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

fastcompany.com

311–320 of 741 posts

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

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Apple will sell more wireless headphones, but this won't mean they sell more wireless headphones." That's what you're saying. If people are going to buy more wireless headphones because of these phones, then they're going to buy them from a range of manufacturers -- in fact mostly other manufacturers because the Apple ones are so pricey. If people are going to buy more wireless headphones because of these phones the…

> It's ridiculous to suggest that everything apple does is just a cheap cash grab. What's so ridiculous about it? Have you not seen the rate at which Apple are increasing the prices across all their products? And petty practices like not including the lightening to 3.5mm adapter or fast charger on a $1000+ phone e.t.c.

The person I was replying to said "of course it's a cash grab. that is how apple operates". Increases in the prices of their products hardly equates to everything they are doing being a cash grab. Are their privacy, accessibility or environmental (manufacturing processes, packaging choices, etc) measures all, for example, cash grabs?

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

#312
post #17

100% agree with this. Its pretty interesting that I almost never use headphones anymore now because bluetooth headphones require a few things: 1) preplanning/foresight in charging the headphones 2) refer to number 1. I have 2 really nice pairs of bluetooth headphones, and almost NEVER use them. Guess what pair gets used almost daily? my 15 year old beyerdynamic DT770s. 3.5mm or ¼" plug, closed back. Not really the mo…

Latency is another issue. If you use your phone or tablet to make music then wireless headphones have an unacceptable delay. It's not a huge niche but there are a lot of us out there.

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

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

#313
post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just attach the tiny little dongle that comes with the phone to the headphones. Then say to him that he can put the charging cable there and also the headphones cable. Would this be too complicated too? You can get the EarPods with a lightning connector. If that’s too complicated then maybe you can draw a picture explaining it?

Then you misplace the lot and you're out $50-$100 worth of kit, rather than a $4 set of 3.5mm headphones, which you already have six compatible pairs of sitting in the culch drawer.

$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 the many phones that do have a headphone jack. I'm sure that, if in the future everyone for some strange reason got rid of the integrated headphone jack and there's no company that sees it as a USP while people still want to use 3.5mm headphones, that the price of dongles will be next to nothing.

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

#314
> Apple ditched the 3.5 mm headphone jack in the iPhone 7 for a Lightning connector

If this had only been the case, I would have been happy. Then we would have had two lightning ports on the phone, which would have been nice. No, all they did was take away a port, similarly to the 15" macbook pro, where they went from 8 ports to 5. A very sad trend IMO.

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

#316
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Apple will sell more wireless headphones, but this won't mean they sell more wireless headphones." That's what you're saying. If people are going to buy more wireless headphones because of these phones, then they're going to buy them from a range of manufacturers -- in fact mostly other manufacturers because the Apple ones are so pricey. If people are going to buy more wireless headphones because of these phones the…

Somethings that bothers me about your argument, is that Apple doesn’t support existing highend audio codecs (presumably to avoid paying the licensing fees) and doesn’t include wireless headphones or an adapter for 3.5mm in the box. Instead they include wired headphones with a proprietary plug. If you want high quality headphones with an iphone you have to buy some that license a proprietary Apple protocol or chip or…

> Apple doesn’t support existing highend audio codecs

I am aware this is an issue for some people. At the same time it's not an issue for other people.

> doesn’t include wireless headphones or an adapter for 3.5mm in the box.

Their latest models don't include adapters, their earlier ones without headphone jacks did.

> If you want high quality headphones with an iphone you have to buy some that license a proprietary Apple protocol or chip or settle for lower sound quality generic Bluetooth audio.

The issue with Bluetooth isn't Apple's fault, though.

But if you want high quality headphones then, yes, you have that choice to make. But we need to acknowledge that not everyone has those requirements.

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

#317
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct. It really isn't a big deal.

Until you want to charge and listen to music at the same time, which I wanted to do on a flight recently. I had to charge up to what I thought was enough and then put the headphones in. Annoying. My wife also brought Lightning headphones, which didn't work with anything except her phone, leading to her using the cheap airline ear buds for the in flight entertainment system.

Alternatively you can pick up a dual-port adapter and charge while you listen:

For example, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E5AHZYA

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

#318

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…

maybe an industry standard that works like AirPods pairing?

Maybe go back to the industry standard that worked well for 100+ years, the headphone jack.

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

#319
post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) it still allows standard 3.5mm headphone jacks to be used. 2) Bluetooth is a standard, and Apple isn't the only company that makes Bluetooth headphones.

...if you want to settle for lower quality Bluetooth audio. Apple don’t support high quality Bluetooth audio standards except with the license of their own proprietary technology.

Yes. I have never said or implied that it's suitable for everyone.

This same point applies to the criticisms of a lack of a headphone jack, too: the things those people are concerned about, such as sound quality, aren't an issue for everybody, either.

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

#320
post #17

100% agree with this. Its pretty interesting that I almost never use headphones anymore now because bluetooth headphones require a few things: 1) preplanning/foresight in charging the headphones 2) refer to number 1. I have 2 really nice pairs of bluetooth headphones, and almost NEVER use them. Guess what pair gets used almost daily? my 15 year old beyerdynamic DT770s. 3.5mm or ¼" plug, closed back. Not really the mo…

I also still use my DT770s as my daily headphones when I'm at my computer. I wish I had bought the Pro version way back when, as I believe it has detachable cables, and also higher resistance... it's difficult to modulate the volume on my desktop, as even 4-6% can be loud enough in some circumstances and there's not a lot of room for fine control at that level. In any case, I have had mine around the same length of t…

With regards to your desktop, I had/have the same issue with the volume being insanely loud and my options being either on at 2% or off since everything else was uncomfortable. I found https://equalizerapo.com/ (for Windows, similar things seem to exist for other systems based on a quick google search) fixed the problem and allowed a lot greater fine control.

To get lower volume overall with Equalizer APO: install, reboot and change the Preamp line in EqualizerAPO/config/config.txt to -20 dB or whatever suits you. It should work as soon as you save.

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