Wired vs Wireless Headphones

Which are best for you?

Wireless Closed-Back

Sony MDR-1000X

What it is: Wireless closed-back headphones that can also be used wired.

Who should buy it: Most listeners that want the range and flexibility of wireless design. Audio quality is about the same wired or wireless, but latency may be an issue if you watch a lot of videos.

See our best Wireless Bluetooth Headphones

Wired Closed-Back

Sony MDR-1A

What it is: Strictly wired closed-back headphones that must be used with the audio cable.

Who should buy it: Listeners that will use the headphones for latency-sensitive applications such as recording in a studio, gaming, and watching high frame rate content.

See our best Wired Audiophile Headphones

We compare wired vs wireless headphones based on sound quality, latency, and range.

Sound Quality

So, how does Bluetooth affect the sound quality of your headphones? Below are a few audio samples of headphones playing audio both wirelessly and wired. However, this comparison is relative and not absolute, as it will depend on your current listening device's sound quality and audio reproduction (headphones or speakers).

Sony MDR-1000X Audio Test (wireless)

Sony MDR-1000X Audio Test (wired)

Bose QuietComfort 35 Audio Test (wireless)

Bose QuietComfort 35 Audio Test (wired)

Results: As you may have noticed, the differences between wired and wireless regarding sound quality are very subtle. In most cases, the differences are so small that it wouldn't matter whether the headphones are used wirelessly or wired for most casual listeners. Thanks to improved Bluetooth technology, more data can be streamed over the wireless connection, so the audio quality does not change much. However, trained ears or more critical listeners may notice slight variations in the frequency response, as shown in the frequency response graphs below.

Wireless Frequency Response

Sony MDR-1000X

Wired Frequency Response

Sony MDR-1000X

Wireless Frequency Response

Bose QuietComfort 35

Wired Frequency Response

Bose QuietComfort 35

In this case, the Sony MDR 1000x show the most noticeable changes between wired and wireless. Low bass is a bit higher when used wirelessly, and there's a roll-off in the treble range that makes the MDR100x sound a bit more closed and less airy than when used wired. However, most Bluetooth headphones behave like the Bose QC35, with pretty much the same frequency response for both wired and wireless.

Audio Codecs

There are three main audio codecs when it comes to headphones and sound quality:

• SBC: The default sub-band coding for all Bluetooth headphones.
• aptX: A proprietary codec for more efficient audio encoding than SBC. aptX Low Latency and aptX HD are specialized variations of this codec.
• AAC: An alternative to SBC, with slightly better sound quality but typically reserved for nonwireless applications.

To learn more about audio codecs, check our article SBC vs AptX: Which Bluetooth Codec is the best?

Latency

Latency has a bigger impact on your listening/viewing experience when comparing wired vs. wireless headphones. Since a wired connection doesn't have the additional steps of encoding, transmitting, and decoding data packets, they have a near lag-less audio playback compared to Bluetooth headphones or speakers.

It's not much of an issue when you're just listening to audio or music. However, latency is a much greater concern when watching videos or gaming. If the delay is high enough, the audio you hear will be out of sync with the images you see, which can be a disruptive and frustrating experience. To better understand how latency will affect your listening and viewing experience or to see how we test latency, check out our Bluetooth Connectivity article.

Some people are sensitive to latency as low as 30 ms, particularly if you're gaming competitively. At 50 to 100 ms, you'll start to notice slight latency, but you may still be able to ignore it if you're watching a long video, as you'll naturally compensate for the slight sync issues. However, above 100 ms, the delay between audio and video becomes much more noticeable and can become frustrating, especially with high frame rate content like 60 fps video games. This makes most headphones with >100 ms latency not ideal for home theater use or gaming, as the latency is too distracting.

As a result, it's not ideal to use Bluetooth for latency-sensitive uses. One way around this is to use a wireless dongle instead. Many dongles use a proprietary 2.4 GHz protocol to stream audio and tend to have lower overall latency. You can read more about this connection in Wireless Connection (Dongle).

Latency Codecs

To fix some of the sync issues caused by latency, CSR developed the aptX and, subsequently, the aptX Low Latency codec. Regular aptX somewhat improves latency due to its more efficient encoding algorithm than SBC. However, aptX-LL has the most drastic impact on latency.

As you can see, the clicks in the wired reproduction of the Plantronics Backbeat Pro 2 have the least delay, followed by the aptX-LL. Regular aptX somewhat improves the latency, but not as significantly as aptX-LL. This makes the Backbeat Pro 2 and other headphones with the low latency codec good headphones for gaming and watching movies as long as both your Bluetooth transmitter and receiver support the aptX-LL.

Winner: Wired

Range

Range is one of the advantages that wireless headphones have over wired ones. You can listen to your music or podcasts while your audio source is in another room, which isn't always the case for wired headphones. Some studio headphones come with much longer cables, but at most, they reach up to 10-11 ft, which is still far shorter than the range of the worst-performing Bluetooth headphones we've tested at 23ft.

Most Bluetooth headphones easily reach up to 33ft, and some better performers reach as far as 50-55ft. That's when the Bluetooth source is obstructed. In direct line of sight, some models had a range above 200ft, which is rarely a cable length available for casual or even the most dedicated of listeners.

Winner: Wireless

Conclusion

The most noticeable differences between wired and wireless headphones are latency and range. For just listening to music, latency won't be a major concern. When watching videos or gaming, especially at high frame rates (60 fps), the delay between what you hear and see is significant enough to be bothersome. Also, if you have a fixed audio source that supports Bluetooth, wireless headphones give you more freedom of movement thanks to their superior range.

As for the sound quality, the differences between wired and wireless playback are so subtle that you may not notice any major flaws unless you look at the frequency response or have very sensitive ears. The varying codecs do offer a slight improvement in sound quality. Still, even that isn't particularly noticeable, especially since wireless headphones tend to be closed-back and not always the best for critical listening.

So overall, unless you're using your headphones for gaming, recording, or anything that's susceptible to sync issues due to latency, there's no big difference between using them wired or wireless. However, go wireless if the range is a significant issue for you and you're not using your headphones to watch videos. Discover our recommendations for the best wireless headphones.