I promise it’s not. Without it, music comes through like a whisper.
If you’re using in-ear headphones, then yeh, that’s too much.
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Just for commuting or in general, I think it’s fine if you can take that hit to ease of use. Even my IEMs don’t sound as good when connected to a phone rather than my headphone amp at home but the difference isn’t as big as harder to drive headphones.
I’m looking for some not super expensive bluetooth earbuds. Anyone have any recommendations?
I like my Jaybird X3 alright, they go on sale pretty often.
There are also a couple of LG ones under 60 bucks that my co-workers say are pretty good.
I got Anker SoundBuds Slim. They play music just fine and are comfortable in my ears. They were $25 on Amazon. My brother said I was rhythmically cutting out when i called him, so maybe not the best for phone calls.
OK, I’m completely sold on bluetooth headphones as a concept. Fuck wired headphones.
The question is whether can I hold out on getting bluetooth earphones until after Apple comes out with in-ear earpods with the W2 chip. Even if the in-ear version never comes, Beatsx will probably be bumped to use W2. I imagine they’ll update something before the holidays.
I’m waiting for my latest pair of Etymotics to die. Then I’ll get some Apple wireless of some kind. The thing is, because the iPhone 7 doesn’t have a headphone jack, I’ve been using the tiny headphone->lightning adapter. This has resulted in a lot less strain on the plug on the etymotics, and they have lasted extremely long.
BeatsX already have the W2 chip. IT’S AMAZING.
I’m never going back to any bluetooth headphones without W2 chip equivalent features. I’m probably never going back to wired headphones either, except in very specialised circumstances. Each time I use wired headphones now (just for gaming) it feels utterly barbaric and antiquated.
I’m using the House of Marley “Smile Jamaica” earbuds with my phone(or whatever other portable) for the moment. Super impressed with how they’ve gone - the longest a pair of headphones lasted before that, was about 6-7 months when I baby them. they’d almost always fail at the jack, since I’m often using them with my phone when it’s in my pocket.
These, though, zero babying, and they lasted a full year and a bit before I finally lost them at PAX(Easy to figure out the time, since I bought them at 2016 PAX when my previous pair broke). And when I say Zero babying, they got a hell of a lot of hard use, I mean things like accidentally getting wrapped around a drill chuck once, getting pulled out of my ears/phone, and whipping the shit out of my arm - and still working perfectly once I disentangled them, and plugged them back in, or welding with them outside my apron(most headphones give up the ghost fast in that situation), you name it, they took it, and kept on going.
Plus, they sound pretty bloody good - they’re not exactly IEMs, but they’re pretty fucking good for the money(about 30 bucks), considering the amount of life I got out of my first pair.
All in all, they’re so good that I’ve started stocking up every time I see them on sale.
I have also been completely sold on Bluetooth headphones since I got the Bose Quietcomfort 35. It is so nice not having the wire and being able to swap between two devices on the fly. My only real complaint is that every time I turn the headphones on it defaults to have noise cancelling which I then have to always turn off since I don’t really want it in most situations. I just want it to be configurable or remember its last state. I still use wired earbuds because the ones I have are still good, but will likely go wireless once they go bad.
For computer desk use, I have disavowed any wireless peripherals. If I’m at a desk working it plugs in.
If I’m mobile it’s wireless as possible.
The thing is, wired cans won’t die if I use them too long, won’t disconnect, won’t get interference because of some random bullshit, will allow me to power them via amps and so can always potentially update the quality of the input signals, and in general for a given price the wired cans should produce better sound.
But, absolutely, wireless noise cancelling are a must have in my book, for use when not at your primary place where you can get away with wired phones. If you never have a single place to work where wired can be left, then yes stick to bluetooths.
The current version has W1. Only the Apple Watch Series 3 has W2 right now.
Bluetooth […] 50% more power efficient than the previous model’s chip design
I have a USB headset that is plugged directly into my computer. It’s open acoustics, so I can game or play music just fine with them, but I will also hear anything that happens in the room.
I have much more expensive 1/4" TRS monitor headphones plugged into the mixer. If I want sound isolation and high quality, I turn the mixer on, and it becomes my primary audio device. It’s like a ridiculous overkill external soundcard.
FWIW, I can route the audio in the mixer not just to the fancy headphones, but also to the “control room,” which in this case is just the stereo speakers in the room.
Never wireless anything if I’m at my desk.
Never wireless anything at my desk. Especially not mouse. Look at my co-workers with their wireless mice constantly fumbling with batteries and charging. Wired mouse, no problems.
That being said, my wired headphones at work need 1 AAA battery for active noise cancellation, but they work without the battery. The noise cancellation just turns off. I usually have to change the battery once or twice a week.
Ah right. Well, I’m happy with whatever features are in the W1 chip, and will never go back to the features of mere bluetooth whatever version I tried before the W1. It frustrates me that the car still has bullshit bluetooth connectivity menus and cancelling and oh my god we decided to not even use bluetooth swapping between different phone and just plug in to the USB port.
I guess this is one (the only?) way that USB-C and/or Lightning headphones will improve over normal headphone jacks. Drawing power for noise cancelling and other features will mean no more battery swapping or charging.
Oooh, nice. Hadn’t thought of that.
I’ve never liked active noise cancellation. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like a hole in the sound, and it bothers me.
This is why I so prefer isolation monitors or in-ear buds. They also have the benefit of eliminating transient sounds in addition to steady ones.
I also prefer isolation, but I’d rather have active noise cancellation than have something physically in my ear canal for 8+ hours a day. A few hours here or there is fine, but 40+ hours a week is a problem.