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I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

fastcompany.com

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Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#441

Post by jcelerier »

pizza234 wrote: post #429
pookieinc wrote: post #213

We need to take into account _Accessibility_. A large use case that I've found most people seems to miss are individuals who are older and don't have much experience with bluetooth or wireless technology. I'm fine with Apple removing the headphone jack, but they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. Anecdotal example: I recently purchased headphones for my 65-year old…

I think the problem, in the specific audio area, is the technology itself rather than accessibility. The Bluetooth standard is trash; no stack/device [combination] just works as it's supposed to do. If BT worked, I think accessibility would pose no problem; ultimately, the intended workflow is: 1. turn on BT on the host device (if required); 2. turn on the client device; 3. listen to music. As the BT committees and i…

> 1. turn on BT on the host device (if required); 2. turn on the client device; 3. listen to music.

how does that work in a crowded space, e.g. public transport, where I'd wager most people are using BT headsets nowadays ?

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#442

Post by rovek »

It feels to me like Bluetooth consumer products are a lot like consumer printers; for 90+% of users they will be obsolete before they "just work" to any layperson's definition.

Every Christmas, you will have to fix your parents printer/wireless home device which hasn't worked for months and won't work in 2 months.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#443

Post by simonh »

sacado2 wrote: post #438
pookieinc wrote: post #213

We need to take into account _Accessibility_. A large use case that I've found most people seems to miss are individuals who are older and don't have much experience with bluetooth or wireless technology. I'm fine with Apple removing the headphone jack, but they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. Anecdotal example: I recently purchased headphones for my 65-year old…

I'm not an eldery, and I prefer a jack socket. I just don't get the benefit of bluetooth in most situations. Jacks are more reliable and definitely plug-and-play. Unless it has a physical failure, your jack socket always just works. As you state it, bluetooth requires you to "Turn on Bluetooth on your phone, then turn on your headphones, then hold down the button to pair, etc", for no benefit. Oh, and now you need ba…

>why is that? Are they too old?

Latency. When you're making music and interacting with it directly, you can't afford any noticeable latency. When you're passively listening to it, that doesn't really matter. For phone/tablet users the main place this matters is games, due to their interactive nature.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#444

Post by alpaca128 »

tjoff wrote: post #423
pookieinc wrote: post #213

We need to take into account _Accessibility_. A large use case that I've found most people seems to miss are individuals who are older and don't have much experience with bluetooth or wireless technology. I'm fine with Apple removing the headphone jack, but they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. Anecdotal example: I recently purchased headphones for my 65-year old…

Elderly? I can guarantee that no human being on earth can confidently setup bluetooth on all devices. And that's the issue, these one-off pairings. I had a friend sync with my car bluetooth-stereo, it took a while and from the steering wheel I couldn't be of enough help. But it worked in the end, was quite frustrating though. Then later when I tried to use my phone again it had been lost from the receiver (eventhough…

Exactly. Just recently I struggled with pairing a bluetooth speaker with my father's laptop. Another, exactly identical bluetooth speaker paired fine just the day before. The second one couldn't be paired for two days, and I have no idea why. The fact that this bluetooth speaker has three different bluetooth modes with three different ways to switch between them via a single button doesn't help, and even after years I couldn't figure out which mode is meant for what purpose.

And the problem is that this happens regularly unless you never switch any device, which in reality doesn't happen, because nobody wants to buy nice headphones for every audio source. Bluetooth is a mess, and I'm glad I stayed with headphone jacks so far.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#445

Post by franga2000 »

pjc50 wrote: post #325
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I read it, professional / amateur musicians and iPhones are the very definition of huge niche .

Pro/am musicians and Macbooks are an absolutely massive combo and Apple get a lot of free advertising every time that glowing apple logo appears on stage. I wonder if they know this or will risk removing the jack from laptops.

Most probably wouldn't care - they're usually using external DACs anyways.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#446

Post by Natanael_L »

pizza234 wrote: post #429
pookieinc wrote: post #213

We need to take into account _Accessibility_. A large use case that I've found most people seems to miss are individuals who are older and don't have much experience with bluetooth or wireless technology. I'm fine with Apple removing the headphone jack, but they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. Anecdotal example: I recently purchased headphones for my 65-year old…

I think the problem, in the specific audio area, is the technology itself rather than accessibility. The Bluetooth standard is trash; no stack/device [combination] just works as it's supposed to do. If BT worked, I think accessibility would pose no problem; ultimately, the intended workflow is: 1. turn on BT on the host device (if required); 2. turn on the client device; 3. listen to music. As the BT committees and i…

NFC based pairing is already a thing, reducing your 3 steps to 1 step. It's however not supported everywhere.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#448

Post by Ambroos »

jcelerier wrote: post #441
pizza234 wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem, in the specific audio area, is the technology itself rather than accessibility. The Bluetooth standard is trash; no stack/device [combination] just works as it's supposed to do. If BT worked, I think accessibility would pose no problem; ultimately, the intended workflow is: 1. turn on BT on the host device (if required); 2. turn on the client device; 3. listen to music. As the BT committees and i…

> 1. turn on BT on the host device (if required); 2. turn on the client device; 3. listen to music. how does that work in a crowded space, e.g. public transport, where I'd wager most people are using BT headsets nowadays ?

Generally quite well. Pairing means your devices know to look for eachother, and the bitrate of music streaming over Bluetooth combined with the low range means you'll need some unrealistic congestion before things really start to fail.

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#449

Post by franga2000 »

saurik wrote: post #427
Bud wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirPods require neither of these things. The case is always charging them. You want to use your beyerdynamics? Fine. Your phone came with an adapter for them.

I use AirPods. I even like them. ... but you do realize that the case isn't a magical source of energy, right? You have to charge that thing... and the airpods themselves last a remarkably long time, but they don't last that long, so I find myself having to do this awkward dance in the middle of meetings where I take one out and charge it while relying on the other one, and then I swap to charge that one... I have li…

> made it impossible to waterproof the damned phone Was that what Apple told their customers? Because it's utter bullshit. Sony, Samsung, LG, even those ultra-rugged CAT phones had headphone jacks and at least IP-68 (5m, 1h).

Re: I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back

#450

Post by laurentl »

simonh wrote: post #443
sacado2 wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an eldery, and I prefer a jack socket. I just don't get the benefit of bluetooth in most situations. Jacks are more reliable and definitely plug-and-play. Unless it has a physical failure, your jack socket always just works. As you state it, bluetooth requires you to "Turn on Bluetooth on your phone, then turn on your headphones, then hold down the button to pair, etc", for no benefit. Oh, and now you need ba…

>why is that? Are they too old? Latency. When you're making music and interacting with it directly, you can't afford any noticeable latency. When you're passively listening to it, that doesn't really matter. For phone/tablet users the main place this matters is games, due to their interactive nature.

Don’t forget video. Bluetooth adds latency, and “true wireless” (no cable between the earbuds) adds another layer of latency as the signal has to be sent from one earbud to the other. Noticeable enough that you have to manually add delay between the video and audio tracks, if your player allows it.
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