It's no secret that wired earphones are making a comeback, with sales reportedly ticking up. And Gen Z certainly loves a nostalgic trend. On the streets, in offices, cafés, shops, and shopping malls, young people are rocking wired earphones like they’re the latest fashion accessory.
It’s not just everyday people, either. Celebrities such as Zendaya and Bella Hadid have also been spotted embracing the trend.
Seeing all this made me wonder: are wired earphones actually that good, or are people returning to them simply because they’re nostalgic? I mean, even I can be a sucker for nostalgia sometimes.
So, I decided to find out. After years of treating wired earphones as a relic of the past, I bought a pair of Oraimo CONCH USB-C earphones for around ₦4,000-₦5,000 ($3-$4) because my phone had no headphone jack.
And I spent the next three days using them to understand why people are going back to a technology many of us thought we’d left behind.
Ogbonda Chivumnovu
Wired earphones reminded me of problems I’d forgotten about
This was the first time in about five years that I’d properly used wired earphones. I think 2021 was the last time I owned a pair.
Unboxing my new earphones immediately reminded me of one of my biggest frustrations with them: the wires get tangled far too easily. Mine were already slightly tangled straight out of the box, and untangling cables is one of those small, irritating tasks I absolutely hate.
I also remembered how easy it was to accidentally pull your phone off a table after forgetting you were still connected to it. I once made that mistake, and it ended up damaging my phone’s screen.
Another thing I remembered was how poor the microphone quality on wired earphones could be. Unfortunately, my experience this time wasn’t much different. The microphone on my Oraimo wired earphones wasn’t particularly impressive, especially compared with my wireless earphones, the FreePods 3. My voice didn’t come through as clearly as I would have liked.
That said, I was using a considerably cheaper pair of wired earphones, so I wouldn’t use this experience to judge every wired model. Microphone quality varies depending on the earphones, and more expensive wired options may perform better.
No battery anxiety: one thing I loved
On the positive side, using wired earphones again felt surprisingly liberating. I didn’t have to worry about charging them.
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