Headphone Culture in the 21st century

[Scootarooni]

For awhile, I used wired or bluetooth earbuds (wired for home, bluetooth for on-the-go). But lately they've been causing me issues. I'm already a bit hard of hearing and I've noticed in-ear/earbuds have been slightly making it worse overtime, so I decided to switch over to headphones.

I bought a Sony WH-1000XM4 and I've been really liking it! The sound is great, it's way more comfortable than I expected and I really like the option for noise cancelling. It really comes in handy when I'm out in public and feeling overstimulated.

I still use my wired earbuds at home when I'm playing games (particularly rhythm games) because I want to avoid the delay that bluetooth usually has. Maybe I'll find some nice wired headphones once these kick the bucket...which may take quite a few more years since I think I've already had them for a decade and they're still in great shape.

[xXStarBrite02Xx]

I used to be super against bluetooth earbuds, I didn't want to have another thing to keep charged... until I was forced into wireless when I got a new phone, and it felt a little magical not having a wire bouncing around and knowing my music was being played through the AIR?! then it felt normal to me and i wondered how I ever managed like that for so long.

Then my wireless earbuds got lost, at the same time I dropped Spotify for a dedicated MP3 player, so for now I'm back to wired and I hate it! I usually only have one earbud in so I can hold a conversation and stay aware of my surroundings, so i have to deal with the wire being pulled into my bag and clashing with my outfit, and worry about my earbud I'm not wearing falling off the wire (they're IEMs). thankfully my MP3 player supports bluetooth, I just need to save up for a nice pair!

[Memory]

i personally use over-ears (specifically noise-cancelling) for my ASD mostly; it's great to have something i can have around my neck and put on if i simply can't handle shit at the moment.

also, i do have earpods - but the right earbud (specifically the larger speaker opening, the one pointing towards the insides of ur ear) no longer makes any audio, but that stupid thin line on the side of it still does. so i've gotta physically turn it 90 degrees in my head and it's so awkward lmao

though, i do have Astro A10 gen 2's, but they suck tbh. they feel super nice, but they're just touchy now (i haven't even had them for half a year!!) and the audio jack in it is soo finicky. and one side feels slightly louder than the other,
i lovee the gel padding though. but i just hate how much they eat my hair!! i have long(ish) hair and it loves to do that!

plus they're all wired :3

i use an iPod Nano 6th gen and a digital Walkman from ~2011 for my music. both have 8 gigs of storage, though both are being filled badly aaah
i use the Walkman more since i can actually drag and drop songs onto it, but the iPod forces me to use Windows just to import a song!
whatevs. i use VLC on my PC for my music too, or Audacious :D

[musicobsessed107]

It's 100 percent wired for me. I HATE Bluetooth and stupid wireless earbuds and shit. Headphones, earbuds, it doesn't really matter (though I do prefer earbuds, especially when I'm carrying my MP3 player with me) as long as it's still wired. Just plug them in and you're all good to go.

Right now, I'm rocking a pair of wired Skullcandy earbuds I got from Walmart a few months ago. I refuse to ever switch over to wireless and I will hoard all of the wired Skullcandy earbuds in existence (or at least enough to last until the very day I die) if I have to.

[AY38910]

I use some crusty old Sony headphones from like 1998 I inherited off my dad. They work very well, in most music you can clearly hear every instrument without it getting muddy. They become a bit uncomfortable after 1 hour of wearing them, though, which is kinda inconvenient when using a tracker...

EDIT: here's an image :)

[magicalgurll]

my friend got me a wireless headset for my birthday years ago, i think maybe even pre-lockdown? specifically the razer kraken kitty v2 bt, and it works as well as it does the day i got it! i love it a lot and i really enjoy not getting tangled in wires and being able to like, wander off from my computer during d&d and go fix up a snack while still being able to hear and talk to everyone.

i don't usually use earbuds, but i have some as backups if the battery in the headphones dies or i've misplaced them; my friend's mom got me a bluetooth pair of earbuds that are connected to each other with a cord and that's fine because i'd absolutely lose a loose earbud, so i won't even consider those.

[Twigz0n]

I personally can’t stand either ear plugs or Bluetooth headphones. I hate the feeling of putting something inside my ear and they fall out half the time for me anyway. I dislike most blue tooth headphones because they’re too big and bulky. I hate it when it suddenly starts talking to you. But they’re also just, sometimes louder for whatever reason?? I’m a little sensitive when it comes to sound (and also a big self conscious of people being able to hear what I’m listening too) and I swear even in the lowest volume it’s still kind of loud? Or it’s louder than what my wired headphones on low sound like..

Also since when did phone companies suddenly decide that anything with wires (that isn’t a charger) is now suddenly out dated? When I use my wired headphones today I always have to buy a shitty little adapter thingy that ALWAYS breaks after a couple months of usage. Sorry if I sounded like a bit of a Karen just then lol

I use some Sony branded headphones that I got for cheap on Amazon ages ago. They’re not super fancy but I don’t really care so long as they get the job done. <:

[AY38910]

I use some crusty old Sony headphones from like 1998 I inherited off my dad. They work very well, in most music you can clearly hear every instrument without it getting muddy. They become a bit uncomfortable after 1 hour of wearing them, though, which is kinda inconvenient when using a tracker...

EDIT: here's an image :)

UPDATE: Alright, after like almost 30 years, they're already starting to give up... now there are some positions the cable can be in where the right ear won't have any sound. Damn these really lasted a long time, and they still work for the most part.

[Nael]

I only use headphones because I don't like the sensation of having earbuds on. I also appreciate the fact that headphones are easier to notice, sending a clear message of "please don't talk to me" in public. I love a good conversation as much as the next guy but sometimes the world is very loud and stimulating, making it specially difficult to be a functional critter. My country has a very warm and friendly culture, with headphones I can politely greet people with a nod without being dragged to chitchat

One interesting thing to consider is that the pandemic changed the way people handle noisy places, for some it became unbearable and a lot of headphones and earbuds have noise-concealing features so maybe that's why people started wearing them more? Or maybe I just noticed it recently? hmmmm

[milo]

My ears must be shaped funny because earbuds have never worked for me. No matter what style or brand, they just fit funny or fall out.

I've always preferred wired, over the ear headphones. I had a really nice set that I used for years until they literally started falling apart. I got a new pair from my partner, and they have an aux port on them, but for a smaller jack size than what is standard... wtf?? Seems so strange.

[theadr]

I have always used earbuds. I always end up with headaches when I use over the ear headphones. I currently only use wired earbuds. When Bluetooth earbuds became popular, I switched over but quickly learned that they were not for me. I was constantly losing the earbuds . Luckily, I never had expensive earbuds, so the loss wasn't too bad. I quickly returned to the wired earbuds.

Wired headphones don't need run out of battery. They don't suddenly disconnect. They don't connect to the device you're not currently using. Just plug them in and you're good to go.

I'm still mourning the loss of the headphone jack on phones the logic is crazy. Phones don't have headphone jacks, but all my other devices do. So, I use 3.5mm jack earbuds so I can listen to music on all of my devices. However, I have to use a USB-C adapter to use my earbuds on my phone and to listen to music in my pre-Bluetooth car.

[aswestos]

I'm not a huge fan of headphones you put inside your ear. I'm not someone that cares about audio quality, so my over the ear Bluetooth headphones really are my favorite right now. I just get the cheapest ones, but they're kinda falling apart after just two years. I'll probably tape the cushion-y ear pads on to get a little bit more time with them. Besides I like to customize my personal belongings. I used a paint marker to add some swirls to the headphones already, so adding a bit more personality seems a lot cooler than spending $30-$40 on new ones. I don't really have the luxury to spend that amount on new headphones, anyway. The earpods you put in your ear are a hell of a lot cheaper so I get why a bunch of people use them.

I was trying to get some old iPod touches to work so I could use wired phones which are even cheaper, and when I could care less about audio quality, thats certainly the best route. I however, could not figure out how to get my old iPods to work. :(

[MrsMoe]

This might be blasphemy for me to say as someone who loves 2000's culture/tech and lowkey hates the new age stuff, but.....I own wireless bluetooth earbuds and I kinda need them. Mostly because I'm a clumsy fuck who's really bad with wires. I still used wired ear buds from the dollar store all the way into 2016-2018 in high school and it was lowkey humiliating because I was always getting tangled up in them. I'd like to think that once I break this current pair, I'll go back to wired ones. Not cheap ones from the dollar store though. Those things seem to break within days no matter how gentle you are.

[GarbCat]

In the late 90s EVERYONE used super light on-ear headphones like the ones pictured below, they had thin foam and were kinda painful. I don't recall there being any particular cultural or aesthetics association about them, they were just the way you listened to your CDs and Tapes. For the most part they were considered semi-disposable and most people just used whatever ones came with their CD player 

That's really interesting lol. I'm in my 20s and my personal experience with these types of headphones is that I saw absolutely nobody use these puffy foam headphones, except for in the computer labs in the elementary/middle schools I went to. I had to guess it was also a functional reason that they appeared in schools too; if you're buying headphones by the hundreds and you're operating on a primary school budget I imagine you'd just buy whatever's cheapest. I suppose I am big of head because I remember these always being too tight on me even when you adjust them to their longest, and picking at/ripping off the foam was a popular pass-time among bored children who finished their computer test early.

Anywayy I personally voted for wired earbuds/bluetooth earbuds on this poll! I always hated headphones and how they felt on my head, I'm really sorry. I have thick hair and I'm naturally very sweaty, so the band over my head is a no-go. The sort of vacuum that happens putting an especially puffy headphone over your ears was always an especially stinky sensation to me, I had to opt out of that lifestyle immediately LOL. Right now I use wired and bluetooth earbuds about equally, I'd say. There's a lot of reasons for that tbh, you just can't beat how cheap an ok-quality pair of wired earbuds are, but the fact that my smartphone doesn't have a headphone jack means that wholly relying on wired earbuds is unfeasible for me. But on the flip-side I own a bunch of handheld consoles that just don't know what bluetooth is so my bluetooth earbuds are obviously not compatible with those. In fact, I think the only handheld I own with any sort of bluetooth compatibility is my Switch, and if I recall correctly you couldn't even connect bluetooth headphones to the console natively until an update a few years ago There's also that I have earbuds in a lot when I'm working or doing chores, and in that context having a wire around threatening to get snagged on something is a huge liability.

I should specify though, when I say "bluetooth earbuds" here I am *not* talking about the true wireless luxury earbuds, like AirPods and the such. Not to sound obtuse but I honestly do not understand why they are so popular, they are sooo inconvenient and were born to fall into a sewer grate never to be seen again. When I was in high school I got a pair of true wireless earbuds from a very well meaning aunt of mine who fully bought into the whole thing about them being a luxury symbol (I was a teenager in the mid-late 2010s so that seems to match up with your timeline). I gave them an honest to god try, I really did. They're perfectly fine in terms of audio quality but not without a billion drawbacks. Relying on the incredible strength of your ears to hold in your earbuds is a very silly thing to ask of someone, they have no volume or pause controls due to their form (at least, mine didn't. I know AirPods have those little scroll wheels on the tail), and of course they are so easy to lose. They will fall out of your ear eventually, and they'll ricochet all over your room and inevitably get lodged into a crack somewhere. So now you have to spend the next few minutes on your hands and knees, groping at the ground and using your phone to make the lost earbud beep for its life so you have some idea as to where it is. And that's only if it's connected and has any sort of battery life left, if it isn't and you can't find the earbud on sight alone you're sooo screwed. The fact that these things average $200 is what makes this so bad too. Wired earbuds are quite easy to lose (though at least not as badly as the wireless luxury earbuds LOL) but like it doesn't hurt  nearly as much when you are, at the most, paying like five bucks for those earbuds.

That's about it when it comes to how I use headphone-type things lol. I'm not an audiophile but I am a terminal gamer and I listen to podcasts and such a lot while I'm doing something else. Audio quality isn't incredibly important to me since listening to music isn't the big thing I use them for, so I prioritize cost and convenience when it comes to this. Give me a simple stupid little earbud that costs 1% as much as the average AirPods every day of the week plz :]