4 deadly sins of TWS headphones: why is True Wireless still not a mess?

When everyone around started talking about completely wireless headphones, my joy knew no bounds. No more collars, no wiring! Nothing but two mental magic connected to each other, plugs right in your ears? Give me two! One in each ear! And a cute charging case in addition!



And exactly two months later, please take them back, hide them away and return to me my dear and beloved conditionally wireless collar.
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Cried out. Now, I’ll try, under the cut, to speak less emotionally about what is wrong with the TWS form factor, who doesn’t suit him and for which I don’t like him that much

Background to skip

True Wireless Stereo, TWS are the first truly wireless headphones that are paired not with a headband, a hard collar or soft wire, but with a wireless channel.

About why TWS is awesome, Apple and its AirPods have been talking for several years, and a dozen manufacturers with varying degrees of success quickly picked up the trend and made True Wireless one of the most popular wearable headphone formats.

Therefore, when I burned my favorite MOMENTUM In-Ear Wireless in every sense, I just went and bought myself the same ones, but even more wireless ones .



Sennheiser considers them the flagship model and actively boosts the market, so they have done full-fledged reviews without me, so I won’t repeat enthusiastic reviews.

Because I'm not thrilled. Moreover, not so much from the super-premium Sennheiser, which squeezed out of the format very much, but from TWS itself.

What is wrong with TWS?

What TWS is good for can be found in any review of any TWS headphones. And Apple provided its AirPods with very good marketing support. Therefore, now is not about that.

Now that’s what is wrong with the form factor and why it’s not a headphone for every day.

Autonomy

Most of the day I spend on headphones. No, I'm not some kind of introvert. Music in your ears makes it easier to enter the flow state at work, it’s more fun to take out the laid 10 thousand steps a day, and podcasts and audio books are an ideal way to spend an evening if you don’t want to go anywhere.

And, when your favorite and amazingly wireless headphones, in the most interesting place they say that their powers are everything - you begin to hate them. You have to look for a charging case in the wilds of a backpack, get earplugs from your ears, put them in their places, make sure that the case itself is not discharged, the charge goes on and count down for 15-20 minutes in silence to get another hour and a half of music that may turn out to be Not needed.

When I use TWS headphones, I always feel stress due to the level of charge . I have to check whether I can get to the park and drink coffee there or have to postpone the walk for half an hour to recharge my headphones. I become much more dependent on my headphones than I am already dependent on my smartphone. And this despite the fact that the cheapest “collar” from JBL lives 8-10 hours, full time.

Ergonomics

TWS is presented as the pinnacle of usability and convenience. No wires, manufacturers say, you no longer need to think about where to put all this noodles if you are not listening to music right now.

Great, but I have another question: where can I put the headphones themselves when I do not use them ?

The simple answer is to hide them in a case. But this only works in cases where I want to remove the headphones for a long time or charge them. Much more often there are situations when I want to remove the headphones from my ears, but I do not want to remove them for a long time. Here are a couple of stories.

In the office, while I am listening to some neutral soul in the background, a colleague approaches me. He does not want to discuss something for a long time, he does not call me to a spontaneous meeting, which was not on the calendar, he just wants a simple answer to a simple question. Why he did not write this question in slack, no one knows, maybe even himself. But I still need to answer, so that is important and urgent.

Noon, twenty-first century, day off. I'm going to ride a bike around town. In the headphones? No, because if I plug both ears on the roads, I will die. TWS usually work separately, but you still can’t quickly tear out the remaining earphone in an emergency in order to gain more control over the road. And I will die anyway.

In both situations, any, even the most expensive and pompous TWS headphones pass because of their form factor. If I had the cheapest Chinese collar, the headphones of which are connected by a short wire, I would simply pull it and, in less than a second, be able to perceive the world. If I had any wireless headphones with a headband, I would just brush them around my neck and forget about them.

In the case of TWS, I am always a little hearing impaired, who should think about how, in which case, to start hearing the world. And judging by the fact that my Sennheiser True Wireless has the Transparent Hearing feature, I'm not the only one. But she can not always fully work. And it also needs to be included.

Charging case

Manufacturers say it is convenient. I have 4 hours of excellent sound from one charge and about 12 more hours of sound if I periodically hide the plugs in the case. And this is actually so, until you remember that mediocre headphones with a headband work the same 10-12 hours without any cases and boxes that you need to always carry with you.

Usually all my jeans have two pockets. The rear does not count, because I sometimes sit. I have a phone in my left, keys in my right, a credit card in case Apple Pay goes down again, and some little things like wet wipes. What can I do with a case without which the headphones will become useless after 4 hours, and after 8 they will be lost?

Pain

The most subjective and most dangerous problem. No, this is not about some abstract pain there from the money spent or unfulfilled hopes. This is about the most ordinary pain that my ears felt while I walked in brand new headphones on foot through the city. Why?

This is how my ear looks like if I stick regular headphones with a collar into it.



And this is how I look with TWS headphones.



Even in the photo you can see how the size of the capsule makes the auricle suffer. If I often forget about small gags like Beats X or wired Sennheiser CX300 when the album ends, and I take off my headphones with a headband only at night, then any TWS, except for earbuds like AirPods, have to be pulled out of my ears after 3 hours.

An elegant solution to the problem of autonomy - I just do not have time to wait until the battery runs out, it hurts me sooner .

Okay, how did it end?

Yes, nothing in general. After two months of suffering, I never found a single case where TWS would be more convenient than a “collar” or a soft collar. Neither on the run, nor in the office, nor on the street did I understand how a short wire on my neck prevents me from living. So I just went to the store and bought myself another pair of conditionally wireless headphones with a soft rim, this time not even Sennheiser, whose products I am infinitely loyal to, and pop Beats. And for three weeks with them I still did not find a single case where I was infuriated by the presence of wiring.

A spoon of honey

Of course, all this is as subjective as possible. Of course, I have the wrong ears, I do not know how to cook TWS, and four hours of autonomy will definitely be enough for everyone. And in general, all these shortcomings look like children's problems that manufacturers will correct in the next few years. At least I hope so.

I hate wires. So much so that all the power cables in my house are strictly necessary lengths, extension cords and tees are cynically thrown away, and twisted pair ends right at the front door and there it turns into a wonderful 5GHz. But even so, the TWS format for me still looks raw and unsuitable for constant use. Hope this is temporary.