The current trend for headphones is actually in the direction of true Wireless that is, the complete abandonment of cables.
Smart Devices
Another important component of the current generation of headphones is the “smart” networking/linkage with smartphones and other devices. Support for the voice assistants Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant is meanwhile also part of the good sound and help to do everyday things by voice, even Real-time translations are possible these days at Addicted to Audio NZ. In addition, many wireless headphones need to assist many with health discipline and training through heartbeat measure or number of walk counts.
On-Ears und Over-Ears mit Bluetooth
While doing without any cables is currently very popular with the small button headphones, the larger on-ear and circumaural (over-ear) headphones usually also come with Bluetooth, but a classic analogue cable is usually also required included in the delivery. So you have the best of both worlds. You can listen to music wirelessly on the go, but at home, you don’t have to retire your old stereo system, you can simply connect your headphones with a cable. Especially since one must not forget that cable operation often goes hand in hand with a better sound for the listeners themselves.
Check the Bluetooth specifications carefully!
So nowadays there is no getting around Bluetooth if the headphones are to be part of your everyday life. But you should this is also included when buying headphones keep an eye on the technical data and make sure that both the headphones and all devices involved complying with the same Bluetooth specifications.
Bluetooth is a technology that is constantly evolving and can only function smoothly if all technical devices involved play according to the same rules. The so-called Bluetooth codecs take care of the compression of audio signals. The digital signals are divided into different frequency bands and these are then coded depending on their signal levels. This saves a lot of space, but it is so lossy that you can hear it under certain circumstances. Fortunately, some codecs can transmit music in almost CD quality. With its “aptX” family, the manufacturer offers several algorithms that can not only process and transmit extremely high-quality audio signals but also deal with a problem, which is very annoying when watching films or YouTube videos: the latency, i.e. the time lag between what you see and what you hear. If dialogues are not lip-synchronized because the sound lags behind the image due to the many Bluetooth processing processes, even your favourite film is no longer fun.
You should therefore make sure that the sender and receiver support something like aptX Low Latency. This variant ensures synchronicity in time-critical applications.
