An alternative to a wired dongle is a high-quality bluetooth amp, e.g. from Fiio. It's reliable, keeps your phone free from cables, but you can keep using your high quality wired headphones.
volemo 1 day ago|
That seems a ~~wired~~ weird compromise to me: you get the downsides of Bluetooth (inherent latency, potential codec quality loss, spectrum congestion — I occasionally experience interference and dropouts in crowded areas) but still have a wire hanging from your head and another battery to keep charged. :/
dbrgn 11 hours ago||
Latency doesn't matter for music and Fiio supports both LDAC and aptX.
Keeping the battery charged is a weak point though, agreed.
It seemed cool, people bought it, and then eventually many realized they didn't care about the fancy feature(s).
adrithmetiqa 1 day ago||
Many pro wired comments here about quality which can be classed under the category “most people cannot tell the difference”.
You simply cannot compare the considerably greater convenience of wireless to wired when on the go.
Also, any decent wireless over the ear headset allows for wired use when out of battery. That’s hardly a game changer
zarzavat 23 hours ago||
Not everybody is using their headphones on the go. 99% of my headphone use is at my desk while I work. Wired is more convenient than wireless since it's one less lithium battery to charge.
It's true that humans are not particularly sensitive to audio quality, but they are very sensitive to audio latency. If all you do is listen to buffered audio sources then latency is not important but the moment you need to use your headphones in an input loop then wired is the superior technology as it offers close to zero variance in latency.
PowerElectronix 23 hours ago|||
You can have low quality, low cost and very portable wired headphones, as well.
You can also go for moderately priced cans and just feel your ears tingling the first time you listen to something through them.
nottorp 22 hours ago||
Wireless is convenience on the go and when you don't give a shit, like work calls.
Wired is for when you want to listen to music you really like and it's too late to use the speakers.
faizan199 21 hours ago||
Yes, it is getting more popular in 2026. The main reason is because its affordable and easy to use.
Zufriedenheit 18 hours ago||
I am still waiting for a wired AirPod 4 ANC equivalent. Wired, earbud but not silicon in-ear style. Still using my normal wired headphones never switched to wireless so far but longing for an ANC version.
sinkasapa 20 hours ago||
You can get cheap wired earphone splitters and share what you're listening to on long bus rides or flights. I miss that. Maybe one wants something between needing to be on and conversing and the isolation of separate bluetooth listening.
kylehotchkiss 3 hours ago||
$20 apple EarPods letttsss goooo. I use mine daily. If I lose them or break them, who cares??
userbinator 1 day ago||
The elephant in the room is "chi-fi". There's been a huge growth in small Chinese companies with unusual names making amazingly cheap, yet great-sounding over-ear headphones, IEMs, and earbuds within the past few years, and the vast majority of these are wired.
adamfarhadi 1 day ago||
I’m by no means an audiophile and it had been years since I owned a pair of wired headphones, but I picked up a pair of Linsoul 7HZ x Crinacle Zero:2 (yes that is actually the name) IEMs after seeing some glowing reviews online and I was absolutely blown away by how they sounded despite costing only 240 SEK (around 25 USD). Back in the early 2010s when I was more interested in hi-fi audio you definitely couldn’t get as great sounding IEMs around this price.
al123xiaaaa 21 hours ago||
How long does it take from placing your order to receiving the headphones?
adamfarhadi 17 hours ago||
It took about two weeks to ship to me in Sweden from China.
bwv848 19 hours ago|||
I still find it hard to justify buying Chi-Fi. My HD650 still has no competitor in terms of style and cost efficiency, I wish I could afford HD800 but they sound very different. My IE80 from 2012 is very outdated, but IEMs are technologically inferior, and even the Chinese ones are not cheap. So I just put a USB-C cable on it and use it occasionally.
unleaded 19 hours ago||
think their target market is closer to the £20 segment than the £200 segment
bwv848 19 hours ago||
Nah, here's an example, Hifiman's planar offerings range from 50 USD to 8000 USD.
shrx 23 hours ago||
Can you recommend some brands with good quality over-ear headphones?
prepend 12 hours ago||
$20 iPhone white headphones are great. They last forever. The battery never dies.
Sustainability is good.
epx 16 hours ago|
Have had two Airpods. Great devices, but broke down after a year or so and I don't want to spend their price every single year.