- They don't need charging. Charging may seem like a minor inconvenience, and we're used to charging a lot of devices. However, even a minor inconvenience is still an inconvenience.

- They're harder to lose. When Apple almost immediately started selling accessories to connect their airpods together (i.e. Cables), it was pretty obvious that going completely cordless was not entirely superior.

- For an equivalent price point, wired headphones produce higher quality audio, and the top-end is a lot deeper.

- Wired cans don't need to pair, don't glitch out, don't become laggy, pair with the wrong device, etc.. Bluetooth was never really meant for use as an audio connection, and it's never really become 100% foolproof. With Apple's proclivity for proprietary standards, I'm amazed they (or others) haven't rolled their own wireless audio standard by now.

Too many android phones copied Apple and ditched the venerable audio jack, but a few kept it, and I've always insisted on it when buying phones. It's old but far from obsolete.

"The suit is back," it begins. Trend articles like this are almost always the work of PR firms. Once you know how to read them, it's straightforward to figure out who the client is. With trend stories, PR firms usually line up one or more "experts" to talk about the industry generally. In this case we get three: the NPD Group, the creative director of GQ, and a research director at Smith Barney. When you get to the end of the experts, look for the client. And bingo, there it is: The Men's Wearhouse.

[1] https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

The quote above makes absolutely zero sense to me, it's like ChatGPT 0.3a decided to write something about Bluetooth.

This article notes 2025 saw a 3% increase of 15m. That means total sales are 0.5b, or 2.5% of Apple's airpods product.

In other words: tiny market with a growth in line with inflation after years of decline? Let's call that 'exploding sales' and farm some clicks.

Yes perhaps there is some newfound interest, but since bluetooth headsets took off they keep getting cheaper to buy, easier to pair and connect, longer lasting batteries, easier to find, smaller to pocket, more varied, more comfortable to wear, and with better noise-cancelling. Plus every year fewer devices carry the headphone jack.

It's on the way out, though it'll be a slow death. I have a pair of wired headphones, I prefer them on corporate laptops for meetings because corporate laptops suck with pairing. But that's about it.

This is a Circana Retail Tracking Service content-marketing piece. Like the x% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck is a LendingClub content-marketing piece. 3% being $15m indicates this is a $500m market. Airpods themselves are a $25 b revenue product.

“ wired headphones rebounded in 2025, growing 3% (about $15M).”

So now a 3% growth in sales is “exploding” and “through the roof”? No, I don’t think so…

My other phone is an iPhone, and as nice as it is in many ways, I hate that it's so much more awkward with a wired headset. Same for any modern Pixel too, of course.

Google has stopped most updates for the 5a, and it is already at the point where a few apps don't 100% work. I should be able to get a couple more years out of it before I am just forced to stop using it. My fantasy is that either Google or Apple decides to release a new high-end phone with an actual audio jack by then.

We will see.

Then I moved to the Apple ecosystem including iPhone, Airpods, and MacOS. It Just Works(tm) 99% of the time. The last 1% is a little annoying, and almost always has to do with device switching.

I also haven't had a problem with third party devices for many years now. My car does wireless Carplay just fine, and before that worked nearly as well with Android Auto. Rental cars the past few years even work - although pairing them the first time is roughly as annoying as digging through my bag for USB cable I suppose.

I've lost more pairs of wired earbuds than I have Airpods so far. I thought for sure I'd lose Airpods once every few months due to how often I forget things, but for whatever reason I find them to be easier to keep track of - the case fits perfectly in the "key pocket" in jeans, and it's become third nature to pat that pocket whenever I leave just like I do for keys/phone/wallet.

Not dealing with the annoying cable is great. I get a phone call, and I just grab the earbuds out of the case from my pocket within 10 seconds and I'm good to go.

For at-home PC use it's a different story, although I don't really find myself using my wired high-end cans much anymore. It's either airpods for day to day Zoom calls, or full on high-end speaker setups if I actually want to listen to something or game. Even high end cans cannot hold a candle against moderately decent speakers. The difference is night and day.

It has nothing to do with fashion or retro vibes, as far as I can tell.

They’ve all lost too many AirPods through the years. AirPods just too easy to lose, and at their school, too easy to be stolen by someone else. And they’re expensive. Yes you can buy cheaper Bluetooth headsets but those often don’t sound as good and get lost just as easily.

So you’re either on a subscription basis relationship wih Bluetooth headsets, or you use wired headphones, which are actually harder to lose and less desirable to steal.

TikTok is a big reason wired headphones are popular. AirPod microphone quality is spotty and improving the quality is non-deterministic. With wired earpods, people put the mic next to their mouth and get above-average audio quality.

Like the article says, wired headphones have also become a fashion statement akin to vinyl culture.

In the pro audio, wireless was never a thing with an exception of live shows where you’d might want to be free on stage but avoid stage monitors.

Notice that while Apple made everyone ditch the lovely 3.5”, on the MacBook Pros they’ve actually kept it and *improved* it.

As this is HN, I’ll focus on technical aspects I didn’t notice in the article.

- Active Noise reduction

While the article suggested the battery free magic of analog headsets. Flights are where the active noise reduction headsets shines. Active cancellation isn’t needed for studio environment but on the go it can certainly make your listening more pleasant.

- Hybrid devices There are several manufacturers with classical headset designs that also includes wired support with all modern features. This is a good balance in my opinion for benefiting from both worlds.

- Latency

Especially Bluetooth, our current consumer wireless is buffered and this latency is too much for creating music. Products such as GarageBand, Logic or FL Studio won’t be that useful for tracking with Bluetooth.

- Quality

Indeed, analog 3.5” audio is uncompressed vs Bluetooth. But it doesn’t mean the audio is superior for listening just because of that transition. Our modern devices are still mostly digital those days so there is DAC that takes those bits and converts them to analog (most of it today is done well as those chips are common) and the other step is the analog amplification. Audiophiles usually invest a lot in the headphones amplifier. Most android devices in the past were mediocre in that sense.

So while wired is a trend, the “dongle” of USB-C to convert the audio is still a major part of the quality we end with.

- Sharing is caring (my personal take)

The biggest frustration I feel with Bluetooth is that it’s now nearly impossible to use multiple headphones for listening. In the old days, you had a simple splitter and as long as both headsets were the same impedance, you can even have 4 people listening to the same content easily.

With Bluetooth, only Apple addresses this in a very limited manner with a lock in to specific models and up to 2 devices and no video calls or live audio support.

Gee, is that the kind of stuff that makes people want this, rather than actual usefulness related reasons?

I want it because I don't want yet another thing to have to charge, and because I'd want to be able to throw some cheap headphones in my backpack that I can use the one time in a month that I actually need them in combination with a phone (which of course isn't possible anymore today)

Also, why are ANC headphones today worse for gaming than in the year 2018 when they supported aptx that had less lag? Technology is going backwards?

I've had to ally myself with a brand I've once sworn off just to get a flagship model Android with a headphone jack. Killing Reader is a greedy betrayal (they were pushing us onto Plus, the whole social web thing) but removing headphone jacks from Pixels is a cowardly betrayal! Eyeing you too there, Samsung. You and Google both have made it extremely difficult to maintain a modicum of principle in today's consumer landscape! You made me justify my purchase with a utilitarian "Better the jacked devil than the blue-toothed one".

(And before you ask, I only generally buy flagships because I upgrade my phone like, every five years, and in my experience flagships are just more bang for buck. YMMV tho.)

Anyway, honestly, wired is not perfect. Wired and wireless each have their inconveniences it's just that I'm more willing to put up with the inconveniences of wired. Wired connections have known failure modes, something which I really value in tech. I have a Sony WH-1000XM3 which can work both as wired and wireless and I love it for that.

Long live wired connections! Here's to a future with cheaper flagship models with a headphone jack!

>"Bluetooth does not work," Kravitz said in a recent interview, and it's not just headphones, but Bluetooth connections in general. "It's ruining important moments. Imagine the amount of times that you're with someone on a date, you're trying to set a vibe, and then you have to forget the network. On a date!"

If your tastes in music are not mainstream (and mine definitely is not), mainstream headphones will ruin your music more than you realize - for years I just thought that was how recorded music is supposed to sound, and it wasn't very good. Trying a neutrally-tuned headphone can change your (musical) life. Unfortunately, very few wireless headphones are tuned that way.

Edit: Part of why I never looked into it sooner, I had heard so much about "audiophile snake oil" over the years, I thought that was all there was. That exists, but there plenty of headphones marketed to "audiophiles" that are legitimate.

There are some models but none really explore their possible advantages (battery, ux, single signal source).

I lost single wireless earpiece multiple times making the rest useless. This won't happen with wire. With wire its also so much easier and quicker to take them off they will just hang around your neck. There is reason why many workers in loud environments prefer earplugs wired together.

My impression is that apple hyped the airpods so well that people forgot about other possibilities. And when Google included cool headphones with cables people thought they have to cut them… that was when industry decided its dead segment.

* Having to charge them is a PITA

* Having to pair them is a PITA

* Having more points of failure is a PITA

* Paying more is a PITA

On the other hand:

* Wires are fine

Anyway. Somewhat ironically, I use a wired set of headphones for this. It's not just the speakers that are better. I often get people remarking how much better the audio is on their end too... i.e. the cheap inline microphone.

You can also load your hearing test results (from either an audiologist or a hearing test app like https://mimi.io/products/mimi-hearing-test-app) into Apple Health and then use them with your Earbuds.

It happens so often I even wrote a script to switch to the MacBook internal speakers then back to the headphones.

I've used wired headphones before (and the Sony even has a wired option), but I didn't like how the cord was constantly getting the the way of my arms.

edit: Another big gripe is with the Bluetooth codec itself, and how the quality changes depending on if the mic is active.

I never stopped using wired headphones at home but also had BT ones on the go. When they started showing signs of age I got a cheap BT receiver instead of replacing them. It's not quite as practical but for many people it's something to consider, they work surprisingly well!

I guess a lot of that is nostalgia. My laptop model no longer has a webcam cover or a physical network switch; connecting and disconnecting the trrs[2] cable reminds me of these.

But some of that is still practical needs. I have AirPods and Bose wireless headphones, both praised for reliable connections. Every now and then they take a bit longer to connect or the volume changes unpredictably, or they need to be charged, etc - when wired headphones just work.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_headphones#EarPods

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)#TRRS_s...

- Disposable

- Small-but-not-zero fire risk inside your backpack or your ear

- Pairing woes

- Expensive

- No user-replaceable batteries

Someone's going to come and say how much they like them, but you need to remember that "needing to deal with a cable sometimes" does not actually qualify as inconvenience. When the washing machine was invented, 10s of hours of labor were freed up from people so they could either get more work done or pursue leisure and enjoy life. What did wireless headphones do for people? Prevent them from needing to exercise the tiny amount of impulse control necessary to to run your cable?

My main ones are Sony MDR-V6s which I've had for 10 years. They are the best headphones I've ever owned and they sound just as good today as they did a decade ago. They were originally made in 1985 and the wire never tangles.

The other are crappy $8 earbuds / mic combo that are maybe 7 years old and work just fine.

I have wireless earbuds that I occasionally use since the Pixel 9a has no 3.5mm jack. They are worse in every way that I care about. I have to babysit them to make sure they are charged.

Sure the wired earbuds get tangled sometimes but it's not a big deal to address that. I also think wired is an advantage for portable usage. For example, for running or doing any activity the wire ensures if they fall out of your ear you won't lose them. They also don't need a case so you can stuff them anywhere without a bulge.

A pair of BT headphones from 15 years ago, even if they worked (which in my experience, they don't), would use an outdated audio codec- no one in their right mind want to listen to an SBC now

Today? Airpods Pro do the trick: the second- and third-generation models rival or exceed most wired options. And that makes sense: Apple's R&D spending and engineering capabilities for a product like Airpods dwarf the resources of traditional audio companies--the built-in DSP alone is a staggering achievement. So they ought to sound great, and they really do.

And that's before you even consider all the other capabilities, like taking calls, etc. My pocket amps and wired 'phones (Etymotic, Shure, B&O, a few others I'm forgetting) have been gathering dust since the Airpods Pro came to market. I do not miss de-tangling the cables.

Of course, it is possible to do better, but not easy or inexpensive. On my desks at home and at the office are dedicated headphone rigs: DACs, amps, and wired open-backed cans (Focal, HifiMan). Those set-ups sound great--although not nearly so great as my two-channel speaker systems. But that's what it takes to get appreciably better sound than Apple's Bluetooth sets, and forget about portability.

When wireless headphones came out, I looked at my wired ones and asked the simple question: is a tangling cable worse than bluetoth pairing and having to keep yet another thing charged? My answer was no, so I kept using cheap wired ones.

A few years later, now that makes me look rich. Or something.

I am convinced noise cancellation is causing me tinitus and I don’t seem to get it when I use normal headphones

I find using all these cables when I am on the go inconvenient, and I cannot imagine going back there. Especially with earbuds, I have probably changed over 10 or sth over the years due to cables failing (but I hate earbuds now anyway regardless). On the other hand, eg when gaming I definitely notice latency issues, especially if I compare them with wired, so I prefer to use them wired.

Being able to get my phone out of my pocket and not have to worry about the cable is worth all the tradeoffs. At my desk, I have studio monitors, which I prefer over any headphones. For video calls, I use just the right Airpod to prevent echos, and so I can still hear myself.

I don't think many people thought their expensive Airpods/Bose/Sony were not capable of handling lossless and may feel left out or missing something.

I spend a lot of time at the gym or walking with headphones in and music, podcasts, or audiobooks on. It’s so much better not having any wires when you’re moving. I can’t imagine doing these actives anymore with wired headphones.

Battery life, pairing, charging, audio quality, and other complains are all non issues for me, but I’m also no audiophile. They work incredibly seamlessly inside the Apple ecosystem.

This "service" ended up to be quite popular - broken headphone wires were a very common problem.

I think the average lifespan of wireless headphones is definitely longer than that of wired ones.

I use my wired Sundara (which have dropped in price greatly since I got them years ago!) at my desk with DAC/AMP all the time, of course, and have a very nice set of Etymotic IEMs with a USB-C dongle permanently attached (once I stopped using it for my PC*). For use with my phone I haven’t actually reached for those Etys over my AirPods Pro 2 in years as the latter are significantly more convenient. They also work fine with Windows 11 (which supports AAC over Bluetooth, as can Linux IIRC) if I want to use them there for whatever reason. Maybe I’m blessed in that I don’t require my phone to be a critical listening device?

* If you have hissing/interference/etc when plugging headphones into your PC, the Apple USB-C dongle is very good and only 9 USD.

Wired headphones could be one part of the solution. They're just far more reliable (if they don't break, which they will). But if the reliability of video calls can be improved so that it's literally as reliable as talking to someone next to you in a quiet room, I bet lots of people would pay for it. There is so much latent frustration about unreliable calls, even with the best setup, even in NASA, in DoD, corporations, zoom and other platforms fail to perform reliably in so many cases.

Obviously with wired headphones, because tape players don’t do bluetooth.

I have a nice high-end set of Sennheisers that cost ~ $150, and they're much better than my old wired set (both in-ear, both noise isolating, similar prices).

The bluetooth ones win because they eliminate cable noise. I can actually jog with them. In quiet rooms, they're very comparable, except the bluetooth set has a built in EQ, which works around the fact that iOS / Android still inexplicably do not let you adjust treble and bass.

The bluetooth headset market has been stuck in this weird spot where fashion mostly dictates. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that fashion now dictates wired headsets.

The difference is the battery dies in the wireless models in 2-3 years irrespective of the brand but these wired headphones live on for ever.

The only wireless headphones worth the hassle of using Bluetooth (which never connects on the first try, disconnects randomly all the time, and is generally far too unreliable for daily use) are shockz bone conducting.

If shockz made a wired version I’d only buy those

Or like people who think that brown-shell eggs are better quality than white-shell eggs.

The Sony MDR-J10s I used to buy stopped being manufactured, and old stock is showing up online less often for more money. They were also never the most durable model, which wasn't a problem when they were easier to replace.

So what are some good, durable wired headphones? Suitable for active use, cords not going to snap with a light tug, don't fall off when running, plug/wire connection doesn't wear out and need to be held just so?

For a fraction of price of professional monitor speakers, you get the closest thing to direct hardware-to-brain audio transmission. It's precise and fast transient-wise.

No reflections, no phase problems, nada. You can choose exactly the type of frequency response you need: flat, V-shaped, U-shaped, bassy, bright, whatever. There are even models with switchable curves.

No need to invest much more money than your speakers cost in your listening room, installing wool/foam pads/draping/soft furniture/bass traps/carpets etc to reduce the amount of reflections and bring frequency responce to anything resembling flat.

That said, there is a huge number of IEMs produced these days and they range from absolute trash to stellar. And to navigate this vast ocean, I find Crinnacle's resourses utterly useful:

https://crinacle.com/rankings/iems/

https://list.hangout.audio/iem

(disclosure: I'm not affiliated in any way, I just adore this guy's dedication!)

I charged my wireless headphone for 5 mins and took the call and it went out of juice mid way through the call. I had to run to find a free conference room in the office which was present since it was friday.

I also often connect my wireless headphone through the weekend and not know that it is still connected since friday with my work mac. Wired solves all of this.

Thanks to this article, I just ordered a Apple Earpods USB-C 5 mins ago in Blinkit. It is going to be delivered in another 5-10mins. Good bye wireless. I will use it for work with my Mac and my personal Samsung phone.

Edit after 4 mins: Earpods Delivered!

With your popular wireless headphones, you're really paying for the computer with ANC (and branding, packaging, depending on which version of the series the latest model is on).

The wired IEMs don't have an ANC but I realised I don't need it as often as I thought. I'm certainly going to look for Wired over-the-ear ANC cans next, but honestly I'm not sure if I need them.

Also, I enjoy not having another device to charge. I recently have been wearing a traditional Casio watch more often instead of my smartwatch.

They work just like new and there is something really satisfying about bringing old tech back to a useful life.

I’m using them for monitoring things that don’t have Bluetooth.

I still use AirPods day to day though because it’s so useful to always have something in your pocket that can block unpleasant noise. Bluetooth works fine for me.

So it seems to me like the problem isn't Bluetooth, it's shitty implementations of it.

And it's not just cheap devices. My TV is a fancy LG OLED. For the price I paid it should handle Bluetooth just fine.

It's a real shame. When Bluetooth works, it's awesome, but a lot of people have had their opinions tainted by bad devices.

Charging is a minor inconvenience, but the freedom of not having tangled mess on my hands when I work while I speak is much more worth it.

I suspect the vat majority of these wired ones are for use during online video calls on office computers and laptops.

I know kids are switching to mp3 players because of that.

If someone made a cable with a mic on it for them I'd probably buy 10--it's pretty annoying to switch to Apple earbuds for calls, but whatever.

Like, I have opinions about high-end headphones based on how easy the cords are to replace. That shouldn't be the case.

I was a discrete headphone amp guy, just to situate myself in this market. I didn't expect to get good wireless headphones and think "I'm never going back", but that's precisely what happened.

It seemed cool, people bought it, and then eventually many realized they didn't care about the fancy feature(s).

Actual fact: sales were up 3% last year, a whopping $15 million.

Is it the specs fault? Hard to believe if they have gone through at least 5 major revisions. Is it those stupid engineers that didn't implement the spec? Is it the chipsets? I want to see a "who made Bluetooth suck?" Showdown

I have a pair of Airpod Pros that I use solely for audiobooks and podcasts when I'm doing chores or shopping, but the audio quality is so garbage that's all they're really good for.

I've been on cheap Android phones and just moved from Samsung to Motorola and both have headphones sockets.

When I'm wearing wired earbuds, the feeling of getting the cord caught on something and having the earbuds violently yanked from my ears is one of the most annoying things, like a slap in the face.

Plus I like being able to put my phone wherever I want, when I'm listening to podcasts while doing yard work. The phone stays in the house, or on a patio table, not in my pocket where pruning shears or dirt will get to it.

There are various other situations where having wires going to my ears is annoying or impossible.

"Wearing wireless 24/7 tells me you don't own any land."

I wonder how much is being driven by such lead following.

We are opressed. Unironically I am so annoyed. It was an "ick" before and now its cool again. Okay whatever.

I love my wired headphones though. They support BT but I've used that maybe twice. Ever. Obviously was only because I was using my phone with them, which again don't have a port for the cord.

The convenience of being able to get up and walk around the house, or got out with the phone without wires getting caught makes it worthwhile though. On the other hand for stationary peripherals like mice I would never go wireless. I hate that feeling of complete helplessness to the pairing/connection lottery and the time waste of it.

Personally I use wired headphone at home, either open back or closed back depending on the situation and Bluetooth outside when I don't want to be bothered by a cable.

I think it gets the best of both worlds. Couldn't care less if I look 'cheap' because I have Bluetooth headphone.

"traditional speakers are replacing headphones"

The microphone and communication protocols on Bluetooth is shit. Everyone that talks alot on the phone knows that the microphone one a wired headset is sooo much better than Bluetooth, simple as that. You hear better and they hear you better. That is it

Legendary for their neutral, correct and pleasant sound, comfort, effectively forever durability, and being affordable to boot.

I can plug them to current or 40 year old hardware, and they do work. I use them with Topping DX3 Pro+[0] today.

It is no wonder they want us to instead adopt something active, crippled with bluetooth latency and dependent on lossy codecs, with a non-serviceable battery built-in.

0. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/t...

They have a good mic and fit properly.

AirPods, nope nope nope. I could throw them away after one year and the multi device “dream” s was a nightmare.

I still have my HD580, but I don’t want to have the big cups on anymore

My default is always to buy wired devices, and only consider wireless in situations where the convenience specifically outweighs the downsides - wireless earbuds while exercising or working outside, or while traveling light to listen to a podcast or work at a cafe.

The rest of the time? Wired keyboard, wired mouse, wired headphones, wired controller, wire microphone, etc etc etc.

Barely any devices support being paired with more than one central. So you have to tediously disconnect with the first device in some shitty menu (e.g. on Android the UI is not at all clear), then maybe put it into pairing mode (again usually though some terrible UI because manufacturers think pairing is a rare operation) and then finally pair it on the other device.

Absolutely ridiculous. Oh and what's the Bluetooth equivalent of a headphone splitter? Auracast? It's taken decades to get that and basically nothing supports it.

I do use Bluetooth things and I think the sound quality and reliability can be very good (if you're lucky), but the connection process is miles worse than plugging in a wire.

Fashion is fickle and it's best to not pay any attention to it. Choose the right tool for the job. Sometimes wireless is better, like when running, sometimes wired is better, like doing serious listening in a quiet environment.

All these arguments here about technological superiority are quaint but miss the point. People in the wider world don't have the same concerns the people of HN have here, they're following icons.

For about a month we had videos of people getting in fist fights over fucking Stanley tumblers of all things, those stupid Labubus popped off too, and God knows how many other things come and go in like a month. Unless theirs a sustained long term resurgence in the market, it's probably just another tiktok fad.