Don’t get me wrong. Apple removing audio jack was the biggest facepalm in smartphone history. And you can thank it for not being able to make an upgrade without sacrificing audio jack (and SD card too :/). But USB-C is getting standardized everywhere now (laptops, smartphones, etc.). What makes USB-C earphones not worth the switch?
I fucking hate the whiny answer of “but my/most existing headphones had an aux so I don’t like USB-C.”
The biggest factor for me is that it simply makes it impossible to charge your phone and use wired headphones at the same time without a special splitter adaptor… Which itself is impossible to roll up with your headphones.
It’s designed to be such an inconvenience to the point that you’re actually just incentivized to buy wireless headphones. And since it was Apple, that of course meant their very expensive Airpods.
That said, I happily use wireless Bose headphones now anyway, but I did have to ditch my audio technicas for that reason.
Except, you know, it’s a statement of fact and wired headphones can easily last 50 years with no reason to even consider replacing them. We’re past the point where there’s meaningful improvement to quality over time.
Plus basically every other piece of audio equipment has a headphone jack, and there’s no reason they should start being manufactured with USB-C ports with all the added complexity, when all they need to do is send audio.
That business model becoming the norm is exactly why I hardly buy anything new these days. I’ll thrift, upcycle, reuse, hand-me-down, bargain for, get at the discount shop, commission from a local artisan, wait for the price to come down, and/or pick up from-the-curb items absolutely every time it’s possible. Simply avoiding these festering boils on the asscrack of our economy that are big businesses has become a daunting chore of its own… ‘He typed, into his smart phone’ I know, I know; I’m a dramatic removed, but still.
A usbc dongle with charge passthrough is like 3 bucks on Ali. I have like 5 of them around my house so every time I lose one another will likely turn up when I search
If you ever find one that can be rolled up compactly and is a single wire, I’ll buy one for each of my friends.
If you own audio technicas i would expect you to think the same.