Headphones were a solved problem. I had 20 years ago some high end IEM that i used back in the days on on so called mp3 players - those were pocket sized music players - and since apple released the airpods and bluetooth headphones were the new standard audio quality never recovered to the state we had two decades ago
iPod Shuffle + Shure SE215 was the pinnacle of portable audio. The ritual of maintaining a separate playlist that would actually fit made it intentional. Allowing Spotify to slip into an infinite stream of slop is so easy these days.
While using wired headphones, my spouse's car never steals my audio when it starts or pulls into the driveway. Also, I can join a meeting seconds before it starts without spending a few minutes scrambling to verify that my BT headset will allow me to hear/be heard.
A good bluetooth experience requires that both the headset and the audio source device implement bluetooth well, which is hard. That said, I have zero problems with my AirPods Pro pairing with my Mac or iPhone ever, it's pretty nice.
A few companies have demoed wireless cases with screens, and I would be very easy to tap connect on the case while I'm putting in the buds. My earbud was loose in my case yesterday, and it kept stealing the audio of a very important call. I almost threw them across the parking lot.
I have some generic Bluetooth dongle and some anker over the ear headphones and can turn the headphones on after initiating a call and not really have problems. Sometimes Windows doesn't find the microphone right away.
All that, plus with wires, I can run the cable under my shirt and up through the neck hole. When someone starts to talk to me, I can just pop them out of my ears and let them dangle across my chest without having to hold them in my hands. I also don't have to worry about dropping them on the floor.
Mine do. The phone's lightning connector socket has become "flaky" (from age, or lint..), and at this point I must hold the phone in hand rather than in pocket while walking, for uninterrupted playback.
I bought two pairs of premium wireless headphones about 10 years ago. These failed gradually, I patched them up with tape and kept them going. One of them had the Bluetooth electronics fail but still works wired, the electronics are fine on the other one but physically it is a jumbled mess that I can't really tape together anymore but it kinda sits on my head.
I went looking for the state of the art in headphones and bought (1) a set of AirPod Pros and (2) a recent Sony headset.
My feelings about the AirPods are terribly mixed.
10 years ago I think the best reason to spend $250 instead of $25 on a set of Bluetooth headphones was that the $250 device would pair properly with multiple devices whereas it might take you 15 minutes of screwing around to unpair and repair the $25 headphones every time you need them. But hey they are so cheap maybe you can pack one for each device you have and not worry about it.
Today it is the other way around, somehow $25 headphones "just work" with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Steam Deck, whatever. After I disabled the microphone and switched to the microphone on my camera, the AirPods got reliable with Windows. Inside Apple's ecosystem it tries really hard and almost works, yet the $25 headphones "just work" and don't seem to be trying so hard. I don't get messages warning me that somebody else's $25 headphones are following me around but my iPhone tells me that about my AirPods all the time but I think it is a KPI for somebody in Cupertino that I see the word "AirPods" as much as possible.
Now the sound quality of the AirPods is just great, I'll grant that, but I'm not going to be one of those annoying youngsters who is as hard as hearing as the oldest oldsters because I have some genetic polymorphism that makes me produce copious amount of earwax that eject the AirPods from my ears if I move too much. My doc says one of these days my ears are going to plug up and I shouldn't get so excited about it.
Same here. And also unlike airpods, you can't easily lose one that you can't replace. Which also renders the one left useless because you can't pair it with another orphan, what a waste.
Please let this mean that they'll start bringing back the headphone jacks to phones. usb-c is too unstable, and I prefer not having to deal with charging more devices and with pairing shenanigans when switching devices.
It'll never happen but I'd love to see a new analog audio connector designed with portable audio and extreme durability in mind make a debut. The old 1.44mm connector is nice for its ubiquitous nature, but its internal footprint is large and it's prone to contact issues over time (I'm sure most of us have had a device/headphone pair where the jack had to be rotated into a "sweet spot".
I'm not well versed in the world of port design, but what comes to mind is a little shallow magnetic nub with a couple of contacts on it. Easy to clean, impossible to break by accidental torquing, not deep enough to get stuff stuck in it.
The cool thing is that whatever the new design is, making adapters for 1.44mm to the new thing is dirt cheap since it's still just an analog connection.
I'm talking about this specific context, rather than in general. I find that for usb-c earphones and small dongles/dacs, they disconnect more when I'm walking around with phone in pocket. They also tend to wear down with use much faster than normal aux cables. Usually, they last a few months for me before I start having issues.
And when usb-c phones disconnect just a little, usually the phone will pause the music completely and disconnect, whereas the aux headphones will just keep playing. So if the connection isn't perfect, the usb-c cable becomes unlistenable because I can't walk 20 steps without it pausing.
edit: I've tried many cables and dongles, so if you don't have this problem, it might be just that I move around more? Biggest problem for me is commutes and walking around.
That problem might be considered a software problem, not a hardware or physical problem. The instant pausing of the music is the real problem. Software developers probably don't move around as much as you do, and I'd bet if they did, this problem would be fixed quickly with a simple timeout setting or something.
was listening to music while coming with groceries and simultaneously juggling stuff to open the doors and change the track with Siri (the only use for Siri I have)
A wire sitting on a table does not suck.
2 people can gather around that table and still, the wire does not suck.
As soon as 1 person picks up the wire and starts doing something with it....now an interaction with a wire sucks.
yeah I don't have this issue with airpods pro. charge them maybe every other week and never had issues pairing. The case charge should last for ~30-40 hrs of listening.
The auto switching between laptop and phone is pretty great too for taking calls or walking away and not having to fiddle around with repairing
For me AirPods are one of the greatest products I’ve ever owned. I resisted them for years and recited the usual tropes about wired being better. But after being gifted a pair years ago, I realized how wrong I was.
I spend a lot of time at the gym or walking with headphones in and music, podcasts, or audiobooks on. It’s so much better not having any wires when you’re moving. I can’t imagine doing these actives anymore with wired headphones.
Battery life, pairing, charging, audio quality, and other complains are all non issues for me, but I’m also no audiophile. They work incredibly seamlessly inside the Apple ecosystem.
For me, using Bluetooth headphones with my (Samsung) phone is smooth and trouble-free. The experience is miles better than wired headphones, and I would never go back. Meanwhile, connecting to my TV with Bluetooth is an exercise in pure frustration.
So it seems to me like the problem isn't Bluetooth, it's shitty implementations of it.
And it's not just cheap devices. My TV is a fancy LG OLED. For the price I paid it should handle Bluetooth just fine.
It's a real shame. When Bluetooth works, it's awesome, but a lot of people have had their opinions tainted by bad devices.
Yeah, I'm reading these comments and I would have agreed 10 years ago, but I'm regularly using three different pairs of wireless headphones plus a Bluetooth speaker and have literally zero issues. My Bose headphones are usually even paired with two phones.
Yeah, charging is a bit annoying, but the added comfort is worth it to me and I can't tell that the audio quality is any different.
It's super inconsistent across devices and implementations. I've had so many issues with it over the years.
I've had headphones where a slight change in the environment around me while walking would disconnect audio. Or IEMs not syncing properly the L and R channels.
Even in the best of cases using headphones with multiple devices is just terrible. Also syncing audio to picture rarely works as it should.
Same here, I can't imagine adding 2 to 3 (earphones + case) batteries to my life, batteries that most likely aren't user replaceable, most likely will be cycled at least once a day and will inevitable die and take the whole device with them in a matter of years.
I'm not rough, but don't handle them with white gloves either. I usually tend to roll them up in a ball in some pocket when not in use.
The model I have, BT2, is "semi-wired", meaning that the Bluetooth and battery are common to the two earbuds, linked by a cable. And, outside the big heavy cables some big heavy headphones have, this one is the one that has held up best – I'm pretty sure I got it before Covid. They now have a newer model with no wires, which houses the BT and battery in some over-ear clips [0]. I have no experience with these. In any case, I expect other manufacturers to have similar options.
Before this, I would have to change the (old-school) wire on these IEMs seemingly every other year. But at least it was changeable, as opposed to other cheaper IEMs which would require to break out the soldering iron at best, or end up in the trash at worst if they were a glue fest.
An alternative to a wired dongle is a high-quality bluetooth amp, e.g. from Fiio. It's reliable, keeps your phone free from cables, but you can keep using your high quality wired headphones.
My daily headphones are the Google Pixel USB-C earbuds, but they seem to be no longer made. Anyone have good recommendations for similar style USB-C headphones w/mic?
It's simple, I can buy some IEMs that sound better, cost less than a third of a barely-even-comparable wireless earbud, and roughly conforms to market standards so I can swap out the cable and tips. And I never have to charge them.
I have a pair of Airpod Pros that I use solely for audiobooks and podcasts when I'm doing chores or shopping, but the audio quality is so garbage that's all they're really good for.
The measure of audio is what comes out of the speakers not what is written on the web.
My Airpod Pros are the most convenient personal audio device I have ever used. Sound wise they pale in comparison to my Sony MDR-ZX100 which I bought on sale for $9.99 at Best Buy...unfortunately the new model is about $15 regular price and maybe not as good (but I doubt it).
Sure the Airpod Pros sound better than ordinary Airpods or the wired Airbuds, but that's a really low bar for an audio device.
here's hoping that someday headphones without pressure (e.g. active/passive noise cancelling) will make a comeback, too. But then again I think there still exist cheap wired ones without such "advanced" technology. As one woman in the article said best: "'I don't like how this feels' and we're all kind of returning to the last place we were comfortable."
For wireless headphones I've gone to bone conduction and open-ear. Started with some cheap models from Ali-Express to see how I liked it. I did.
Shokz had a black friday deal on Open-Run Pros and those are my goto. Admittedly, they are not as convenient as my Airpods were, but my ears appreciate not being bombarded with noise canceling.
I avoid noise cancelling as well; I find that it very rapidly gives me a headache. I prefer a nice set of headphones that physically block outside sound.
For me it's cost. I used to be able to get those JVC gummy earbuds wired, for nine dollars. Now I have to spend upwards of $20 for Bluetooth. And of course, when the battery can't be recharged anymore, I'm supposed to throw them away. Much prefer the wired headphones. Sometimes Bluetooth makes sense, But economically wired makes more sense.
Personally I use wired headphone at home, either open back or closed back depending on the situation and Bluetooth outside when I don't want to be bothered by a cable.
I think it gets the best of both worlds. Couldn't care less if I look 'cheap' because I have Bluetooth headphone.
Because it's a freaking pain to connect them, obviously! In my experience they work well enough once you have, but consider the experience of "plugging them into a different device".
Barely any devices support being paired with more than one central. So you have to tediously disconnect with the first device in some shitty menu (e.g. on Android the UI is not at all clear), then maybe put it into pairing mode (again usually though some terrible UI because manufacturers think pairing is a rare operation) and then finally pair it on the other device.
Absolutely ridiculous. Oh and what's the Bluetooth equivalent of a headphone splitter? Auracast? It's taken decades to get that and basically nothing supports it.
I do use Bluetooth things and I think the sound quality and reliability can be very good (if you're lucky), but the connection process is miles worse than plugging in a wire.
There are two tiers of bluetooth devices. There are the Apple and Samsung devices (and Bose and other high-end brands), which just work. Then there are the rest, which are terrible.
Headphones were a solved problem. I had 20 years ago some high end IEM that i used back in the days on on so called mp3 players - those were pocket sized music players - and since apple released the airpods and bluetooth headphones were the new standard audio quality never recovered to the state we had two decades ago
iPod Shuffle + Shure SE215 was the pinnacle of portable audio. The ritual of maintaining a separate playlist that would actually fit made it intentional. Allowing Spotify to slip into an infinite stream of slop is so easy these days.
The trick is to use Google music. The recommendation algorithm is so bad that your brain rejects the slop it thinks you will like.
While using wired headphones, my spouse's car never steals my audio when it starts or pulls into the driveway. Also, I can join a meeting seconds before it starts without spending a few minutes scrambling to verify that my BT headset will allow me to hear/be heard.
A good bluetooth experience requires that both the headset and the audio source device implement bluetooth well, which is hard. That said, I have zero problems with my AirPods Pro pairing with my Mac or iPhone ever, it's pretty nice.
A few companies have demoed wireless cases with screens, and I would be very easy to tap connect on the case while I'm putting in the buds. My earbud was loose in my case yesterday, and it kept stealing the audio of a very important call. I almost threw them across the parking lot.
I have some generic Bluetooth dongle and some anker over the ear headphones and can turn the headphones on after initiating a call and not really have problems. Sometimes Windows doesn't find the microphone right away.
My wired headphones never run out of battery. They also don't drop the connection if my pocket is at the wrong angle from my ears.
All that, plus with wires, I can run the cable under my shirt and up through the neck hole. When someone starts to talk to me, I can just pop them out of my ears and let them dangle across my chest without having to hold them in my hands. I also don't have to worry about dropping them on the floor.
Mine do. The phone's lightning connector socket has become "flaky" (from age, or lint..), and at this point I must hold the phone in hand rather than in pocket while walking, for uninterrupted playback.
I bought two pairs of premium wireless headphones about 10 years ago. These failed gradually, I patched them up with tape and kept them going. One of them had the Bluetooth electronics fail but still works wired, the electronics are fine on the other one but physically it is a jumbled mess that I can't really tape together anymore but it kinda sits on my head.
I went looking for the state of the art in headphones and bought (1) a set of AirPod Pros and (2) a recent Sony headset.
My feelings about the AirPods are terribly mixed.
10 years ago I think the best reason to spend $250 instead of $25 on a set of Bluetooth headphones was that the $250 device would pair properly with multiple devices whereas it might take you 15 minutes of screwing around to unpair and repair the $25 headphones every time you need them. But hey they are so cheap maybe you can pack one for each device you have and not worry about it.
Today it is the other way around, somehow $25 headphones "just work" with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Steam Deck, whatever. After I disabled the microphone and switched to the microphone on my camera, the AirPods got reliable with Windows. Inside Apple's ecosystem it tries really hard and almost works, yet the $25 headphones "just work" and don't seem to be trying so hard. I don't get messages warning me that somebody else's $25 headphones are following me around but my iPhone tells me that about my AirPods all the time but I think it is a KPI for somebody in Cupertino that I see the word "AirPods" as much as possible.
Now the sound quality of the AirPods is just great, I'll grant that, but I'm not going to be one of those annoying youngsters who is as hard as hearing as the oldest oldsters because I have some genetic polymorphism that makes me produce copious amount of earwax that eject the AirPods from my ears if I move too much. My doc says one of these days my ears are going to plug up and I shouldn't get so excited about it.
Have you ever tried bluetooth wearables like the Bose SoundWear? Off topic but they are awesome
Same here. And also unlike airpods, you can't easily lose one that you can't replace. Which also renders the one left useless because you can't pair it with another orphan, what a waste.
Please let this mean that they'll start bringing back the headphone jacks to phones. usb-c is too unstable, and I prefer not having to deal with charging more devices and with pairing shenanigans when switching devices.
It'll never happen but I'd love to see a new analog audio connector designed with portable audio and extreme durability in mind make a debut. The old 1.44mm connector is nice for its ubiquitous nature, but its internal footprint is large and it's prone to contact issues over time (I'm sure most of us have had a device/headphone pair where the jack had to be rotated into a "sweet spot".
I'm not well versed in the world of port design, but what comes to mind is a little shallow magnetic nub with a couple of contacts on it. Easy to clean, impossible to break by accidental torquing, not deep enough to get stuff stuck in it.
The cool thing is that whatever the new design is, making adapters for 1.44mm to the new thing is dirt cheap since it's still just an analog connection.
Please, it's the one thing I miss on my Pixel 10
> usb-c is too unstable
Would you share more? I've never had an issue with a USB-C cable. Helps to buy well constructed ones with legit specs.
I'm talking about this specific context, rather than in general. I find that for usb-c earphones and small dongles/dacs, they disconnect more when I'm walking around with phone in pocket. They also tend to wear down with use much faster than normal aux cables. Usually, they last a few months for me before I start having issues.
And when usb-c phones disconnect just a little, usually the phone will pause the music completely and disconnect, whereas the aux headphones will just keep playing. So if the connection isn't perfect, the usb-c cable becomes unlistenable because I can't walk 20 steps without it pausing.
edit: I've tried many cables and dongles, so if you don't have this problem, it might be just that I move around more? Biggest problem for me is commutes and walking around.
That problem might be considered a software problem, not a hardware or physical problem. The instant pausing of the music is the real problem. Software developers probably don't move around as much as you do, and I'd bet if they did, this problem would be fixed quickly with a simple timeout setting or something.
I never got on board with wireless headphones.
* Having to charge them is a PITA
* Having to pair them is a PITA
* Having more points of failure is a PITA
* Paying more is a PITA
On the other hand:
* Wires are fine
>* Having to charge them is a PITA
The equivalent PTIA for wired would be having to untangle them everytime you want to use them.
>* Having to pair them is a PITA
How many devices do you have that this is an issue? This is an issue that pops up a few times a year, at most.
>* Having more points of failure is a PITA
It's unclear which has more PoF. Wires can break, not to mention randomly catch on stuff and sending your phone flying.
Counterpoint: wires really suck and are not fine. AirPods Pro are great, I can afford them and they improve my quality of like quite a bit.
Different strokes I guess.
was listening to music while coming with groceries and simultaneously juggling stuff to open the doors and change the track with Siri (the only use for Siri I have)
counter counterpoint:
A wire sitting on a table does not suck. 2 people can gather around that table and still, the wire does not suck. As soon as 1 person picks up the wire and starts doing something with it....now an interaction with a wire sucks.
But that's not the wire's fault.
>now an interaction with a wire sucks.
>But that's not the wire's fault.
So... "it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden deceleration"?
yeah I don't have this issue with airpods pro. charge them maybe every other week and never had issues pairing. The case charge should last for ~30-40 hrs of listening. The auto switching between laptop and phone is pretty great too for taking calls or walking away and not having to fiddle around with repairing
For me AirPods are one of the greatest products I’ve ever owned. I resisted them for years and recited the usual tropes about wired being better. But after being gifted a pair years ago, I realized how wrong I was.
I spend a lot of time at the gym or walking with headphones in and music, podcasts, or audiobooks on. It’s so much better not having any wires when you’re moving. I can’t imagine doing these actives anymore with wired headphones.
Battery life, pairing, charging, audio quality, and other complains are all non issues for me, but I’m also no audiophile. They work incredibly seamlessly inside the Apple ecosystem.
For me, using Bluetooth headphones with my (Samsung) phone is smooth and trouble-free. The experience is miles better than wired headphones, and I would never go back. Meanwhile, connecting to my TV with Bluetooth is an exercise in pure frustration.
So it seems to me like the problem isn't Bluetooth, it's shitty implementations of it.
And it's not just cheap devices. My TV is a fancy LG OLED. For the price I paid it should handle Bluetooth just fine.
It's a real shame. When Bluetooth works, it's awesome, but a lot of people have had their opinions tainted by bad devices.
Yeah, I'm reading these comments and I would have agreed 10 years ago, but I'm regularly using three different pairs of wireless headphones plus a Bluetooth speaker and have literally zero issues. My Bose headphones are usually even paired with two phones.
Yeah, charging is a bit annoying, but the added comfort is worth it to me and I can't tell that the audio quality is any different.
It's super inconsistent across devices and implementations. I've had so many issues with it over the years.
I've had headphones where a slight change in the environment around me while walking would disconnect audio. Or IEMs not syncing properly the L and R channels.
Even in the best of cases using headphones with multiple devices is just terrible. Also syncing audio to picture rarely works as it should.
I bought a pair of IEMs. A while back, the cable broke, and I was able to repair by just buying a new cable.
Also, I enjoy not having another device to charge. I recently have been wearing a traditional Casio watch more often instead of my smartwatch.
Same here, I can't imagine adding 2 to 3 (earphones + case) batteries to my life, batteries that most likely aren't user replaceable, most likely will be cycled at least once a day and will inevitable die and take the whole device with them in a matter of years.
I love my IEMs but I actually want a Bluetooth version. Heck a dongle that made them act just like AirPod Pros would be my dream gadget.
Fiio has a couple of adapters that work with many IEMs and there are probably others on the market https://www.fiio.com/utws3
Shure makes some for their IEMs. I have an older model which has worked great for several years.
I may have had the same. Wasn't impressed. But I'm rough on my electronics and it lasted less than 6 months.
I'm not rough, but don't handle them with white gloves either. I usually tend to roll them up in a ball in some pocket when not in use.
The model I have, BT2, is "semi-wired", meaning that the Bluetooth and battery are common to the two earbuds, linked by a cable. And, outside the big heavy cables some big heavy headphones have, this one is the one that has held up best – I'm pretty sure I got it before Covid. They now have a newer model with no wires, which houses the BT and battery in some over-ear clips [0]. I have no experience with these. In any case, I expect other manufacturers to have similar options.
Before this, I would have to change the (old-school) wire on these IEMs seemingly every other year. But at least it was changeable, as opposed to other cheaper IEMs which would require to break out the soldering iron at best, or end up in the trash at worst if they were a glue fest.
[0] https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/accessories/rmce-tw2?va...
Wired headphones just work, unlike the bluetooth ones.
An alternative to a wired dongle is a high-quality bluetooth amp, e.g. from Fiio. It's reliable, keeps your phone free from cables, but you can keep using your high quality wired headphones.
Are Google one of the last holdouts ?
I've been on cheap Android phones and just moved from Samsung to Motorola and both have headphones sockets.
Backlash is probably wrong. There was some hype around wireless technology, but that always fades eventually. You can see this in other electronics like "smart" home appliances: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/half-of-smart-applia...
It seemed cool, people bought it, and then eventually many realized they didn't care about the fancy feature(s).
My daily headphones are the Google Pixel USB-C earbuds, but they seem to be no longer made. Anyone have good recommendations for similar style USB-C headphones w/mic?
It's simple, I can buy some IEMs that sound better, cost less than a third of a barely-even-comparable wireless earbud, and roughly conforms to market standards so I can swap out the cable and tips. And I never have to charge them.
I have a pair of Airpod Pros that I use solely for audiobooks and podcasts when I'm doing chores or shopping, but the audio quality is so garbage that's all they're really good for.
Airpods Pro audio quality "garbage"? That is beyond harsh, and a quick search will find countless reviews extolling their audio quality.
e.g. https://www.soundguys.com/apple-airpods-pro-3-review-close-t...
The measure of audio is what comes out of the speakers not what is written on the web.
My Airpod Pros are the most convenient personal audio device I have ever used. Sound wise they pale in comparison to my Sony MDR-ZX100 which I bought on sale for $9.99 at Best Buy...unfortunately the new model is about $15 regular price and maybe not as good (but I doubt it).
Sure the Airpod Pros sound better than ordinary Airpods or the wired Airbuds, but that's a really low bar for an audio device.
here's hoping that someday headphones without pressure (e.g. active/passive noise cancelling) will make a comeback, too. But then again I think there still exist cheap wired ones without such "advanced" technology. As one woman in the article said best: "'I don't like how this feels' and we're all kind of returning to the last place we were comfortable."
> here's hoping that someday headphones without pressure (e.g. active/passive noise cancelling) will make a comeback, too
What do you mean? There are tons of wired headphones that don't do noise cancelling at multiple price points.
I can still pick up a new pair of headphones that I started using 10 years ago (AudioTechnica m50x if you want the recommendation).
For wireless headphones I've gone to bone conduction and open-ear. Started with some cheap models from Ali-Express to see how I liked it. I did.
Shokz had a black friday deal on Open-Run Pros and those are my goto. Admittedly, they are not as convenient as my Airpods were, but my ears appreciate not being bombarded with noise canceling.
I avoid noise cancelling as well; I find that it very rapidly gives me a headache. I prefer a nice set of headphones that physically block outside sound.
Every blue tooth audio thing I've had sucked... and then stopped working altogether.
For me it's cost. I used to be able to get those JVC gummy earbuds wired, for nine dollars. Now I have to spend upwards of $20 for Bluetooth. And of course, when the battery can't be recharged anymore, I'm supposed to throw them away. Much prefer the wired headphones. Sometimes Bluetooth makes sense, But economically wired makes more sense.
Tldr: that's a fashion trend. Couldn't care less.
Personally I use wired headphone at home, either open back or closed back depending on the situation and Bluetooth outside when I don't want to be bothered by a cable.
I think it gets the best of both worlds. Couldn't care less if I look 'cheap' because I have Bluetooth headphone.
I like my EarPods, except that the wires keep tangling up. T for that I want to try those zipper hacks
They have a good mic and fit properly.
AirPods, nope nope nope. I could throw them away after one year and the multi device “dream” s was a nightmare.
I still have my HD580, but I don’t want to have the big cups on anymore
Because it's a freaking pain to connect them, obviously! In my experience they work well enough once you have, but consider the experience of "plugging them into a different device".
Barely any devices support being paired with more than one central. So you have to tediously disconnect with the first device in some shitty menu (e.g. on Android the UI is not at all clear), then maybe put it into pairing mode (again usually though some terrible UI because manufacturers think pairing is a rare operation) and then finally pair it on the other device.
Absolutely ridiculous. Oh and what's the Bluetooth equivalent of a headphone splitter? Auracast? It's taken decades to get that and basically nothing supports it.
I do use Bluetooth things and I think the sound quality and reliability can be very good (if you're lucky), but the connection process is miles worse than plugging in a wire.
There are two tiers of bluetooth devices. There are the Apple and Samsung devices (and Bose and other high-end brands), which just work. Then there are the rest, which are terrible.
Wired headphones is the style these days.