2018 trends for wireless headphones

2018 has been a great year for wireless technology advances, including in the realm of earbuds and earphones. January kicked off with an impressive display of the year’s coming headphone tech improvements at the International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES) in Las Vegas, and it hasn’t been disappointing since.

For a detailed consumer guide on how to find your next bluetooth wireless earbuds, click the link, but below, we’ll take a look at the latest wireless headphone trends of 2018!

Here are 10 of the most interesting and significant wireless tech advances seen at ICES 2018 back in January or released by manufacturers later in the year:

1. Ear Adjustability

It’s a fact that the shape of one’s ear is as distinct a mark of individuality as are fingerprints – a fact not lost on the great Sherlock Holmes you’ll remember. But neither was this overlooked by JVC, whose new wireless sports earbuds can be adjusted to your exact ear shape.

Water (and sweat) resistance is also a hallmark of JVC’s sports line of headphones, but “ear adjustability” is a newer trend.

2. Eco-friendly Earbuds

Are you hurting the planet when you listen to your music? Not with House of Marley Uprise wireless headphones! They are made of recycled materials (wood and silicone) and are among the most eco-friendly earbud option on today’s market.

But don’t overlook Yevo-1 either, for they are now being manufactured out of recycled illegal firearms. And with Yevo-1, 50% of sales profits will be used to send much needed aid to countries afflicted by war and gun crimes.

3. A Creative Transport Option

You probably never thought about carrying your headphones on your neck – after all, they’re not “neckphones”. But Sol Republic’s Shadow Wireless earbud does just that.

The unit is magnetized and the two speaker units are connected by a comfy, fabric neck collar. You can simply take the earbuds out of your ears, put on the neck collar, and comfortably carry with no worries about damage or loss.

4. Longer Battery Life

Sol Republic made another impressive impression at ICES – extended battery life wireless headphones. Soundtrack Wireless can get you 20 hours of play before needing a charge, and Soundtrack Pro Wireless can go 24.

Qualcomm also enters the fray here, their new wireless headphone/earbud chip (called “QCC 5100”) that will allow 24-hour battery life, besides better sound quality, enhanced noise isolation, and more advanced control options.

5. Monster’s “Melody”

After over a year’s delay on the release, Monster is finally showing off its new AirLinks Elements earbuds, which are not only aesthetically attractive and coy (made to look like gems) but also serviced by your constant assistant “Melody.”

Melody can fetch you your favorite tunes off iTunes, Spotify, and a number of other popular music download sites.

6. Noise Cancellation Improvements

Sony has finally gone wireless with its high-quality earbuds, inclusive of rarely fine noise cancellation technology.

But the real star as to noise cancellation/isolation advances is currently Libratone. The Track+ put out by Libratone this year offers adjustability in noise cancellation.

With Track+, you lets you select among 5 distinct levels of noise cancellation, including the zero-cancellation “hush” setting. As the need to be aware of surrounding sounds can vary from minute to minute during your daily commute, being able to turn the noise isolation up/down and on/off with ease is a big improvement.

7. Quick Charge

Moshi has released its new Avanti Air wireless headphones, offering the same high quality in sound and style.

But now, They give you as much as 27 hours of battery life, plus something very unique – the ability to do a quick charge (adds 4 hours of battery life in only 15 minutes.)

Sennheiser and its CX 6.00 BT have also gotten into the quick charge game. The new headphones can go from zero to full charge in only one and a half hours, get you six hours of battery life, and can hook up to two devices simultaneously and alternate as desired between the two. This is also a very affordable quick-charge capable headphone set, at around $100.

8. Power Conservation

B&O Play is on the cutting edge of power-saving features for wireless headphones. Their H9i incorporates automatic shut off to conserve battery life in certain situations. Music will pause, for example, when you remove your headphone set – or you can push pause manually in “transparency mode.”

B&O’s new features promise to save battery life on an already 18-hour battery-life headphone. That could easily add a couple extra hours before you need to recharge.

9. Bluetooth 5

Anker Zolo has introduced its new Liberty+ earbuds this year (2018). They are among the first such units to support Bluetooth 5, which updates Bluetooth 4 and doubles the pace of data transfer.

Additionally, Liberty+’s charge case can store as much as 48 hours of power, while the earbuds themselves last for three and a half hours between power ups.

10. Apple Airpods 2, Coming Soon!

Finally, though this one wasn’t at the Las Vegas expo in January and is only coming in July of 2018, we mention the second incarnation of Apple’s magnificently successful Airpods earphones.

You get the same wireless technology with easy to use interface and reliable connectivity. You get the same quality use for making phone calls. And while we’re not sure yet on all the exact new features – the main one will be wireless recharging.

The handy, eminently compact recharging case will now be compatible with Apple’s recharging station that’s already used for iPhones.

Wrapping it up, you can easily see that 2018 has brought a hose of new developments in wireless headphone, earphone, and earbud technology. It’s exciting to think how different wireless headphone usage might become once all of these and other trends and advances spread and become standard some day.

But for now, you’ll need to select among the best in both core and peripheral feature categories and choose which of these new trends you want to follow and invest in.