Miss the headphone jack on your iPhone? These wired headphones are the next-best thing

Date:
Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
It's been a decade since Apple controversially nixed the 3.5mm jack, and
wired headphones are still very much in demand.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member
features. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting
your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Join the club Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Explore An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter Apple didn't get to where it is now without making many great decisions over its 50-year history, but one of its most unpopular moves was to nix the headphone jack in favor of a clean-looking but ultimately frustrating proprietary single-port system. Much like the simmering resentment that still exists surrounding that decision, wired headphones have stuck around, too. In fact, they're having such a moment that Apple has added a 3.5mm jack front-and-center on its new, student-friendly MacBook Neo .

I asked our esteemed Audio Editor Becky Scarrott if wired headphones are
still worth considering, or if it's time that people moved on, and it was immediately clear she falls into the first camp. "Even the best, most cutting-edge Bluetooth codecs of the moment still incur a degree of
resolution loss, owing to various factors such as your immediate environment, credentials of your source device, and which particular codecs are supported by the wireless product you're putting in, on, or over your ears," she tells me. Aside from audio quality, she also raises the simple matter of battery. Wired headphones and earbuds won't run out of juice when you most need them, and neither will their Li-ion batteries gradually lose their ability to hold said charge over time. Adding a wire is a simple way to bypass battery woes and deliver more audio information to your ears. I've rounded up our best-rated options below, all of which have been tried and tested by our experienced Audio team, and earned a minimum of 4 stars. Alternatively, if
you have time to spare and want to really get struck into some research, head to our in-depth guides to the best wired headphones and best wired earbuds . Our top-rated wired headphones Sennheiser HD-660S2 370.57 shop now 1MORE Triple Driver In-Ear Headphones 64.98 shop now Austrian Audio Hi-X20 119 shop now Skullcandy Set 33.54 shop now Meze Audio 105 Silva 463.83 shop now GRADO SR80x 99 shop now 20% OFF Soundmagic E11C 39.98 49.95 shop now Apple Airpods Max 2 490.97 shop now Meze Audio Alba 149 shop now Our favorite wired headphones overall are the open-backed Sennheiser HD-660S2 . In our review, our tester praised the "gently expansive soundstage that doesnt block out the outside world" and the "consistent, neutral sound".

If you're looking for something more affordable, we love the Austrian Audio Hi-X20 , with our reviewer proclaiming: "Unless youre preoccupied with low-frequency wallop, there isnt an aspect of the Hi-X20 sound that will underwhelm" and awarding them a perfect five stars.

They're so new to the market we haven't quite had a chance to review them
yet, but the new AirPods Max 2 are also well worth a look, not least because with USB-C they'll do Lossless . Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

For those of you seeking something more compact (or anyone missing the good old days, when EarPods were bundled in with iPhones) our favorite corded earbuds are the 1MORE Triple Driver In-Ears , which "serve up stellar audio, great build quality and an attractive design for not that much money". Do I need a DAC? The wire between your music player and the drivers delivering those tunes to your ears will either have a 3.5mm or USB-C termination. If
you want to ensure hi-res audio, you'll want to invest in one of the best headphone DACs . A DAC (digital-to-analog converter) is what turns a digital audio file into the analog sound you hear. "These hardwire to your source device (and mean you can bypass the onboard digital-analog converter baked into that) and your headphones (which now have more detailed information to play with)," explains Becky. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/audio/headphones/miss-the-headphone-jack-on-your-iph one-these-wired-headphones-are-the-next-best-thing


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