Honestly the average user should probably go wireless. The convenience factor is huge, and most of these new headphones come with active noise cancelling.
The average pair of wireless headphones is also good enough for casual listening (depending on codec) and can come pretty close to wired solutions.
That said, I would never go for wireless on ear/over ear headphones again. The more features something has, the harder it is to fix when something breaks.
My wireless solution is a set of mmcx in ear monitors connected via Bluetooth adapter. Even without active noise cancellation, they block out sound well. For desktop my job requires critical listening, and I like neutral signatures, so I’d rather stick to desktop monitors and wired solutions.
See I’ve had the opposite problem. Every single pair of wired headphones I’ve ever owned, except for my current pair, has failed when the wire had flexed too much. I suspect the current pair has lasted so long because I’ve almost entirely switched to wireless.
Some really expensive small ones I’ve used can fail after single digit hours of use (luckily work pays for those… and they’re willing to make that compromise for nearly invisible cables). I keep a box of a dozen new sets ready to go under my desk, they’re several hundred dollars each. We don’t allow the wearer to put them on or take them off - an assistant carefully does it and tapes the cable to their skin under their clothes to try to reduce the risk of failure.
Obviously there are wired headphones with thicker / stronger cables, but those come with serious comfort compromises which most people just are not willing to make. There are jobs where you need a wired pair. I work one of those jobs. For any other situation though, I think wireless is better, and I use wireless as much as I can.
@abhibeckert@ArtificialLink I’ve got many pairs of wired headphones, and I’ve had exactly one pair fail due to the wire. Most of them are still working, barring physically breaking apart.
Honestly the average user should probably go wireless. The convenience factor is huge, and most of these new headphones come with active noise cancelling.
The average pair of wireless headphones is also good enough for casual listening (depending on codec) and can come pretty close to wired solutions.
That said, I would never go for wireless on ear/over ear headphones again. The more features something has, the harder it is to fix when something breaks.
My wireless solution is a set of mmcx in ear monitors connected via Bluetooth adapter. Even without active noise cancellation, they block out sound well. For desktop my job requires critical listening, and I like neutral signatures, so I’d rather stick to desktop monitors and wired solutions.
The convenience of wireless is great but it also means you’ll need new headphones right around ever 5 years.
Wired is still the best option hands down imo. I can buy headphones that last for decades not years.
See I’ve had the opposite problem. Every single pair of wired headphones I’ve ever owned, except for my current pair, has failed when the wire had flexed too much. I suspect the current pair has lasted so long because I’ve almost entirely switched to wireless.
Some really expensive small ones I’ve used can fail after single digit hours of use (luckily work pays for those… and they’re willing to make that compromise for nearly invisible cables). I keep a box of a dozen new sets ready to go under my desk, they’re several hundred dollars each. We don’t allow the wearer to put them on or take them off - an assistant carefully does it and tapes the cable to their skin under their clothes to try to reduce the risk of failure.
Obviously there are wired headphones with thicker / stronger cables, but those come with serious comfort compromises which most people just are not willing to make. There are jobs where you need a wired pair. I work one of those jobs. For any other situation though, I think wireless is better, and I use wireless as much as I can.
@abhibeckert @ArtificialLink I’ve got many pairs of wired headphones, and I’ve had exactly one pair fail due to the wire. Most of them are still working, barring physically breaking apart.