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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @05:42PM
Your lowest cost audio amp argument doesn't apply to nice (expensive) phones like the iPhone.
They sell on a perception of quality.
And you hold hope that by buying expensive headphones you can have a quality signal... why not just buy a quality phone.
You have to pay for quality one way or another...