The new ATH-S120C from Audio-Technica is a wired headphones with Type-C connector. With a retail price at S$49, this headphones is so affordable for use with your smartphone or your laptop.
I have a few headsets that I use for telecommute. When it comes to mic quality, there are other brands that you can rely on, like Jabra. For audio quality, the ATH-S120C is actually quite good. The audio quality is quite neutral, it does not exhibit the elevated upper midrange like headsets because those products are tuned for conversations. The clamping force is quite tight for me, but it works because I sometimes wear while exposing my ears partially – these headphones have good passive noise isolation so you can pay attention to the audio/calls. The earpads are decently comfortable, the size is also quite large for a no-frills headphone.
The headband appears to be made entirely of plastic though, so try not to stretch excessively. The in-line controls have small buttons that are quite hard to press accurately, and that’s a small niggle there. I find it faster to control the volume from the device itself.
Are wired headphones still relevant? Definitely! Just plug into the device and it will work! No charging or batteries needed, no need to do pairing. The ATH-S120C is simply functional, value-priced, and provides surprisingly good balanced audio quality for the price. Just S$49, they make excellent gifts which reflects your taste without breaking the budget.
