Buying headphones in 2018 is going to be a fragmented mess

At CES this year, I saw the future of headphones, and it was messy. Where we once had the solid reliability of a 3.5mm analog connector working with any jack shaped to receive it, there’s now a divergence of digital alternatives — Lightning or USB-C, depending on your choice of jack-less phone— and a bunch of wireless codecs and standards to keep track of. Oh, and Sony’s working hard on promoting a new 4.4mm Pentaconn connector as the next wired standard for dedicated audio lovers.

It’s all with the intent of making things better, but before we get to the better place, we’re going to spend an uncomfortable few months (or longer) in a fragmented market where you’ll have to do diligent research to make sure your next pair of headphones works with all the devices you already own.

THE SELF-IMPOSED PROBLEM: FINDING A 3.5MM SUCCESSOR

My overwhelming impression from CES 2018 was that headphone companies have, without exception, bid a silent goodbye to the 3.5mm audio plug. We covered many dozens of new headphones, earphones, and truly wireless buds, and not one among them was a simple “plug this into the round hole on your phone or laptop” affair.

Audio-Technica ATH-SPORT70BT. Photo: Audio-Technica