Wired earbuds:
- have better sound quality
- have less latency
- are cheaper
- can't get lost as easily
- weight less
- don't need to be charged
Wireless earbuds:
- don't have cables that get tangled
- rarely explode inside your ear causing permanent hearing loss
Wireless buds also don’t pull out of my ears when the wire gets caught, or need replacing when the moving parts wear down (I’ve had my current earbuds for several years, I can’t remember ever having wired headphones that lasted more than one)
I agree we should still have the option of either more easily but I’d still be picking the wireless ones to be honest.
The blinding flash of annoyance I feel each time the wires catch on a doorhandle is probably more likely to kill me with chip damage to my heart rate than a battery explosion to be honest.
Annoyance? I would describe it more as fleeting rage.
For me its the other way around - I have wired headphones lasting for many years while wireless ones break down randomly after short use.
We will never see eye to eye
I have never experienced wireless headphones breaking down. Im on my third pair in years - the first pair failed because the cable that joined the two buds died. The second ones, I traded in for AirPods because I got rid of my android.
Meanwhile in the 10 or so years before that I lost multiple pairs of wired headphones to flaky connections - the most common failure method being “have to wiggle it around to get sound through both ears and they intermittently fail if you move too much”
I owned multiple AirPods Pro units over years. Recent models have strong enough ANC, but in addition to losing buds or the case every unit I owned also eventually had a bud malfunction within first few months of its life. Usually it’s a pronounced low bass rumble, I think from ANC either weakening or malfunctioning (which first happened due to possibly careless use in bed, once following a drop, and other times to my knowledge for no reason at all). In my current pair, I had to swap a bud twice. Not a problem, since I do not buy them without AppleCare+ now, but their reliability record compared to my wired Shure IEMs is poor.
Furthermore, battery anxiety. Wired Shure vs. wireless buds is a bit like a regular watch vs. Apple Watch—one is always there, whereas the other if you forget to charge it in 1–2 days is a brick on your wrist—except in case of the watch it is legitimately much, much more functional, whereas between wired IEMs and AirPods they do almost exactly the same thing.
>Careless use in bed?
What is this refering to? Why shouldn't I use wireless buds in bed?
They are (or were) fragile if ANC microphones are pressed against, I think. That was the only possible cause. Good luck avoiding that if you are asleep, unless you sleep like a log and do not move.
I've been using the original Galaxy Buds since they launched. That's over 5.5 years now.
I kept a Pixel and an iPad Pro around for too long and their batteries ballooned. I wonder if that'll happen with the Galaxy Buds.
Maybe it is time to replace them.
> I can’t remember ever having wired headphones that lasted more than one
That's... weird. What are you doing to them? I've had my Shure wired IEMs for 8 years now and they're still fine.
Meanwhile I have a set of 2-year-old Sony wireless earbuds where the battery lasts about 20 minutes. Useless.
Can't speak for them, but I have the same experience. The cable connection (either by the buds or by the plug) inevitably fatigues over time through normal use, and soon starts do develop connection issues. Maybe expensive buds are more durable.
If you never had really decent wired headphones, you might not be aware that they tend to allow to change the cable by simply unplugging it.
My favourite [semi-]wired in-ear headphones are from Shure.
The way the cable molds and wraps around your ears means they don’t get out easily if you accidentally pull it. The cable itself (the weakest link in any wired headphones) is replaceable, no special tools needed, with third-party options available.
One cable I used to have, and I think some units come with it by default as an option now, has a Bluetooth receiver-transmitter rather than the 3.5 jack. This avoids the need to draw the cable directly to your device and the risk of accidentally pulling on it. Resting the receiver on your clothing rather than skin of the back of your neck directly would drastically reduce the impact from any potential explosion, I imagine. Since the Bluetooth-enabled cable connects both in-ears, they never get lost like a pod would. Naturally, this version of the cable also has a mic (arguably better positioned relative to your mouth than one in a tiny bud, in terms of outgoing audio quality).
If you like noise isolation, their black EABKF sleeve passively isolate measurably (and in my personal experience) on par with active isolation from top-of-the-line Bluetooth buds and cans (you should make sure you clean and swap the sleeves regularly to avoid ear infection, but in-ear buds like AirPods Pro generally require the same).
(Connoisseurs will note that the thing to watch out for in case of cheaper IEMs is cable rattle. Rattle is a deal-breaker for me as I wear them outside. Shures don’t suffer from it, though it would be unfair to omit that compared to buds with active noise isolation there is indeed a floor of consistent background hum in the lows if you are moving around actively.)
Finally, they are capable of much higher quality audio (obviously) and cost less than $100. (If you pay the equivalent of AirPods Pro, you can get a version with two drivers in each, promising in theory even better sound, and a chunk of leftover change.)
I use se215’s for my band (probably 3 hours a week), and they’re fine. The problem isn’t the 215’s it’s that I’m tethered to something. Thankfully I bought a wireless receiver pack which negates that problem.
I use the AirPods pretty much every day as my main device. The sound quality is poorer, but not enough to make a meaningful difference when I’m listening to music that was mixed for consumers, or podcasts recorded in a closet somewhere - which let’s face it, we mostly are.
No matter how things are mastered, I hate the booming sound of AirPods Pro and how it skews my perception of highs and lows. (Regular AirPods are not fit for my purposes due to lacking NC.)
Their saving grace is that ANC means they don’t irritate my ears after prolonged wearing as much as Shure’s sleeves do (passive isolation requires a stricter fit).
I have a pair of Sennheiser HD-25s that I bought with my first ever bonus from work in 2000. Still get daily use
I still use the iPhone earbuds I got with my iPhone 5S (the ones that come with the Lighting-to-3.5mm adapter). That said, it only takes one mishap for them to be irreversibly wrecked.
“Don’t have cables” is pretty much 100% of the reason why I prefer wireless headphones.
My hearing is already fucked from exposure to loud noises, so the sound quality difference doesn’t matter at all. The latency with AirPods is also rarely noticeable. And charging? Not a huge issue either tbh. I’ve to charge everything else…
The latency of Airpods is barely noticable because Apple devices are really good at syncing video to the audio latency, so it seems like there is no latency.
I tried using a rythm composer app with the original Airpods a few years ago, and that was unusable, because the delay between tapping screen and hearing the instrument was too high. Not sure if it was just the app or if latency got better in the mean time.
On the charging front, I have a charger on my bedside locker that I can plop my phone and AirPods on, and they’re always charged. Job done. I’ve never thought about the battery life of my AirPods in the time I’ve had them, including multiple transatlantic flights and weekend trips where I’m away from my normal setup.
Wired earbuds - Are now USBc which means you cannot charge your phone using them
We ve regressed so much since my old S10 (+jack +SpO2 +FM radio)
They make small and cheap USB-C splitters for charging and listening at the same time, but it is one more thing you do have to carry and keep track of.
Dont forget the IR transmitter
I remember using that feature to control the classroom beamer...
My work vehicle is an ATV, so I wear foam earplugs all day.
Instead of earbuds (which I dislike anyway) I’ve become a big fan of Bluetooth bone conduction headphones, which bypass the plugs, sound good enough, and can be found for $30 these days. They are reasonably unobtrusive even while wearing glasses. Dust goggles may or may not work, haven’t tried that yet.
The cheap ones also use USB C ports, instead of proprietary connectors like the $150 ones
I'm interested in trying some bone conducting headphones, but it seems like there's two styles on Amazon; those that go around the ear and head similar to Aftershockz, and those that "clip" to the ear. I imagine the ones that are touching yours skull/jaw do better with the actual bone conducting. Did you buy a specific brand for that cheap?
It's time I tried them. I have yet to find an earbud that doesn't fall out of my ear with activity. Plus, working in industrial environments generally means I need to keep at least one ear open, anyway. There's a market someone can corner; a bone conducting mono headphone that can deal with a wee bit of machine oil on the users finders when they need to start/stop the audio.
I’m the same with earbuds, they work their way out constantly. Probably an ear shape thing or something, otherwise I can’t understand why so many like them.
Here’s the set of bone conduction headphones I got, it’s the hanging kind. The brand is “BAICLUD”, just your typical Chinese brand that may or may not disappear in a month: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3LT2Q28
They are supposedly waterproof, so they may or may not do well with oil. In my case, they clean off easy and don’t seem prone to collecting grime/dust. I’ve no idea if there is a barrier under the physical buttons.
So far working well, though one thing I’ve found is that if my phone is in my back pocket and I crouch down or bend over, my body seems to interfere with the Bluetooth signal, sometimes interrupting it. No idea how normal that is with Bluetooth.
The sound will be bit different than regular headphones, but for me it’s not an important difference. I basically listen to Doom and podcasts.
So far I’d be perfectly happy buying them again.
I think an advancement to this style of headphones would be some way to adjust the length and tension of the connection band.
One thing I forgot to mention, is that the situational awareness with BC headphones is better than other options, but can be overstated.
If they are loud enough to fully enjoy, then it’s going to outcompete your environment. You’ll need to have them a bit quieter than you’d like to retain actual awareness.
The "no cables" outweigh all other factors and it's not even close.
No charging outweighs it for me and it's not even close.
Wired headphones
- only explode outside your ear
- last at least 4x longer than "earbuds"
If sound quality matters, then cans are the only choice. It's reasonable to pay for high quality (wired) headphones. They will last many years if treated well. Paying high prices for "earbuds" is a waste.
The wireless era sucks for me. I hate earbuds - they hurt my ears - and over-ear wireless headphones are all huge and hot. I'm pretty sure there are no "open back" ones. Give me something like this but wireless: https://theheadphonelist.com/sennheiser-px100-ii/
Or just release those again, I'd rather live with the wires than all the other trade offs.
For me the difference between wired and wireless over the ear headphones is not noticeable - they are heavy both and I'm okay with that. Also noise cancelling is a bonus for both, even when it's bad it's already nice. Yeah that means I am not interested in open back - I don't want everybody listening along and me hearing everybody as well. But I wear headphones only outside so for the studio or home based folks the requirements list might be very different.
> I hate earbuds - they hurt my ears - and over-ear wireless headphones are all huge and hot.
Speaking as somebody who always finds earbuds unreliably loose or uncomfortably tight, have your tried ones that individually hook over each ear?
While that description does include some over-ear designs [0] others are more like "sporty earbuds" [1].
For the lattee, I find I can usually let them hang freely and maybe turn up the volume a bit to compensate for not having a great seal.
[0] Example: Panasonic RP-HZ47
[1] Example: Panasonic RP-HS16K
I enjoy using both, but you’re leaving out microphonics (especially on zippers), cable tangle and getting frayed/damaged/caught on clothing, just to name a few.
Lack of microphonics is the killer feature of wireless for me, I avoided earbuds for my entire life because of how grating I find them.
He did mention tangling
No decent wired earbuds with ANC or passthrough.
Neckbands are good compromise between the two.
These days atleast in india it's the most popular option out there as they are cheap and wireless.
It might explode but won't make you go dead though third degree burns to neck are possible but rare (as the power density is less)
Wired earbuds of moderate price and quality seem hard to find these days. Recommendations would be appreciated.
There are some amazing low-cost, high-quality wired earbuds coming out of startup brands in China right now, start with looking up the Moondrop Chu and related recommendations along those lines
Shure 215 are a classic
Reddit dunks on the SE215 these days in favor of “chi-fi” though
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/sm3v4x/shure_se...
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/7b1j7z/shure_se...
And yet, people (myself included) flocked en masse to wireless ear buds. The convenience of “no cables” is really burying the lede here. It also means I’m not tethered to the thing that is playing the music.
small wired earbuds with noise cancelling are a rare breed... NC is essential for me
I hate sticking things IN my ears, so I use Aftershokz "bone conducting" wireless headphones.
Not much chop for music but really excellent for podcasts and audiobooks. With both the fact they dont isolate the environmental noise being a bonus and a subtractor.
Bonus meaning I can hear and react to the world around me when using them,
Subtractor being a noisey environment will drown out whatever I'm trying to lsten to.
Was a huge fan of Shokz since 2019. Still like them but have recently graduated to the Huawei Freeclip. Really loving them. Audio quality is better (light on the bass) the lack of band behind means I can rest on my head rest and also wear them in bed to listen while the wife is asleep. Also the mic is a lot better I would get a lot of complaints from friends that my mic on the Shokz sucked.
I am one of those people that play both sides. I dabbled in the Chifi space and got myself some BLON iems which are fantastic value for money and sit in my bag and go everywhere I go. My over ear Beyerdynamics are now approaching 10 years old still going very strong and feel almost brand new after I swapped out the pads
The affiliate ad for Samsung Galaxy Buds at the end of the article… chef's kiss!
And at the top of the page in the "key takeaways" > Samsung's Galaxy Buds FE are known for their affordability, high-quality audio, comfort, touch controls, and water resistance.
It totally bombed though!
There are supplements/medicines which can help recover from sudden hearing loss, eg caused by loud noises - the sooner taken, the better. It's best to get advice from a doctor (I'm a random person online) but I've read about N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and apparently steroids are also a go-to treatment by doctors. NAC in particular is available without a prescription (as a dietary supplement). So if you think your hearing might have been injured, don't wait.
(I also don't want people to read this and just think taking only NAC without asking your doctor what the best treatment is, is a good idea; since it may depend on the cause. Probably taking NAC is safe if you can't get to a doctor right away).
> I also don't want people to read this and just think taking only NAC without asking your doctor what the best treatment is, is a good idea
Nah, I'll go right out and say it: It is a good idea if you've been exposed to loud noises or have noticed the onset of tinnitus. Simple as that. Take it and don't wait for a doctor's appointment.
From experience, most doctors won't do anything. Some will perform an intratympanic corticosteroid injection, which is apparently helpful in most cases, even when normal people are simply exposed to sudden noise [1] -- but NAC is beneficial in any case and won't interfere or interact (in a pharmacological sense) with that shot.
> most doctors won't do anything
This is so true; as a tinnitus patient all the doctors I visited had this disposition which could be simply summarized as "Oh, just go away, I couldn't care less and you just have to man up and deal with it" was something new to me at the time.
It interferes with clotting so it's not considered safe for anyone taking blood thinners or someone with a bleeding disorder.
I agree, but NAC can interfere with other medicines taken orally at the same time, something to be aware of (It's used to treat paracetamol overdose for exactly this reason)
Are there studies that talk about its effectiveness after tinnitus caused due to ear infections? I found this[1] but it talks about exposure to loud noises.
Not that it's useful for me since I have permanent tinnitus for years now due to an infection followed by a sudden snapping inside my ear after said infection, but that any recourse exists would be useful to know for future patients.
"reportedly"
"a user revealed on the Samsung Community forum"
I can't help but think this article is some dumb sensationalist media piece trying to clickbait based on earlier tragic events.
> They said the earbuds were brand new and never charged, only used with the preexisting battery capacity out of the box
Seems like an early failure which is where most products are the most dangerous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve
Always be weary of new gear.
Good grief, it would be Samsung, wouldn't it.
At this point I'll never buy another Samsung product.
If my computer goes to sleep, the Samsung monitor I have will be distorted and non-functional when the computer wakes up, for a duration of time relative to how long the computer was asleep (i.e. how long the monitor wasn't receiving a signal and was "off"). I've missed meetings at work because I cannot use the monitor for literally half an hour. Of course this started happening just after the 1 year warranty period ran out.
My Samsung ~58" TV has black lines forming across it after just ~3 years. The lines are gradually increasing in number and strength, so I guess I'm going to be buying a new TV screen soon.
A family member has Samsung oven (???) which has its interior light blinking on and off intermittenly when you open or close the door. The oven's LED screen is like 10% brightness. Their Samsung fridge is the worst-designed fridge I've ever used, making the approximate worst possible use of the space the appliance takes up. The best is their Samsung microwave: when something is done being microwaved and you take out the food and close the door, the microwave runs again for ~1 second. Like... really though?
There was a time Samsung made some good stuff, but for me they are not worth giving a moment's consideration anymore, sadly.
Adding to this list, we have a Samsung refrigerator that has been serviced three times in five years. Twice for the ice maker (motor failure and sensor broken by...wait for it...too much ice) and a third time for the wires in the deli drawer getting chewed up in the track because Samsung could not be bothered to protect them. A truly stupid design.
I hate that I paid real dollars for that product and I cannot afford to replace it. Neighbor has similar history with their Samsung oven. Do not buy their appliances, at the very least. They are terrible.
I've had the opposite experience. My current TV is a Samsung and has been going for many years with no problems whatsoever. My last TV was also a Samsung and I only replaced it (after many years of use) because I wanted a bigger and better TV. I also have a Samsung fridge, and that has been going about 5 years with no issues.
Evidently I touched a nerve of somewhat strong opinion. I suppose the intended reference to the Tab and Note 7 might have been made more overt.
It would be interesting to know more about it, verify it's true.
The girlfriend's boy should contact newspaper agency, not freaking Samsung forum... Because if it's true, i believe many people would be interested to know if we got another mini Galaxy note 4 in the ear.
Totally faked, imo.
It's only someone claiming it on the forum and if you look at the pictures, the case looks like it's been hit up with some passes of a lighter rather than the battery rupturing...
I feel like we would have heard about it happening more than once by this time. Also I'm not sure that the small 60mah cell in it has enough energy to do that much melting either.
Well that's probably a plus for all the headphones with the battery in the stem. Never thought about it that way.
I can't believe Android Police has a link at the end of the article, directing you to Amazon so you can go and buy your very own pair of Exploding Galaxy Buds lol
I think Samsung saying, hey chill, they just deformed and didn't explode, sort of misses the point. I wouldn't want a little Roman Candle going off in my ear either, which is how batteries usually fail.
I like the affiliate link to buy the buds, at the bottom of the story about them exploding.
Sign of the times…
Are we ever going to get a safer replacement for Li-ion batteries in small electronics?
We allready got them.
LiFePO4.
Do they match Li-ion in energy density yet? Especially for things like the earbuds in the OP, high energy density is critical.
No. But I mean it is like half the energy density, not a tenth. And a nice LiFePo4 cell can match a cheap Li-ion.
Maybe better cycle performance somewhat outweights the initial smaller energy too?
For many users (and for the environment), I'm sure it would, sadly these things get sold on headline numbers like "smallest/lightest yet" and "longest battery life" so a product focusing on that would end up failing in the market
> Samsung device battery explodes, said device being literally inside the ear of the user.
> Also Samsung: The affected user mentioned in the community post that Samsung offered a new pair of earbuds as a gesture of “good faith,” but refuted the claims of the earbuds exploding.
> Samsung device battery explodes, said device being literally inside the ear of the user. Claimed to have exploded. By a random/anon customer in a single event. Where it looks like it's been damaged by a lighter rather than battery venting. Sheesh some people don't need much evidence, I guess.
I love the over-the-back-of-the-neck earbuds, specifically the ones from OnePlus that turn off if you use the magnet to turn them off. I don't think they are popular, so I've ordered a few for when they eventually stop getting made.
Mossad are taking this too far now...
Mossad version would cause a tad more loss than just the hearing.
They're not you buds, galaxy buddy.
Gods I hate it when they use "exploded" to describe battery cascade events.
These are not bombs (like the pagers), batteries in consumer products flare and catch fire they do not "Explode".
There is a very big difference.
Although our day-to-day devices are not meant to be explosive devices (and boy, are they unstable despite our best efforts [0]). I can't help but feel like a line was crossed by whomever performed that type of supply-chain attack: they were effectively a much-more productive Unabomber.
We've been told that surely a couple of grams of explosives were at fault... My main worry (as a ChemEng who has pivoted to InfoSec) is if this was a much harder to detect combination of different battery-chemistry + firmware attack as detonator.
I confess I haven't had the time to read much more into reports but it'd be great to put that worry at hand if there's any writeup about unexploded device tear-downs.
My highest concern is the chilling effect that this can have on freedom of speech (and thought): Can I raise objections about anything or will hacker mercenaries from BigCorp/BigState detonate my device in my hands or sleep?
that video is very interesting but again, we're talking about much higher density forms of energy storage than phones and bluetooth headphones and nothing like the "BANG" of the pagers with actual explosives in them.
As a consumer for me the end result is equivalent- I don’t want any cascading events near my soft parts regardless of them resulting in explosions, fires, or flares.
Do you think the person who now has permanent hearing loss cares whether the technically correct term is explode or battery cascade event? This is so far detached from reality it's downright silly.
The news is not wholly about an individual's damage - it is also about a warning, about technical and engineering information...
I don't think I care about that, when exposing the story to millions of people, but I do care about the word usage. This is not detached from the reality at all. Media should report the horrible thing with the correct terminology, and not latch onto words with established reputation, but hey, as long as it brings in the clicks.
I googled "battery cascade events", and this comment was the top result.
Nice try, dear Mossad agent.
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