We used to have earbuds that don't need to be charged because they had a headphone jack, didn't get lost so easily because they had a cord attached to a headphone jack, never lost the bluetooth connection because they had a headphone jack, and they cost less because they had a headphone jack. https://bsky.app/profile/daisyfm.bsky.social/post/3l3mfjc6sn62k
Which cannot connect to a phone unless it's unlocked, as accepting every USB-C connection carries security risks. They also require negotiation, which can fail at any time, meaning you have to unlock, disconnect, reconnect.
I also have a nice, external (and still cheap) DAC on my computer. It has a headphone jack. This means I need to be able to disconnect the USB-C dongle from my headphones, unless I want to have two separate headphones for my phone and my PC. By extension this requires me to go searching for the dongle from time to time.
I love USB-C. But the headphone jack had what companies and people claim to want: simplicity.
Headphone jacks solved a single but extremly common problem very well. USB-C provides a workaround for it.
that's really interesting. USB-C was meant to be the one peripheral to unite them all: data, video, audio.
But no one considered that video/audio don't typically need to be security vetted, so shovelling them down the same wire protocol as data makes them less useful not more, and now we have to solve a hardware problem with software to let a simple media piece through.
Our desire for tech unity has regressed us
I don't think anybody wanted that unity for headphones.
say what you want, Bluetooth headphones are popular and practical, and their only caveat is battery life