Wired vs. wireless headphones: 6 ways wireless headphones win

The revival of corded headphones is making waves, capturing the attention of both old-school and modern outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Mashable. While they were once considered a classic accessory, they’re gaining popularity again, as many Instagram reels and TikToks will attest.

Whatever the motivation for the trend, those who remember the days of only wired headphones may wish to remind new fans why wires and cables were largely abandoned in the first place, and how wireless headphones elevate the listening experience.

Here are six benefits of wireless headphones and earbuds that solve the problems of wired headphones.

Traditional wired headphones tether you to your player with a physical cable, often just a metre or so long. The limited range can feel like a leash, pulling or snagging when you try to move beyond it. With wireless earbuds, like the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, you can hold your head high, swing your arms, and move about without losing a centimetre of freedom.

Thanks to the latest iteration of Bluetooth technology in Bose equipment, anyone wearing them can move up to 9 metres from the sound source without compromising sound quality. That Bluetooth range is incredibly helpful when ticking household chores off the to-do list — you're free to leave your player in one place and move at around as you please. With wired headphones, you'll need to pick up and carry the player each time you take a step.

If you’re an old-school headphone listener, you probably remember spending way too much time unraveling the inevitable knots that form after a few uses. Among the many benefits of wireless headphones and earbuds, it's this one. It's a lot easier to keep knots out of cables that don't exist.

No matter how close an eye you keep on the headphone cable, it can sneakily snake itself around your surroundings, creating a ticking time bomb ready to launch the contents of your desk into the air the moment you step up and away. This can leave many casualties, including the patches of skin where scalding coffee comes down. Wireless noise cancelling headphones defuse the situation, as there are no cables to cause mischief.

Your wired headphones come with a classic 3.5mm plug, but your phone, tablet, and other devices probably don’t have a jack to receive it. That means you'll need to attach an adapter to the device, bringing a third party into the equation and adding one more thing to keep track of.

The rubber surrounding your wired headphones’ cable provides minimal protection against the wear and tear it’s inevitably subject to. Sharp yanks can even pull the bud off the wire, killing the headphones entirely. Wireless headphones eliminate this problem altogether, offering further protection via sealed plastic charging and storage cases.

Despite the resurgence of wired headphones, they come with undeniable practical limitations. As cables once again begin to entangle their adopters and earbud technology continues to upgrade, the benefits of wireless headphones and earbuds will shine all the brighter.

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