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Bring Back the Headphone Jack: Why USB-C Audio Still Doesn't Work

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday September 12 2018, @04:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the they-can't-hear-you dept.

canopic jug writes:

PC World has an article on why USB-C has not been a viable alternative for the 3.5mm audio jack. Problems with USB-C include variable handling of digital to audio conversion, incompatible SOCs inside the cable, and non-standard analog-passthrough. In short, the cables which contain computers themselves are not standardized in behavior and the author's conclusion is that mobile devices must have 3.5mm jacks until the USB-C cable technology gets sorted out enough that they become usable.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by coolgopher on Wednesday September 12 2018, @09:09AM (2 children)

    by coolgopher (1157) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @09:09AM (#733525)

    It has NO disadvantages of any kind.

    Actually, it isn't easy/cheap to waterproof, and the jack can collect dust of various levels of problemacy. Having a bung in it is just painful, and the bung is likely to get pulled off accidentally.

    What does usb-c gives me more?

    Less time turning the cable over again and again to work out the correct orientation, and an overall easier time plugging the cable in.

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  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:10AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:10AM (#733535)

    Less time turning the cable over again and again to work out the correct orientation, and an overall easier time plugging the cable in.

    USB-C has less cable turning need than a 3.5mm jack? Are you serious? Have you ever seen a 3.5mm audio jack? Hint: It even works if you turn it by 15.76593 degrees. Try that with USB-C.

    • (Score: 2) by bryan on Wednesday September 12 2018, @07:03PM

      by bryan (29) <bryan@pipedot.org> on Wednesday September 12 2018, @07:03PM (#733789) Homepage Journal

      That quoted line was talking about MicroUSB, not the round audio jack. Some people (Europe) tried very hard to make MicroUSB the one-and-only connector allowed - I'm glad they failed (the USB3 variants [wikipedia.org] of MicroUSB were especially atrocious.)