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Comment by prometheon1 | Hacker News Reader

What is so unsustainable about bluetooth? It has been around for quite a few years. They even offer headphones with replaceable battery and parts which should last at least as long as the phone: https://shop.fairphone.com/fairbuds-xl

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The battery needed makes bluetooth headphones completely unsustainable.

Their headphones might have a replaceable battery, but headphones do not necessarily need one at all. Their earphones even have a baked in battery that is not replaceable. And in general, not having a headphone jack pushes consumers to buy bluetooth devices, of which almost none have replaceable batteries (the fairbuds-xl are the big outlier). It's an ecological disaster.

I think that people are just assuming the worst case for wireless and best case for wired (in terms of longevity). AFAIK most wired headphones don’t have a replaceable cable, and the ones that do tend to be pricier. Personally I’ve had the same AirPods for 3 years now, and the batteries seem fine. The only pair of wired headphones that I’ve had last that long were $400 sennheisers, and I think I’m pretty careful about making sure that cable ends dog get bent and that the cables aren’t tangled.

Wireless headphones cost more, last shorter, having no wire is not always better than having a wire. You can get cheaper wired headphones with comparable or better audio quality that will last longer and cost less.

it's subject to interference, uses more battery and will just not work if you really need it.

anecdote: had a ten year old premium car with "bluetooth" but could not manage to pair it with anything - supposedly the used bt-standard is outdated or something

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