Wireless Earbuds and Earphones vs Wired Earphones ft. JBL T160BT

Photo by bongkarn thanyakij from Pexels

Wired Vs Wireless Technology is one of the big points of discussion in the tech industry. While the wireless tech is improving in many areas, wired technology is still preferred by many professionals. You will see many professionals using wireless tech like Apple Earbuds in public but you will never see them using any wireless equipments while doing actual work.
Though wireless is the future, it is not yet ready to replace its wired competitors.
There are many tech-related fields where wireless technology has started standing it’s ground, today, we are going to talk about the wireless audio technology.

Wireless Audio Origin

Wireless audio not a very new thing. It was introduced way back in 1998. The first glimpse of wireless audio technology that we saw was Bluetooth headsets.

These types of headset were very common and it always seemed that the person using it was a lunatic and talking to her/himself. These earphones were a fad back in 2000s. Anyone using these earphones looked like a high class businessman. Bluetooth technology was, and still is, the only way to transmit audio wirelessly. Back in it’s initial days, it could only transmit data with a bandwidth of 1 to 2 Mbps which was very low. The same changed when Bluetooth 3.0 was announced, it allowed a whopping upgrade of up to 24 Mbps speed which was at least 10 to 12 times of its previous version.

With the onset of Bluetooth 4.0 and 5.0, the focus was more on smaller devices which don’t require high transfer speeds. The lower data speeds allows a Bluetooth connection to work over a larger distance as the Bluetooth data transfer rate is inversely proportion to its range.

Benefits of Wireless Earphones

We have already discussed the evolution of wireless audio. I have been using JBL wireless earphones T160BT basis of which we will now discuss the benefits of wireless earphones which are slowly matching its wired counterparts. Let’s begin:

Wider Range

The most obvious benefit of wireless earphones is the wide range of operation that it provides. My JBL T160BT has a pretty good range, one can wear it and travel to at least 10 meters away from their smartphone and can still listen to the music.

More Durable

Most of the times, the wired earphones stop working after a few months of use. The main reason for such is defect in the wires. Because the wireless earphones have minimal or no wires hence, they are more durable and can be used for more time. For instance, my JBL wireless earphones are still working even after 20 months of usage. It only has one disadvantage that we will be discussing later in this article.

Easier to Store

Since wireless earphones are smaller and have minimal wires, they are easier to store and don’t get tangled in your bag like the wired ones. This sounds very insignificant but it is very frustrating when you have to untangle your earphones while taking it out of your bag.

Futuristic and Good Looking

The latest wireless earbuds and earphones are really good-looking and it is sure that in the next 5 years, they will be everywhere. The looks go hand in hand with easy storage. Wireless earbuds and earphones take lesser space and look trendy.

Related: These are the cheapest good earphones you can buy.

Disadvantages of Wireless Earphones

Now that we have seen some of its advantages over wired earphones, it is now time to check out the disadvantages of using wireless earphones.

Have to be charged frequently

Because these are wireless earphones, they're to be charged regularly. While buying Bluetooth wireless earphones, you will have to check it’s battery life as you will have to charge it frequently. Charging the earphones can be very inconvenient at times. One thing to also note is that it's regular use will wear out the battery which I have also experienced with my JBL wireless earphones.

Inconvenient to Use

The Bluetooth wireless earphones need to be connected to the device every time you want to use it. For the first time use, you will have to pair your Bluetooth wireless earphones with your smartphones. After that, you will only have to "turn on" the Bluetooth on your device and hope for the device to get connected automatically. This may be inconvenient sometimes as it will take time and sometimes will not connect automatically.

Cannot play FM Radio

FM radio on smartphones work using the 3.5mm jack when an earphone is attached to it. Since, the wireless earphones attach using Bluetooth, you can’t use FM radio using these earphones. Smartphones that don’t have a 3.5mm jack don’t have FM radio most of the times. FM radio is the only way through which you can listen to music without downloading or paying anything. Not able to use FM radio is also a big downside which may cause people to avoid buying wireless earphones.

Average Sound Quality at Higher Prices

The sound quality of these wireless earphones is always lesser at a particular price point when compared to a wired one in the same price bracket. My JBL T160BT sound the same as JBL’s own C100SI which just cost ₹ 600 as compared to ₹ 1699 for T160BT. This shows that Bluetooth technology still has to catch up a bit in order to compete with cheaper wired alternatives.

Latency

The Bluetooth earphones are often laggy. The sound from the device to the earphones have latency which can’t be avoided, this kind of latency can easily be noticed while playing games or watching videos. You will notice that the sound is a few milliseconds late than the actual activity. This can be a deal-breaker for people using the wireless earphones as audio-visual will not be in sync and ruin the experience. My JBL T160BT have a lag in sound while playing PUBG Mobile which sometimes results in me being hungry in dinner as I don't get the Chicken Dinner.

Final Verdict

Now, it is the time for our final verdict. We have seen the Pros and Cons of wireless earphones and now we can conclude the following points:

You should buy Wireless Earbuds or Earphones if:

• You often break your wired earphones
• You want tangle free earphones
• You don’t want to be leashed to your smartphone
• You want to follow the trend

You should not buy Wireless Earbuds or Earphones if:

• You don’t want to hunt for a port to charge your wireless earbuds/earphones
• You play PUBG Mobile and are at a good rank (the latency in sound will make the gaming experience tougher)
• You don’t want to spend more than ₹ 1000 on earphones
• You don’t want the hassle of connecting your earphones every time you want to listen to anything
• You listen to FM radio

You can now just refer to the above mentioned points and decide if the Bluetooth wireless earphones are good for you or not.

Personally, as I said earlier, I have been using JBL T160BT for 20 months now, the only thing that has worsened is it’s battery, it can play music for 4 hours on a single charge which takes approximately 1.5 hours. Apart from that, connecting it again and again is somewhat inconvenient if you connect your smartphone to multiple Bluetooth devices every day. If the wireless earphones are the only thing you connect through Bluetooth everyday then, it connects to phone instantly. I have become used to it now but...

I miss this feeling while using wireless earphones

The image above beautifully captures the moment when your defected earphones just works when handled in a particular way. 
So, guys, that was all, do you have Bluetooth earphones, did I miss something that should have been covered? You can tell me through the comments section below.

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