We’re knee deep in the world of Bluetooth and the average customer has absolutely no interest in wired headphones or speakers. Still, they complain about Bluetooth, and I’m happy to complain to them. Bluetooth audio is one of the biggest downgrades in technology history – barring a few situations, it’s the worst possible alternative to a messy bundle of headphone cables.
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I’m not getting the audio quality I paid for
When shopping for headphones or speakers, audio quality and price are likely to be the deciding factors in your purchase. You want the best sounding speakers or headphones you can afford – there are some exceptions to this “rule”, but it applies to most situations.
Bluetooth headphones and earphones don’t deliver the best sound for their price. If you compare two sets of $150 Bluetooth earbuds and wired earbuds, the one with the wire sounds better every time. And this situation is the result of both technical and economic constraints.
You may have heard this before; A Bluetooth connection transmits less data than an analog cable connection. While this statement is true, it is somewhat misleading. Wireless audio devices use compression to make the most of Bluetooth’s limited bandwidth. With a codec like aptX we can transmit CD-quality audio losslessly without cables, and lesser codecs come close to this standard.
So you only need to worry about data loss when you buy budget or mid-range Bluetooth products. That’s definitely something to gripe about, but it’s not enormously problem and it will get better with time.
In my opinion, the cost of manufacturing Bluetooth headphones and speakers is a much bigger issue than the data transfer rates. These products usually contain batteries, wireless receivers, computer chips, and other parts that add to their price. And that’s not all – Bluetooth audio devices require custom software and often have dedicated apps, two things that add to development and R&D costs.
Even if a set of Bluetooth and wired headphones sound identical, the Bluetooth model will be more expensive. That’s just the way it is, because the wired headphones are cheaper to manufacture.
The pairing process, the unreliability – a nightmare
Imagine a world where headphones don’t require a pairing process. No weird menus, keyboard shortcuts, or other issues. We once lived in this world, but it’s gone and the nightmare of Bluetooth has taken its place.
Using Bluetooth audio requires a daunting amount of technical knowledge, guesswork, and fingers crossed. It makes no sense. Pairing a brand new Bluetooth device with your phone is usually the easy part — trying to pair it again with a new phone or laptop is like falling into purgatory, and the manufacturer’s instructions rarely help.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to give up connecting my Bluetooth speakers to other people’s phones, and I have Work for a tech website. It makes no sense.
Unreliability is also a major frustration. Bluetooth connections are path more stable than before, but dropouts are still common. It’s not the worst thing in the world, and hey, maybe it’s a decent compromise for wireless audio. But wired headphones don’t fail. If Bluetooth replaces cable, it shouldn’t fail either.
More needy batteries to charge
Rechargeable batteries are wonderful, but juggling a bunch of devices around a charging cable is a pain in the ass. At this point, I really want to minimize the amount of battery-powered junk I have to deal with. Unfortunately, Bluetooth has a different plan.
Most Bluetooth audio devices (with the exception of some speakers) are battery powered — that’s the point. And in some cases, I don’t mind charging those audio devices. Necessary batteries are a good compromise for using a speaker at the beach, for example, and I definitely prefer wearing wireless earbuds to the gym.
But charge the headphones I use around the house? That’s just an annoyance, and I don’t think it’s a solid compromise for wireless audio. And while I’m good at remembering to charge things, I sometimes pick up a pair of wireless headphones or earbuds only to find that the battery is dead. Wired headphones don’t have this problem.
I hear you; This is more of a personal complaint. But it’s something I have to mention because it ties directly to Bluetooth audio’s worst problem – its environmental and economic impact.
Lots and lots of e-waste
Wireless headphones, earbuds, and speakers are disposable. The batteries that power these devices (usually) rarely last more than a few years, and as a practical matter they are basically impossible to replace. The average person isn’t going to saw open their AirPods or rip apart their Bluetooth speaker to find the inevitable tamper-proof screws.
This problem creates an e-waste mess, which is awful as the manufacture and disposal of lithium-ion batteries is not good for the environment. But it also hurts your wallet. You’re forced to swap out headphones and speakers more often just because they have a battery.
Manufacturers are a big part of the problem. As our friends at iFixit found out, you can Build a pair of earbuds or headphones with reasonably removable batteries. And of course, there’s absolutely no reason why large Bluetooth speakers should be so difficult to open. It appears that manufacturers benefit from making their products more readily available, leaving them with no incentive to make changes.
But the nature of wireless audio is also a problem. Even if we could perfectly recycle lithium-ion batteries, the degradation process causes pollution and consumes a lot of resources. And since most wireless audio devices are portable, they require some degree of water protection, which means they’re always going to be a bit difficult to open.
Now, I’m not saying wired headphones and speakers are unbreakable. Poorly made audio products, and earphones in particular, have a very short life before they end up in the trash. But those cheap Skullcandy earbuds you blew through a decade ago didn’t come with lithium-ion batteries, radio receivers, and other nasty bits. And if you buy a decent set of wired headphones or speakers, they should last for several decades.
The worst: we are forced to use Bluetooth
As you’ve probably guessed, I still use wired headphones and speakers. Most of them are several years old and still work perfectly. But I feel like my wired audio devices are starting to become an inconvenience because manufacturers have successfully made Bluetooth the standard.
I blame every tech company for this situation. But I mainly blame Apple for boldly launching the headphone jack-less iPhone 7 to make the AirPods look more appealing. Since that fateful day in 2016, almost every major phone brand has ditched the headphone jack. And while budget devices have kept their 3.5mm connector, that’s slowly changing with the proliferation of cheap wireless earbuds.
Maybe that was inevitable – after all, the worst thing about wired headphones is the cable. But I hate Bluetooth audio and I hate that manufacturers forced it on us. When I finally upgrade my phone, I think I’ll tape a headphone dongle to its case.
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