TWS VS NECKBANDS

 

 In this era of smartphones where headphone jacks are not common anymore, people are more and more inclining towards Bluetooth or wireless options. Unless you are someone who likes roaming around with a dongle all the time, probably you should be looking for wireless pair of earphones too. When it comes to wireless earphones there are a plethora of options in the market, today in this blog I'm gonna help you out in narrowing it down and making it easier for you to choose. In order to divide the wireless earphones category, I like to divide them into two categories TWS earphones and neckbands. They both have their pros and cons and we will discuss these in detail today. Also, I won't compare wireless headphones in this blog as its a completely another topic and a market in itself.

TWS earphones when launched were very expensive and had minimal functions, but this year the TWS market changed drastically when companies started launching TWS at very affordable rates, and also these are packed with amazing technology. On the other hand, neckbands are around for a while now. Neckbands also offer better battery life and are easy to carry around and there is less chance of you dropping and losing them on the street or in metro. But they still have wires and you have to carry them around your neck which some people don't prefer.

DESIGN

Neckband style earphones are usually worn around the neck and when not in use you can simply remove them and they will keep hanging like an id card, some of them also have magnets which pauses the music when you connect them with each other. On the other hand, TWS earphones don't have any kind of wires, and when you are not using them either you have to put them back in the case which you have to carry with yourself or you can simply drop them in your pockets which I won't suggest doing, you can also keep them in your ears as well, as some of them are really comfortable and weighs barely 4gms so you wouldn't notice them at all. With neckbands, you have to keep in mind that with constantly being around your neck the wires won't last as long as your usual wired ones.

CONNECTIVITY

If I was writing this blog 2-3 years ago I would have convinced you not to buy Bluetooth earphones just because of the hassle some pairing process. But now with the advancement in the Bluetooth technology and features like google fast pair and apple's one-touch pairing its seamless to pair your earphones with your mobile, I can easily say that my earphones will connect to my mobile before you untangle your wired ones. In the case of neckbands, the connection is very stable and you won't face any problems. Also, the earplugs are connected with each other physically. In the case of TWS especially in the entry-level ones, they use something called master-slave pairing method in which master earplug will connect with the slave one and then connect with your phone so when you are using only one earplug you need to make sure that its the master one. This is the case with only cheap TWS earphones while the latest ones come with different connection method which allows you to use either one without any issues. I have also noticed some connection issues with entry-level earphones in which the earphones get disconnected for a split second, it's not something you will notice all the time but its something to keep while buying a new pair of TWS earphones.

BATTERY LIFE

Although companies claim to have similar battery life for both neckbands and TWS earphones, TWS won't last that long continuously, you have to recharge these by putting them back in the case and the case will usually recharge the earplugs up to 3 times. So if you compare the time you have before you connect the charger again it's almost the same for both neckbands and TWS earphones. If you are looking for neckbands choose something ranging from 15 to 20 hrs of battery life anything below that is not worth your money, also if you are looking for TWS choose something that has a battery life of 18 to 20 hrs, anything below that is waste of money and anything above that is exceptionally good.

SOUND QUALITY

Both the neckband and TWS earphones are the same in terms of sound quality. In this category what you should be looking for is the audio codecs, try to choose AAC or above, if you have absolutely no idea of what I just said, then here is a flow chart.

SBC  <  AAC  <  APTX  <  LDAC

Try to choose something with aac or above and you won't go wrong. In normal music listening on Spotify or Gaana, there is barely any difference between AAC and LDAC unless you have a folder wav playlist, in that case, you will love LDAC. One more thing, not every smartphone supports APTX and LDAC so you need to check this before buying.

LIFETIME

You need to consider the lifetime of these products before spending your money. Both neckbands and TWS earphones come with lithium-ion batteries, and these batteries can only go through a certain amount of charge cycles so they won't last you forever, and TWS earphones have even lesser lifetime than neckbands because the individual earphones have a very small battery and need to be charged more frequently. Generally, the lifetime of both neckbands and TWS ranges from a year to year and a half. So I don't think spending a lot of money on these is worth it.

CONCLUSION

In almost all the comparisons I did in this blog, somehow neckband got the edge almost every time. So, neckbands are actually better than TWS earphones and are more bang for the buck, now it almost boils down to what you prefer. If you are comfortable with neckband design than go for it and if you are someone who is ready to compromise some features for the truly wireless design than go with the TWS ones.

IN MY OPINION

I personally use TWS earphones, I have used neckband style earphones in the past and the wires bugs me sometimes like when you are taking off your jacket, it will fall off from your neck, also when you are lying on the couch or your bed it will come off sometimes and act like the wired ones, in some of them the buttons and call mic is located on one side which disrupts the weight symmetry and it will keep sliding from your neck all the time. At this moment I might sound like someone who’s really biased and nit-picking but trust me I have used them a lot and you realise what you are missing out on only when you use the TWS ones. Also due to the pandemic “ going out part of our daily lives” is highly reduced so you are not gonna lose your earplugs in the house. I know technically neckbands are better than TWS earphones but if your mind is still fickling after reading the whole comparison then you are like me and you should totally go with TWS earphones. Also, forgive me if made you even more confused :-)

MY PICKS

    NECKBANDS:

        1.Realme buds wireless pro

        2.OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2

    TWS EARPHONES:

        1. Realme Buds air pro

        2. OnePlus Buds z

        3. Oppo Enco w51