breaker and for some it is and for others like me, I can overlook it. I wouldn't suggest wired are a problem because it makes little difference personally to me, what other prefer to use and plenty of people seem to still use wired headphones in public.
I'm not sure if that'd be easy, I suppose those take a lot of energy. Still, it'd be nice to see them find a solution.
Believe it is true, and there may be several reasons for that (Sorry Neil Young for not jumping on your wagon).
- A lot of confusions created around lossless - people believe some compressed formats or allegedly lossless formats actually are, and when they get gear and files which are not, the difference is not really there. Did I mention MQA?
- Interior trends, man cave next
- The hobby contains a certain element of snobbery and competition which puts people off
- Some absurd prices for goodies
- Setups made for perfect studio true sound is actually hard to listen to for more than shorter periods
- Youngster haven`t heard proper setups, they actually believe their headsets are good because they have no references proving the contrary.
I like great sound, and have been rather conscious about it since i did the mistake of trading my speakers for "better ones" which ruined my setup 🤣
Personally I`m after good, pleasant sound I can listen to for hours, and I also like radio. Being a budget guy, the stuff I`m considering is IOTA NP3+2xPA3 and Q-acoustics 5020. Headsets will most certainly provide far better sound, but for all day usage it is a bit tiresome.
Believe the best sonic quality I ever heard was Stax Lambda Signature paired with a top of the line Rotel player. Long time ago, but the setup combined everything I ever wanted of sonic qualities.