Bose is bringing back wired earbuds as teens ditch Bluetooth

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: Bose is going back to basics, and today's youth is largely to blame. The company is now accepting pre-orders for a new set of noise cancelling earbuds that trade in wireless Bluetooth connectivity for a wired listening experience. It's the company's first set of wired buds in more than a decade.

Bose said the new earbuds come at a time when wired listening is gaining popularity. Wireless Bluetooth connectivity has been all the rage in personal audio products over the last several years, but it's not foolproof. While most modern devices support Bluetooth, older audio gear often does not. What's more, Bluetooth connections aren't always the most reliable. Then there is the headache of having to manage charging and battery life, and dealing with audio lag.

With wired earbuds, you just plug in and press play.

The buds aren't fully retro, however, as Bose went with a USB-C connector instead of the tried and true 3.5mm jack. They feature an in-line remote with tactile physical buttons for volume control, playback, calls, and cycling of noise cancellation modes. They are also rated IPX4 for water resistance and include a zippered carrying case for storage and protection when not in use.

No app is needed, and the buds draw power from the phone, tablet, or computer they are plugged into. Playback output is fixed at 24bit/48kHz, we're told.

Wired headphones started gaining momentum in the second half of 2025, and entered 2026 on a high note. According to Circana, sales surged 10% between July and December of last year and were up 20% in the early portion of this year. This jives with recent CD and vinyl sales trends, both of which are experiencing a revival.

Bose noise cancelling wired earbuds are scheduled to launch on October 15 priced at $99. They are offered in white or black colorways, in addition to a limited edition mint color. Look for them online at Bose's website and in-store at select Best Buy retail locations.

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Bose is bringing back wired earbuds as teens ditch Bluetooth

 

[GeoffreyA]

Well, the more wired, the merrier.

 

[LordVile95]

Really doesn’t make sense. If you want wired earphones there’s plenty of good Chi-Fi options in the IEM space. These are just expensive and remove functionally. They’re not far off the AirPods 5.

 

[3ogdy]

I like the fact that wired earphones don't require you to risk breaking them when you gotta change that battery.

I'm not so convinced about using my phone's charging port to plug and unplug my earphones, though. Once that port starts giving me trouble, risking my phone to repair the board and resorting to wireless charging (if the phone even supports it) sounds like more trouble than it's worth.

 

[NumberNine]

Really Bose, a low resolution inline DAC... from you?

Fiio makes high resolution DACs on USB-C and lightning connectors that absolutely destroy this trash... AND you can bring your own headphones. We also now have dedicated FLAC players running Linux distros with dual DAC stereo preamps built in and dedicated high capacity batteries.

Save your money for something better.

 

[MasterMace]

Soon, they'll release a dongle to plug in all of your USB-C devices. Then they'll add a separate port just for your audio devices so you don't need a dongle.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

I dislike the privacy issues with BT broadcasting all the time, but I also snagged my wired headphones on things a LOT.

And now work has decided it needs to verify I am standing in the room with the PC I'm accessing by using smartphone BT based authentication so... -shrug-

Give 'em hell for me teens!

 

[VitalyT]

This is as credible as claiming that car manufactures are now switching from EV-s back to V8-s and V12-s.

 

[opckieran]

What teens are spending $100 on wired earbuds??

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This is as credible as claiming that car manufactures are now switching from EV-s back to V8-s and V12-s.

You mean like how Chrysler group discontinued the Dodge charger EV and RAM EV and put the hemi V8 back in both?

Sounds like it's pretty credible then!

What teens are spending $100 on wired earbuds??

The same teens that have $1000 iphones. Which is to say, a lot of them.

 

[bviktor]

Just more proof that gen alpha are complete morons.

 

[MasterMace]

Just more proof that gen alpha are complete morons.

The oldest Gen Alpha by any definition is only 14. That assumes the smallest Zoomer generation of 15 years with a very early Zoomer start of 1997.

 

[opckieran]

You mean like how Chrysler group discontinued the Dodge charger EV and RAM EV and put the hemi V8 back in both?

Sounds like it's pretty credible then!
The same teens that have $1000 iphones. Which is to say, a lot of them.

There's at least an argument to be made for an iPhone...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

There's at least an argument to be made for an iPhone...

There's lots of arguments to make for lots of things.

I dont know why anyone would be upset by wired headphones...existing. Your wireless options have gone nowhere, they're still there. More choice is good for the consumer, those of us that prefer wires have had slim pickings for years.

Just more proof that gen alpha are complete morons.

Doth protests too much. Every older generation seems to want to dunk on younger generations for being "stupid" simply because they dont agree with how they live. Ironic that millennials and gen X are making this mistake after suffering the same thing from Boomers.

 

[Hexic]

This is as credible as claiming that car manufactures are now switching from EV-s back to V8-s and V12-s.

I don’t buy it. Sure, some GenA’s probably want to be trendy with wired headphones… but to generalize that entire generation wanting wired headphones over wireless is just plain silly.

 

[arrowflash]

I prefer wired but not USB-C. Bring back P2.

 

[LordVile95]

There's lots of arguments to make for lots of things.

I dont know why anyone would be upset by wired headphones...existing. Your wireless options have gone nowhere, they're still there. More choice is good for the consumer, those of us that prefer wires have had slim pickings for years.
Doth protests too much. Every older generation seems to want to dunk on younger generations for being "stupid" simply because they dont agree with how they live. Ironic that millennials and gen X are making this mistake after suffering the same thing from Boomers.

This really isn’t a choice though it’s just expensive crap

 

[Theinsanegamer]

This really isn’t a choice though it’s just expensive crap

Thank you for proving my point how people get weirdly angry at consumer choice. And stop butchering the English language. It is a choice. if it is "expensive crap", then that is still a choice.

Nobody is forcing you to buy these (unlike what happened to wired enthusiasts when wireless was shoved down our throats). You can still buy a multitude of wireless headphones of many shapes and sizes.

 

[LordVile95]

Thank you for proving my point how people get weirdly angry at consumer choice. And stop butchering the English language. It is a choice. if it is "expensive crap", then that is still a choice.

Nobody is forcing you to buy these (unlike what happened to wired enthusiasts when wireless was shoved down our throats). You can still buy a multitude of wireless headphones of many shapes and sizes.

You are aware that wireless earbuds and IEMs have always been a thing, they never went anywhere. The IEM enthusiast space, which is where the wired in ears enthusiast lives, actually went into a boom period with the amount of good, cheap, Chi-Fi sets that have flooded the market. Just becaure Apple stopped shipping $5 earbuds doesn’t mean wired audio died. The Bose are again, expensive crap. They’re $99 which are very close to the AirPods 5 which are just better and are in the same range as the Aria 2 and ie 200 which I can gurantee will decimate these in audio quality. So no they are not really a choice as they are not as good as the benchmark wireless option or the comparative price wireless models.

 

[opckieran]

Thank you for proving my point how people get weirdly angry at consumer choice. And stop butchering the English language. It is a choice. if it is "expensive crap", then that is still a choice.

Nobody is forcing you to buy these (unlike what happened to wired enthusiasts when wireless was shoved down our throats). You can still buy a multitude of wireless headphones of many shapes and sizes.

Nobody is getting upset about wired headphones existing, bud...

 

[p51d007]

What teens are spending $100 on wired earbuds??

The ones that say America is unfair and I can't afford to live because I only earn X
and have $xx,xxx dollars in debt because I have 300 streaming subscriptions, eat
door dash 10 times a week and on and on. LOL

 

[Tyler Dur Den]

Soon, they'll release a dongle to plug in all of your USB-C devices. Then they'll add a separate port just for your audio devices so you don't need a dongle.

...and they'll call it a 1/8" stereo miniplug

 

[RudyBob]

Such trials and tribulations the youth of today must face. It's shameful

 

[Biostud]

If I had to have wired again, the cord needs to be replaceable. All my wired headphones ended their life with broken cables.

 

[Mystique]

Wildly overpriced headphones/earphones aside I can understand the preference for wired over wireless.

Bluetooth is so underwhelming and wildly overpriced for something that is more disposable and in almost every way worse than its predecessors. The only real benefit is that it is wireless but beyond that it has a battery that will inevitably fail, has latency, proprietary codecs with varying degrees of quality, limited battery life/runtime (the lower the latency and higher bitrates often means lower runtime/battery life and distances), fitment/weight issues, compatibility requirements (codecs and bluetooth specs), security and once again the wildly overpriced costs.
The set standard for Bluetooth in terms of quality is far too low and you are just asking for latency and low bitrate.

There is nothing wrong with there being a use case for both but lets be honest Bluetooth has been a huge disappointment (at least for me). Ever connect a set of bluetooth earphones/headphones to a desktop device and try to watch a video? Disgusting!
Dollar for dollar wired is a far better choice on the average.

Younger people are becoming more savvy and price conscious and are painfully aware that in most cases they are being price gauged for inferior devices.