I still miss my headphone jack, and I want it back • Hacker News Board

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

#561

Post by hurrrrr » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 2:40 PM UTC

sacado2 wrote: post #452

randomsearch wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wireless things suck As a counterpoint, I think wires suck. They get in the way, they get tangled, I have to transport them, they break all too often, I trip over them, they knock things over when I move with them, they blow around in the wind, they present a fire risk and a safety risk, they have some kind of physical connection which keeps changing. Downsides of wireless: remembering to charge, and configuration…

Hah, this is very subjective indeed ;) advantages of jacks + wires: reliable, 140 year old industry standard, plug-and-play, universal, cheap, easy to repair, doesn't require battery, doesn't require configuration, doesn't get out of sync, cannot be hacked by a third party. downsides: sometimes all those wires tend to mix and make knots.

downsides: can't move really far when plugged into stationary device, breaks a lot (at least for me it's almost always the plug or cable that breaks), cable picks up random noise

upsides: my very old thingamajig with a broken display doesn't support anything else

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

#562

Post by laken » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 2:50 PM UTC

wish5031 wrote: post #272

skgoa wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they've alienated so many people to find their own path when they don't include the adapter. My iPhone came with an adapter, though. I continue using the same headphones as I did with my old phone.

anecdotally, the adapter Apple provided me broke after about three weeks, and it seems like most of my family/friends are in similar situations

All official first-party Apple cables have a 1-year warranty. You can just take it into an Apple Store and they'll just replace it.

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

#563

Post by Konnstann » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

tjoff wrote: post #546

yoz-y wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really niche. The GP's problem is solved because pairing effectively becomes "put these two things close together and open the box".

If it only works on one device it is pretty niche and hardly a replacement for the headphone jack...

Not to mention that for that price I can buy a pair of extremely nice-sounding headphones, wireless or not.

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

#564

Post by soundwave106 » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 2:57 PM UTC

Frondo wrote: post #533

williamdclt wrote: post #477

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reliability, too. I don't trust bluetooth at all . And price: a jack is dumb tech and cheap (cheap anough that I always had about 10 extra jacks of all kinds with me when I was doing a gig). But to be fair, wireless transmitters/receivers do exist for musicians. They don't use bluetooth ofc, but that means that the latency can be bearable with wireless. It's made for live playing though (freedom of movement), no poin…

I do like wireless, for a different kind of reliability: never ever having to worry that I'm going to snap off the plug in my phone, pull the jack off the circuit board from sitting on it wrong, whatever. When I sit down on the train, last thing I want is to sit on my phone wrong and wreck the phone and the headphones at the same time. Moving parts and physical connections are fragile. Wireless connections solve that…

I personally think the 3.5mm TRS jack is more reliable than Bluetooth :) but I would like to comment that this is not the most durable jack out there, so the relative fragility of 3.5mm also is a solvable problem.

The music industry standard for instrument cables is 1/4" TS for unbalanced instrument audio, 1/4" TRS for a few things like monitoring headphones, and XLR cables for most everything else. XLR in particular is a very durable system, unless you get a very badly made XLR cable or jack I would never call this system "fragile". Even 1/4" is quite an improvement durability wise over 3.5mm.

XLR is not exactly a very portable jack, but a mini-XLR jack does exist -- not as portable as TRS 3.5mm, of course. But if increasing jack durability is such a concern on a more portable device, this connector is an option. Same with using 1/4" TRS, this is a connector which has the advantage of having more headphone options with this option built in (most headphones marketed for studios should be 1/4" TRS or at least have that option).

None of the above are as portable as 3.5mm and I think this connector is "durable enough" to where I doubt it is such a priority for most phone consumers to give up some phone thickness for better durability. But in professional music applications there is a reason why 3.5mm is relatively rare.

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

#565

Post by lowercased » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 3:04 PM UTC

bogomipz wrote: post #558

threeseed wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you can get a dual charging/headphone adapter for $2.65. I really don't understand people who change entire platforms over such small amounts of money. I know for me personally my investment in apps and content is significantly more than just $2.65.

It's not about the additional cost of a few extra dollars. It's a matter of practicality and convenience. I don't want to have to worry about remembering the phone, the charger, the earbuds AND a dongle. In my opinion it's simply one concern too many for basic functionality. Functionality we used to have.

100% agree. Relatedly, too, if they're so cheap... include one with the phone.

But yeah, we used to have the convenience of both (bluetooth and wired), now we pay more $ for less functionality and increased inconvenience. Holding on to my SE for the foreseeable.

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

#566

Post by slig » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 3:09 PM UTC

brianmcc wrote: post #418

slig wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a owner of a mid range Android phone with a phone jack, I had the same opinion. But now I see there's more to it, the quality of the DAC makes a huge difference.

Interesting - which devices have you found to be good and bad, and how does the difference manifest? I tend to notice drop offs for sampling bit rate, and can hear the difference with Bluetooth, but I've personally never connected to any device playing decent quality streams/downloads and noticed a difference. Not saying no-one can notice it , just find it interesting I've never done so! FWIW I listen through some AK…

I currently have a Motorola Z2 Play, and before that had a iPhone 6. Even using a pair of Apple's earpods I can tell the difference.

Will take a look at the AKG 550s, thanks for the recommendation.

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

#567

Post by joombaga » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

fouc wrote: post #506

TeMPOraL wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can understand and feel your fathers frustration trying to use wireless headphones, on the other side if they never ever get rid of the headphone jack then users are going to end up never getting trained on how to use wireless headphones. But why do you want to get rid of the headphone jack? For iPhone, this is a direct downgrade, loss of very useful functionality. That's why people are complaining; while compani…

> But why Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward.

What is the step forward?

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

#568

Post by hatsubai » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 3:10 PM UTC

threeseed wrote: post #399

Klover wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$50-$100 worth of kit? The dongle is €10 (21% VAT incluis) in an Apple Store. EarPods with lightning connector integrated are €23 (again, VAT included) if you want the most easy solution on a like €600 minimum phone. If you have a phone that doesn't come with a 3.5mm headphone jack, then you're able to spend €10 on a dongle to make your $4 set of 3.5mm headphones work. If you cannot afford that, then you have one of…

You don't have to buy Apple's dongle. I found third party ones for $1.46. At the price you could just buy like 5 and permanently attach them to each pair of headphones.

Be careful. Many of them don't actually work with the latest iOS for one reason or another. I just ran into this issue myself after grabbing some cheap dongles off of Amazon, and I got an error stating that the "device is not supported."

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

#569

Post by einr » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 3:11 PM UTC

christopherwxyz wrote: post #495

einr wrote: post #391

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were removed only when few people used them because there was a better alternative. Many, many people use headphones with 3,5 mm plugs and it is not at all clear that the alternative is better.

But that is exactly my point: bluetooth is a better alternative to the headphone jack. In addition, fewer people use the headphone jack than people did one year ago.

We'll just have to agree to disagree, then, because I find that there are zero advantages to Bluetooth in this case. I mean, wireless would be nice in an ideal world where there are no disadvantages, but for me, they are so hefty that it's never worth it.

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

#570

Post by VonGallifrey » Tue, Nov 27, 2018, 3:12 PM UTC

lagadu wrote: post #386

yellowapple wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won for me at least, given that I'm typing this on a phone with a headphone jack (a OnePlus 5T).

As someone who also EXCLUSIVELY buys phones with minijacks I'd say that they're definitely losing, considering that the brands that carry them right now seem to only be Samsung (rumored to drop them next year) and LG. Currently I use the oneplus 6 but they dropped it for the 6T so they're out of the race. It's starting to look like the next time I upgrade it'll have to be to LG and that's assuming they stick to it.

> Samsung (rumored to drop them next year)

Again? Samsung "dropped" the headphone jack once already and then decided to reintroduce it in their current line of phones. At least that is my understanding of their products with the S7/S8 having removed the headphone jack and the S9 once again featuring a headphone jack.