Truly Wireless Headphones: What Should You Know Before Buying

Truly Wireless Headphones: What Should You Know Before Buying

Choosing headphones is a real pain for ordinary music lovers, not to mention music lovers. There are many options, even if you limit yourself by some criterion. Take, for example, the so-called True Wireless category – headphones completely wireless. A striking example of such headphones is Airpods, which are just two earbuds for your ears. There are many other models, and how to understand what to take? Should I take it at all? What’s important? Is there a secret big secret? I tell you.

Apple Airpods: convenience but price

I started with Apple Airpods, because no matter where you look, everyone advises and praises them. For the owner of the iPhone and other Apple devices not sophisticated by the sound quality, this option is almost ideal – this is without any irony. Judge for yourself. One charge lasts for 3.5–4 hours of music, and with a case – all 20 hours. Very solid. And also – convenient control via Siri and ease of connection. They say the case is still nice to click in the manner of Zippo lighters. Oh yes, the sound … Now it is no better than a wired headset, which comes bundled with the gadget. Airpods (like most analogues) have zero noise isolation and fixation in the ears, which, alas, is not suitable for everyone. And this is at the cost of a budget soundbar with a subwoofer for a home theatre. There are many other best bone conduction headphones you can try if you don’t want to buy Airpods for better sound quality.

Budget True Wireless headphones: price but the convenience

I will make a reservation right away: fakes of obscure brands are sideways. This does not mean that Apple has no competitors, but the idea of ​​making in-ear earphone wireless is quite complicated, and it is too early to rely on the globalization of production in China, but China has long been not only replicas of low quality. It is no coincidence that of the worthy alternatives, it is Chinese brands, for example, Xiaomi, that pop up in the memory first of all. The most striking difference from Airpods is the significantly lower price. But with convenience there is an unpleasant nuance: in the simplest True Wireless, one of the headphones is the main one, and the second is an auxiliary one. When you listen to music in the subway and transport, it is imperceptible, but when it comes to conversation, you need to remember that you can get for this only the right “ear”: the left microphone may not be.

Nozzles for True Wireless: a day with fire

Any True Wireless proponent, especially at the cost of a good smartphone, will easily get furious when you lose your favourite silicone tips. For the uninitiated, the problem seems far-fetched and wild. But it’s like a pebble inexpensive sneakers: until you take it out, your super-comfortable shoes will only annoy you. Each of us has individual anatomy features, and not everyone will use the same headphone headsets that a neighbour use. But it’s one thing to pick up insulating tips for wired headphones. The trouble with True Wireless is that the charging cases for them are designed for attachments that come in a bundle, and not for those that suit you. It’s difficult to pick up. If this is your pain, I recommend looking for the right one among Sony’s budget wired headphones.

Connection and management: secrets of the Madrid court

If you only want to embark on the thorny path of the owner of True Wireless headphones, you must understand that managing them is not so simple. We can say that with Apple smartphones everything is almost perfect, but the problem of management will affect iPhone owners if you want to find an alternative to Airpods. The apple giant did a good job of compatibility with its own wireless headphones, but all the competitive solutions from Huawei, Samsung, JBL and others work with the iPhone far from the best way. It is hardly a coincidence that competitors from Apple compete better on Android smartphones. By the way, branded applications for accessory management are available on Android smartphones – it is through them that it is easier to monitor the level of charge. In Apple smartphones, all wireless accessories display the remaining charge in the notification panel.

Codecs: Limited Quality

The quality issue starts with supported codecs. A codec – just in case, I remind you – this is such a software algorithm that allows you to encode sound for subsequent transmission, for example, in the same headphones. Sound coding distorts the sound, and the better the codec, the less distortion, but the harder the hardware of your gadget and its accessory should be. Top-end wireless headphones cost a few hundred dollars for good reason – support for a good AptX codec and other high-resolution codecs – a balm for the soul of music lovers. But the budget True Wireless most often are satisfied only with mediocre SBS codecs or, at best, the average AAC. By the way, only AAC is also available from Airpods. Want the purest sound? The True Wireless family is a complex topic.

The big secret: the main plus of True Wireless

Well, I reveal the most important thing. Buying truly wireless headphones is not for music, but for communication. If you chat for dozens of minutes, the tiny TWSs are perfect: you won’t want to return to wired headsets. If music is more important, I recommend wiping away tears, abandon everything small and wireless and take a closer look at full-size headphones with a headband. At the worst, look among the models in which the headphones are connected by a common wire and a separate battery pack.