I hate wires. For a long time I’ve wanted to exclusively use wireless earbuds, but they just haven’t been good enough. It was impossible to pair them over Bluetooth, they sounded awful, and the battery life lasted about fifteen minutes. Things, however, have changed.
Three weeks ago I bought a pair of BeatsX and I haven’t looked back since. Wireless earphones are finally good enough for the real world. Here’s why.
Bluetooth Finally Works
The biggest barrier to wireless tech has always been Bluetooth. For years, it was little more than a punchline. 60 percent of the time, it worked every time—if you were lucky. You could easily spend ten minutes trying to pair your phone and handsfree kit and still have no idea why they wouldn’t connect.
At some point over the last few years, Bluetooth got… well if not good, usable. It gradually started sucking less—pairing would take six minutes instead of never—and eventually, it generally worked when you wanted it to. There’s still the occasional hiccup but for the most part, it’s pretty seamless. It might take a bit of faffing to get everything to pair first time around, but after that you should be good to go. Dropped connections used to be a daily occurrence but now they’re a rare event. Just make sure you’re using a modern smartphone and headphones; that Jawbone earpiece from 2007 is still not going to connect no matter how hard you try.
And things are only getting better. Apple’s proprietary W1 chip, that’s in my BeatsX earphones as well as Airpods, makes connecting even more reliable.
In the three weeks I’ve had the BeatsX there’s only been one time when they wouldn’t pair with my iPhone. The reason? I’d turned Bluetooth off. That’s five minutes of my life I’m not getting back.Similarly, the Samsung Galaxy S8 has the latest Bluetooth 5.0 standard and is, according to How-To Geek’s resident Android expert, Cam Summerson, “the best Bluetooth experience [he’s] ever had.” More phones should support it soon.
They Sound Good (Enough)
Wired earbuds still sound better than Bluetooth ones in ideal circumstances, but that’s about it. The latest incarnation of Bluetooth has enough bandwidth for CD level audio quality; even higher if you’re using an Android handset and headphones that support AptX. If you’re listening to streaming music or MP3s you pirated in 2004 on a noisy bus, Bluetooth probably isn’t the weak link in your audio setup.
Similarly, a cheap pair of wired earbuds will sound way worse than a decent…
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