They say you should never throw out old clothes because they will come back in style one day. Maybe they are right. We noted in a recent BBC post that, apparently, wired headphones are making a comeback. Like many people, we were dismayed when Apple took the headphone jack out of the iPhone and, as [Thomas Germain] notes, even Google eventually ejected the normal headphone jack. (Although, in fairness, most of the Pixel phones we’ve seen come with a pair of USB-C earbuds.)
On the face of it, though, wireless seems to be a good idea. You can get cheap Bluetooth earbuds now, although maybe still not as cheap as wired buds. Sure, they sound terrible, but so do cheap buds. It is a pain to charge them, of course, but not having to untangle wires is a benefit. On the other hand, you never have to charge your wired headphones.
So why are people suddenly going back to wires? According to the BBC and analytics firm Circana, the second half of 2025 saw an explosion in wired headphone sales, and sales continued to rise in 2026.
Quality of Sound
The biggest reason cited was sound quality. While Bluetooth has made huge strides in sound quality, you are still trading something for wireless. We have to admit, we get annoyed when the Bluetooth drops out, but we wonder how many people can really hear much difference in audio quality? If you care about latency, maybe that’s a point in the wired gear’s favor. But if your song starts 250 milliseconds late, you probably don’t care. It is only an issue when you have video or games.
Many people, when using a modern Bluetooth stack, can’t tell the difference in audio quality between wired and wireless, especially with normal source material and in typical listening environments.
According to [SoundGuys], while Bluetooth is technically worse, if you are over 24 or not in a perfectly quiet environment, you probably can’t tell the difference. Another study found that casual listeners could only guess which headphones were wireless 50% of the time. Even two pro audio people got it wrong 30% of the time.
It Got Better
The problem historically with Bluetooth is that it creates a digital stream to the headphones, which is compressed and decompressed using a codec. The original codec was SBC (Subband Codec), and it didn’t sound that great.
However, as technology gets better, so do the codecs. AAC, LDAC, and others sound great. LDAC, for example, transmits audio at roughly 990 kbps and with very little distortion.
So when you are looking at Bluetooth sound, you have to account for several things. If your source or destination doesn’t support modern codecs, it might not sound as good as it could. In addition, you are dealing with the headphone’s internal digital-to-analog converter. If you think your $10 earbuds have a converter that matches the audio output from your phone or motherboard, you will probably be disappointed. But that’s not a fault inherent with Bluetooth. Cheap sound devices sound worse than expensive ones, in general.
Other Reasons
There are other reasons to go wired. Apparently, some social media influencers have decided that the right pair of wires dangling from your ears is a fashion accessory. Maybe some of it is like the resurgence of vinyl records or typewriters: nostalgia. Or, perhaps it is just a fad. As a practical matter, it does help people see that you are just sitting at your desk swaying for no reason.
Apparently, even the brand and design of headphones are important to fashionistas. For example, the three-year-old video below shows how old Koss headphones with some color changes went viral. (Although of course you can also get a Bluetooth variant.)
While this might not make sense to a Hackaday crowd, headphones have long been a fashion accessory, and headphones like Beats were, at least at one point, the must-have accessory for some people.
Of course, if you really want to make a statement, you can check whether any of the 10 $135,000 headphones are in stock. Or, try a $750,000 pair of Beats, which probably don’t sound as good as you would hope for that price.
Back to Reality
There are people who swear they need gold-plated cables or ones with no oxygen or whatever to get the perfect sound. Tests involving sending audio through a banana don’t back that up.
So, sure, you need to invest in good-quality gear. You really need to make sure the whole setup supports something like aptX, LDAC, or even AAC. You also need a good source. Old movies don’t look better on an 8K TV; after all, why should your headphones improve your 1979 mix tape digitized at 32k?
Unless you are worried about latency or you experience dropouts for some reason, there is very little difference for most people. Of course, if you want to use a wired headphone on a modern phone, you probably need an adapter or USB headphones, which basically have the adapter built in. And your audio will only be as good as that adapter, too, so choose wisely. Don’t forget to pick the right cables, too.
If you are experiencing dropouts, you may need better equipment. Or maybe just take your phone out of your pocket with the keys and the RFID-blocking wallet. Bluetooth can, in theory, travel 30 ft, but reality is something else, and interference from other devices can also be a problem, especially if you have a dual WiFi/Bluetooth device in your computer. We’ve heard, too, that unpairing and repairing can sometimes help, although you wouldn’t think it should matter.
One thing we do suggest. As long as wired headphones are a fad, it is probably a great time to list your old wired gear on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, or a similar site. Fads drive prices up, and the old cans may never be worth so much again.
Your Turn
So what do you think? Can you really tell the difference? What’s your daily driver? Let us know in the comments.
Asymmetric cable earbuds. One wire goes round the back of your neck, then when you take them out of your ears they just hang conveniently around your neck.
I have a pair or small clip-on-ear headphones that spool the wires in when you take them off, so they don’t get tangled up with stuff. Then you can drop them in your shirt pocket or clip them on your collar.
Sony MDR-Q68LW, apparently they go for over 150 bucks now. Original cost was like 20€.
Back to Basics – your sound is only as good as the quality of the speakers/earbuds/headphones.
Can I tell the difference? Yes. Am I an audiophile? No, just a simple user.
Many of the Bluetooth units are the earbud style, and maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never found a pair that stays put for very long. They are always falling out. That’s a big strike for the earbud style.
The wired earbuds maybe sound a teensy bit better, but mostly due to the latency issues. They still fall out, but at least they are tethered and don’t go too far!
Another knock I have against the earbud style is they don’t fare well in a noisy environment. Sitting in a quiet place, they are pretty good; but go for a walk outside and simple wind noise becomes a problem. Never mind traffic, or people talking.
Latency is where I find the Bluetooth units tedious. If you ware watching a stream or video, maybe you can ignore the apparent video/audio sync issues. When on a phone call it’s always the same, I start to speak only to hear the other person speaking. So I stop, then they stop. It can be frustrating trying to have a conversation when both of us are trying to be polite.
On the main, I dislike the earbud style devices for listening. I prefer some form of over-the-ear style, and the more over-the-ear, the better my experience. These can also provide better isolation from environmental noises. The human ear evolved over countless generations and bypassing those adaptations to send audio directly into the ear drum leads to a poor experience for me.
Just my few cents…
Anthony
Had a similar problem, the silicone tips I got with most – except two – pairs of earbuds are somehow too narrow and too long to fill my ear canal. The first ones that worked I got with my Samsung S5 Neo, it came with 5 different sizes and the biggest one had both the shape that fits but also the softest silicone. Its tip was wide and shallow, so I don’t have to push it too deep to make it fit and close off the ambient noise.
It took me some time to figure out what my problem was, tried ordering a bunch of different shaped tips from our Chinese brothers at AliExpress but found not a single one that fits as well. The ones with memory foam were too hard and uncomfortable, the ones with several segments I couldn’t figure out because it was the same as if there were only the topmost segment… I even went and tried various types of wireless earbuds in the shops (and washed my ears thoroughly afterwards). But once I figured out the shape I needed – wide and shallow, it was just (!) a matter of finding photos online of earbuds taken from the side, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. I found that Xiaomi Redmi Buds 5 Pro (and probably other versions) have this kind of wide/shallow tip and it fits me well. Encouraged, I even went and bought their cheap wired version, but the shape is not the same (although reasonably close).
I guess the morale of this story is: figure out what’s wrong with the shape that doesn’t fit you and try to find the one that does. The second, I guess is: I’m not sure why don’t all of them produce shallower tips? To me it seems they’d fit more people.
For me, it is as simple as wired earbuds and headphones are one less thing to ‘think about’.
They just always work when I plug them in, although at the “cost” of a stupid dongle.
No batteries, pairing between devices, or ‘optimized’ volume/eq settings that sound weird and you need to figure out how to change because of course everything needs its own app.
I don’t particularly care about the sound quality, so I just buy the >$30 ones that seem durable.
I just like knowing that things are connected how I think they are and can easily be switched to whatever I want when I want it. Recently I went to do an interview, plugged in my headphones tested the audio all was good. I went to do the interview and the person said they could hear my family but not me. It turns out my wife had connected her bluetooth headphones to the laptop the day before. The speakers went through my headphones but hers had audio so that went through the bluetooth. There was no obvious way for me to notice this. I used my webcams microphone and the webcam was working just the wrong microphone channel was picked.
I am not an audiophile I can’t hear squat of a difference with my headphones. But when I plug them in I know where the audio is going. Same reason my mouse and keyboard are wired.
I am experiencing different pain point – the phone manufacturers decided to remove 3.5mm jack from their new products. So, is there any bluetooth receiver that is able to feed the sound to the 3.5mm jack?
Using a USB-C to 3.5mm audio adapter (or USB-C hub with an audio port) is a more straightforward solution in most cases, but there are indeed many small, inexpensive bluetooth receivers that will work fine for this – if not in stores where you live, then definitely online.
Unfortunately a lot of them require USB power, since they’re intended for adding bluetooth to a car or home stereo, not headphones. But there are some, like the Anker Soundsync (not a recommendation, just an example) that have a built-in battery and controls.
You can also search for “Bluetooth headphone amplifier” on Amazon or wherever, and for around $30 get a BT receiver with TRS analog out and integrated battery. Of course, then you have to worry about carrying a separate device and keeping it charged.
I don’t want a USB-C connector hanging off my phone all the time because it’s too easy to break the port when you have the phone in your pocket. The 3.5 mm socket is more robust and when it breaks you don’t wreck the entire phone because that was also your charging port.
I’m android. Want Wireless charging and 3.5MM Phone Jack ( yes I’m a grey Hair )..
Moto G Power 2025. $300.. SOLD!
Now I do not have to deal with Blu not Connecting and Latency Issues.. Both of which drive me nuts.
Cap
I also bought the same phone for the reasons you state. I also love the microSDXC card slot that must phones don’t have anymore. Why pay more?
Sony Xperia 5V… for the same reasons (and the fact that I still like the design). BT only in the car.
Got a Moto Stylus G 2025 for the same reason.
Theres a $5 dongle for that, jack socket and passthrough charging
In theory, I prefer wired for the convenience of switching them between devices, working with older devices, etc. But the wires on so many lower priced earbuds and headphones are absurdly flimsy, and I find myself resoldering headphones regularly, which kind of destroys convenience benefits.
I’d love to be able to use wired ‘phones, because while my BT buds usually work and sound OK, I can count on one or both failing to connect to my phone when I’m at the gym. Just too much 2.4 GHz going on. But no jack on the phone, sad to say.
Simple! Wireless is simply a vast complexity increase with no benefit whatsoever. Another battery to need charging, signal subject to interference, higher price, earbuds are easier to loose, etc etc etc.
Also, as an occasional audio technician, it is so handy to be able to just plug a device in (pro audio gear will probably never have much / good wireless support, and for obvious reasons!).
I’m sticking with wired, if I have to build a phone to have a jack available!
Any recommendation for a bluetooth with >=8 hour autonomy that you could use to sleep with while listening “white” noise ?
And that won’t hurt your ear.
I’m interested in the same thing, and have tried a lot of pairs, but haven’t ever found a holy grail. “Won’t hurt your ear” is such a personal, individual thing that in the end, I think you kind of just have to try some and see.
Like, my wife swears by the original non-pro airpods (and only the original, not the newer generations) for that sort of comfort, while I find them pretty mediocre.
Two things I can recommend you should be cautious about, though, if you’re not already aware:
One is that if you’re a side sleeper, a lot of noise-canceling headphones don’t know how to handle being smashed into a pillow and will create weird noise and distortion. Not a big deal, since you can almost certainly turn it off, but probably not a feature to shop for either.
Another is that although earbuds with silicone tips may be more secure in the ear and offer better sound isolation, they also seem much more likely to cause discomfort as the night goes on.
I’m a slide sleeper so there will be pressure applied by the pillow to the earphone and then to the ear. If body of earphone has ‘sharp’ edge or is in hard material it will ‘hurt’ more than the simple discomfort you can can feel because the tip is slipping or keeping the sweat/heat/pressure
Ideally the whole body should be wrapped in silicon.
I’ve used these for literally years:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082NZCHD3
It’s not over exaggerating to say that combined with https://www.brain.fm/, they have saved my life.
I’m just a “bit” OCD, and these help drown out the noise so I can sleep.
Good luck
One can be interested in https://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php too. No app. Pure website. You can combine multiple ambiances. For each ambiance you can adjust volume of tracks/frequencies.
How the heck can an article about “Wired vs. Wireless” miss some really obvious points?
Compatibility – Not all Bluetooth is created equal, and I’ve absolutely had issues connecting Sony headphones to an Apple device.
Batteries – Seriously, how was this missed? Major points for wired here.
Interference – BT stops working well in places like convention halls and whatnot.
Author seems really biased (or maybe disingenuous for the sake of generating indignant replies such as ours) and I really think the sheer volume and variety of comments in favor of wired speaks for itself.
I’ve used several kinds of bluetooth headphones/earphones/plugs over the last seven years, and only late last year switched back to wired. The reason? At different price points, I couldn’t find any built to last. I’d order replacement parts, swap batteries, but zero pairs would last longer than six months with daily use, and that’s ridiculous. My signal would drop out on walks and sometimes refuse to reconnect, which would really suck if I was using an app like Zombies, Run that relies on audio immersion to encourage exercise. I grew up on wired, and when I finally swapped back, it was a slap to the face to understand what I had given up in the name of ‘progress’. Wired just sounds better. I also snagged a pair of wired buds from 2007, and even those sound better. I’m not going back to bluetooth, and so far these two pairs are holding up very well to my hectic lifestyle.
Latency is a problem with the cheap buds. Videos are nearly unwatchable. It’s also a problem with my Airpod Pro Max’s. I need sub 10ms to play guitar, and Bluetooth can’t keep up.
You kidding ? The reason why wired is better is so …obvious. No battery.
It just works, without having to worry about charging it before use, or for how long it will last. Add to this that bluetooth never works well, and when it does, you still have the occasional ‘jumps’ in sound.
you can pry the Sennheiser HD25-II from my dead cold hands…
Ever tried to find wireless headphones (or even a BT/jack adapter) without a built in microphone?
I have TRS plugs for headphones on all devices, still my main ones are big over-ear headphones via Bluetooth with Active Noise Cancelling. The only earbuds I use are shaped to my ear and wired, used as battery less backup when traveling. Mainly because the ANC phones sound really bad when used as passive wired ones without Bluetooth.
For me it’s latency. I use my headphones with my phone for video playback much of the time and I can’t stand the audio delay. If I could align it (and I expect I’m just missing something to do that) then I wouldn’t care as much.
Wired headphones never require charging.
That seems like an advantage that everyone should appreciate.
Not so universal…
If you want to connect your device to something running a soundmodem the extra compression of bluetooth might impair that ability. That one is pretty niche but it could matter to a ham.
I’m just generally sick of wireless everything since it’s that many more batteries to charge (or fail) plus that many more ways for interference, eavesdropping, etc. While tangled wires are annoying, they’re easier to troubleshoot than flaky wireless connections and easier to fix than a dead LiPo cell buried in a non-user-servicable device =:-/
I have never used or owned bluetooth, so I can’t form a honest opinion. But for me the main reason to keep going for wired is that they have … a wire keeping them.from going too far away when they drop out of your ear. I am too harsh on myself and too clumsy to replace my earbuds monthly. No charging and It Just Works™ are bonus.
Wired as I’ve been using my walkman headphones regularly since the 90s without them breaking and similarly over the ear studio monitors (sony?) since 2001 with no problems.
Who am I kidding though, any wired headphones made today are made to break.
Wired for music, wireless for everything else. On top of that, both with custom eartips for comfort and insulation.
And dedicated devices for the actual playback of different medias. A DAP for music, a cheap android device for audiobooks, old phone for podcasts and Youtube.
Because ADHD is a thing.
Overall well written covering current modes. I used to call it blurtooth knowing it gave sound a haircut, but no more. The 80’s headphones style small padded drivers on a head bow spring with a single cord on the left side are the best overall with the ability to wear one side off to hear or talk on a phone handset. Never have to untangle split Y cords and figure which is right.
Samsung and Motorola both have models with headphone jacks. My Moto also has mics at each end for near binaural stereo sound as well, stereo speakers too. It’s BT5.0 so I’m ready.
It mentions wind noise, on a bike it’s awful depending what sticks out in the wind stream. I wear a rearview mirror but biking with headset audio is poor overall. Big muff studio type cans kill the noise but worse than the isolation I can’t see out the mirror. I never cared for in the ear buds, too isolationist.
My latest phones started with desktop metal mesh speaker covers with a curvy shape that fits over my ears and a springy steel headband from 1 of many broken plastic bits of so many headphones like those hip Koss with their plastic swivels. I tested this as an ear cover to reduce wind noise even better than in life and then shaped smaller ear sized pieces of the metal cover into a shape to sit right in the dish of my ear and center a driver positioned right at my ear canal.
With a lot of fitting and 1inch drivers they are now comfortable for long sessions with no wind noise or resonance in closed cups with near zero loss of reality sound. You can see and hear through the sides, the most transparent sounding phones I’ve ever heard. All mesh metal no foam or sound altering treatment. Reality unaffected by headphones and real good sound in a version of augmented reality.
I switched back to wired a few months ago, charging the earbuds, and earbud case was too much hassle
I can’t stand wired. I don’t care if it’s a mouse or a headphone, it should be wireless. I can’t walk way with wired headphones which I do constantly. I’ve destroyed many pairs and refuse to go back. I rather watch 64kbit MP3 quality over wireless, instead of lossless over wired. It’s just annoying to have that wire.
I think it depends a lot on your usage patterns. A lot of people use headphones every day for private listening in public places, like riding the bus or jogging or working. And for them, bluetooth can have advantages…they just have to accept recharging every day, and then they don’t have to worry about wires or wearing out their 3.5mm jack. They’re always paired with their phone so there’s no re-pairing hassle. And if there’s a lot of background noise, it’ll be extra hard to notice degradation, and a lot of them listen to podcasts more than music anyways. My wife likes BT headphones and is only considering switching back to wired because she had a run of bad luck buying cheap BT headphones.
But me, i never do that…i only use headphones rarely, and at home. I never listen to podcasts. If i had bluetooth, the battery would always be dead, it would always need to go through the pairing dance, and i would wonder if i’m experiencing poor quality. The one thing i love about headphones is that even a cheap set of headphones will usually deliver fantastic audio quality compared to speakers…at least, for the kind of speakers i buy and the kind of acoustic environment in my house.
Must be a big deal to visit about earbuds on Hackaday. Ha! Only time I use earbuds is to attend a meeting at work. Otherwise, I want to know what is going on around me and hearing is one of those ‘ques’. It is weird to see people walking around talking to themselves in public. Pardon me, but all I see is a distracted person, not a fashion statement!
Oh and wired earbuds for both laptop or phone when used.
I notice that nobody seems worried about having a device emitting radio waves between their ears for hours.
Why would you want to insert lithium batteries into your orifices?
Well, I guess it depends on the orifice, and the type of device!
i have a cat that’s a serial cable chomper. so wireless is the only option.
It is interesting that your cat has a preference for serial cables. Mime prefers charging cables.
I’ve used the same wired headphones for over 25 years for recording and mixing. I know how everything should sound through them and can compare “devices” rather than Bluetooth/buds/codec quality etc. My DAW has a few other BT devices usually connected anyway and I just don’t trust BT to manage it all properly.
And yes, I do hear the difference! Even with old ears!
I just don’t need the batteries, another thing to charge, and another thing to connect and worry about. Wireless headphones solves a problem I don’t have because the wire never bothered me except when it broke which has been pretty rare. Can I hear the difference, in the old ones definitely yes. I don’t know about the new ones but, the initial experience, the additional expense, and the lack of any additional feature that I’m interested in means I have no reason to try another as long as wired headphones continue to exist.
There hasn’t been much mention of Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) headphones, which are fantastic for air travel. ANC requires additional power, and since simple 3.5mm jacks only transmit signal (no separate power rail), ANC headphones almost always have internal rechargeable batteries. So the argument about wired headphones not needing to be recharged is moot for this particular market segment.
I bought a pair of over-the-ear headphones with ANC for $30, and I am very satisfied with them, especially for the price. They connect via bluetooth or via 3.5mm cable, so kinda best of both worlds.
I personally have never had any sound quality complaints with modern bluetooth audio – with my apple AirPods or my no-name over-the-ear headphones with ANC. But also I am in my 40’s and went to a lot of rock concerts w/o earplugs when I was younger, so my hearing isn’t exactly discerning….
I am totally fine with wireless headphones usually. They make a problem when I want to use music programs like software synthesizers because of their latency, like, you can’t play those fast movements because the moment you push another key you still have your old tone, or even the previous tone hasn’t started. It’s absolutely impossible to keep in time.
But when I am outside, wired ones are the only way to go. Wireless headphones disconnect the first time, the second time, it drives me crazy and I lose any desire for listening to some music. It’s horrible!
Bluetooth is a real pain if you want to use a pair of headphones on multiple devices. They usually end up connecting to the wrong device. With wired headphones, you just plug them in and they work.
Latency is also an issue for games and videos. A several hundred millisecond delay is unacceptable. Aptx LL works reasonably well, but there are not many headphones that support it. It also needs a dedicated antenna, so you usually need a separate bluetooth dongle.
Wired. For three simple reasons:
interference (anywhere with high RF usage is a dead zone)
security (Slightly harder to record remotely)
power (to me having to inefficiently recharge is just a massive waste of energy on a global scale)
Wired ones can’t fall out and get in the snow when you’re shredding the mountain. Case solved.
Anything wireless that doesn’t inherently have to be wireless, say a cell phone which you can’t exactly go around connecting and re-connecting to various wired access points, is a stupid gimmick. It baffles me how wireless keyboards didn’t die out like 2 decades ago.
I love my wireless keyboard. I sit on my couch and compute on a 85 inch screen. If I had a wire running across my livingroom my kids would trip over it constantly. Once every 2-3 weeks I plug it in to charge while I sleep.
Sometimes I pull a chair up to my desk and work on a 24 inch monitor. Same computer, Same keyboard, Same wireless trackball. No hassle.
When phones had audio jacks they also had build-in radio receivers, so that you could listen to FM-radio and the cables of the headphone connected to the audiojack were used as antenna wires. A brilliant secondary use of the cables. Now phones don’t have FM-radio modules any more and if you want to listen to a radio station you need to use internet radio functionality, no problem if you have perfect internet access, no problem if you have a big battery for keeping the internet traffic going. But with wireless headphones/earbuds the FM-radio option is no longer possible since the phone has no access to a thing it can use as an antenna. Is this a problem, for most user no.
My phones’ wired headphones (N900, 9300i, Android) typically die after a few months because today’s ultrathin cables break too fast. I even stumbled over sellers that refuse to refund headphones that died after 6 weeks already!
But ok, maybe my next spyphone won’t even have FM radio any more. I’ll get an oldtimer FM pocket radio then!
I will use FM until DAB+ kills it completely and maybe then will switch to AM radio, but that’s food for a different rant …
I’m currently using wired IEMs and have never used wireless before, but my pair is getting old. For my next pair i was considering to go with Shure, They use MMCX connectors on the buds themselves. Making it possible to swap cables and/or switch to wireless later if needed. Said wireless of theirs ain’t cheap, BUT they do seem to support stuff like aptX.
Wired! I don’t want Bluetooth turned on. I don’t want a set of spicy pillows inside my ear canal. I want to disconnect when I decide to do so.
Has anyone solved the microphonics, the stethoscope-effect from wired earbuds? This is my only beef with wired.
BT is nice for music but the latency sucks. It’s annoying on calls and it’s horrendous for video games. I’ve never gotten low-latency BT codecs working, both phone and headphone must support the same codec. All my work headphones have some fast non-BT 2.4 GHz dongle.
old man rant: phone call latency has increased significantly since the days of POTS. I’ve never had this much issue with talking over other people. The milliseconds add up. Adding Bluetooth doesn’t help.