Advice Request Are Wireless Earbuds Worth it??

[SohanRay]

I have heard and seen that Wireless earbuds have in general a much shorter long term life span than Wireless Neckbands and Wired earphones. Their battery starts to drain much faster say after a year. Sometimes one of the pair stops working even. In short, their longevity is much shorter than Neckbands or wired earphones.

 

[Paul Lee]

Their lives are "shorter", but you don't buy wireless earbuds if you're looking for longevity. You buy them for the convenience of popping them open, putting them in your ears, automatically connecting and going to where you need to go without fiddling with cables. Most earbuds last a good 4-5 hours on a full charge and offer some sort of quick charge in the case that gives you something like 2 hours of listening time in 10 minutes worth of charging, which isn't half bad. Owner of AirPods Pro for 2 years here, battery isn't noticeably different from when I originally got them, and I still love them. Never going back to wired earbuds unless it's for super detailed listening.

 

[SohanRay]

Their lives are "shorter", but you don't buy wireless earbuds if you're looking for longevity. You buy them for the convenience of popping them open, putting them in your ears, automatically connecting and going to where you need to go without fiddling with cables. Most earbuds last a good 4-5 hours on a full charge and offer some sort of quick charge in the case that gives you something like 2 hours of listening time in 10 minutes worth of charging, which isn't half bad. Owner of AirPods Pro for 2 years here, battery isn't noticeably different from when I originally got them, and I still love them. Never going back to wired earbuds unless it's for super detailed listening.

I heard in a youtube video that since the buds always stay in the charging case, that automatically puts its battery at a degrading state over time. Plus carbon accumulates at the charging pins which keeps lowering down the charge capacity of the buds too. Isn't that so?

 

[Paul Lee]

I heard in a youtube video that since the buds always stay in the charging case, that automatically puts its battery at a degrading state over time. Plus carbon accumulates at the charging pins which keeps lowering down the charge capacity of the buds too. Isn't that so?

Nope, buds & electronics are smart enough these days to stop charging at 100% to preserve the battery long-term.

 

[poopdookie]

Depends on what you are using them for. Exercise? Calls/Communicating? Listening to music? You can use them for the convenience of not having cables/controlling through an app. There are different models that do different things well (you wouldn't buy a Jabra for listening to music, but for calls). I have original airpods that are ancient and still hold a good charge, but are (next to) useless because they don't have noise cancelling and don't sound great for music listening. I have better non-apple pairs (tg) that do a few things well (commuters would love them).

 

[SohanRay]

Depends on what you are using them for. Exercise? Calls/Communicating? Listening to music? You can use them for the convenience of not having cables/controlling through an app. There are different models that do different things well (you wouldn't buy a Jabra for listening to music, but for calls). I have original airpods that are ancient and still hold a good charge, but are (next to) useless because they don't have noise cancelling and don't sound great for music listening. I have better non-apple pairs (tg) that do a few things well (commuters would love them).

So are you saying that even though quite a few years old your wireless earbuds have the same sort of battery life with each full charge?

 

[SohanRay]

Nope, buds & electronics are smart enough these days to stop charging at 100% to preserve the battery long-term.

I have also seen many people writing on their posts that after like 3 years of use their wireless earbuds loose a lot of battery capacity and like die in 15 mins or so after that....

 

[poopdookie]

So are you saying that even though quite a few years old your wireless earbuds have the same sort of battery life with each full charge?

Definitely not the same charge as orignal purchase, If I had to guess, I would say 65% after four years? I forgot when they came out. Either way, they are so cheap now and there are so many brands go for it. I like Sonys the best since they do everything well minus being bulky and heavy, but do research, find out if you have small ears and buy what you need. If you want noise cancelling, to my knowledge Sony>Bose>AKG but it changes every quarter so this will change by the time you read this. I laugh when people post "omg these are the worst", or "these are the best" since there are so many variables with hearing/ear shape, device you are connecting to, codec etc.

 

[blackice]

Lithium-ion batteries tend to lose 20% of their current charge per year worth of charging cycles. So after a year of average use you’d have 80%. 2 years 64ish% (80% of 80%). As time goes on the resistance of the electrons increases. There are ways to mitigate this. Don’t deep charge (drain below 20% or let them die), and when storing them for extended periods store them charged (usually recommended storing at 80-90% charger, but I’m not sure if this recommendation still stands). It really depends on how much you use them.

 

[SohanRay]

Lithium-ion batteries tend to lose 20% of their current charge per year worth of charging cycles. So after a year of average use you’d have 80%. 2 years 64ish% (80% of 80%). As time goes on the resistance of the electrons increases. There are ways to mitigate this. Don’t deep charge (drain below 20% or let them die), and when storing them for extended periods store them charged (usually recommended storing at 80-90% charger, but I’m not sure if this recommendation still stands). It really depends on how much you use them.

Compared to neckband earphones, don't tws have shorter life span still?

 

[blackice]

Compared to neckband earphones, don't tws have shorter life span still?

I would assume so since they probably have to use smaller batteries. But that’s just a guess as I haven’t read up on the most recent developments in battery technology. But resistance develops over time, it’s just physics.

 

[SohanRay]

I would assume so since they probably have to use smaller batteries. But that’s just a guess as I haven’t read up on the most recent developments in battery technology. But resistance develops over time, it’s just physics.

Yeah, but if say I buy a neckband and a tws then the neckband would last like 2-3 years longer at least right?

 

[blackice]

Yeah, but if say I buy a neckband and a tws then the neckband would last like 2-3 years longer at least right?

It all depends on how you use it. But it does seem like the neckband ones last longer.

 

[SohanRay]

It all depends on how you use it. But it does seem like the neckband ones last longer.

Tws or neckbands, I use for all purposes they can serve. Calling, music, movies etc.

 

[Digmor Crusher]

Just my worthless opinion. I only use wired headphones at my desktop to listen to music, maybe a couple times a month, in no way shape or form would I use earbuds for this .( or anything really)

 

[spiritedawaymadmax]

Their lives are "shorter", but you don't buy wireless earbuds if you're looking for longevity. You buy them for the convenience of popping them open, putting them in your ears, automatically connecting and going to where you need to go without fiddling with cables. Most earbuds last a good 4-5 hours on a full charge and offer some sort of quick charge in the case that gives you something like 2 hours of listening time in 10 minutes worth of charging, which isn't half bad. Owner of AirPods Pro for 2 years here, battery isn't noticeably different from when I originally got them, and I still love them. Never going back to wired earbuds unless it's for super detailed listening.

Within that time span, did you used them often to listen to music (like 30mins - 1 hour per day)?

 

[Paul Lee]

Within that time span, did you used them often to listen to music (like 30mins - 1 hour per day)?

Roughly 1 hour a day I'd say when I used to go to take the bus to school, if not a slight bit more (around 1:30 to 2 hours) during the weekdays. I recently switched to Android and I'm considering the Pixel Buds Pro, but I'd still recommend the Airpods Pro to iPhone users, especially since they refreshed them with better noise cancelling & better battery