Gregory's ServerI do find the quoted post kind of classist and gross. I talked to a local (ruralish southeast US) about this issue and he said those headphones have been around for a while and thought everyone understood them. I think some people (I include myself!) get into these tech bubbles where anything that falls outside of that bubbles seems backwards or wrong.
@rouseworld in the end, this whole product category of cheap wired headphones is disposable.
These products are so flimsy that no one bats and eye about those issues, because the perceived value is so low.
I used to have great sounding, durable, small and cheap headphones by Panasonic. Apple killed them when it eliminated the headphone jack.