Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

appleinsider.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 77 posts

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#61

Post by 57FkMytWjyFu »

joshstrange wrote: post #54
57FkMytWjyFu wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you play your own purchased music easily with an aux cable like we've been doing for decades? People have been making mix tapes for 40 years. Now you can't do that unless you listen to the track of the day and the promo for the new arsenal of podcasts, and did you know that french fries taste good and they are 300 meters to your west? I want to listen to what I want to listen to. They want us to listen to what is…

Seriously, what are you even talking about? If you put your music in the Music app or any other app that supports CarPlay you can play it. CarPlay is not required, it's always an "also" in cars. You can always Bluetooth to the car or buy a car that has an aux port. I'm thoroughly confused as to why you think CarPlay is DRM or what that has to do with Bluetooth in this discussion.

I am a simple man. I play a track. That track is played. No commercials, no promos, no greyed out tracks because of licensing issues. I press stop. The sound stops. The toolset is cheaper. It lasts longer. It sounds better. It's a standard that works with a wide span of devices. There's no security risks. There's no hijacking the attention span.

You do you, man.

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#62

Post by archagon »

Bluetooth headphones are good != Apple was right to remove the jack

There is no reason to remove a feature that works perfectly and is invaluable in some situations. Bluetooth headphones will never be sufficient for music performance, audio production, and rhythm games, for example. And it's not like Apple shies away from features that affect only a tiny portion of their userbase, such as Lockdown Mode.

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#63

Post by 57FkMytWjyFu »

thebigspacefuck wrote: post #16
aaaaaaaaata wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't have one until Apple created it. Now they should have lower fidelity audio, and/or more shit to carry around and fiddle with, and/or fail unexpectedly when least needed? You actually can't understand the consumer side of this? Or just like Apple?

I understand it. I was annoyed by the removal of the headphone jack at first. I have a pair of Sennheiser headphones with 3.5mm and I previously used the adapter with them. I didn’t notice any lower fidelity audio with them and leaving the tiny adapter on the 3.5mm jack didn’t really feel like I was carrying anything more around. I’ve replaced the headphone cable on my senns twice and it was never through use of the…

No post body was provided.

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#64

Post by [deleted] »

glennvtx wrote: post #20

1: I do not wish to charge my headphones. 2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide. 3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time. 4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns. 5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is all. You all are now paying $$$ for headphones with batteries, etc. onboard, and they no longer had to impl…

[deleted]

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#65

Post by kazinator »

joshstrange wrote: post #43
glennvtx wrote: post #20

1: I do not wish to charge my headphones. 2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide. 3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time. 4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns. 5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is all. You all are now paying $$$ for headphones with batteries, etc. onboard, and they no longer had to impl…

> 1: I do not wish to charge my headphones. Then use the dongle > 2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide. Then use the dongle > 3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time. Then use the dongle > 4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns. Ok suuurrreee, then use the dongle > 5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is al…

How do you use the dongle while charging your phone in a car, while jacking out to a 3.5mm aux input?

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#66

Post by scarface74 »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #27
scarface74 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t imagine having to use a cord for a headset in 2022. My AirPods switch seamlessly between my Mac, iPad, Watch and MacBook. Cords her tangled, caught in things are horrible for running etc. Not to mention that would I run and go to the gym with just my watch.

But you look like this guy. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lobot There’s something retro and cool about cords. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bluetool

Cultural norms change. Everyone thought that the people were going to look silly and pretentious when the AirPods came out. Now it’s normal. The same with the Apple Watch.

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#67

Post by joshstrange »

57FkMytWjyFu wrote: post #61
joshstrange wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, what are you even talking about? If you put your music in the Music app or any other app that supports CarPlay you can play it. CarPlay is not required, it's always an "also" in cars. You can always Bluetooth to the car or buy a car that has an aux port. I'm thoroughly confused as to why you think CarPlay is DRM or what that has to do with Bluetooth in this discussion.

I am a simple man. I play a track. That track is played. No commercials, no promos, no greyed out tracks because of licensing issues. I press stop. The sound stops. The toolset is cheaper. It lasts longer. It sounds better. It's a standard that works with a wide span of devices. There's no security risks. There's no hijacking the attention span. You do you, man.

What world are you living in where Apple Music (subscription or just the app with your own tracks) or something like a paid Spotify subscription don't give you this? We can ignore the subscription and look just at the Apple Music app which supports DRM-free music without issue, has no commercials, no promos, no licensing issues. You are describing an experience that everyone can have today, using CarPlay, using Apple Music or any other music playing app that has CarPlay support. At worse just skip CarPlay and Bluetooth or Aux-in to your car (with the dongle).

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#68

Post by dougmwne »

scarface74 wrote: post #17
dougmwne wrote: post #7

That’s a joke. 7 years later I am still picking up headphones then remembering I can’t plug them in without going to find a dongle. If there was an iPhone with a headphone jack I would buy it.

I can’t imagine having to use a cord for a headset in 2022. My AirPods switch seamlessly between my Mac, iPad, Watch and MacBook. Cords her tangled, caught in things are horrible for running etc. Not to mention that would I run and go to the gym with just my watch.

I have AirPods, but also several sets of earbuds, IEMs, and quality headphones. Once a week I grab a set and realize I can’t plug it in. Doh!

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#69

Post by 57FkMytWjyFu »

joshstrange wrote: post #67
57FkMytWjyFu wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a simple man. I play a track. That track is played. No commercials, no promos, no greyed out tracks because of licensing issues. I press stop. The sound stops. The toolset is cheaper. It lasts longer. It sounds better. It's a standard that works with a wide span of devices. There's no security risks. There's no hijacking the attention span. You do you, man.

What world are you living in where Apple Music (subscription or just the app with your own tracks) or something like a paid Spotify subscription don't give you this? We can ignore the subscription and look just at the Apple Music app which supports DRM-free music without issue, has no commercials, no promos, no licensing issues. You are describing an experience that everyone can have today, using CarPlay, using Apple…

Well, for one, there's no hole anymore to plug in these perfectly good headphones. For two, I didn't need an internet connection to play local files. Three, I didn't need 3 different battery emplacements, one was sufficient. Four, I don't have to leave my front door unlocked to look out the window (bluetooth attack surface). Five - Spotify and probably apple music inject content I don't want to listen to, don't respect my shuffle choices, and sell everything I listen to and linger on to anyone with a cent and a pulse. Six - My headphones will last at least an order of magnitude longer than your AirPods. Seven - When i open up my stock music player, it won't need to 'update' (where updates are acutally prebuffered crap (remember that U2 album?) and title cards and features I do not require for my application experience.

There's a reason Apple stopped making the iPod. It wasn't for your benefit. It was to monetize your habits, and enslave your consumer urges. I know people who have lost 5 digit music collections, because Apple just paved over them, knowing they'd line right up to buy it all over again.

Re: Seven years later, Apple was right to kill off the 3.5mm headphone jack

#70

Post by tzs »

tanseydavid wrote: post #34
joshstrange wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now they should have lower fidelity audio Like most things audiophiles say: I call bullshit. http://soundexpert.org/articles/-/blogs/audio-quality-of-lig... > Audio quality of Apple Lightning to 3.5mm adapter (A1749) is almost as good as in-built mobile audio solutions by Apple, though it has slightly worse df-measurements. Mostly due to the higher jitter. But if you listen music you will not hear the difference; i…

This is a subjective matter. Calling it bullshit is not an accurate way of looking at it (or listening to it). There are use cases for audio where "good enough" is simply not sufficient. You may never have need for these use cases.

But in those cases you wouldn't want to use a 3.5 mm headphone jack even if your phone or computer had one. You'd want to use a digital interface such as Lightning or USB.

Music on a phone or computer is digital. To get analog output for the headphone jack the device includes a DAC to convert that digital audio to analog and probably analog amplifiers to get the analog signal to the right level. The quality of the DAC and the analog amplifiers chosen by the device maker place an upper limit on the quality of the audio.

To get the highest quality you want to be able to choose the DAC and amplifiers yourself.

Post reply on HN