TRUE WIRELESS

Let’s hook you up with some new best buds.

Buds in a box, freedom from cables! We find your best buds.

When it comes to ear-buds, there’s wired, then there’s wireless, and then there’s true wireless. The distinction between the last two is that wireless buds receive their signal from your smartphone wirelessly, but the two buds are joined by a wire between them in some way. True wireless means no cable between the buds either. Just the buds. True wireless is not a brand name or a particular technology, just a description that has become a buzzword (or, more accurately, buzzwords).

True wireless: good

While true wireless in-ear headphones have been around for only a handful of years, the technology in these remarkable little buds is improving at a rapid rate of knots. Their key advantages are obvious: their size, in being small, along with that very freedom from tethering, not only great to cut down on the kit you lug around, but ideal for those wanting to take music with them on a job or a workout session.

One of the latest trends to take off — largely thanks to industry leaders Sony and now Sennheiser — is to include noise-cancelling. Such buds aren’t so much designed for athletes but are better suited for those that regularly commute, make calls, and want comfortable listening in a tiny package. And the recent announcement of a new Qualcomm chip for wireless headphones should see noise-cancelling coming to even more budget models over the next 12 months.

True wireless: bad

But there are undoubted compromises to be made when going true wireless. Smallness has its problems, too. They can be hard to control, because there’s no space for much in the way of buttonry. And without any cables they’re easy to lose. So true wireless buds come in a case, and the case also helps overcome another key issue — battery life. Being so small, the buds’ internal batteries are similarly necessarily dinky, limiting the charge they can store. Hence the case also has to operate as a battery pack, able to recharge the buds three or four times between use, before being recharged at home itself.

Another alarming trend is only just coming to light — those small internal batteries lose their capacity more quickly over time, and within a couple of years you may find the battery life of your buds, not long to start with, has reduced to a point where it isn’t enough to get you through a commute or a work-out.

Until user-replaceable batteries are introduced, you have to expect a pair of true wireless buds to be junked after two or three years. That makes initial battery life even more important a consideration, and should be taken into account when comparing pricing with larger or wired headphones, which are likely to last longer.

Perhaps the biggest choice to be made when going true wireless is between sonic quality and unshakeable fit. If you’re someone who wants to listen to a pair of these while on the rowing machine or out for a jog, you need a pair that first and foremost will be able to withstand the rigours of your workout in terms of fit and finish (being sweat-proof, for example). But if the best sonic performance is top of your list, you may well have to accept the fact that you won’t be able to wear your buds securely in your session at the gym.

And even then, such buds have a limit on ultimate sound quality, from both size and their dependence on Bluetooth. While there are proprietary Bluetooth codecs which improve its quality, these have to be supported in both your source and your buds, otherwise you’re likely to get the base-level SBC codec.

The good news, however, is that once you understand the limitations and have made that initial choice, there are some fine products out there that should suit your needs...