Shure's $99 USB Type-C headphone cable is basically a dongle

I haven’t personally owned a pair of Shure headphones, but the brand seemingly makes solid in-ear monitors, which range from somewhat-affordable to wallet-tearing prices. Because of that, it might make sense to pick up Shure’s $99 USB Type-C replacement cable.

More and more devices equipped with USB Type-C are coming to market, and many solely rely on the still-blossoming USB standard for audio output. With how much some headphones go for, picking up this dongle might be a good bet.

Notice how I said “dongle.” That wasn’t a mistake — that’s basically what this is. It uses an MMCX connector, which attaches the cable to the earphones, as well as a Cirrus Logic digital-to-analog converter, but at the end of the day, It’s still a dongle.

That is what annoys me about Shure’s cable. Phones like the Pixel 2 and HTC U11 ditched the headphone jack, which forces people to spend as much money as if they just purchased headphones and called it a day.

In other words, the cable perpetuates the idea that folks need to spend a significant amount of money to get back functionality they lost when buying a new phone. After all, $99 is not a drop in the bucket.

At least Shure’s USB Type-C cable appears to be well-made and seems to maintain sound quality. If your headphones are made by a different company, you can also use them with this cable, so long as they are MMCX-compatible.

That being said, it’s a $99 dongle. Whether it’s worth the cost ultimately depends on how much you want to use your Shure headphones with your Pixel 2.