Just randomly sharing my experience here. My sister told me a few weeks ago she was going to change for a new phone (a Motorola, she likes AOSP-like experience). I noticed that her new phone wouldn’t get a jack.
“Yeah, I know, I hope I can make it work with a USB-adapter”. She has nice headphones that she likes to use, so USB-C earplugs were not an option.
Fast forward to today, she told me the adapter she got starts to malfunction:
- she has to twitch the jack in the adapter for the thing to work
- when she plugs the adapter in, Google Assistant takes over and randomly starts skipping songs.
She’s now considering getting wireless earbuds, but she’s not a fan of having to recharge them to be able to use them, and is also cautious about the e-waste potential.
I have a Moto G84 which does the job. It’s not the best phone in the world, I’m eyeing a flagship from time to time and keep the G84 as a “connected walkman”, but would it break today, I would probably get a G55 (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Motorola-Moto-G55-smartphone-review-Inexpensive-doesn-t-have-to-be-boring.932900.0.html)
That’s it for me, do you have similar experiences to share?
My friend group used to be very big on “pass the aux cord” when we’re hanging out. It was incredibly easy to switch out our phones (or iPods and portable CD players before that) to let all of us contribute music for the gathering.
Now? Ok, I disconnected from the BT speaker. Do you see it yet? Lemme try turning the BT speaker off and on again. [BING BONG!; “Connected”] Ugh, it reconnected to my phone. Let me just turn BT off on my phone and you try again.
It’s just such a PITA with BT, and having to keep USB-C and Lightning adapters on hand is even more annoying than that. If only there were a reliable and dedicated connection for audio devices…oh well.
On the other hand, YouTube and Spotify let you add songs to the queue from your phone without taking over the whole thing.
Also BT has allowed multiple devices to connect to the same one for ages. Like since 4.0 at least.
I can have my headphones connected to my phone and my computer so that I just pause the audio on one and start up in the other. Sometimes the switch takes a second or two but that’s it.
It’s been like that for years on BT speakers, but probably not the very cheapest ones from like 5 years ago, (no offense to anyone I buy the cheapest ones I just happened to get a morr expensive one by luck back then), but my cheap-ass Chinese headphones can do that as can my generic brand bt speaker.
If you connect two devices, it usually prioritises the one which started playing media most recently. As in I put a song on, but then you click a song on your phone so it takes over.
So I feel like it’s more a skill issue with the guy you’re replying to but might just be older BT.
yeah, in case all of you use their services
I basically don’t notice that I don’t have a headphone jack. My usb-c adapter is just permanently affixed to my wired IEMs and it basically makes no difference to me if the plug is round or usb-c shaped.
I definitely recommend biting the bullet and getting a good adapter. Since I have a pixel I use the Google one. I made sure my partner got an official apple one for their iPhone since I remember seeing rumors about a volume difference between them if mixed and matched. Aside from Apple shenanigans I haven’t really had an issue with them. I also only charge at night so I never have the problem of needing to charge and listen at the same time.
The headphone cable is excellent for sure and I will never ever buy another set of wireless headphones again.
I have one set of wireless earbuds (Sony XM3) for when bigger headphones are impractical and for the price the battery life is shit. After roughly 2ish years of moderate use the battery life is cut noticeably and after 3 they barely last 30 minutes. Thankfully changing the battery is fairly simple (go sony!) although the battery used is a weird proprietary cell that cannot be purchased through legitimate channels and is fairly expensive (boo sony). But whatever, $30 on batteries is better than tossing earbuds that cost $250-300 a few years ago.
That said I have moved on from phones with headphone jacks. I still have a few sets of proper ass headphones that are pretty nice. If I want to use them with my phone I don’t fuck with dongles, I have a Qudelix 5K DAC/AMP. This allows me to use my wired headphones with any Bluetooth thing really. The only thing that could improve it is a user replaceable battery, and they made that: the Qudelix T71 although I haven’t tried that. And frankly I’m pretty sure I can figure out swapping the battery on this whenever it croaks. I’ve sourced and changed a lot of batteries in my time.
It’s not as nice as my proper setup for listening to flac or vinyl but it’s pretty indistinguishable aurally for the most part when listening to flac on my phone (vs flac on my home server via my better dac/amp which again is pretty aurally indistinguishable unless you’re a buttsniffing audiophile type. And if you are I dare you to double blind test it)
Qudelix 5K DAC/AMP
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
Excellent recommendation but be sure to use it wired if you actually want sound quality
I get it. However, I switched to having a good set of overear headphones connected via Bluetooth some years ago. I’ve never looked back, the freedom is amazing!
Yeah. Headphone jacks are essential only for people who own nice wired headphones they want to continue using.
If you are making music, so is the latency.
A “must”, only for a subset of users.
If it were truly a “must”, more people would be complaining.
I get it, you find Bluetooth unappealing for reasons, just like I find larger phones unappealing. Unfortunately, we’re a minority, neither of these are a “must” for most people.
It’s unappealing because it makes you extremely easy to track. So options without bluetooth are a safeguard for your privacy, which is a human right that has been heavily under attack for years. So in that regard headphone jacks are an objective must. Not enough people are complaining, true, but that’s because they don’t understand the technology and the risks are being obfuscated to them.
she has to twitch the jack in the adapter for the thing to work
This is the downfall of all headphone jacks tbh
I think that the insistance on headphone jack has gone too far.
There are now enough wired USB-C headphones and wireless earbuds available.
Yes, there are edge cases, like people who work in audio industry where most equipment uses jack as standard connector, or car aux ports, etc.
But when it comes to most casual listening, there are enough solutions.When migrating to the new phone I tried with USB-C to 3.5 adapter. It did not work most of the time. I suspect that the issue was in my somewhat defective headphones, which have damaged wire and therefore unreliable connection.
Previous phone and other devices were probably able to mitigate the occasional “disconnect”, while the adapter completely dropped connection.But then I bought USB-C headphones, which work fine.
There are now enough wired USB-C headphones
for sure I don’t want to buy a new one. why the fuck?
and how do I charge while using a jack? I mean when the phone is connected to a PC through USB, it is charged a little so that at least does not drain. but a USB DAC obviously can’t do that, and afaik there are no splitters that would allow to connect a charger
Some people have good quality headphones (think Sennheiser HD series) and like to use them with their phones in public transport. I don’t even think they make this kind of headphones with USB-C, that would defeat the purpose of being able to use them with anything else.
This is why I don’t like the idea of one device for communication and media needs. I have smartphones for comms and then dedicated audio devices for music and podcasts with headphone jacks.
Honestly the more I think about this the more I think that you are not only right, but putting all of our proverbial eggs in one basket with smartphones was a horrible horrible mistake. We have done too many trade-offs for convenience.
Try to buy a digital camera today, pocket digital cameras basically aren’t made anymore. And even a mid-range pocket digital camera from the mid 2010s significantly outperforms a modern smartphone camera. It’s simple physics, bigger lens captures more light gives you a better picture.
Try to listen to music. Almost all the digital music we are served up is lossy compressed for streaming. And then we feed it into Bluetooth headphones with even more lossy compression. The sound that actually goes in the ears sounds like crap and bears little resemblance to what the artist laid down on their master, but we’re all used to it so we think that’s what music is supposed to sound like. A late 1990s Discman has significantly better sound quality even with a cheap DAC.
Try to do something online. A whole lot of new sites and services don’t even bother making a website, it’s just a promo to download their stupid privacy invading app. And if you want to do whatever you are doing on a real computer with a big screen, you’re SOL.
And then there is the unintended effect on our kids. I have always been an advocate of mobile technology. But I am looking at the actual effect of growing up with smartphones and tablets, and the result is an awful lot of kids with attention spans measured in seconds rather than minutes. Kids who can edit video and insert images into a document with their eyes closed, but can barely write three coherent sentences.
I have always been an advocate and user and enthusiast of smartphones and mobile technology. I buy this stuff, I use it, I recommend it to others.
But I think maybe I was wrong. I think maybe we all were wrong.
I look at the overall effect smartphones have on society, and I honestly can’t say the world is a better place as a result. We take crappy pictures, listen to crappy music, have crappy attention spans, but it’s all very convenient so we don’t care.I think maybe we were better off the other way. And maybe some of that inconvenience is a good thing, in the same way that having to do physical work is good exercise.
Agreed, really enjoy my fiio m15s
She’s now considering getting wireless earbuds, but she’s not a fan of having to recharge them to be able to use them, and is also cautious about the e-waste potential.
I was wondering if there exists a bluetooth device that connects to your phone, and the device itself is just a headphone jack.
https://www.fiio.com/btr15 yes sorta?
Its a bluetooth DAC with its own battery, but idk how convenient this is vs just a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle. There’s other models and brands too varying from very cheap to extremely expensive (audiophile circlejerk material).
Headphone jack and removable battery are the two features I will not compromise on. Makes selecting a new phone pretty damn easy. I would have loved a fairphone but sorry, no exceptions.
At some point, you’re just not going to have a phone at all then, the way things are going.
The way things are going? EU just recently mandated that in the future batteries must be able to be replaced by the end user. There’s likely going to be more devices like this soon, not less.
Yeah, sure, but I don’t recall hearing the EU mandate headphone jacks. And I doubt we will, considering they’re tech that’s decades old, and less 3.5mm wired headphones are being sold each year. The EU is mandating things everyone wants in their phones, and most people want wireless. Now I know there’s a segment of the population that would violently protest that such a thing could even be possible, but digging your heels in and trying to stop the march of time has never, in all of history, worked out for anyone.
Well obviously if there was literally not a single new device matching the criteria available, then I would need to compromise on the headphone jack but if there is even a single device that still has it along with the other features then that’s what I’d get.
I did the exact same thing with my previous device, LG V20. I used it closer to seven years while waiting for someone to release a new model with a headphone jack and a removable battery. Then Samsung released such device and that’s the one I got.
Well, for your sake, I hope they continue to make phones that meet your standards. Or that you find an alternative that suits you.
What is your current phone?
XCover 6 pro
Seems like a nice device, it was on my list for a while, but a bit too chunky
Sony XPeria still has jacks
Add ip rated and removable storage and you have my list. I have had to compromise on the removable battery on the last few phones though.
My device has both - on top of headphone jack and removable battery.
No not it is not a must. And the vast majority of pwope don’t care.
After experiencing true wireless ear buds, I’m never going back. Yeah no thanks, I don’t want to be literally tethered to my phone.
Bluetooth can’t even transport mp3 quality. Let alone CD or even HD quality music.
There is no “mp3 quality”, as that can vastly vary depending on bitrate. And what is HD quality music supposed to be? I bet you couldn’t reliably differentiate high quality mp3, CD audio and completely uncompressed wav in a series of blind tests.
That’s like saying people can’t tell the difference between 720p, 1080 and 4K
No, it’s not
Maybe it’s your ears or system but in this house we can certainly tell the difference between a 2 mb mp3 file and a 400mb DSD.
Try a high Bitrate mp3 and the difference becomes a pure technicality.
That’s not true. It depends on the codecs both devices use. But regardless, I mostly listen to podcasts and my hearing is by far the limiting factor in audio quality.
I still have been able to play games on my phone with truly wireless earbuds because the latency is awful. I’d love to jsvr an option to plug in.
Do both your phone and earbuds support aptx?
Cheap devices almost never support it, but it’s truly what makes Bluetooth earbuds great.
Google pixel 6 Pro with Google Buds Pro. Not really cheaped out but no aptx on the earbuds. I assumed low latency codec would be there when I bought a pro version of an earbud from a company that removes their headphone jack, but noooooooo.
Google buds aren’t cheap but… They aren’t really a prime example or wireless earbuds. Basically just the equivalent of the air pods. Decent sound, but a solid middle ground in terms of features and quality.
Take a look at some other options that do support aptx or at least Bluetooth LE Audio. Aim for BT 5.3 support, but BT 5.2 may be acceptable if you are happy with BT LE Audio latency.I use the Sony WF-1000XMS with BT LE Audio on the Steamdeck and the latency is fine for most gaming. Latexy seems to be around 30-100ms at my best estimation (depending on the quality and complexity of the audio being transmitted).
But the WF-1000XMS don’t support aptx. There are lots of devices that do though. I’d recommend looking for aptx-ll specifically, but aptx-hd is also a massive improvement.As a side note, the reason I use WF-1000XMS is for the excellent ANC (I’m autistic), so I am not recommending them as gaming earbuds, but just as an example of quality earbuds that work for me.
You don’t have to go back. You can have both. A headphone jack does not preclude the use of Bluetooth.
Did you know?
Phones can have a headphone jack and still have Bluetooth for the people who don’t want to use it!
Of course it is possible, but it is an inefficient use of internal phone space. It adds another physical failure point. Increases risk of water entry. And adds construction/repair cost.
All for some thing few care about already and that number gets smaller everyday.
Sorry to be harshly pragmatic about it (I have a few niche hobbies myself) but it’s time to let it go.
it is an inefficient use of internal phone space.
It is only inefficient for you. I never use the selfie camera. Should I be campaigning for its removal?
It adds another physical failure point.
As you don’t use it, you don’t care if it fails.
Increases risk of water entry.
No. This is a solved problem.
And adds construction costs
More so for the selfie camera.
and repair cost.
If you don’t use it, you don’t need it repairing
I can’t even lol.
Google should remove the extremely popular camera (and takes a tenth of the size) so you can “you” can have a port…
Given the quality of that response, I’m just stopping there…
Have a good day, I’m out.
I’m showing how biased your logic is by swapping one word.
Headphone Jacks are also popular. Over 60% preference on android and 92% of people prefer the rear camera
My facts beat your feelings.
Ok… Don’t think I said they couldn’t?
Regarding your sister’s issue: that happened to me less when I paid a little more for a quality adapter. I think I got a two pack for $15 and the cord has some rubber protection where the wire turns into USB C and where it turns into a headphone jack. Haven’t had the same issue your sister is having ever since.
You can’t get a good quality DAC for $15. Lol
For me I’m really split on wired vs wireless headphones as well. I do love how being wireless makes moving around easier. I’m sure we’ve all felt the rage when the wire gets caught and gets unplugged. But the amount of times I have to charge it while I want to use it is pretty annoying too.
For me, nobody makes wireless over-ear headphones for people with giant skulls. I have broken headbands over time because they aren’t meant to go wide enough to actually fit on my head.
IEMs aren’t really an option for me due to earwax (they either fall out, or the eartips degrade rapidly and I’m spending $20 every couple of months)
Maybe. I tried the Bose equivalent (the Ultra Opens), the fit was fantastic but audio quality was absolute crap for the pricetag (returned after less than 5 minutes of use)
I am in no way trying to sell you on bluetooth headphones because I won’t use them either, but I imagine the Beyerdynamic Amiron Wireless or AudioTechnica ATH-M50xBT2 would fit your head. Neither are exactly something you’d walk around town in, I imagine.
Funny enough, audio technica M50’s are one of the ones that broke 😅 the part just below the leather headband cracked and broke apart after about a year IIRC
Had some Beyerdynamic dt 770s that broke just above the swivel hinge too.
Currently using Sennheiser hd 58x jubilee, theyre holding up well and fit much better than the audio technicas.
I haven’t had a charging concern for Bluetooth for probably 10 years.
Today, my ear buds have a case. If I use them for music for 8 hours, they tell me they need charging. That’s how much they’ve improved.
The charging case rarely needs charging, and it supports wireless, so I just set it on the charging base.
You shouldn’t have to choose
I lost my jack during an upgrade last year, but I also got free buds with the phone. I thought I would hate them, but I actually listen to more music now than I ever did before because it’s so convenient not to be wired to the phone.
We also have a couple of good over-ear wired headphones in our house, so I bought an adapter to be able to use them. I bought a no brand one for a few pounds off Amazon (just to try it out at first, really), so probably the DAC inside is not doing them justice, but they still sound great, much better than the buds. It still works fine now, so until it breaks, I’m pretty happy with it. If it breaks, I won’t be happy with it, but then I’ll probably get a better one.
For your sister, maybe try a different adapter if the connection’s bad, assuming it’s not filled with lint or something. Google assistant has only ever gotten in the way of everything for me, so don’t enable it - not sure what to do about that.
Flagship phones are crap IMO, my personal hatred for glass as a material used unnecessarily for the back is immense.
Glass sucks in every aspect, it’s slippery, it’s heavier, it’s a finger print magnet, and it’s fragile in a place where you can choose synthetics that are better in every way.
Losing the jack and SD cards suck too, and preventing replaceable batteries is so bad, it’s actually illegal in EU from 2027. I have no idea why that couldn’t have been sooner.The rules will come into force in 2027.
I’m so sick of this, that I’ve decided NO WAY I’m buying a flagship next time, despite I absolutely love features like an amazing camera and screen.
But they can piss right off with their bullshit, pardon my French.
I bet a manufacturer could get sales advertising that it’s NOT a glass back, and that it HAS mini-jack.
But I also miss the notification LED, how did they figure it was a good idea to remove that too???The weird thing is they ALL do this shit? Where’s the competition on maintaining well established functions? A mini jack doesn’t prevent use of wireless earphones, but lack of it absolutely prevents the use of wired ones.
There are some manufacturers that have kept these features and it’s definitely a selling point. The one I know is Sony but I think there was another one. I’m still sad they removed the notification led though, it seemed like they would keep it as they also kept the top bezel.
Sony
Their phones look nice but the pricetag is very hefty.
A used flagship is a great phone (except for the glass nonsense, give me all plastic please). It’s all I buy, 2 or 3 year old flagship for 1/4 the price of new.
I just upgraded from a 2017 flagship to a Pixel 5, for $120!
Pixel 5
I just checked, ironically no headphone jack
They probably meant the 5a which was the last Pixel with a jack. I am still holding onto my 4a as I haven’t found a replacement that can support the ROM I use.
