this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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The WH-1000XM5 isn't a shitty wireless headphone, it has issues but I wouldn't call it shitty. If it really was that shitty then it wouldn't have a positive rating on sites like Amazon, WhatHiFi, Soundguys etc. In saying that, I do consider it worse than a wired headphone, but that I believe is because of the limitations of current wireless technology. Thankfully it also has a wired mode which works fine, and the ANC works well too, so it's not completely useless to the point that I'd call it "shitty". It certainly is flawed, and annoying at times.
That's because wires are cheap and easy to repair or replace. What will you do when a wireless headphones breaks or doesn't work as intended? The only realistic option is to replace it, which will either create more e-waste, or just be a PITA in general, trying to find another headphones that work.
Of course. I'm not taking about those cheapo $2 headsets that you'd find in a dollar store.
But mine did though, and also, lithium batteries degrade over time, and that is an undeniable fact. It's also an undeniable fact that it's extremely difficult or even next to impossible to replace the battery on most of these headphones.
Good for you, but that's not enough for me. Every now and then I take a 16+ hour flight (with maybe a 6-10 hr halt), so that battery life isn't going to cut it. And with most of these headphones, you can't use them while charging either.
And my original point still stands. How exactly is one supposed to figure out what's a decent wireless headset? The WH-1000XM5 is still rated very highly on pretty much every website. By all definitions, it's supposed to be a decent headset. If you've got some sort of secret website or method to determine if a headset is decent or not, I'm all ears.
Not really, because my experience is primarily with wired headphones, so I've already got a winning formula for selecting decent wired headphones - the ones which have a replaceable wire are decent, anything beyond that would be nitpicking on the audio quality like audiophiles do, or minor things like ear fit and noise isolation etc - but all that would boil down to personal preference. On the other hand, I don't have a working formula for picking decent wireless headphones, so if you do, please share.
You're so irrationally upset about this that you can't even see how you contradict yourself in your essays.
And why are you quoting me, quoting you?
It's clearly not very decent then if you have those problems.
Your personal lack of knowledge and experience in other fields is not an argument against anything. We get it. YOU don't like wireless because YOU had a bad experience. That's ok. But why you seem to think your lack of knowledge is somehow an argument against wireless=bad is unclear to me.
I do this cool thing where I go to my store. And I ask to try the headset I'm interested in. I get personal hands on experience. I connect it to my phone, and to my watch. And I see how it handles two connections at the same time. It's not rocket science.
Yeah, that's not really an option where I live (New Zealand). We have very limited choices of both physical stores, as well as models available. In my case, the WH-1000XM5 wasn't available in any physical stores when I bought it, also, I ordered it online directly from Sony (another reason for ordering direct from Sony is I get a discount thru my company).
That sounds like a giant. You problem. And not a wireless problem.
How is simply living in my country a "me" problem? Also, the fact remains that wireless headsets in general have way more problems compared to wired, and that has nothing to do with me.
No. It just means you have more problems with purchasing wireless products. How many people live in New Zealand? 5 million? So wireless headsets are bad, because 5 million kiwis can't go to a store and try them. Is that your reasoning?
What are these way more problems? You've listed 2.
Bad wireless connection Batteries can run out.
Wired headsets can have Bad wires or bad male/female connectors too so not really an exclusive problem.
But sure. Batteries CAN run out. Good thing most decent wireless headsets also come with a wired option.
This doesn't make them generally worse. It just makes them worse for YOU. Because you're a kiwi who can't go to a Playtech store or something.
It's not just me, it's the technology in general.
As I said before this isn't really an issue as you can easily replace the wire, but more than anything, it's extremely unlikely that there would be a bad wire/connector on a brand new headset.
Let's go over this once and for all. Because I'm sick of having to repeat myself.
Wireless interfere and other connectivity/pairing issues can be summed up into 1 complaints.
I have had a pair of Jabra earplugs and boss headphones combined for over 7 years now.
Not once have i ever experienced connectivity issues while paired. I have had problems pairing to certain phones. But since that was specific to that phone. I'm not exactly going to blame the earplugs.
That sounds very specific to certain headsets or earplugs. It's a product issue. Not a Bluetooth issue. As mentioned many times. My headset does it seamlessly between devices. It's not a problem if you buy a good pair of headsets/earplugs.
That could probably be the case sometimes. Most likely won't last very long if you report the problem.
My jabras are going strong despite being almost 7 years old. They easily last an entire day of normal use. But yes battery do degrade. That's part of the price you pay for the convenience of not needing a wire. Maybe I'll have to replace them once they hit the 10 year mark. But I'm OK with that. Sounds worth it to me.
That is very personal don't you think? These days remembering to charge things is as easy as remembering to put them in their place. An organized person will have little trouble putting things in the same place once they are done with them.
I can't replace a wire on my wired headset to my computer. Would have to open them up (somehow while not breaking them) and re-soldier a new cable and THAT is a real hassle. Gonna have to buy a soldiering iron too. Probably best for most to let a repair shop do it then. Same as a battery replacement.
That's just anecdotal, that doesn't mean that other products or other users haven't had any issues.
As I mentioned before, I don't care that whether it's a "Bluetooth" isssue or not, it's a common issue experienced with that class of devices. The point is, the issue exists, whether or not it's a fault of the actual Bluetooth protocol isn't the point here.
Again, anecdotal. I highly doubt that your battery would last for 10 years (and still have any useful capacity), which would be going against the well established averages for lithium ion. Many popular wireless earbuds, such as the Apple Airpods, have a lifespan of only 2-3 years.
The fact is that most wireless headsets will turn into e-waste - and dangerous e-waste at that - in a much, much shorter time frame compared to wired. That does not sound okay to me.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/your-wireless-earbuds-are-trash-eventually/
And yet, it's still an additional activity that one may not want to engage in. It's a pretty common complaint, so it's not as personal as you think. Lots of people avoid wireless products for this reason alone.
And as I said before, any decent headset will have a replaceable wire. But even if you can't replace or repair the wire yourself, it's typically not an issue for a repair shop to do it, and it's pretty cheap too. Whereas it may not be that straightforward or cheap to replace a built-in battery - for starters, your repair shop may not even have the battery in stock (especially if it's a 7+ year old, not super-popular model), assuming someone even makes a replacement battery, you'll need the shop to order it in, which can take a long time, considering most airlines prohibit shipping loose batteries in cargo - which means that the battery will need to be shipped by land and/or sea. And even then, it doesn't solve the e-waste problem.
You're really just repeating the same fallacy over and over. If you go to a bakery to buy bread, and then didn't like the bread.
Are you going to blame it on bread in general. Or are you going to blame the baker?
What you're doing here, is blaming the bread for being bread, competed ignoring the fact that the baker simply doesn't know what he's doing.
Any argument I put forth you simply refuse to accept. And it's amazing to me, that you who doesn't prefer to use wireless. Have such a vast experience with them that you can speak in general terms for all of them.
Your bad purchase does not reflect the entire category.
Apple using low battery life on their product does not reflect on the entire category.
Their apple watch has battery that last for 1 day. My Samsung galaxy watch lasts for 5 days
You complain they don't have battery. I tell you that is not really the case, good earplugs can last for many years. But you simply refuse to accept that, citing a different brand?
The amount of wired earplugs that lay on the landfills VASTLY outnumber wireless earplugs.
You don't like wireless because you're stuck 10 years in the past and can't get over that it has progressed a lot. Citing your bad purchase as proof. You ask how to know what to buy. I tell you how. And you refuse it.
I like wireless because I have good products that work incredibly well without issues with wonderful features that is not only convenient, but makes my life easier.
There is not a single wired product that can do what my jabras allow. And that's a fact.
If wireless are so generally bad as you think. Why do everyone use them? If they were so bad as you think. Wouldn't everyone be fed up? The answer is simple. You're stuck in a personal grudge where any argument for them will be brushed off by you as not representative of wireless as a whole. Or you simply refuse to even believe it.
Yes. My jabras really are that old. Yes, their battery is still that good. Despite you believing it or not. You citing apple airpods is irrelevant. They have a short lifespan. So I don't buy them. Because I don't like to buy bad products. It really is that simple.
And neither does gone one good purchase reflect upon the entire category.
The fact that lithium-ion batteries aren't good after 3 years is well established, there are many articles on this from reputed sources. It's not something I made up.
I'm not refusing it, it's merely not an option for me, given where I live.
They don't actually. Check my poll results, check any other polls - you'll see that majority of the users still prefer wired.
It's not, because they have the majority of the market share, and are therefore representative of the market, and their battery life is well documented. Your experience with Jabra is anecdotal with nothing to back it up. Therefore, your single good experience with Jabars is just as meaningless as my single bad experience with Sony.
Do I now? Because whenever I'm outside. I see people with wireless earbuds. I see wireless headphones. But you know what I almost never see? Wired headphones.
The fact my jabras have more than enough battery for that to not be noticeable after 7 years makes it irrelevant.
And yes, you citing apple IS irrelevant because you're doing it as a response to my success with Jabra earbuds. You're using them as some kind of argument against why me having good products that are working well doesn't actually matter.
With your logic. Wired headphones suck because the 30 dollar pair I bought once were really bad. So therefore they're all bad, and any good wired headphone you can mention. Is just an outliner that doesn't reflect wired headphones as a whole. Because the majority of wired headphones are cheap garbage.
I'm sorry, that I have really good Bluetooth wireless headphones and earbuds. It must truly shatter your world since you try to put so much effort into discrediting me for telling you they exist.
If you want good wireless products, that doesn't have the problems you've mentioned. They exist. You can buy them.
If you want earbuds that last for more than 3 years. Don't buy apple.
I know your argument are shit, Because I'm sitting on the actual evidence and proof that your descriptions are not accurate. I'm telling you they work. And your response is "but these other things didn't work!" So? Don't get those other things then.
There are millions of bad wired headphones. But I assume, you don't buy those. You buy the good ones. Apply the same logic to wireless. And you won't have the problems mentioned.
Please wash off your makeup. White and red is not a good look on anyone.
Again, that's just anecdotal. Show me an actual survey or some real statistics which says that users prefer wired over wireless.
The fact that you don't have any evidence to show it is irrelevant.
It isn't, because Apple earbuds are a market leader and their battery life is well documented. Show me some evidence that Jabra earbuds are good even after 7 years, and I'll accept it as relevant.
If that's your logic then by my logic all wireless headphones are bad because of my experience.
So is your experience with Jabra.
Actually it doesn't, because you haven't provided any evidence. A claim of a 7 year battery life on a frequently used lithium-ion battery in a device such as a headset, when the industry average is 2-3 years, is utterly ridiculous and unbelievable.