Fair. Personally I prefer wireless, since my headphone wires break all the time due to heavy use, but I can understand, why you'd like to be able to use both.
For larger models, replaceable batteries would improve this situation a lot. Of course that would hurt the manufacturers' planned obsolescence strategy.
A decent pair can charge enough for hours in minutes. When they about to die, pop one out and into the case, let it charge until the one in your ear is dead or dying, swap them out, 10 minutes and you’re back to stereo for a few hours.
I can get 2-3 days of use out of my wireless before they absolutely need to be charged. They’re not the best sound quality out there, but they have the features I need for my situation.
I'm not super versed on monitors outside of stage performances, and I didn't do acquisitions. Don't most people who use IEM's for standard audio use a nice driver or prefer a device with a good audio out and lossless format compatibility? I guess I kinda assumed if you cared enough to distinguish using monitors instead of earbuds you care about other factors too.
IEM is easier to type than "in-ear headphones" and has become the defacto generic term for them, just like "monitor" has become to mean any stand mount/bookshelf speaker.
Anyway, over the past few years the market has flooded with cheap and very good "IEM-s" by manufacturers like Moondrop, Truthear and others. 30€ can get you a pair that follows Harman curve quite closely and has low enough distortion to allow EQ. Generally they use 10mm dynamic drivers instead of balanced armatures, but they also have more expensive multi-way BA and DD/BA options.
In short, high quality IEM style headphones have become a commodity and you don't need to be an audiophile or muso who's willing to pay hundreds for Shure SE535-s.
Last time I tried to use wired headphones for work, the connection snapped off in the port. I’m definitely good to stay away from wired headphones for everything other than my computer.
Not so true. I use a set of “wireless” where the two ears are connected around the back of my neck. (A pair of beatx). These have 12hr battery and I listen a lot. I only kill the batteries on long ski days (the cold probably bring the battery life down a bit).
All my complaints at this point are lack of options in this mostly perfect form factor.
(Better fit in my ears, better sound, etc). This isn’t a wired/wireless problem.
Are these detachable wires? Because I used to kill headphones all the time tripping over their wires but since I started getting ones with the 3.5 mm jack on the headphone side that hasn't happened since.
I recently switched to wireless over-the-ear headphones and overall happy. However, when it comes to earbuds - they would only be wired. Unlike my large headphones, which can be unscrewed for that, most earbuds would have trouble wen replacing the battery. And - maybe more importantly - easier to lose since they're separate and so small.
This is the correct answer. It's about having choices. I very often forget to charge my wireless when I need it and when it's dead, all I have to do is pull my wired out since my phone has the headphone jack. And when I work, I use my wired to listen to music, because in that situation, wired is simply superior.
So I will always buy a phone with a headphone jack because I don't want a perfectly workable, harmless feature that I need to be taken away from me.