Intel wants to replace the 3.5mm audio jack in laptops, tablets, and smartphones with a USB Type-C connector:
USB Type-C has a number of chances to become the standard for data and charging connector for smartphones and tablets running either Android or Windows. However, in the long-term future, Intel wants USB-C to be even more universal (and therefore pervasive) than it is going to be, which is why at IDF Shenzhen part of one of the talks evolved around using Type-C for audio.
Audio receptacles on PCs and mobile equipment are virtually the last remaining analog interfaces of modern devices, requiring certain techniques to maintain a high audio quality and remove interference. Intel proposes to replace things like 3.5 mm mini-jack with USB Type-C which will help to add features to headsets and will simplify connections of multi-channel audio equipment to various gadgets. This is not the first time a company has proposed to replace analog audio on PCs and mobile devices, but so far, nobody has succeeded due to the ubiquity of 3.5mm. Since the industry may still not be ready to go all-digital, there seems to be a backup plan.
[...] The USB-C has sideband use pins (SBU1 and SBU2) which can be used for analog audio in audio adapter accessory mode. Use of the sideband pins should not impact data transfers and other vital functionality of USB-C cables, which should make them relatively simple from the engineering point of view. In this case, the USB-C connector will just replace the 3.5 mm mini jack and may even gain some additional features, such as a thermal sensor in an earpiece [that] could measure temperature for fitness tracking.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Celestial on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:14PM
Meanwhile, Apple wants to replace 3.5mm audio jacks with lightning connectors. Gee, I can't wait for even more proprietary lock-in and switching headphones depending on what device I want to use.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday April 27 2016, @10:12PM
Well, maybe audio equipment will just have all three jacks, or headphones could have all three, or adaptors will be made as Gravis predicts. How about an any-to-any adaptor? It will of course need a battery, as the legacy audio port doesn't provide power.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @04:04AM
How about an any-to-any adaptor?
You mean something like this [xkcd.com]?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday April 28 2016, @07:53AM
That one is far from universal. It misses at least the DIN plug keyboard connector, the DIN plug audio connector (same plug, different functionality; don't mix them up!), RS232 (both big and small connector).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @08:04AM
you could probably fit them all in if you removed the gas nozzle. with the rise of the electric car, soon it won't be needed anyway.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday April 28 2016, @09:26PM
Indeed, I'm 64 years old and those jacks were there when I got my first transistor radio. They work and they work well. Change for the sake of improvement is intelligent, but change for the sake of change is really stupid. How is this an improvement for HEADPHONE JACKS??
Idiocy. Pure evil idiocy.
The #1 domestic terrorist organization in the US is ICE
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:16PM
Need I say more?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:32PM
Well, the data has to be rendered analog at some point.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:34PM
Only if your licence is current.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:47PM
If it's not current, may I try to use some voltage driven speakers?
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @11:13PM
Sure, but they'll only emit static, since they can't decode the signal.
Your license expires every months, so you should just upgrade to the firmware to make them work again, just connect them to the Internet and enter your product loyalty code.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:44PM
My thought exactly.
We got stuck with DRM in our digital video standards, and they're trying to shove DRM into HTML. Steam is "DRM done right", so they say. Even the Linux kernel has toyed with DRM support.
I was confident DRM would die of its own stupidity and uselessness. That mp3 and audio codecs survived the DRM onslaught was a favorable sign. The RIAA being crowned Worst Company in America was another reason to hope. Now though, I don't feel sure that the public will entirely reject DRM if it's sneaky enough. Perhaps alternative business models need more publicity and development.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @09:04AM
Even the Linux kernel has toyed with DRM support.
Just checking: you're not being confused by Linux's DRM API (unfortunate naming) as in Direct Rendering Manager [wikipedia.org] (which is just an interface with GPU), as opposed to Digital Right Management, are you?
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday April 28 2016, @12:59PM
LOL, no. There was a story some years ago about Linus Torvalds adding Digital Rights Management support to the Linux kernel and that he had his flame proof underwear ready for all the hate that would cause.
Which goes to show Linus really is "just an engineer", as RMS said. If Linus and Microsoft don't get it, it's little wonder that music executives and average citizens don't get it either. RMS gets it. He calls DRM "Digital Restrictions Management".
(Score: 4, Informative) by hendrikboom on Thursday April 28 2016, @12:48AM
It says DRM right in the article, though it doesn't use the acronym:
The MPUs will also support HDCP technology, hence, it will not be possible to make digital copies of records using USB-C digital headset outputs.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by multixrulz on Thursday April 28 2016, @02:37AM
Woohoo! I'm already miffed because my new phone refuses to recognise a certain speaker. I have to plug in an extension first, then plug the speaker into the extension. No, connecting in the other order doesn't work.
Now we're going to be unable to listen to music etc. off our phones because some new bit of software screws up?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @02:35PM
Welcome to the future, my friend. The cows seem to accept this as the way that it is. They were trained by Windows 3.1 and 95/98/ME to accept that computers are just unstable. They were trained by Apple, Adobe, Oracle et al that the software that makes the computer go is deep magick from before time that only wizards like you or me can understand. In fact, they expect that, having determined we're wizards (most jaw-dropping thing somebody's actually asked me: "you can actually create real programs?"), they expect us to be able to make changes to their proprietary bullshit they purchased instead of accepting that they've been swindled by a slick sales pitch, and they'll call us sexist and racist when we try to explain to them that even if they were willing to pay us to develop a binary patch, that installing it will violate their fucking license agreement and possibly even the fucking law.
They laugh at us like we're misfits when we tell them that we use Linux and BSD for our servers and our home entertainment system and our NAT/UPnP/IPv6 home router and access point and even when we do our taxes and balance our checkbooks using free software. (Well, my personal choice of tax preparation service is SAAS, but they do good and I like paying them a bit every year.) Is that cute, the little geek who doesn't ever get laid uses Linux? (Another flabbergasting thing: thanks to feminism and the news media, these assholes who are sucking the dicks of companies like Oracle and Adobe and Apple and Microsoft believe they can determine things about our sexual orientation and sex life just because we choose to use FLOSS software! The SJWs defend that man in a dress, but somehow the SJWs tell me that being gay doesn't afford me any dispensation because of the artificial status they've foisted on me as a sexually frustrated misogynerd, which overrides everything fucking despite the fact that people turn me away from the men's room even when obviously presenting as male!)
I say, if they want to pay for the privilege of being slaves to technology, let 'em. Don't help them out when their computer starts "running slow." Don't help them with their iGummy. It's supposed to be so fucking easy to use after all! Don't help them figure out how to do this, that, or the other thing in Excel. I'm not Microsoft and Google's fucking customer service department. Call MS and Google if you can't figure it the fuck out! Did I tell you to use Excel and GMail? Did I?! No?! Well fuck you for choosing to use those things then.
Just like UEFI, there will always be vendors (at least until the lizard people outlaw those vendors when TISA is ratified--but we don't vote for lizard people like Clinton just because Trump has a big mouth and is a bit of an asshole, right?) who provide hardware that recognizes us as the master. We will always be able to download and install software like BSD and Linux that recognizes that we are the master, not the app, not the OS, not the hardware.
Fuck the cows (a. k. a. cattle or goyim depending on your taste in conspiracy theory to explain what's going on in the world on the highest levels--personally I prefer the lizard person theory because I don't believe in discrimination based on race, religion, or where the fuck somebody was born in the world when the poor, tired, huddled masses show up at my beloved Statue of Liberty and ask if the bank of liberty is still solvent).
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday April 28 2016, @09:37PM
Well, maybe not for non-nerds but AUDIBLE SOUND IS ANALOG and impossible to DRM because there's no D to RM. At the point it's converted from digital to analog, it can be resampled and there isn't any way anyone can stop that from happening.
All they can do is slow us down and piss us off. Meanwhile, I've been recording the radio since I was 12 in 1964 and will have five new albums this coming Sunday from KSHE. Fuck the labels, music has always been free, only its physical containers like LPs and CDs have cost in the past. Digital content simply adds awareness to one's work. I won't pay for digital content, nor will I charge for it, my books are all free downloads.
Sorry, this crap pisses me off.
The #1 domestic terrorist organization in the US is ICE
(Score: 5, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:18PM
My ears are still analog, my earbuds get snagged and regularly torn, making simple and cheap a very good idea, "SPDIF optical inside 3.5mm jack" exists, and if I wanted digital connections so badly, I'd use bluetooth... or Wifi
"What problem are we trying to solve?"
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:22PM
Problem is freedom to choose from countless cost effective suppliers. Cant have that
(Score: 5, Insightful) by WillR on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:24PM
The proliferation of cheap third-party earbuds that Intel/Apple/Samsung don't make money from, apparently.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Celestial on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:26PM
Theoretically speaking, going digital would ensure consistent quality between devices by putting DACs into headphones. Theoretically.
The more important benefit for big business and big government is that by going digital, it will allow headphones to track your health data. No, seriously [anandtech.com].
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:58PM
my earbuds get snagged and regularly torn
I'm a big audiobook/podcast guy, and plantronics M50 and when its battery died, M55, fixed that problem permanently. Not a soylentvertisement but an honest plug for something that works. Eventually after maybe 300 charge cycles (only a couple years for me) the battery life will drop to 4 hours on the M50. Till then you can get like 9 hours of spoken word per charge, not bad.
Trying to find BT headphones for high quality music is like trying to find a trackball. Its out there in the market, but good luck. I have a go groove airband. Amazon order report shows I ordered in in July of 2011 and it was still working great as of last weekend, which is a disturbingly unusually long time for a lithium battery to live. Again not a soylentvertisement.
I have some Sony MDR 7000 series wired phones which are pretty Fing awesome (again no soylentvertisement) and I will eventually hand wire a BT to them. Where I'll put the battery I donno.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @07:39AM
Q: What problem are we trying to solve?
A: Plugging "the analog hole".
The problem is not our problem, but their problem... and this won't solve it either, not until we are all required to surgically remove our auditory apparatus and use DRM "protected" cochlear implants for delivering all sound information.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by dltaylor on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:32PM
A couple of years ago, I was willing to trade up my existing Nooks for a newer Nook HD, until they tried to pull an "Apple" and replace individual connectors with an octopus cable. I haven't considered it since (did buy a different tablet for a gift, but it has individual connectors). I do NOT want to have to carry a breakout box just to get the one feature I want at the moment, nor to have a bundle of dangling wires. Data transfer: USB; power: USB; audio: 3.5 mm; video: micro HDMI or micro DisplayPort, and separate from the power/data jack.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:42PM
Eventually, we'll come back to the design of the "orientationless" headphone / speaker jack. You don't have to know which "side" is up, because it's fucking round.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:02PM
USB-C is already "orientationless."
(Score: 5, Informative) by tangomargarine on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:36PM
No, it's reversible. You can orient it in exactly two different ways.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Funny) by Username on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:43PM
No, it’s not reversible or orientationless, it’s auto-mdix.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:47PM
It's reversible. I shouldn't need an electrical engineering degree to say "you can plug it in, or flip it over and plug it in that way, too."
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Username on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:52PM
If I connect analog audio to TX1+, TX1- and GND, flip the connector over and it’s now connected to TX2+, TX2-
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:50PM
Are TX1 and TX2 endpoints that function the same from an outside perspective?
If I'm interpreting the wikipedia page on Auto-MDI-X correctly (which it's quite possible I'm not), it sounds like this is all internal configuration stuff that happens opaquely anyway.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by Username on Thursday April 28 2016, @01:54AM
Yes. Well, technically, auto-mdix switches TX with RX. In usb-c it’s switching TX1 with TX2, but pretty much the same concept. Switching pairs depending on whether or not you’re getting voltage on whatever pin. Well four pairs get flipped in usb-c vs two in ethernet.
(Score: 3, Informative) by VLM on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:50PM
Your terminology is all wrong, but kinda correct anyway
http://www.electronicproducts.com/Interconnections/Connectors/USB_Type_C_connector_pins_and_signal_plan.aspx [electronicproducts.com]
There will be 3 tiers of adapters.
First is dumb copper. Yes that could be orientation specific. Flip the cable and instead of connecting to SBU1 and SBU2 you'll be connected to SBU2 and SBU1. It will flip left and right.
Second tier is smart enough to talk to CC1 and CC2 such that when it detects you're upside down the device will switch. I have no access to the USB-c spec where I'm sitting just this journalist article and the link above. I'd design the protocol such that the left ear's CC pin is grounded, and the USB speaker could sniff the CC leads and whichever is grounded gets adjacent left signal. My not being an total idiot and the protocol designers not being total idiots that might be how it works, or maybe 1K resistors to GND or VCC or WTF (WTF is a commonly measured signal level in EE experiments, often but not always between 0 and Vcc volts)
Third tier is hard core USB sound device talking digitally and not using the SBU pins.
If you're willing to waste pins, imagine something like an 8-pin DIP pinout and attach left audio to pins 1, 8, 4, 5 and right audio to pins 2,3,6,7 and you can flip that 180 degrees to your hearts content and it'll keep right on chuggin.
(Score: 2) by Username on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:21PM
But, you do have to remember right ring red.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Gravis on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:51PM
people will have to buy a stubby little USB-C to audio 3.5mm jack adapter for all their stuff.
(Score: 4, Informative) by pk on Wednesday April 27 2016, @07:52PM
Many organizations do not like it when people plug USB devices into their computers, specifically government organizations. This proposal has an uphill battle ahead of it, especially since it's completely redundant and unnecessary.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday April 28 2016, @12:35AM
Considering that we've had other options for connecting speakers to computers for a good number of years and that we still use those 3.5mm jacks, I think it's safe to assume that people don't want the alternative.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by meustrus on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:00PM
...and upload it to Google? No thanks.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:08PM
My new laptop only has a handful of ports, so I had to get a USB-c dock to sit on my desk. I tried having my headset plugged in, but the audio would be dropped in VOIP calls after about half an hour. Plugging into the laptop directly and the issues went away.
My initial instinct is that it is a vendor issue, but if there is dedicated audio pins for a pass through I'm a little worried that this may become a real issue on other devices also.
(Score: 2) by Username on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:36PM
There will be audio type-c ports and USB type-c ports which will lead to confusion, or there will be software required to differentiate a usb device from analog audio which will waste a usb port and will most likely cause problems when a device is improperly detected.
(Score: 5, Informative) by RamiK on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:38PM
This is the company people trust as their root chain of trust. The same people who bake-in a micro-controller that needs blob initialization and ethernet driver in your UEFI, designed ACPI purposely broken on Microsoft's bequest and have submitted SGX extensions patches to mainline just today, are now trying to sell you monster cables for your headphones.
compiling...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @11:23PM
And don't forget their ties to fabrication plants in ((Israel))... Which fucked up the implementation of the x86 FPU. [nyu.edu] (PDF warning, from the designer of the FPU, who says the Israeli plant didn't understand the design so made up some crappy half-assed implementation we've been fighting against for decades now).
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @08:52PM
The last frontier of DRM is the analog signal chain.
Oh sure, you can copy protect all your files, put them in the cloud, etc, but I can always plug in a stereo 1/8" jack into my laptop and make a reasonable copy of your recording using analog audio.
The final frontier for these folks is figuring out a way to encode the digital signal throughout your audio equipment so that there's no easy way to make copies. You'll be making bootlegs by putting microphones in front of your stereo speakers.
Speaking of -- is that next? USB powered digital speakers? Say it isn't so!
(Score: 2) by snick on Wednesday April 27 2016, @10:32PM
Ah the good old days... Making tapes from by putting a pair of headphones plugged into the record player over the condenser mic on the top of the tape recorder.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Username on Thursday April 28 2016, @02:26AM
There is no way to make digital speakers. At some point in the chain there will be a digital to analog conversion so the speaker can make sound.
All you would have to do is desolder the leads to the mic and solder them onto the leads to the amplifier or speaker.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday April 28 2016, @03:55AM
The trouble is that we will willingly buy the rope they use to hang us.
Oooh Donuts! ....
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:01PM
requiring certain techniques to maintain a high audio quality and remove interference.
The summary seems to try to justify this move from Intel. The above statement is irrelevant. Shielding? Its common to all computer cables. Nothing you do to analog audio you don't have to do to digital USB anyway so its no argument for going USB. Besides later in the summary it says they want to use two pins of the USB connector for analog audio. So they want to reduce ports, that's all. The same audio DAC and 'certain techniques' are required here too.
Can see DRM coming if this goes ahead.
(Score: 1) by letssee on Thursday April 28 2016, @07:47AM
They mean shielding *inside* the device. If the audio leaves the device digitally, you can skip a DA converter and shielding in the device. Making the device cheaper (and all headphones more expensive). A bit later they talk about analog pass-through and then all this becomes hogwash. But of course the analog pass-through is phase one (like with dvi-a and dvi-d, except there it made sence because a flat panel monitor is a digital device).
Do not want. Had usb headphones blow up my ears once (left me with permanent hearing damage) because by getting yanked on repeatedly somehow the digital USB signal was passed directly to the earbuds. Sounded like someone used a jackhanmmer inside my ear, I nearly passed out. Please keep the DA conversion inside the device, where it doesn't get tossed around like a pair of earbuds.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:16PM
Back when USB-powered speakers became a thing, I remember the hum of the case electronics and power supply being audible though the speakers. How will this be any better?
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Thursday April 28 2016, @08:35AM
Two reasons:
1) They tend to get horrible reviews if they botch the filtering
2) The devices listed (laptop, cellphone, tablet) will mostly operate on a DC source (battery) where this isn't in issue (other than during charging (from AC) if they botch the filtering)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bot on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:19PM
Civilization: you know you are not in one when somebody proposes to make literal metric kilo tons of audio equipment obsolete and it doesn't get treated like a criminal.
BTW my latest laptop is bought used because 1. no UEFI boot and 2. firewire.
Now let's complain PC sales are down.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by dltaylor on Wednesday April 27 2016, @09:32PM
I have a decently powerful Dell Latitude E6410. It has the Firewire, and ESATA.
No USB 3, but I don't need it for anything, anyway, since I back it up over GigE.
It's only weakness is that the mobile i7 doesn't have the memory bandwidth of the desktop version.
Oh, and it's not certified for Windows 10, so it will have to live with Windows 7 and OpenBSD.
(Score: 4, Informative) by tangomargarine on Wednesday April 27 2016, @10:35PM
If you think that's bad, you should (read: probably shouldn't) check out the hardware whitelisting thing I've heard about the last couple years.
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/293403-beware-dreaded-white-list-hp-guilty-charged.html [sevenforums.com]
Computers are supposed to read and right bits. We're being steadily swamped with this evil, money-grubbing bullshit about what we are allowed to do with our own hardware. Kind of makes one long for the days where a moderately clever end user with a bit of electrical knowledge could actually understand everything his computer was doing with a bit of effort. Now we've got locked BIOSs, and DRM, and games that won't let you play single-player mode without an Internet connection.
How far we've fallen.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday April 27 2016, @10:39PM
Crap. Missed a close tag for the bold. Sorry :P
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by fnj on Wednesday April 27 2016, @11:43PM
Yeah, you also mixed up "right" and "write".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @04:42AM
He probably didn't read and write the right bits.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Thursday April 28 2016, @07:44AM
He probably didn't read and write the right bits.
If you write the wrong bits twice over are you writing them right?
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday April 28 2016, @08:41AM
You mean, if a bit fell on its side, the computer is supposed to right it again?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by turgid on Wednesday April 27 2016, @10:50PM
CDs sounded great, better than everything else. I've still got all of mine going back to 1988 (Tracy Chapman, DDD recording) when I started and I've broken the law (breakin' the law, breakin' the law, heh heh - settle down Beavis) by ripping them with cdparanoia and FLAC'ing them. So about 10 years ago the loudness wars happened and all new CDs started to sound terrible, I'm not paying for DRM'd "digital" music that's worse than that so why would I care about having digital all the way to the headphones? Please explain. Things nowadays are almost as bad as an LP recorded on a cheap C90 played on a $50 personal stereo (Walkman), Progress!
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Funny) by wisnoskij on Wednesday April 27 2016, @11:12PM
How about we replace USB ports with 3.5mm audio jacks? The audio jack is the ultimate in computer ports. Compact, easy to use, solid, hard to destroy, wears well. It is the perfect port design.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @12:07AM
Yes, but how will I know I've plugged the cable in upside down if it spins freely in the socket!?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @06:40AM
But... you get cutsie cat and pug audio jack covers!!
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday April 28 2016, @12:03PM
I guess you meant that as joke, but I wonder if that actually would be doable. I mean, for my phone I've got a single-jack headset that has stereo earphones and a microphone, so you actually get quite a few connections into a single jack. So is there any reason why it would not work for a serial data connection?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Informative) by wisnoskij on Thursday April 28 2016, @12:14PM
It is a similar enough connection that their already exists audio jack to usb cables. Apple, for one, charges and transfers data to and from their Shuffle with a 3.5mm AJ to USB cable. It is the only port on the shuffle. But I am not saying we keep the underlying wirering structure of the AJ, just that the general structural design is the perfect design that you cannot improve on. Unlike USB which is fragile and take 3 minutes to plug in, or any of those cables with many pins sticking out the end.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday April 28 2016, @01:41PM
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Saturday May 07 2016, @10:26PM
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_%28audio%29#PDAs_.26_mobile_phones [wikipedia.org] many devices which accept three or four pin jacks already have cross-over support. Theoretically, with some software configuration, it should be possible to insert the following jacks: mono headphones, stereo headphones, stereo audio with composite video input, stereo audio with composite video output, stereo headphones with microphone, stereo headphones with microphone and playback controls, stereo headphones with microphone and one-wire digital data, or full-duplex digital data.
1702845791×2
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @12:11AM
Thank you, everyone, for your feedback. We will take it into consideration as we move forward in the standardization process.
-
Roger Bland
Intel® Itanium® Mobile Processor Development Group
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @02:05AM
I can plug any pair of headphones into the 3.5 mm jack as long as I have an adapter, including my Studio Monitor headphones I bought 20+ years ago. Changing this to a USB port provides no added value at all. None of my old headphones require any power to operate, than what is drawn from the device playing the sound. Which 2 pins on the USB-C connector will provide the Analog Audio information? Where is that written in the specification?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Thursday April 28 2016, @11:58AM
Don't worry, you'll get USB-to-jack adapters, too. It's just that they will be much more expensive (licensing fees to Intel, some additional digital circuits) and will not play any DRMed music. And of course you'll first have to figure out which of the USB ports supports audio (probably the one you've got already in use — oh, and don't think you can just put an USB hub in between, unless it's some new, super-expensive audio-enabled USB hub).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 28 2016, @02:23AM
This is fucking ridiculous. What possible advantage does this have?
>One less port!
I like to charge my phone while using headphones.
>Wireless charging!
Waste of money and --- more importantly --- desk space, fuck off.