Is Bluetooth GOOD yet?

Is bluetooth good yet? Is bluetooth HiFi? Is bluetooth for audiophiles?

Measurement Index

How to read headphone measurements

How to EQ Headphones

The Limits of EQ

Become an expert on headphones

[patrick]

One great advantage that wired headphones/iem will (arguably) always have, is that they never have "cooked" batteries and unusable apps.

[arthurhaywood]

For me personally, Bluetooth achieved a minimum level of acceptability with 4.0 and became really acceptable at 4.2. BT 5.0 and above have reached the point where differences between it & wired are fairly small depending on the Codec used.

[scruffy]

My quedlix was the first Bluetooth device without a hiss and I love listening casually on it.

[thirdkey]

Thanks for this broadcast and I hope you will cover more worthy ANC / wireless options and comparisons in the future. I love using my fav wired cans with a good tube amp or separates at home and do not see that changing but, with the tech & quality experience gap getting smaller and more negligible and this finally becoming less of a travel/utility lane, I actually look forward to trying out the Bathys.

[halimj]

This hobby is completely subjective and unfortunately we often forget this. Terms like “High Fidelity” demonstrate just how subjective this hobby is. We hardly ever know what the original recording sounds like but we often try to pretend like we do - assuming the engineer used equipment that we consider neutral. Consequently so many of us are chasing a purple unicorn. Listen and if you like it be grateful!

[pauljordan]

Not preachy at all, your absolutely right, it’s becoming a much closer playing field, looking forward to the bathys review, I have them and Would really appreciate how you would connect wired in dac mode to an iPhone, have spoken to focal about this and not had a very definitive answer as yet

[RueBritanna]

I’ve never spent as much on audio as I have on the AirPods Pro gen 2. I’ve owned the MDR 7550, 58X, Starfield CRN Pro, and others. ButI bought the AirPods Pro 2 for the ANC as I moved to a city for the first time ever. I needed something to cancel out the city noise. I got that and much more than I expected in terms of sound quality. My AirPods are the best sounding IEMs or headphones I’ve ever heard. I went in expecting a middling sound quality experience. Didn’t expect to be blown away.

[Damien_N]

Wireless has been good for at least 5 years. FiiO’s BTR series has been the staple for me for getting a good Bluetooth DAC and amp. And it’s flexible enough to use pretty much any of my headphones and IEMs on the go.

[samlee]

It's so easy to loose sight of the goal in this hobby: listening to music and really enjoying it.

I've got thousands of pounds worth of headphone equipment and love critical listening sessions. The other week though I found myself commuting with my £25 tws buds I usually only use for podcasts but I really wanted to dive into some GTA soundtrack compilations I'd got the day before.. low and behold the £25 tws buds are fun and perfectly clear enough to find yourself singing along with and smiling as you march from A to B

With portable headphones you really don't appreciate super details anyway as the outside world is so noisy plus your footsteps etc

[bobcoco]

What I like regarding BT, is the ability to transform any headphones into BT ones with tiny BT DACs like Qudelix, FiiO BT5, or Earstudio ES100 ... The only challenges are the connectics, lack of ANC (you'd have to pick hp good at passive isolation, but they'll never compete with ANC indeed), the added price of the additional device (but that can be used with any peripherals, evn speakers in the absolute) & sure the extra space & bundle they imply.
But still, this way, if you can overcome those challenges, you may use your already owned cans, whose $$ were 100% focused on the sound quality & build, while BT headphones have it weighted between the hp, battery, DAC-Amp related to BT, & most of the time ANC as well.

So with all that, yeah for sure BT hp have become real good in basically every department, including the codec & bitrate one, since APTX HD in my book, but still decently good since BT 4.2 I'd say in term of connectivity / range . Great times for whoever is not blocked by irrational or negligeable drawbacks/diffrc with wired. To each use its specific advantages, but wireless is already good enough to not complain about quality IMO.

[Another_Audiophile]

My only issue with Bluetooth headphones has nothing to do with sound. It has to do with the longevity of the headphones. For example When you buy a focal Celeste the headphone will be relevant now, tomorrow and for years to come. The Bluetooth will be relevant as long as the software is supported and the battery is not dead. For example the AirPods. Great but 300£ for something that has end of life is already a stretch. Let alone the cost for the higher end ones.

[DavidChristieCareerCafe]

Love your work. What’s this vertical lamp thing?

[dasninjastix]

Well I have both the PX7 S2 and PX8 from Bowers and Wilkins and they lead me to wave good bye to my Arya and Empyrean. Just didn't make sense to keep that amount of money tied up in those headphones when the Bowers and Wilkins are giving me the same level of enjoyment. And that's the key. Because Bluetooth headphones are not going to match for resolution or technical capabilities, but damnit if I didn't listen to them for longer and have more fun doing so. It takes the constant fiddling with source gear out of the equation for me, which some people love sure, but when you own expensive gear that doesn't synergize it's makes you question the point . Definitely wouldn't say that Bluetooth headphones are going to satisfy the folks out there, but you can find neutrality, control (low to no distortion), and quality/believable timbre from some newer BT headphones. And it's only likely to improve.

[Bver]

The Qudelix 5K is almost indistinguishable for me vs wired and when using the balanced output (even when going over BT) I swear it's better (but that could just be placebo). I even made some very short custom balanced cables for my HD 6XX and can clip it right onto the headphone band so it's completely wireless and highly portable. No cable tangles, etc. HIGHLY recommended.

[sephondranzer]

I think it’s sometimes the fact that these technologies come by and make our existing setups somewhat obsolete that makes people hesitant to be fully supportive of new technology. I swear everything said here could at least kind of apply to the newer and smaller amplifiers or DAC’s.

[SohcSTi]

The btr5 with LDAC paired with moondrop arias is killer for on the go. It amazes me every time I use them.

[POPDELUSION]

Having a capable dac/dap can make a huge difference even over Bluetooth, when I connect my fiio in people's cars/speakers they always notice how much louder/clear their systems are compared to their iphones, I love to show people it always surprises them (:

[carminedesanto]

Yes, my IFI Go Blue ( in Bluetooth mode) makes my IEM’s absolutely amazing.

[bindstf]

For me, it's less the actual bitrate of bluetooth, but the quality of headphones that have bluetooth. I have a pair of n700m2's like mentioned in the video, and they are tuned considerably better than it's competitors, but I found myself using them less and less due to their pitiful headstage and resolution, so I'd just use my IEM's instead, even on walks or public transport. I'm sure something like the bathys would sound great, even compared to wired headphones, but you'd be paying $800 for the isolation and sound quality of a $100 IEM. Even now with higher quality codecs, I find that mp3's on an IEM still sound much better than 24 bit flacs on a similarly priced bluetooth over ear.

[eschultzz]

Finally caved and got the new AirPods Pro. My first ever wireless IEM. I hate how much I like them. They outperform my dunu dk-3001s by far.