Pet Peeve -- why do headphone companies make the LEFT and RIGHT symbols so hard to locate


I can often be found staring and squinting at my headphones and IEMs, turning them around and around, looking for the Left and Right symbols. Most are tiny and in the same dark color as the housing. Some are outside, some inside, and for some headphones, don't even exist (I am complaining about you, Sennheiser PC38X).

Why do the manufacturers make these important labels so small and hard to find? Aesthetics? Arrogance? Lack of human factor design skills?
kixo
Look where the wires connect to the earpiece. Red means Right...
Not all headphones have two connections and not all are color coded.  My HD6XX are balanced, but both ends of the cable are black, they stick straight down, and the little "L" and "R" are hard to see in the dark.  It is a little annoying, but it's my only complaint about these excellent headphones.  I have more than 10 other sets of headphones and it's pretty easy to tell which side is which at a glance.

OP, I agree.

Also a capital crime: small stickers on every stupid piece of fruit.

I think we have the beginnings of a political platform.
Maybe we can use it as a casus belli and take over congress.

but really, it’s a case of most people wanting the markings to be small and nearly invisible.

It’s like writing in big letters on the front doors of a car "LEFT" and "RIGHT".

That most people don’t want it or need it and they find it to be an eyesore more than an aid of any kind. Thus the labeling is more innocuous, with many headphones these days also being a fashion statement.
Place a small length of red heat shrink tubing over the right cable where it plugs into the headphone.  If you listen in the dark, then use glow in the dark heat shrink
Or we combine the first response with one of the more recent responses, and place fruit labels on the headphones. Done, no need for any takeover.

What is so hard about marking with nail polish or stickers.


Also a capital crime: small stickers on every stupid piece of fruit.