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We asked, you told us: No one really wants wires, but Bluetooth just isn’t great
June 19, 2025
This week we wanted to know about your preferences in a headphone-jack-less world. Would you make do with a wired ‘solution’ via a dongle and your charging port, or do you prefer Bluetooth headphones?
Let’s keep talk of the headphone jack short and sweet: most of us prefer a phone that has one. That’s a given, we know all about it, and it’s ok. We love you tooheadphone jack.
Now, if our phone doesn’t have a headphone jack, we at least want an included dongle (memo to HTC). Still Bluetooth headsets have come a long way and are generally pretty easy to use. Shout out to our colleagues atSoundGuyswho do their best to explain to you which headsets will suit you, week in week out, wired or unwired.
The problems with Bluetooth
But Bluetooth devices naturally need charging, so if you’re not extremely diligent you might be caught short – never good if your headset cuts out early on during a long flight or car trip. Then there’s the issue of audio delays, which can be murder if you need to be on a conference call. And the Bluetooth operating frequency at 2.44 GHz can mean operating in a crowded environment, sharing congestion with Wi-Fi signals in a busy city. Oh, and if you slip your phone in your pocket, you may lose some signal quality as well as your body absorbs the signal quite well. Relying solely on Bluetooth just doesn’t always work.
Read next:Why do my headphones sound bad?
Each of these is a small little downside alone, and there are some solutions. But they add them up – and speaking of adding up, great cans are not cheap either, so you’ll want to do your research before slapping down what can be hundreds of dollars down for peak quality. (My favorites arenoise cancelling, because offices and long trips are so much better when you’re tuned out.)
But is a dongle any better?
Wired via a dongle is hardly a perfect solution to having no headphone jack either. Losing or forgetting the dongle when you need it is not a fun time. Sometimes you have topay just to have one in the first place if it isn’t in the box, and if that’s not all, you’re able to’t charge your phone while you listen, unless you buy another dongle/adaptor/unnecessary thingmabob.
So how did you vote on all of this? On to the results! What did the more than 50,000 of you who voted on thewebsite, onour YouTube poll, onTwitter,Facebook, and onInstagram, say?
It’s a decisive win for Bluetooth headsets across the polls on every platform – only the Instagrammers differed by any significant margin, while Youtubers were most adamant about Bluetooth.
So, why did the votes go this way? Let’s take a look at your comments. (Note, we aren’t ignoring everyone who said “but I choose 3.5mm headphone jack!” but it’s not about that. A poll including the headphone jack would not have told any story – we like headphone jacks too, we just want more information!)
What you said in response to the poll was really informative and useful, so thanks for your contributions again people. What’s become clear isn’t that people desperately want a wired solution always, it’s just that it’s the best for now. Audio quality, no need to charge a battery, no audio delays. Bluetooth is a winner outright for some, but it isn’t yet for others because it’s only an average solution to wireless.
On to your comments:
Don’t forget that although we at Android Authority enjoy a good speakerbox (and the love below), we bow down to the masters of fidelity: our colleagues atSoundGuys! Check them out, I swearLily Katz offers a pure ASMR experience on YouTubetoo.
See you next week!
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