How Do Wireless Earbuds Work?
Your phone turns the song into 2.4 GHz radio that hops channels up to 1,600 times a second. A coil and a magnet turn it back into moving air.
Read the full teardown
How Wireless Earbuds Play Music Without Wires
Wireless earbuds get music by radio. Your phone compresses the song and sends it over Bluetooth at 2.4 GHz, hopping between channels up to 1,600 times a second. A chip in each bud decodes it into a voltage that rises and falls, and that voltage drives a coil attached to a thin diaphragm in a magnet’s field. The coil and diaphragm move in and out, pushing the air in your ear.
Transcript
No wires, yet the music lands right in your ear. How? Let's cut it open. Your phone turns the song into radio, at 2.4 gigahertz. It never stays on one channel. It hops between 79 of them, up to 1,600 times a second. Inside each earbud, a tiny antenna catches it. A chip unpacks the music and turns it back into a wobbling voltage. That voltage flows through a coil, glued to a thin diaphragm. Right behind it sits a magnet. The magnet shoves the coil in and out, thousands of times a second. The diaphragm pushes the air, and the air reaches your ear. Back in the case, a bigger battery charges them up again. No wires. Just radio, a magnet, and moving air.
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