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The best wireless headphones for 2023 | Engadget (www.engadget.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Here's a list of the best wireless headphones you can buy right now, as reviewed by Engadget editors..

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Audio gear with non-replaceable batteries bothers me so much

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

My old Sony xm3, while not having officially yser-replaceable battery, is somewhat easy to open and replace batteries.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

So these definitely aren't audiophile grade audio, but I have the Steelseries Nova Pro Wireless, which come 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!

[–] sweng 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's really just about the sound. Jon Porter's Verge review is one of the ones I read. He calls them "competent", but:

Fairbuds XL don't offer a particularly detailed sound… Listen to a layered track like Paranoid Void's "Null," and the Fairbuds XL make it harder to hear the separation between guitar and bass. It's the same with Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight," where all the string instruments feel less distinct.

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

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.