I like thinking about the affordances that people have listed as part of the wired headphone experience. Circumstances that are more ‘real world use’ than idealized CE user flows include dangling the cords around your neck while taking out the earbuds to talk to a real person, knowing there is a left earbud connected to the right, having the subtle visual cue of the white cord saying “don’t bother me now”, being able to use the same headphones on the airplane entertainment system, having an emergency lifeline to try and arrest the fall of your iPhone onto concrete when you drop it.
On the other hand the phenomenon of being on the treadmill and catching your hand on the swinging wire thus launching your phone backwards across the gym floor will be impossible with wireless earbuds.
That image Sain put up is a nightmare. Daisy chained adapters should please no one.
I want a set of Jaybirds.