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The best wireless headphones for 2023 | Engadget
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this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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Technology
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Audio gear with non-replaceable batteries bothers me so much
My old Sony xm3, while not having officially yser-replaceable battery, is somewhat easy to open and replace batteries.
Anyone found any decent wireless ones with replaceable batteries? I was interested in the Fairbuds XL but it's not well reviewed.
For a while I had a pair of Sennheiser TV headphones that took AAAs, but they required a dedicated transmitter and weren't great for music anyway.
So these definitely aren't audiophile grade audio, but I have the Steelseries Nova Pro which comes with two hot-swappable and replaceable batteries. Always changing one while the other is in use, so I never have to worry.
Main reason I got it was the dual/simultaneous USB and Bluetooth. I'm on Discord or calls on my phone a lot for personal, but want to stay connected to PC via USB for audio (either Teams for the work pc or gaming on my desktop).
I've heard the newer version is slightly better, but probably still below audiophile standards. Either way my ears are pretty wrecked and I can't really pick up fine notes. They're fine by me!
One sort-of semi solution is to use a bluetooth dongle with wired headphones. Usually still not easily replaceable batteries, but at least when the thing dies or becomes outdated due to codecs changing, you're not wasting as much money and material as you are when you need to replace a whole headset.
There are a lot of decent dongles nowadays. When last I checked I think the Qudelix-5K was the one to beat.
The qudelix is stupidly powerful for how tiny it is, especially if you run it with balanced cables.
I love mine, and the battery management on the qudelix is phenomenal. Built in 80% mode, doesn't pull from battery while plugged in. And it looks like it could be opened with a screwdriver though I haven't tried.
If I search for Fairbuds XL reviews most of them seem very positive and hardly point out any major flaws. What are some of the negative aspects?
It's really just about the sound. Jon Porter's Verge review is one of the ones I read. He calls them "competent", but:
LTT (video) didn't like the emphasis on bass, especially at the expense of the mids, and the measurements at 11:05 seem to back that up.
My own taste is somewhat the opposite of this profile. Sometimes I want bass, but I often find it overwhelming and every Bluetooth headphone I've tried is a little too warm for me out of the box. I'm losing some hearing in the upper mids, so having them drawn back like this isn't good for me.
Not a fan of AAAs. They just don't hold enough power.
My approach is just to get ones where the battery last far longer than you need. I'm not entirely happy with that, but my several year old pair has gone from about a week and a half to about a week as the battery has aged. I'm fine with that.