Look around and you’ll see almost everyone wearing one, from sweaty gym rats to boisterous school kids to a businessman in the subway. Wireless headphones have arrived. Now with Apple making the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack, you may need to start looking into them. Their growing popularity will make you question whether they’re everything the look to be: cool, convenient, and comfortable.
If you’re about to invest in a new pair of headphones, it’s time to decide whether to go wireless or not. Let’s explore the pros and cons of wireless headphones.
Pros of Wireless Headphones
Bye-bye, wires!
One thing most of us hate about wired gadgets is their, well, wires. They’re messy and always a pain to tuck in our pockets whenever we’re out. Then when we take them out of our pockets, they have somehow double-knotted themselves and you spend 10 minutes trying to untangle them. This is totally not a problem with their wireless counterpart.
Incompatible jacks? No problem!
Isn’t it annoying how your favorite headset doesn’t sound or fit well with an iPhone, Samsung, or a certain smartphone case? With wireless headphones, you can readily work around this dilemma—thanks, Bluetooth!
Easy-breezy pairing!
Whether you wish to connect to a tablet, phone, laptop, or even a car stereo, you can easily do so with a wireless headset. Bluetooth allows you to listen to any device without too much effort.
Cons of Wireless Headphones
Time constraints
Wireless headphones are powered by batteries and this only means one thing: it runs on borrowed time. So if you plan to listen to music throughout a 16-hour flight to Thailand, you’re better off with a wired pair.
Signal drop-outs
A wireless earpiece has to communicate back and forth with a mobile device (via a radio signal). It’s inevitable that you will occasionally experience interference. It may feel like listening to a broken record at times with skips and scratchy sound. This can be easily overcome by proximity, however, so as long as you aren’t trying to listen to your phone from the next room over, you should be fine.
Compromised audio quality
It may not be as easy to notice when you’re using the best wireless headphones, but the sound quality on a wireless pair can sometimes be noticeably inferior to that of its wired cousin. Aside from the sound drop-outs, wireless headsets often compromise high-quality sound for top-notch signal receivers/transmitters, which minimize audio interference.
In conclusion, the never-ending battle between wired and wireless headphones boils down to the user’s preference. If you value convenience and freedom (of movement), go wireless. If you care about sound quality above all else, you may be better off with a wired headset.