Commentary

I Swapped My AirPods for Wired Headphones (And I’m Glad I Did)

By Ben Stockton

Published June 17, 2024

I’ve swapped my Apple AirPods for wired headphones and I’m happier for it. Here’s why.

When the AirPods launched in 2016, they weren’t the first wireless headphones to launch with a battery case, but they certainly brought the idea into the mainstream. Now, almost every set of wireless headphones of a similar size comes with a battery case, making it easy to keep them charged and in use.

I have AirPods, I use them, I like them well enough, but I don’t love them like my wired headphones. Even a cheaper pair of wired headphones, for me, is better than my AirPods. Why? Well, that’s complicated.

I don’t need to worry about dead batteries

Four full charges. That’s about as much as you can expect from the AirPod charging case before you need to plug it in for a recharge. That’s not bad, and given its size, perhaps I shouldn’t be so ungrateful—after all, my AirPods charge quickly enough in its case, making it pretty hassle-free.

I also don’t need to worry about the health of my batteries. After about two years, the batteries in my original AirPods became noticeably poor. I was forced to replace them. Two years, compared to the 5+ years I’ve owned a pair of Sennheisers.

With wired headphones, however, I don’t need to care about any of this. I don’t need to be worried about how much battery I have left or how healthy they are. I don’t need a special battery case for any of my wired headphones. The same is true for owners of EarPods, the AirPods wired predecessor, as it is for my more expensive Sennheiser set. 

One less thing to worry about is a win in my book.

Wired headphones are harder to lose

AirPods are small. Very small. So small that Apple has integrated its Find My technology to help you find them, as long as you didn’t move or lose it while the battery was dead.

I can’t pretend that this isn’t a problem with wired headphone users. Admittedly, you could lose a pair of wired headphones—there isn’t some magic spell to stop that. Thanks to the cable, however, I’d argue that it’s harder to do. You might have it plugged into your phone or laptop. Even if it falls out of your ear, it isn’t going to go as far as an AirPod might, and the cable makes it much easier to visually see.

I’ve never lost a pair of wired headphones while I’ve been out or about, but I have dropped and lost (temporarily) an AirPod or two. My AirPod Pros are my worst offenders, as they don’t sit in my ears as well as my original 1st-gen AirPods did.

Bluetooth isn’t a substitute for plugging in a cable

For me, though, there’s one huge advantage of my wired headphones over any wireless headphones, whether it’s AirPods or something else. It isn’t the cable. It’s not using Bluetooth.

In theory, Bluetooth is great. It offers low-powered, wireless connectivity. In my experience, however, using Bluetooth is never straightforward. Pairing products is never as easy as it should be—you’re often forced, multiple times, to try and pair a product for it to connect, or you’re forced to re-pair it at a later date. Interference is uncommon, but not rare enough that it isn’t encountered.

You then add Apple into the mix and the problem is made worse. For a long time, I suffered an odd Bluetooth issue when connecting my AirPods to my MacBook, where the sound would slow down, distort, and then finally stop. The issue was with the Bluetooth radio on the version of macOS I was using—it took a future bug update, a year or so later, to fix it. 

My AirPods connect easily enough on my Android smartphone, but it isn’t seamless either. Apple doesn’t design products to use outside of its own ecosystem. That means that I need to use a third-party app to be able to monitor the AirPods’ battery life and take full advantage of its functionality.

On Bluetooth, you also have to worry about which devices are connected. In my experience, when one device tries to muscle another one out, connectivity becomes a problem—one that requires you to restart the Bluetooth radio on your device.

Wired headphones? No problem. None of these problems exist. If I want to switch devices, I just move the cable from one to the other. As long as the headphone’s port (USB or Aux) is there, the device accepts it and it works. Job done.

AirPods have their use, but give me wired any day

I haven’t completely stopped using my AirPods. While my AirPod Pros fit less comfortably in my ears than the original pair I owned, they’re small and portable enough that I’ll always keep them paired up and close to my MacBook. The battery life is good enough that as long as I remember to charge the case regularly enough, I won’t run into too many difficulties.

I’m not anti-AirPod, and I applaud Apple for creating a product like them that makes owning wireless headphones less of a chore. I think wireless headphones like the AirPods have their uses. However, when I really want to be comfortable listening to something, my AirPods aren’t going to be my top choice. 

I’d rather plug in my Sennheisers and know that I don’t need to care about Bluetooth connectivity or battery life. More importantly, the sound quality is better, especially considering they cost less. What about you—do you prefer your wireless headphones (AirPods or not) or are you stuck to your wires? Let me know your thoughts below.