One sort-of semi solution is to use a bluetooth dongle with wired headphones. Usually still not easily replaceable batteries, but at least when the thing dies or becomes outdated due to codecs changing, you're not wasting as much money and material as you are when you need to replace a whole headset.
There are a lot of decent dongles nowadays. When last I checked I think the Qudelix-5K was the one to beat.
So these definitely aren't audiophile grade audio, but I have the Steelseries Nova Pro which comes with two hot-swappable and replaceable batteries. Always changing one while the other is in use, so I never have to worry.
Main reason I got it was the dual/simultaneous USB and Bluetooth. I'm on Discord or calls on my phone a lot for personal, but want to stay connected to PC via USB for audio (either Teams for the work pc or gaming on my desktop).
I've heard the newer version is slightly better, but probably still below audiophile standards. Either way my ears are pretty wrecked and I can't really pick up fine notes. They're fine by me!
Not a fan of AAAs. They just don't hold enough power.
My approach is just to get ones where the battery last far longer than you need. I'm not entirely happy with that, but my several year old pair has gone from about a week and a half to about a week as the battery has aged. I'm fine with that.
They should focus on electric cars. Replacing tiny batteries in thin phones or thinner headphones is silly to legislate compared to gigantic batteries in big cars. The rest of the car could easily have a 20 year life with no internal combustion engine, but most get scrapped after 6-8 years.
If they want to pretend that they’re saving the planet with legislation, go for the real volume.
User replaceable batteries in earbuds would make them thicker and heavier - exactly what consumers say they don’t want.
I've been rocking my Sony WH-1000XM3's for going on 5 years now and have had absolutely zero issues with battery life (or anything else for that matter). I wear them several hours a day, every work day for Zoom calls, etc. They've traveled with me and are great for flights.
I'd buy another pair (of the newer model) in a heartbeat.
That is encouraging but the fact remains that there is a point of failure in the battery which has a known lifetime of charge cycles. I'm wouldn't tell you not to buy them I'm just a stickler for that kind of thing I guess.
Exactly. Wireless headphones all have an expiration date, they are all future e-waste. A good pair of weird headphones Will last a lifetime if taken care of
I use my XM4’s wired with my PC every day because I don’t like Bluetooth latency but love these headphones. The flexibility of wireless when I need it occasionally is great though! (Like today I’ll use them on a flight later)
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.
Even though I own a pair of nice noise cancelling Sony headphones, I've stopped using it completely. I now only use my airpods pro. I think it's because I hated Sony's app. The airpods pro are just so much easier to use.
I forgot my sony earbuds have an app, I really enjoy the sony earbuds but the mic is completely useless, I tried to be cool like my coworker and use earbuds for meetings and I can hear him clearly through his apple earbuds but no one can understand me, I had to order a headset to use for meetings in order to participate
I got no experience with ANC in over-ears. It's weird: with in-ears, you get pretty good ANC even in the cheaper <$50 ones. But it seems like you can't get decent quality anc in cheaper over-ears...
Slightly rephrasing my question: what's the least I have to spend for over-ears decent quality and?
I have tried several, and been thoroughly unimpressed. My advice is to save up and spend the extra money on ANC that's actually good. Sony and Bose both make EXCELLENT cans with great battery life. QuietComfort from Bose, and the WH-1000XM series from Sony. Don't cheap out, you'll get an inferior product.
You can get them used if you want, usually for under $200. Just replace the ear pads if you're paranoid about germs. I got a used set of WH-1000XM3's from a friend and they've been amazing, for two years now.
Unclaimed Baggage is a cool website, they sell stuff that people left on airplanes. Looks like there isn't much in stock at the moment, but check back periodically and you'll see a lot of good Bose deals.
And here I am mourning the soon to be death of my Bose QuietComfort 35 WIRED earbuds with the insanely soft comfortable silicone ear tips with WINGS that fit super snug & comfy, never fall out.
I’ve yet to find a sub 120-150 dollar replacement for them. I’ve been using them daily for like 10+ years :(
Honestly, you're in for a treat once you find a good replacement. "Comfort" and "wired" are an oxymoron. Wireless headphones can be so much more comfortable.
Is there a reason you're not willing to spend a bit more? I'm on my third set of padding for my current headphones. Good headphones last a very long time and it's worth spending a bit more money.
I've never had a problem with wires on my headphones, I don't really get why it bothers people so much. 30 foot headphone cable plugged into my PC = bliss. Basically as good as wireless.
Something I whine about a lot is that the Bose QC45 is one of my least favourite device upgrades ever. I owned a pair of QC35 II's and I loved them, but I had an opportunity to get the QC45s through my work and figured it'd be nice to have USB-C, so why not. The QC45's are exactly the same in pretty much every way with the exception of USB-C — not an exciting upgrade, but whatever, boring is fine if they work well. But they inexplicably decided to remove the mid-level noise cancelling option that the QC35 II's had. That was an option that would essentially turn down the sensitivity a bit for windy conditions, which I need to wear the headphones outside. On the QC45's, there's only full noise cancelling or off, both of which result in enormous amounts of noise if there's any wind, making them completely unusable outdoors. I've reached out to Bose a few times just to try and understand the decision, but they've never even replied to me. It's a shame, because the QC series are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn, but I can't justify buying anything from Bose again.
I have the WH-1000XM5 and had the XM4s before that (gifted them to a friend) and have been very happy with both. My only gripe is in wish the "white" XM5s where more white and less cream.