Bluetooth earbuds vs. wired

[Kulliman]

Any opinions out there on using Bluetooth earbuds vs. wired earbuds? Do Bluetooth earbuds drain iPhone batteries? Are there Bluetooth earbuds that have long battery life between charges and ones that charge fast? Also, are there any good small lightweight "just for music and pod cast" Bluetooth enabled devices that will work good with an iTunes collection? Is there any solution to get an old iPod nano to work with Bluetooth earbuds?

[soumodeler]

I would say wired would just be easier overall. One less thing to charge, especially if the bluetooth earbuds need a different charging cable than the phone. I would guess the overall power needs would be about the same.

[Cheyou]

I saw lots of Apple EarPods on the AT this year.

[Rex Clifton]

Average life for a pair of wired ear buds for me is around a day. So easy to break those things. I use Jaybird Freedoms, great sound. I tried the Apple Earpods but they sound like crap compared to the Jaybirds.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using Tapatalk

[DownEaster]

I got some Philips bluetooth headphones that do the job, but then I also ordered some wired headphones. The reason: the wire acts as an antenna so my phone can pick up FM radio. When they arrive, I'm going to see if the wired headphones, in a ziploc bag with the phone, will let me listen to FM radio using the bluetooth headphones. If this works, it might be a nice option for rainy days.

[rocketsocks]

Stay away from the cheap “impulse buy” at the counter ones, not exactly what I’d call high fidelity, ok for taking a call, but suck for music.

[jjozgrunt]

My kids bought me Trekz Titaniums as I was always getting wires tangled then broken. Love them as they leave the ears free to hear because they are bone conduction and sit in front of the ears. Sweat proof which is great and I have worn them in light rain with no damage. Only about a 6 hour charge but I only listen to music occasionally when walking, they are mainly for end of day, or if I'm expecting a call (if I have the phone even turned on). Compact, light, and use the same plug as a samsung phone. https://aftershokz.com/products/trekz-titanium

[JC13]

I believe leaving the bluetooth option turned on will drain additional power from the phone, I haven't measured it though. I personally like BT over wired for working out. I have been looking at snagging these on Amazon. Water resistant and supposed 12.5 hr run time per charge. I have taken wired in the past but not for music, I use them for video sound quality.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0721MP41Q/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A294P4X9EWVXLJ

[jgillam]

I’ve got the Apple AirPods and really like them. Battery life is good for normal life but, for the purposes of a hike, they would need to be charged too often and if you dropped one between rocks, you’d never find it.

For hiking I tried traditional wired earbuds but, much preferred to just turn up the volume on my phone and listen to it from my Zpacks chest pouch.

[Alligator]

BT drains your phone battery, I suspect one has the option to turn it off in an iPhone as can be done with an Android device. A wired set will also draw power but most sources suggest this is less than the BT signal drain. Hard to say exactly because you would need nearly identical ear buds to test, one wired, one BT. Theoretically, both need power to make sound, plus the BT set drains the phone with the BT signal.

[perdidochas]

I would say wired would just be easier overall. One less thing to charge, especially if the bluetooth earbuds need a different charging cable than the phone. I would guess the overall power needs would be about the same.


Per this article on Iphone 5, using bluetooth to stream audio uses a little more power than does using wired headphones. Not a lot, but in combination with having to charge the bluetooth earbuds, I agree that wired would be the better choice for hiking/backpacking.