I used to feel this way too. I don't care so much about sound quality, as I'm mostly listening to podcasts and audiobooks, but I didn't want to be reliant on teeny little batteries that have to be recharged every couple of hours.
As it turns out, the unexpected benefit of not having wires is that the cord doesn't get caught on everything all the time, and that's good enough to overcome the poor battery life for me.
As someone who wears headphones basically all day at work (painter...) I 100% agree. It's a whole different experience, in a different dynamic.
On a similar note, 80% of the time I'm wearing my Sony linkbuds -- the ones with the "they have a hole in them" passthrough, even though they have the shortest battery life of the multiple sets I own.
Realistically, beyond the (not dismissing) "they are trash when the batteries die" aspect of things, taking your headphones out for 10-20 minutes every 4 ish hours... Is probably a good thing for our ears and minds alike.
Do you really have to recharge every couple hours? I use AirPods and find that they last for several (3?) hours when the mic is being used simultaneous with the speaker (zoom/phone), but much longer (5?) when just being used for playback. For me, this is plenty — especially because I don't use both ears at once. There's always way more than enough time to charge one while using the other.
What wireless 'buds have only 2 hours of battery life when for just playback?
I’m pretty sure my AirPods Pro have only about two hours battery life, but that’s probably because they’re at least three years old by now. I still love them though and would buy them again in a second if need be. I also don’t use them for music, just meetings, podcasts and audiobooks.
I assume you have the 1st gen one — I can only recommend the 2nd gen pro, I didn’t even originally want it, just got a good deal if I buy both this and an ipad, but I use the airpod each and every day for multiple hours, and I only have to think about charging the case after several weeks. The noise cancellation on the other hand is otherworldly.
As it turns out, the unexpected benefit of not having wires is that the cord doesn't get caught on everything all the time, and that's good enough to overcome the poor battery life for me.