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Bluetooth Headphone Revenue Overtakes Non-Bluetooth Ahead of iPhone 7 Launch
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But I would rathe believe this is the money those guys don't ever want to spend anyway, whether it is their own money or not.
I'm in the same boat as you. Have had a pair of QC15s for a few years. I only used them when traveling. Purchased the QC35s about a month ago and love them. I work from home and I put them on and everything around me disappears and I can focus on work. I have them paired to both my MacBook Pro and my iPhone simultaneously. I use the headphones for VoIP calls on my Mac, phone calls on my cell, and listening to music and podcasts and am thoroughly satisfied with them.
What? I used to use my Hi-MD recorder/player on my Powerbook G4 and didn't have any issues. I recall Sony's software was kinda clunky, but it worked fine.
As the launch of the iPhone 7 approaches, Bluetooth headphone purchases are on the rise, according to new data shared by NPD Group. In June, Bluetooth headphone revenue overtook non-Bluetooth for the first time, accounting for 54 percent of headphone dollar sales and 17 percent of unit sales in the United States.
The overall headphone category saw seven percent year-over-year growth in pure dollar sales during the first half of 2016, but Bluetooth headphones saw double-digit growth during the same time period. A solid cost decrease helped spur Bluetooth headphone sales, with average selling prices down 5 percent. Nearly 30 percent of Bluetooth headphones sold during 1H 2016 were less than or equal to $50.Apple's Beats brand and LG dominated the Bluetooth headphone market during the first half of the year, accounting for approximately 65 percent of dollar sales. Bose, Jaybird, and Skullcandy were the other manufacturers to make it into the top five brands, in that order.
With the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, Apple plans to eliminate the headphone jack, requiring consumers to rely on Lightning adapters, Bluetooth-enabled wireless headphones, or headphones that include a Lightning connector. Apple's decision will undoubtedly lead to even greater Bluetooth headphone sales as the headphone jack is gradually phased out across its product line and from competing products.
Article Link: Bluetooth Headphone Revenue Overtakes Non-Bluetooth Ahead of iPhone 7 Launch
The short of it is, not matter what, BT headphones simply are not as good as wired headphones and anyone that thinks otherwise has no real clue about quality sound.
Or, Apple knows how to extract more money from people to provide them with a service they were paying less for before.
What makes you think they won't have a cheap pair of Lightning earbuds in the local drugstore? What makes you think they will necessarily be expensive?
Many wireless headphones now have a wired port, for just such a situation. Battery runs out, pull out the cable and attach them to bypass the internal DAC and go direct to the transducers. With digital headphones, you'll have three choices, wireless, digital -- USB-C or Lightning -- using the headphones internal DAC (and possibly charging the headphones at he same time), and analogue, bypassing the headphones internal DAC.
The real story is how quickly the BT market is growing: 50% year-over-year growth. We've seen this growth with emerging tech before. Bluetooth is set to be more than 50% of the market within 2.5 years, and that's not even factoring in that the next iPhone will probably not have a headphone jack.
I use the PB2 at the gym (they are basically built for it); it's 5 days a week, for well more than an hour, so I only need to charge once a week on sunday.
Anyhow, charging directly via the phone lightning port will solve the battery problem, not to mention BT5 is much less a drain on batteries.
Aside from the inferior quality of Bluetooth (which immediately marks ---> music noob) ... tell me this -- what kind of person would insert a wi-fi/Bluetooth device INTO their head. INTO their head???? Do you like it all warm and fuzzy inside there? Nice nukey brainy?
Seems like a lot of people use bt headsets. Just walk around New York City and see how many people use BT earpieces.
So basically Tim realized that the beats purchase was not profitable so he said ill just remove the headphone jack so they have to buy my beats now haha. Still thinking profit over product is the BEST... IDEA... EVER!
Sarcasm is only effective when it's true, and even then, I find it tends to translate poorly over the internet.
Apologies for having misread your email. It truly sounded like a legitimate complaint.
i currently have a pair of Master and Dynamic headphones (MH40) - they are beautiful and sound awesome - but are VERY heavy because they have no plastic components. Best Buy has a sale on beats wireless solo2 $179 so I thought id try them. I gotta say all that plastic makes for a nice light weight headphone - and i also like the sound quite a bit. The wireless feature is also very nice! I'm guessing Apple will have an update to them this fall with the new iphone so i'll probably return them and get the new ones - does anyone know of any rumors about new beats?
I didn't know anybody cared enough about Beats to be interested in rumors about them.
That said, if Apple removes the headphone jack, they will most likely introduce new Beats headphones the same day they announce the new iPhone, so that customers have an actual option when they buy the new iPhone, and to capitalize on being the first to market with what I expect to be new technology, at a minimum -- BT 5. Given that it's only a month away, I would definitely not buy any new headphones, especially Beats, until Apple reveals its plans. If it were longer than that, 6-9 months, then maybe I'd buy now to enjoy them during that time.
don't underestimate the BEATS - i actually see a ton of people walking around NYC with them. and like i said - i was surprised how much i like them.
It was Tim's ingenious idea all along! We should all feel stupid for wondering what the heck they were thinking when they bought beats. Touché Tim, Touché.
I think they sound really good to me, not underpowered, but I don't know how loud you like yours.
I think it very much depends on what brand. But in general there will be some delay, which means that they're not really suitable for listening to yourself playing live music.
With my Sennheiser Momentum 2 bluetooth wireless headphones the lag is around 200 milliseconds when using Logic Pro. It doesn't sound a lot, but in practice it's quite noticeable and distracting. So I have to use them 'Wired' when playing live music.
It's seems to be fine for playing games/watching movies though - I don't notice the lag then.
Kind of why I am not banking much on the start thread post data. its not saying much about who are using the bt phones for and why.
We can all get along here as the saying goes. Don't really need the sales data or chest beating going on. I am a wired fan but say if people dig BT...enjoy it and be happy too. And its not because of quality at kHz ranges I am not an expert at (hearing attenuation if only mild I know I have) . I find it more convenient main reason and its a standard way of things in video production I keep expanding int really.
I can think of a few reasons for BT sale spikes over wired..not apple strategic business related. I know muscle head gym rats who buy these often. they use up a few pairs over the course of a year. damage, they go you know these may be getting a bit funky from sweaty workouts over time and cba to clean them...so they buy cheap/reasonably priced bt often.
Can also think of why wired sells less. especially for high priced higher end Versus beats bt which isn't cheap either. You have your Sennheiser. I have always been partial to sony for monitors. Neither of us made the list lol.
So on a generic list of sales yes we will be not even on it. Consumer > pro associated gear sales not a shocking trend. Not just here, that's in most areas.
Apple sold more beats than sony sold monitors. No crap...now for the weather. Somewhere in the world it will rain today.
if 10 random people came up to me and said I will either buy some BT beats or my sony wired monitors...which do I buy I'd ask them will you be working audio production with them in some way.
if Answer is no...well then I wouldn't recommend the monitors. They are made for specific reasons..."normal" headphones another. Even I run normal headphones when not working the video hobby. right tools for the right jobs.