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Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

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Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#51

Post by pmarreck »

rob74 wrote: post #34

"The 3.5mm headphone jack is one of the elder statesmen of the personal tech world, having become ubiquitous with the rise of mp3 players, smartphones, and other mobile devices" - maybe the author is too young to remember that, but I think the "mobile device" that really helped make the 3.5mm headphone jack ubiquitous was the Sony Walkman back in the eighties.

came here to say the same thing.

It's even called the "mini" jack because it's a smaller version of the 6.35mm "phone connector" which dates... all the way back to 1878 when it was used for manual telephone exchanges (!)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)

Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#53

Post by logfromblammo »

satysin wrote: post #41

I would be ok with this as it would mean I can get noise cancelling headphones that are powered via the connection to the phone and don't need their own power source. Yes it will make the $3 headphones more expensive but considering I would never buy such headphones I don't have a problem with that. Anyway there will no doubt be $2 USB-C to 3.5mm converters available for people who want to use old headphones. The nic…

It just works until the plastic housing on the receptacle cracks, and you can no longer get a good electrical connection. The big problem is that the jack acts as a lever that can transmit enough force into the receptacle to destroy either one or the other rather than breaking the connection.

And the more ring conductors you want to add, the longer the lever can become.

I have been really happy with all my devices that have standardized on USB for charging. In contrast, Apple's proprietary 30-pin and Lightning (and MagSafe, while I'm at it) just make me think they're being colossal dicks, doing whatever TF they want, rather than meaningfully contributing to a standards consortium and licensing their patents to it.

Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#54

Post by [deleted] »

mynegation wrote: post #30
twoodfin wrote: post #17

If Apple does introduce a Lightning-only iPhone in the fall, I am increasingly convinced they'll include some whiz-bang EarPods to sell it as a feature. Any reason they can't miniaturize some ADC/DACs for nifty adaptation to ambient noise run on the phone?

You mean I will be able to listen to the music on my phone only using god-awful horrible-sounding hard ear-buds from Apple whose only redeeming quality is proprietary lightning connector? Thanks, I'll pass.

[deleted]

Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#56

Post by cuckcuckspruce »

wernercd wrote: post #45
cuckcuckspruce wrote: post #3

>Moreover, as AnandTech points out, with the extra power and programmability on offer, in-ear headphones could also be used to track health data like temperature, which can in turn feed into the growing array of fitness-tracking databases. I'm glad that they're just straight up admitting that the reason that they're doing this is snooping. That's quite refreshing.

One mans "Snooping" is another mans "breakout feature". I'd be interested in a set of headphones that do heartbeat tracking for when I run... I don't like wristbands and I haven't ever really been interested in watches. As with anything, it's a tool in the toolbox to be used for good or ill...

How long until this technology is used to get a discount on your insurance? How long after that until it's mandatory for insurance?

Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#57

Post by TrevorJ »

sesutton wrote: post #35
gwbas1c wrote: post #20

The 3.5mm jack will be very hard to give up. It always works, and (usually) there's no interference / hiss. I find that digital devices are complicated enough that, unless I'm buying well-researched, high quality products, compatibility issues lead to glitches. I still encounter lots of glitches with Bluetooth, so I'm not ready to give up my trusty 3.5mm jack as a reliable fallback. Furthermore, things like sampling…

>I find that digital devices are complicated enough that, unless I'm buying well-researched, high quality products, compatibility issues lead to glitches. I still encounter lots of glitches with Bluetooth, so I'm not ready to give up my trusty 3.5mm jack as a reliable fallback. That seems like more of a function of wireless vs wired than analog vs digital. Audio over HDMI or optical seems just as reliable as 3.5mm.

I've found that HDMI connectors are not nearly as resilient to constant plugging and unplugging.

Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#58

Post by bolivier »

cuckcuckspruce wrote: post #3

>Moreover, as AnandTech points out, with the extra power and programmability on offer, in-ear headphones could also be used to track health data like temperature, which can in turn feed into the growing array of fitness-tracking databases. I'm glad that they're just straight up admitting that the reason that they're doing this is snooping. That's quite refreshing.

Why am I supposed to want to track my temperature? How could that benefit me?

It's just data collection for the sake of data collection. Nobody is going to use the temperature data. It doesn't benefit anybody trying to snoop on you. It doesn't benefit you. It's just a stupid feature that you can throw in and market as "neat."

Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#59

Post by wernercd »

cuckcuckspruce wrote: post #56
wernercd wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One mans "Snooping" is another mans "breakout feature". I'd be interested in a set of headphones that do heartbeat tracking for when I run... I don't like wristbands and I haven't ever really been interested in watches. As with anything, it's a tool in the toolbox to be used for good or ill...

How long until this technology is used to get a discount on your insurance? How long after that until it's mandatory for insurance?

It's amazing that you are here... in a Faraday cage behind 8 layers of tor on a secure linux cd distro...

It's either that, or you should be farming cows with the Amish...

because everything goes against this statement...

How long until cash is removed so they can track you via credit cards? How long until the Insurance company requires your credit card receipts to show you've bought local farm grown and not McDonald's? How long until...

You can take the "how long" excuse to extremes...

Who knows where we will be in 5/10/100 years... Who knows what wouldn't happen if "but they might use it to spy on use!!!" blocked all forward progress...

Re: Intel wants USB-C to replace the headphone jack

#60

Post by pc2g4d »

Suddenly headphones become an attack vector.

That's my main concern with using USB for everything. Imagine a headphone virus that attacks your iPhone when it's plugged in via USB. Imagine a charging station that slurps all your data. (Hence the USB "condom", I guess.) We've discussed this all before.

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