What's With Everyone Wearing Headphones Recently?

[smearyllama]

In fact, I'm a part of this trend, as I got some headphones for Christmas. They're the really nice noise-cancelling range by Bose, so they have terrific sound quality and block out pretty much every outside noise (which may or may not be a good thing, depending on whether anyone's trying to get your attention)

Make sure you take good care of those. The material on the earpieces can get torn up if you aren't careful, and you'll get little flakes of black material falling out of your ears all day.
It's what happened to me. Also, keep that battery charged. It'll last a long time, but then the day will come when you run out of charge, and then they're pretty much useless as anything but earwarmers.

Oh, I do. I only ever wear them indoors (although I didn't realise the material was that fragile, so I'd better make sure to handle them properly. Thanks for the heads up.)

And as for the battery, yeah, I think I'm already on my third AAA battery for them. Considering each fully charged battery should keep them going for 30-35 hours, that's a hell of a lot of usage, now I come to think of it!

They're not that fragile. It was mostly just neglect to store them properly, and the fact that I've had them for a few years. I never used the case, and a lot of the time I just threw them in a backpack. Also, yours use AAAs? Mine have a rechargeable battery. Strange, that.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Long story short: they offer better sound quality thanks to the larger drivers. Seriously, earbuds just can't compete with over the ear cans on sound quality. They've gotten much better than they used to be, especially with the proliferation of canalphones, but then headphone technology is constantly advancing as well. As for why Beats by Dre and Skullcandy are the two main brands you see: it's the same reason most people who buy home theater systems either have or want to have a Bose system -- marketing. They're mid-fi products that sell at hi-fi prices, but they look cool and they have this aura of being hi-fi, even though they really aren't. Granted, mid-fi is still pretty darned good compared to what most people are used to, so they're not bad if you can get them for a fair price. I have a pair of Skullcandy earbuds myself, but if I were to get a pair of over the ear cans (I used to have a pair, but it broke after years of use and I never replaced it), I'd aim for something like KLH, Koss, Senheiser, basically brands that spend more money on engineering than marketing, and give you a lot more bang for your buck.

 

[ChildishLegacy]

Just seems a really inconvenient thing to do really, they can't fit in your pocket so you constantly have to have them on or round your neck, which would probably annoy me after a while. Also, no matter how good the quality of headphones I'm using when I'm out and about, I wouldn't notice the change in quality due to the noise of the roads in my town or a screaming child on the bus etc. overpowering any of the finer details of my music.

The only time other people annoy me with these large headphones is when they have them at full blast around their neck so that everybody in their vicinity can hear their terrible music.

 

[shadowstriker86]

Fashion is cyclical. Ive seen people wearing 80's/90's fashion alot recently, like a kid with a green mohawk, misfits jacket with studs and skinny pants that were plaid with yellow on one side and red on the other playing with what looked like a tamogatchi

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I've had a pair for a few years now, a pair of Sennheiser PX 360s. Man they were awesome, I used to take the bus to college and work and they helped drown out the noise on the bus. As a plus in the winter they kept my ears warm. Can't find them though, must have gotten packed away somewhere when I changed rooms.

I bought a nice pair of Panasonic ones too, but they're for home listening late at night. I can't say I've noticed it, I've seen a lot of people toting the Skull Candy and Beats brand though. I tried a few pairs in HMV and there was nothing stellar about either, if anything they were a little too tinny for my liking. Guess it's because they 'look boss' as I've heard my sister say.

I guess one of the benefits is that with a pair of headphones they've almost always got in-line volume and the cable is pretty sturdy. I tend to avoid earbuds (even Sennheiser) because of the thin wire, just not for my rough and tumble life.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Only times I'd consider wearing the big earphones out in public is when it's subzero weather outside and I can use em to hide my ears from the howling arctic winds

 

[Yureina]

I've worn a headset for my PC since 2006. But... since I don't go to anyone's homes, I don't really see this "headphone trend" thing that apparently is going around. In any event, it sorta makes sense. Not only can you listen to stuff without disturbing others, but you can also listen to stuff you wouldn't listen to if other people could hear it.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I've worn a headset for my PC since 2006. But... since I don't go to anyone's homes, I don't really see this "headphone trend" thing that apparently is going around. In any event, it sorta makes sense. Not only can you listen to stuff without disturbing others, but you can also listen to stuff you wouldn't listen to if other people could hear it.

Do you go outside much, though? Because that's where people have been noticing the trend. Basically, the college kids that you used to see with a pair of earbuds permanently plugged in to their ears are now walking around with a pair of headphones perpetually hanging from their necks.

 

[Yureina]

Do you go outside much, though? Because that's where people have been noticing the trend. Basically, the college kids that you used to see with a pair of earbuds permanently plugged in to their ears are now walking around with a pair of headphones perpetually hanging from their necks.

Not really. >_> I graduated Uni almost 2 years ago and haven't been needing to go outside much since then. So I don't have the foggiest idea what "college kids" are wearing these days.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

'Around their necks' is the worrying part, I know you can't listen all the time, but anyone I suspected of wearing a set of expensive headphones just as a fashion accessory, damn I'd want to slap them.

On the flip side, I'm all for headphones in public if it stops even one dirty chav flooding the bus or train with audio pollution in the form of their shite flowing from their tinny mobile phone speaker, thinking their a DJ because they can press 'PLAY'.

 

[Risingblade]

I switched back to headphones around the time I started getting ear infections, and they are comfier on the ears

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

'Around their necks' is the worrying part, I know you can't listen all the time, but anyone I suspected of wearing a set of expensive headphones just as a fashion accessory, damn I'd want to slap them.

On the flip side, I'm all for headphones in public if it stops even one dirty chav flooding the bus or train with audio pollution in the form of their shite flowing from their tinny mobile phone speaker, thinking their a DJ because they can press 'PLAY'.

Now I'm not saying that a lot of them /aren't/ wearing them as a fashion statement (especially considering the brands they're using), but as a person who had a pair of over the ear cans that he used for years, a pair that the term "fashionable" would never apply to, I can vouch that wearing them around the neck is one of the best things you can do if you have to pause the music to talk to someone for a while. I usually stored mine in my backpack when I was just transporting them, but if I was actively using them and had to stop temporarily, they went around my neck. It's not like earbuds where you can conveniently pull out one or the other[footnote]it's possible, but it's uncomfortable, since you're basically altering the angle you're wearing them at, and therefore putting more pressure on one side of your head than the other.[/footnote].

 

[zHellas]

Not really. >_> I graduated Uni almost 2 years ago and haven't been needing to go outside much since then. So I don't have the foggiest idea what "college kids" are wearing these days.

I think for a fun experiment you should go out with a pencil/pen & notepad, walk around town for a few hours, then post the results on this thread or somewhere so we can see.

 

[Yureina]

Not really. >_> I graduated Uni almost 2 years ago and haven't been needing to go outside much since then. So I don't have the foggiest idea what "college kids" are wearing these days.

I think for a fun experiment you should go out with a pencil/pen & notepad, walk around town for a few hours, then post the results on this thread or somewhere so we can see.

But.... but...

I hate this town.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

Headphones are normal. I see where your getting at with the Beats by Dre headphones though, I see those too much.

 

[Antitonic]

The buds have always hurt my ears, and the headphones are better quality. They also block external noise, so I don't have to turn my music up so much. Likewise, I haven't really seen anyone else wearing headphones. Maybe the fashion wave hasn't struck here yet?

I have a pair of Phillips headphones that, while worn, are reasonably bulky, but fold up relatively small. They had the best quality of any others I compared at the time, and it really comes through. I don't give a toss about how I look or what others think of me, as long as I'm comfortable.

 

[Hal10k]

Not really. >_> I graduated Uni almost 2 years ago and haven't been needing to go outside much since then. So I don't have the foggiest idea what "college kids" are wearing these days.

I think for a fun experiment you should go out with a pencil/pen & notepad, walk around town for a few hours, then post the results on this thread or somewhere so we can see.

But.... but...

I hate this town.

The internet hath spoken. Grab your coat, pack a lunch, and go survey a thousand people. You can't come back until you have. I don't care if your town only has five hundred people in it; make some more if you need to.

OT: Still using pairs of cheap earbuds. Haven't noticed anybody wearing large headphones at all.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Maybe it's..... no it couldn't be....

My shenanigans aside. Some people just hate earbuds. But mostly I'm gona go with my shenanigans.

 

[Tharwen]

I have a gaming headset for when I'm at my computer, and ridiculously expensive, fragile and not-actually-that-good iPhone earbuds for when I'm out. I can't imagine actually wearing headphones around my neck and still being able to take myself seriously, especially if the sound quality is worse...

Not really. >_> I graduated Uni almost 2 years ago and haven't been needing to go outside much since then. So I don't have the foggiest idea what "college kids" are wearing these days.

I think for a fun experiment you should go out with a pencil/pen & notepad, walk around town for a few hours, then post the results on this thread or somewhere so we can see.

But.... but...

I hate this town.

Live on the internet instead.

 

[deathninja]

I tend to use my Bose on ear phones as they're freaking awesome. Other than that I've got DJ style Sennheisers for my guitar amp and an earhook pair for running.