And this is the same Macbook Pro that for reasons that I can't fathom moved the headphone jack to the right side despite every (single) headphone cable going to the left can.
> every (single) headphone cable going to the left can.
FWIW a number of studio headphones support plugging in a cable to either can rather than restricting you to just the left one, if you want to go that route. V-moda sells a few pairs like this and denotes the feature as "dual inputs".
Bonus: if you get up from your desk while wearing headphones, you don't have to worry about pausing or muting the audio. The laptop thinks you're still plugged in.
the best wireless bluetooth headphones, the sennheiser momentum wireless 2s, have their cord (when in wired mode) coming from the right, which is disconcerting but convenient for this one particular use case.
Can't you reverse the left/right channels in the OS? That seems like a simple solution if possible (I just looked it up and it looks like it was easy to do a few years ago, so maybe it still is).
I understand, but if you reverse the channels, you can wear the headphones reversed. Depending on the physical design of the headphones, this may not may not be feasible (if each side conforms to that ear). If it is feasible and you can reverse the headphones and reverse the channels, problem solved, as long as you remember to wear them reversed.
I think most earbuds are easily reversible. Over the ear ones might feel a little odd, but I suspect most that took the effort to be comfortable in a normal configuration (that is, have some flexibility) would be serviceable. In-ear headsets and earbuds that have an around the ear component probably wouldn't work at all.
Go figure.