When I sit down to help someone pick out a new piece of tech, whether its a big new television, a laptop for work, or a server to run diligently in a corner for years on end, there’s one important part of the conversation that almost no-one is prepared for but, to me at least, its among the most important. 

It’s not the resolution of the TV, the weight of the laptop, or the storage capacity of the server… No, it’s the supporting actors around your decision. Once we know which TV we’re going with, how is it going to be mounted? Picked a laptop? Great, what’s your docking solution look like when you’re actually in the office. And don’t me started on servers because, yes, licensing is very much a thing and you do in fact have to buy enough of it… 

So when the Solid State team sat down the other day and the subject of headphones came up, I couldn’t help think about them far-too-often being the last minute decision people make. Oh they’re plenty excited about a new game console, smartphone, or other gadget but eventually you’re going to want to use that gadget in a place where broadcasting your latest kill streak in Call of Duty to the masses just wouldn’t be appropriate…

As with literally anything in tech, there are so many options out there, and price among others can be a big deciding factor. But also use case, comfort, feature set… all of these carry weight to influence a final purchasing decision. 

In the end, we knew what we had to do… pull out the Monopoly money and do some shopping… as we navigate the State of Headphones in 2024…