At the beginning of 2025, I needed to buy new headphones since the pair I had for almost seven years stopped working on one side. I was a bit strapped for cash, so I found a pair on clearance. After about eight months of use, they stopped working on one side, kinda proving why they were on clearance to begin with. I bought a new pair, on the regular shelf, and so far, they've been great. It has everything I look for in a pair of headphones, right down to being wired.

I mentioned to someone that I was buying new headphones and when they saw a wired pair, they asked, "Why didn't you just get Bluetooth headphones?" It's because I have a bad experience with Bluetooth headphones, so much so that it's turned me off from ever buying Bluetooth headphones for the foreseeable future. And I will have those opportunities, since wired headphones aren't going anywhere, despite what the hype-machine would have you believe.

When Apple first nixed the headphone jack a decade ago, I felt two things:

• Even happier that I didn't buy Apple products, and
• Nervous that the market would follow suit.

Thankfully, the market didn't follow suit (for the most part). Not for lack of trying, as trendy-tech tailriders still come out of the woodwork to say shit like, "You still use wired headphones? Do you still have a tape player, too?"

Which is a dogshit comparison. The format migration from audio tapes to CDs was off the back of CDs being a materially superior format. Better sound quality, easier navigation, you don't have to rewind CDs; there were a myriad of reasons for the consumer to switch. Bluetooth headphones do not have that. In fact, they have reasons not to migrate.

I'll put it to you like this: You buy a pair of Bluetooth headphones. When you first take them out of the packaging, you probably won't be able to use them right away because of the battery's charge. You charge the battery, now you have to pair them with your device, which is going to turn from inconvenience into nightmare if you plan on using more than one device. Finally, you can use your headphones; but the audio... may sound weird. Why is that? Well, that's our old friend compression: in order to cut down on latency while maintaining a consistent and sturdy connection, the actual audio signal is compressed heavily, which degrades the audio's quality. The amount of compression is different across devices, and is not user-controllable. Over a few months, the battery will start to degrade, which you will notice when it stops holding a consistent charge. And you can't just replace the batteries (after all, who replaces batteries nowadays; this isn't the 1980's), so your only recourse is to buy another pair of headphones.

There's a reason why, ten years later, 3.5mm to USB-C adapters are still a readily-available thing: Because the headphone jack works. Hell, USB-C itself is a wired interface still used on high-end devices that have ditched the headphone jack, specifically because the alternatives haven't proven why they should be the singular standard.

I think the general reason for the forced-obsolescence of the headphone jack has to do with one thing and one thing only: that it's tech from the 1950's. We can't have our sleek and shiny gizmos shipped with ports designed before the moon landing! Having mid-1900's microtech that still does what it says on the tin better than the modern alternative proves the tech's longevity and maturity. Mature tech is predictable; predictable tech is debuggable; debuggable tech respects the user's right to control their tech. Trying to force obsolescence and alternative adoption in the face of mature engineering is anti-user, anti-consumer and continues the ugly trend of allowing Apple to steer the course of the tech market, even in small part.

Some tech is just timeless, and there's a reason why many designs and concepts seem to stick around forever. Trying to force them out based purely on trends isn't evolution, it's the complete opposite. And if you disagree, you better not use a layout created 150 years ago to tell me about it.

[ https://hisvirusness.com/im-staying-wired ]