A Guide on Selection of Wireless Headphones
Headphones without cords and wires are both a given to fashion and a necessity (some modern smartphones simply don’t have the right connector anymore). On-ear, in-ear, in-ear, full-size, large, and small, there are a lot of wireless devices today. With their help, we listen to music, and books, watch movies, negotiate, and play, so as not to be distracted by the sounds of others.
So let’s figure out what they are, what to focus on when choosing, what are the advantages and disadvantages, and how not to get lost in a huge stream of models. This article will help you choose the best option for your goals in 2022.
History of occurrence
The first wireless devices were released by Koss in the late nineties. They were connected to an amplifier, player and other sound sources via infrared. Competitors did not waste time in vain and soon released headphones that worked within a radius of 45 meters next to the device. They did not become popular because they occupied the 900 MHz GSM cell phone frequency.
The first wireless devices that connected via Bluetooth were the Bluetake i-PHONO BT420EX. Bluetooth technology is still popular today along with Wi-Fi and radio connection methods.
Apple has created perhaps the most popular headphone model to date. They released Airpods with the original shape, separate earbuds, in-ear pop-out control, tapping, and charging case.
Communication types of wireless headphones
There are three types of communication: Bluetooth, radio channel, and infrared. Infrared technology is outdated and modern headphones no longer support it. We can say that now they use only Bluetooth or connect wireless headphones via a radio channel.
Infrared
Infrared headphones work just like any remote control. The signal is transmitted by an infrared LED, and the receiver receives it and reproduces it. You can connect several wireless earpods at once via the infrared port. The main thing is that they are within the coverage radius of the infrared beam.
The best signal clarity is only a few meters from the device. The maximum distance at which the device works is 10 meters. In this case, the receiver should not disappear from the IR beam visibility zone, which creates inconvenience: you can’t even turn your head while listening to music.
Radio channel
Communication without the use of wires has opened a new milestone in the history of headphones. The signal is broadcast in the range from 800 kHz to 2.4 GHz, which increases the communication range between the source and the headphones up to 150 meters. Such power is enough so that obstacles in the form of walls do not distort it, and a person can walk around the house and listen to music.
The connection speed is also sufficient to transmit high-quality sound to wireless headphones. Cheap models pick up any nearby signal sources and create background noise. For these headphones, you need to manually tune the channels.
Cons: Radio headphones either drain quickly or the manufacturer makes them heavier due to the high-capacity battery.
Bluetooth
The advantages of the technology are that it is not subject to interference and, due to low power consumption, the headphones can work without recharging for quite a long time. The other side of the coin is that wireless headphones work within a radius of up to ten meters.
The Bluetooth headphone standard is universal and devices can be connected to any sound source: players, tablets, smartphones (Apple and Android), computers, and laptops that support the technology.
The sound quality in headphones depends on the protocol version. Now the first version of Bluetooth in 1999 is not supported by any of modern devices. Version 1.2 boasts improved audio transmission by resending information packets. However, the audio quality is not up to date.
