In 2019 I switched to a wireless headset. This year I switched back to wired. The sound quality is better, the latency is better, the weight is better, and I never need to wonder whether or not the battery is discharged.
Having the DAC in the headset or in another box attached to the headset by a short cable shouldn’t influence the sound quality so much thanks to the recent high quality Bluetooth audio codecs.
I don't know if it's still the case, but a few years ago if your bluetooth headset had a microphone, it switched from 'A2DP' to 'HSP' which has trash audio quality.
And it would happen almost invisibly - there was no indication in the OS of what was going on.
Not having to deal with a cord is huge. I've gotten tangled in them so many times and have almost pulled laptops off tables when getting up and walking away. (ADHD means I forever forget there's a cord attached to my head.)
Granted, I'm using Apple AirPods with Apple devices... which makes the wireless experience far better than average.
Yeah, I just use AirPods these days. I don't like using a big set of headphones and I found that, on a Mac, just using a good mic and speakers usually works fine but every now and then there's echo so it's easier for everyone concerned to use the AirPods.
Even airpods with apple devices get no better than 100ms latency, with some (Apple device to Apple device!) combinations easily going over 200ms. It's nigh unusable for anything other than listening to music or recorded video.
Can’t say I agree. Headset wires are the. worst. wires. Always getting tangled, etc.
As a hard of hearing person, I need the absolute best, fastest audio I can get. After way more research than it should have taken, I ended up with the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless and have been quite happy with it.
Not cheap, but for something in my critical path for literally every minute of my work, totally worth it.
I use arctis headset at work as well, had my Sony noise cancelling headphones for a while but the mic was horrible so I had work buy me the arctis which I have a set at home and knew they worked great
I love my ErgoDox EZ. But I’ve purchased a Dygma Defy in part because I want wireless. It would be so nice to have wireless power built in to my desk so the keyboard could make us of it. But I agree with all the points in the article. Except I still want wireless. If only batteries were still removable like the good ol days…
Neat keyboard. Going through the marketing materials on this site I noticed what appears to be a coffee shop example. I’ve started seeing this type of thing in coffee shops recently along with laptop stands and once even a full monitor setup. This strikes me as incredibly bizarre in what is often an actual restaurant. I have very clicks keys at my desk but that’s in a private office with no one in earshot.
One less thing which needs constant charging. Low battery also results in a state where you think everything is working and blame your typing until you realize not every command is received.
This whole article feels very shallow to me. All wireless mechanical keyboards I know of can also work in wired mode, so it negates his entire argument which seems to be longevity...
Just to be clear I'm not arguing for wireless keyboards, just that it feels very forced and they should just say "wireless doesn't fit our vision".
Careful; there's the MX Keys keyboard, which is not a mechanical keyboard, and the MX keys mechanical keyboard, which IS a mechanical keyboard...
I have the latter, and as far as I know, it only works wirelessly via receiver or BT.
The only wireless keyboard I have is the one for controlling the media computer from the couch. For everything else, portability is not a benefit, and wireless connection are just another failure mode.
I love the idea of wireless, but in practice I always find myself reverting back to wired after a while (for keyboard and mouse, headphones is a different story).
The pain of seeing wires is not as bad as the pain of having the battery run out every once in a while, just when you need it, and having to plug it to charge.
Maybe once batteries last for months instead of weeks I'll change my mind.
Not sure about keyboards, but Logitech mx3 mouse is great and only needs to be charged like once a month after using it nearly all day every day. Also super ergonomic and works on any surface
It also works just while plugged in so there is no downtime. I feel like I charge it couple times a year by any random usb-c that is on my table at the moment while I keep using it.
Even if it didn't, it takes maybe 1-2 minutes to charge for the rest of the day so there is no disruption.
I have the mx 3s along with the mechanic keyboard, one set each for work and one for home... Extremely stable connection with the bolt receiver, also works with well if I take the laptop home or with my phone if I connect it to my monitor (Dex)
I already have USB-C charging cables due to the phone on either desk, so I just connect it to whichever runs low every few weeks (or months) and keep on using them.
The primary advantage for me is that it alleviates port congestion.
Even when using a dock, I often found myself running out of available ports. Switching two devices to Bluetooth made a notable difference (even if it causes the occasional annoyance).
Best wireless keyboard I ever owned is the Logitech solar keyboard. It goes out of stock constantly. It doesn't need direct sunlight at all to keep its charge either. And no perceivable latency (I am quite sensitive to that sort of thing). It lasted me about 5 years before it stopped taking a charge.
Wired keyboards are generally fine. But I generally prefer wireless mice because the wire sometimes gets in the way as I move it around.
As for the battery level, I just plug my mouse in when the LED is red. And plug it out when I have enough charge and the wire becomes annoying. I can use it while charging, like a regular wired mouse, so no big deal.
The Apple wireless keyboard and mouse will give you a notice in the menubar when the battery starts to get low. Then you just plug it in while on lunch or overnight. When you come back it’s ready to go.
I've found it much nicer to use a dongled device than a bluetooth device.
With bluetooth, it's super easy to have some combination of devices where something doesn't work. (e.g. with a macbook, leave the bluetooth on & put the laptop away in your bag. Hours later, try and turn on your bluetooth headset, then wonder why the headset won't connect to anything).
Though, I think peripherals should be able to be used with a wired cable.
Bluesnooze is a must on a macbook as it disconnects bt when you close your laptop. (yes it is lame to need 3rd party sw to address apple’s terrible bluetooth issues).
I've got a Moonlander, which I love. But I really do wish it was wireless, the cable the joins the two halves in particular gets in the way and makes it painful to use the space between the halves for a notebook.
I'm kinda hoping that someone will figure out how to jury rig a ESP32 into one of these boards, so it's possible to add wireless capabilities using a screwdriver and a soldering iron. Even better would be is ZSA provided headers (even unpopulated headers) on the boards so that you could strap a co-processor like an ESP32 to it, without having the mess too much with the PCB.
I imagine, with some work and custom firmware, it would be possible to get the power consumption to Logitech levels of efficiency. One AA in each side lasting a year, that would be ideal.
I use a split keyboard (UHK) with the two halves on either side of a notebook. FWIW I have a mousepad/deskmat that sits between the halves and allows me to tuck the cord under it. This keeps it from moving around, with an added bonus of keeping my cats from playing with it. It also serves to align the two keyboard halves and keep them from moving around at all.
Might be worth looking in to, was a pretty major QOL improvement for me! Mine is some gaming mouse pad to get the XL size, but I got it specifically for the exact width I needed.
Bluetooth and AAA batteries also are industry standard and user replaceable. The 2nd gen Apple Wireless keyboard had a brilliant design to accomodate them (https://tech-rachat.com/1509-large_default/clavier-apple-mag...), and 15 years later you can still see them in the wild, working like day one.
Ha, I still use that as my “backup” keyboard at work. Came with the 21” iMac my parents bought in 2010. Sometimes you just need a break from the key travel of a mechanical.
The one time I'll discover a wireless keyboard is out of battery is when I want to use it.
That's the only time this is going to happen to me, and everytime it happens I'll be sitting centimetres away from grid-supplied electricity powering the thing I want to use.
I don't use wireless keyboards either. You want your keyboard to be 100% reliable, especially at times you're trying to get into the UEFI bios or something right when the computer is first booting.
And while I have a pair of bluetooth earbuds, I only have one use-case for them: the few hours I spend once a week cleaning the house. At my desk, I use wired (sounds better!) and on airplanes I use wired (they don't fall out if I fall asleep and get lost). I know people that blow a couple hundred buck several times/year on lost AirPods Pro!
I never need my keyboard more than 1m away from my monitor anyway, so the upside is limited.
And I had a succession of mysterious, intermittent, difficult to diagnose problems. OK, so I think I'm getting lag and dropped keystrokes. Is it RF interference on a crowded 2.4GHz band? Is plugging the dongle into the back of my PC's metal case just too challenging? Are the batteries low? Is everything fine, and I was just miskeying my password? Oh, for some reason the problem's gone away... for a few hours.
Switching back to my wired keyboard made the problems disappear.
Same here. My magic keyboard sometimes disconnects from my Mac for mysterious reasons, despite the battery being almost full. And then the idea of needing to periodically charge a stationary object which is never used without another device which gets electricity through a wire is ridiculous.
I’ve had a similar experience of weird intermittent jankyness with what seem like missed keystrokes but are just connection issues.
In addition, I also feel a big benefit of wireless keyboards got diminished with usb-c & thunderbolt. I now plug one cable for power/display/keyboard and whatever other peripherals are connected and it’s hassle free.
Well, I'm blind and when working from home, wireless keyboards allow for leaving the laptop aside and taking whatever position on the sofa I find the most comfortable at the moment. Not applicable for everyone, ofc.
On the other hand, accessibility sound has very bad latency with all wireless headsets that I've tried so far.
Bluetooth ususally works pretty reliably for me these days. However, if you connect a larger number of bluetooth devices (headphones, mouse, keyboard, trackpad, etc.) it can become a bit flaky.
Since you don't move keyboards like a mouse or headphones, it helps reduce the number of peripheries connected to your computer, which in turn helps with bluetooth connectivity issues if you have a lot of devices connected.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 163 ms ] threadSome things just don't need to be wireless.
And it would happen almost invisibly - there was no indication in the OS of what was going on.
Maybe it's better now?
Headsets are the one area I disagree on. :)
Not having to deal with a cord is huge. I've gotten tangled in them so many times and have almost pulled laptops off tables when getting up and walking away. (ADHD means I forever forget there's a cord attached to my head.)
Granted, I'm using Apple AirPods with Apple devices... which makes the wireless experience far better than average.
That weird. I use mine for everything with no problems. Am I doing it wrong?
That explains it I guess. Most of us don't have ADHD so it isn't a problem for us
As a hard of hearing person, I need the absolute best, fastest audio I can get. After way more research than it should have taken, I ended up with the SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless and have been quite happy with it.
Not cheap, but for something in my critical path for literally every minute of my work, totally worth it.
Had the same issue before discovering flat cables (if you don't know what I mean, they look like linguine, not spaghetti).
Also:
- less waste / power
- cheaper
- higher security
- compability
Just to be clear I'm not arguing for wireless keyboards, just that it feels very forced and they should just say "wireless doesn't fit our vision".
Because it's wireless only; the USB connection is only for charging.
I'd love to have a keyboard with exactly the same feel and key caps, but with wired connectivity.
Furthermore, wouldn't replaceable batteries also fix the durability issue?
The pain of seeing wires is not as bad as the pain of having the battery run out every once in a while, just when you need it, and having to plug it to charge.
Maybe once batteries last for months instead of weeks I'll change my mind.
Even when using a dock, I often found myself running out of available ports. Switching two devices to Bluetooth made a notable difference (even if it causes the occasional annoyance).
As for the battery level, I just plug my mouse in when the LED is red. And plug it out when I have enough charge and the wire becomes annoying. I can use it while charging, like a regular wired mouse, so no big deal.
With bluetooth, it's super easy to have some combination of devices where something doesn't work. (e.g. with a macbook, leave the bluetooth on & put the laptop away in your bag. Hours later, try and turn on your bluetooth headset, then wonder why the headset won't connect to anything).
Though, I think peripherals should be able to be used with a wired cable.
I'm kinda hoping that someone will figure out how to jury rig a ESP32 into one of these boards, so it's possible to add wireless capabilities using a screwdriver and a soldering iron. Even better would be is ZSA provided headers (even unpopulated headers) on the boards so that you could strap a co-processor like an ESP32 to it, without having the mess too much with the PCB.
I imagine, with some work and custom firmware, it would be possible to get the power consumption to Logitech levels of efficiency. One AA in each side lasting a year, that would be ideal.
Might be worth looking in to, was a pretty major QOL improvement for me! Mine is some gaming mouse pad to get the XL size, but I got it specifically for the exact width I needed.
That's the only time this is going to happen to me, and everytime it happens I'll be sitting centimetres away from grid-supplied electricity powering the thing I want to use.
And while I have a pair of bluetooth earbuds, I only have one use-case for them: the few hours I spend once a week cleaning the house. At my desk, I use wired (sounds better!) and on airplanes I use wired (they don't fall out if I fall asleep and get lost). I know people that blow a couple hundred buck several times/year on lost AirPods Pro!
I never need my keyboard more than 1m away from my monitor anyway, so the upside is limited.
And I had a succession of mysterious, intermittent, difficult to diagnose problems. OK, so I think I'm getting lag and dropped keystrokes. Is it RF interference on a crowded 2.4GHz band? Is plugging the dongle into the back of my PC's metal case just too challenging? Are the batteries low? Is everything fine, and I was just miskeying my password? Oh, for some reason the problem's gone away... for a few hours.
Switching back to my wired keyboard made the problems disappear.
In addition, I also feel a big benefit of wireless keyboards got diminished with usb-c & thunderbolt. I now plug one cable for power/display/keyboard and whatever other peripherals are connected and it’s hassle free.
(Still use wireless mouse though)
I freakin HATE it.
On the other hand, accessibility sound has very bad latency with all wireless headsets that I've tried so far.
Since you don't move keyboards like a mouse or headphones, it helps reduce the number of peripheries connected to your computer, which in turn helps with bluetooth connectivity issues if you have a lot of devices connected.
Oh, and it's one fewer thing to charge.
Same for mouse