SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 14 submissions in the queue.
SoylentNews
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.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Bring Back the Headphone Jack: Why USB-C Audio Still Doesn't Work
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 65 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
If you stand on your head, you will get footprints in your hair.
(Score: 5, Informative) by ledow on Wednesday September 12 2018, @10:57AM (6 children)
A headphone jack doesn't need to be charged. Bluetooth devices do. I find it a pain in the backside to keep so many different things charged all the time. Note that my car audio doesn't have that problem - if I'm driving the car, it's powered up.
Though Bluetooth is very handy, I have to admit I do use it a lot, but I still want a jack. I'll pay extra for a phone with a jack. But people aren't making them with jacks. Whether or not it conforms to your ideal, you're an idiot to ignore paying customers.
However... my "favourite" set of headphones is thus:
- Over the ear
- Noise-cancelling
- Bluetooth
- Foldable
- With a jack on them that:
* you can use to plug into a headphone output and listen
* works even when the battery on the headphones is dead.
* you can use to join ANOTHER set of headphones to so both of you can listen to whatever you were listening to.
* works on all my old stuff that isn't Bluetooth and I'll be buggered if I'm paying £10 each to put audio-bluetooth adaptors on.
- Has a microUSB port that not only charges them but that you can play music over
- Have a built-in microSD slot for playing audio direct with no other device at all
- Have a built-in FM radio.
- Cost me £25.
For some reason, a cheap pair of headphones from China does more, respects my choices more, lets me plug in "antiquated" hardware like headphone cables and microSD cards, and is more useful to me, than £800 of smartphone that claims to be the must-have item of the moment. My current smartphone has headphone jack and Bluetooth. Because I want the option. I won't buy a new phone where I lose options unless I'm convinced I'll never use that option again (e.g. I wouldn't worry about a computer without a VGA port on it nowadays, but for YEARS I wanted both HDMI / DVI and VGA if I was purchasing, and I always found it).
Hilariously, the day I bought them someone in work come in having just come back from Singapore and was raving about their £250 set of headphones they'd bought over there that didn't do any of that, and which they said sounded better. And then I told them that they only cost me £25 and I got them off Amazon.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Wednesday September 12 2018, @01:26PM (2 children)
My Galaxy S9+, which is a fairly recent phone, has a proper phone jack.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Wednesday September 12 2018, @03:29PM (1 child)
Your S9+ costs more than every single phone I've ever owned in my life, collectively.
It also costs more than my laptop.
And more than each car I've ever owned (except one which I bought brand-new).
For a headphone jack? Sorry, but no. My S4 Mini and S5 Mini were fine, and have IR blasters. I put the S4 onto LineageOS and use it as a literal remote control (that can also push movies from the Netflix app onto my Chromecast etc.). To upgrade from my S5 Mini, I would need something in the price-range I paid for it (£200 for a brand-new one), that'll last as long as the S4 Mini (5 years minimum) and that I don't lose functionality on.
It also requires a change of charger or adaptors for everything which would cost more than the headphone jack ever could.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Wednesday September 12 2018, @06:48PM
Must be pretty young then, or the owner of some seriously minimalist devices. I've been buying phones since the early 1970's, and the total spent was probably more than the cost of the S9+ even before cellphones hit the market. I don't doubt you, I just find your statement surprising.
Oh, I completely agree. However, for all the other benefits plus the headphone jack? The time saved by all that compute power... The display size and quality... The quality of the cameras... The considerable sensor suite... The wireless charging... IP68 water resistance... Always-on-display... 6GB of RAM... 64 GB of base storage... the broad array of connectivity...
Abso-bloody-lutely.
No, it's not perfect — I'd prefer a replaceable battery, a display that didn't go to the edges, and an externally accessible slot for additional storage — but those features weren't things I could find that went with other features I wanted.
That's a tree you're looking at. The forest awaits your gaze. :)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday September 12 2018, @02:18PM (1 child)
Do you want to name the device? I also have foldable Bluetooth headphones with a jack, but they don't have several of the features you listed like FM radio, microSD, or noise cancellation. Plus it has microUSB for charging but can't play music over the microUSB or play over Bluetooth while charging.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by ledow on Wednesday September 12 2018, @03:35PM
No idea... It probably has a brand on it, but I can't remember it. I'll have a look
A friend has a very similar one that I do know the name of and can still find on Amazon (though his doesn't say Turbine on it, it's definitely a Bluedio):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluedio-T2VBCA01-Bluetooth-Wireless-Headphones-black/dp/B00Q30A1RI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1536766239&sr=8-5&keywords=headphone+fm+radio [amazon.co.uk]
I know that his one can do the FM, microSD, all the headphone jack stuff, and play while charging. Not sure about the noise cancelling or USB on that one though.
From the look of it, that one also has a mic for when Bluetooth calling, which mine doesn't.
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Wednesday September 12 2018, @03:09PM
Like takyon, I am also interested in the model name/number of said device. Last cheap pair I bought was $35 and didn't do 75% of what you listed and died after three months. That thing sounds magical.