No more tangled cables: What to know before buying wireless earbuds

Once you've set up a pair of Bluetooth earbuds with your phone, listening to music with them is as easy as taking them out of their case. — dpa

Headphones with cables can be extremely annoying. When you're not accidentally yanking them out of your ears, you're busy untangling the cables so you can listen to music.

If this sounds familiar, then it's probably time you switched to the alternative: True wireless earbuds. These use a Bluetooth connection to the music player without cables. And while they are generally more comfortable than the wired version, there are a few things to consider before the switch.

They always use an in-ear design, so it's important that the fit is good for your ears. "What suits one person can sit badly with someone else," says sound specialist Hartmut Gieselmann.

That's why users needs to test out individual earbuds for themselves. If they don't fit properly, then you should take them back to the dealer.

Earbuds that fit you properly will mean that there's a proper seal and so no acoustic leakage.

The seal significantly influences the sound, according to Felix Fleischmann, who heads up the Mobile Audio Rendering Group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) in Germany.

If the earbuds don't seal the ear canal completely, the lower frequencies will drop and the audio will sound shrill or tinny.

There are significant differences in sound between the different brands of earbuds on the market. Product tests usually indicate whether a model emphasises the bass or the treble.

"A strong emphasis on bass is currently very fashionable," Gieselmann says.

The quality of the earbuds on offer can also vary a lot. Gieselmann believes that many suppliers simply stick their own brand label on mass produced earbuds from Asia.

He says you'll find better quality from manufacturers that have their own development department.

Another factor to consider before you make a purchase is battery life. True wireless headphones are charged either via a USB cable or by using a battery built into the earbuds' transport box.

As to the price range for good true wireless models, Gieselmann says you can expect to pay around US$150 to US$300 (RM653 to RM1,306). The cheapest variety costs around US$50 (RM218).

Some wireless earbuds offer active noise suppression and you can expect to pay significantly more for that. They're best suited for frequent travellers, Gieselmann says.

"A general problem with Bluetooth headphones is always the high delay in transmission," according to Gieselman.

That latency or delay between the music player and the earbuds is often over 200 milliseconds, making wireless headphones unsuitable for music production.

It can also impact watching videos if the audio and video are noticeably out of sync with each other. – dpa