Just randomly sharing my experience here. My sister told me a few weeks ago she was going to change for a new phone (a Motorola, she likes AOSP-like experience). I noticed that her new phone wouldn’t get a jack.
“Yeah, I know, I hope I can make it work with a USB-adapter”. She has nice headphones that she likes to use, so USB-C earplugs were not an option.
Fast forward to today, she told me the adapter she got starts to malfunction:
- she has to twitch the jack in the adapter for the thing to work
- when she plugs the adapter in, Google Assistant takes over and randomly starts skipping songs.
She’s now considering getting wireless earbuds, but she’s not a fan of having to recharge them to be able to use them, and is also cautious about the e-waste potential.
I have a Moto G84 which does the job. It’s not the best phone in the world, I’m eyeing a flagship from time to time and keep the G84 as a “connected walkman”, but would it break today, I would probably get a G55 (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Motorola-Moto-G55-smartphone-review-Inexpensive-doesn-t-have-to-be-boring.932900.0.html)
That’s it for me, do you have similar experiences to share?
I love my pixel 6a, except for this point.
Fortunately, I have no bad experience on it with USB c adapter and the jack glued to it 😁👌
She’s now considering getting wireless earbuds, but she’s not a fan of having to recharge them to be able to use them, and is also cautious about the e-waste potential.
I was wondering if there exists a bluetooth device that connects to your phone, and the device itself is just a headphone jack.
https://www.fiio.com/btr15 yes sorta?
Its a bluetooth DAC with its own battery, but idk how convenient this is vs just a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle. There’s other models and brands too varying from very cheap to extremely expensive (audiophile circlejerk material).
Fiio, mpow, others make them
My friend group used to be very big on “pass the aux cord” when we’re hanging out. It was incredibly easy to switch out our phones (or iPods and portable CD players before that) to let all of us contribute music for the gathering.
Now? Ok, I disconnected from the BT speaker. Do you see it yet? Lemme try turning the BT speaker off and on again. [BING BONG!; “Connected”] Ugh, it reconnected to my phone. Let me just turn BT off on my phone and you try again.
It’s just such a PITA with BT, and having to keep USB-C and Lightning adapters on hand is even more annoying than that. If only there were a reliable and dedicated connection for audio devices…oh well.
Lol welcome to old age pops. “You kids with your blue tooth get off my lawn!”
On the other hand, YouTube and Spotify let you add songs to the queue from your phone without taking over the whole thing.
Also BT has allowed multiple devices to connect to the same one for ages. Like since 4.0 at least.
I can have my headphones connected to my phone and my computer so that I just pause the audio on one and start up in the other. Sometimes the switch takes a second or two but that’s it.
It’s been like that for years on BT speakers, but probably not the very cheapest ones from like 5 years ago, (no offense to anyone I buy the cheapest ones I just happened to get a morr expensive one by luck back then), but my cheap-ass Chinese headphones can do that as can my generic brand bt speaker.
If you connect two devices, it usually prioritises the one which started playing media most recently. As in I put a song on, but then you click a song on your phone so it takes over.
So I feel like it’s more a skill issue with the guy you’re replying to but might just be older BT.
yeah, in case all of you use their services
A “must”, only for a subset of users.
If it were truly a “must”, more people would be complaining.
I get it, you find Bluetooth unappealing for reasons, just like I find larger phones unappealing. Unfortunately, we’re a minority, neither of these are a “must” for most people.
It’s unappealing because it makes you extremely easy to track. So options without bluetooth are a safeguard for your privacy, which is a human right that has been heavily under attack for years. So in that regard headphone jacks are an objective must. Not enough people are complaining, true, but that’s because they don’t understand the technology and the risks are being obfuscated to them.
I basically don’t notice that I don’t have a headphone jack. My usb-c adapter is just permanently affixed to my wired IEMs and it basically makes no difference to me if the plug is round or usb-c shaped.
I definitely recommend biting the bullet and getting a good adapter. Since I have a pixel I use the Google one. I made sure my partner got an official apple one for their iPhone since I remember seeing rumors about a volume difference between them if mixed and matched. Aside from Apple shenanigans I haven’t really had an issue with them. I also only charge at night so I never have the problem of needing to charge and listen at the same time.
Regarding your sister’s issue: that happened to me less when I paid a little more for a quality adapter. I think I got a two pack for $15 and the cord has some rubber protection where the wire turns into USB C and where it turns into a headphone jack. Haven’t had the same issue your sister is having ever since.
Also cheap phones have really bad USB C ports that are super loose. With my pixel or iPhone? Almost no issues with connections. But my moto phones? Well there’s a reason why they’re so cheap.
You can’t get a good quality DAC for $15. Lol
That’s because those adapters aren’t DACs, they’re straight electrical passthrough adapters.
I’ve got an actual USB DAC, a relatively cheap one, and it was still close to $50.
Edit: Doubled the price in my memory.
Thanks, do you still have the references of those?
Cheaper than I thought:
Those are the ones I’ve been using for 6 months or more with no issues.
I was dead against losing my 3.5mm jack, and tried to use a USB-to-3.5mm adaptor but it was poor, with issues like your sister experienced.
I finally decided to try a set of relatively cheap earplugs and I wish I’d done it sooner. They’re lightweight, have good connectivity and a convenient charging case. I’m getting better quality audio and experience than I was with my 3.5mm jack - i’d have to replace my headsets every year or less as the wires got damaged over time, and the audio quality is actually better with my bluetooth earplugs. I used to avoid bluetooth after bad experiences over the years with audio drop out and connection issues, but I’ve not had any problems with my newer devices.
I’m not pretending they are audiophile quality but neither is 3.5mm audio in a phone - they just don’t have good quality DACs in phones. Bluetooth is finally a decent and convenient step up for me for day-to-day use and I’m finally not as bothered about losing my 3.5mm port. It’s also worth noting that if you want better audio, you can get bluetooth DACs and plug wired audio into those for an even better experience - I’m tempted but it’s expensive and I’m not sure I’d appreciate the benefit enough to make it worthwhile for me.
I lost my jack during an upgrade last year, but I also got free buds with the phone. I thought I would hate them, but I actually listen to more music now than I ever did before because it’s so convenient not to be wired to the phone.
We also have a couple of good over-ear wired headphones in our house, so I bought an adapter to be able to use them. I bought a no brand one for a few pounds off Amazon (just to try it out at first, really), so probably the DAC inside is not doing them justice, but they still sound great, much better than the buds. It still works fine now, so until it breaks, I’m pretty happy with it. If it breaks, I won’t be happy with it, but then I’ll probably get a better one.
For your sister, maybe try a different adapter if the connection’s bad, assuming it’s not filled with lint or something. Google assistant has only ever gotten in the way of everything for me, so don’t enable it - not sure what to do about that.
For your sister, maybe try a different adapter if the connection’s bad, assuming it’s not filled with lint or something. Google assistant has only ever gotten in the way of everything for me, so don’t enable it - not sure what to do about that.
Yes, I suggested her the one that another commenter got, let’s see how it goes. And yes, I’ll tell her about Google assistant as well.
Oh, sorry, I meant to say I don’t enable GA, not that she shouldn’t (though if she doesn’t use it for anything, then might as well turn it off). Perhaps there’s settings to stop GA taking control of media playback that can be tweaked
Might have missed it but still shocked that there are only a couple models that go for more than one USB-C port.
I have been of the opinion that the adapters are acceptable because you gain flexibility with things like external DACs, which several people have brought up, but having to trade between charging and wired devices or a truly overkill dock style dongle just seems so silly when phones absolutely have the space to put two ports.
This is why I don’t like the idea of one device for all my communication and media needs. I have smartphones for comms and dedicated audio devices for music and podcasts, with headphone jacks.
Agreed, really enjoy my fiio m15s
Honestly the more I think about this the more I think that you are not only right, but putting all of our proverbial eggs in one basket with smartphones was a horrible horrible mistake. We have done too many trade-offs for convenience.
Try to buy a digital camera today, pocket digital cameras basically aren’t made anymore. And even a mid-range pocket digital camera from the mid 2010s significantly outperforms a modern smartphone camera. It’s simple physics, bigger lens captures more light gives you a better picture.
Try to listen to music. Almost all the digital music we are served up is lossy compressed for streaming. And then we feed it into Bluetooth headphones with even more lossy compression. The sound that actually goes in the ears sounds like crap and bears little resemblance to what the artist laid down on their master, but we’re all used to it so we think that’s what music is supposed to sound like. A late 1990s Discman has significantly better sound quality even with a cheap DAC.
Try to do something online. A whole lot of new sites and services don’t even bother making a website, it’s just a promo to download their stupid privacy invading app. And if you want to do whatever you are doing on a real computer with a big screen, you’re SOL.
And then there is the unintended effect on our kids. I have always been an advocate of mobile technology. But I am looking at the actual effect of growing up with smartphones and tablets, and the result is an awful lot of kids with attention spans measured in seconds rather than minutes. Kids who can edit video and insert images into a document with their eyes closed, but can barely write three coherent sentences.
I have always been an advocate and user and enthusiast of smartphones and mobile technology. I buy this stuff, I use it, I recommend it to others.
But I think maybe I was wrong. I think maybe we all were wrong.
I look at the overall effect smartphones have on society, and I honestly can’t say the world is a better place as a result. We take crappy pictures, listen to crappy music, have crappy attention spans, but it’s all very convenient so we don’t care.I think maybe we were better off the other way. And maybe some of that inconvenience is a good thing, in the same way that having to do physical work is good exercise.
Flagship phones are crap IMO, my personal hatred for glass as a material used unnecessarily for the back is immense.
Glass sucks in every aspect, it’s slippery, it’s heavier, it’s a finger print magnet, and it’s fragile in a place where you can choose synthetics that are better in every way.
Losing the jack and SD cards suck too, and preventing replaceable batteries is so bad, it’s actually illegal in EU from 2027. I have no idea why that couldn’t have been sooner.The rules will come into force in 2027.
I’m so sick of this, that I’ve decided NO WAY I’m buying a flagship next time, despite I absolutely love features like an amazing camera and screen.
But they can piss right off with their bullshit, pardon my French.
I bet a manufacturer could get sales advertising that it’s NOT a glass back, and that it HAS mini-jack.
But I also miss the notification LED, how did they figure it was a good idea to remove that too???The weird thing is they ALL do this shit? Where’s the competition on maintaining well established functions? A mini jack doesn’t prevent use of wireless earphones, but lack of it absolutely prevents the use of wired ones.
A used flagship is a great phone (except for the glass nonsense, give me all plastic please). It’s all I buy, 2 or 3 year old flagship for 1/4 the price of new.
I just upgraded from a 2017 flagship to a Pixel 5, for $120!
Pixel 5
I just checked, ironically no headphone jack
They probably meant the 5a which was the last Pixel with a jack. I am still holding onto my 4a as I haven’t found a replacement that can support the ROM I use.
There are some manufacturers that have kept these features and it’s definitely a selling point. The one I know is Sony but I think there was another one. I’m still sad they removed the notification led though, it seemed like they would keep it as they also kept the top bezel.
Sony
Their phones look nice but the pricetag is very hefty.
Yeah sadly. They’re still good phones just not very value for money.
“USB-adapter” in this context used to be quite a shitshow.
I’ve seen at least the bastardisations of the USB-c spec where manufacturers just repurpose a couple of pins for analog audio. One for samsung, one for Xiaomi etc.
I hope most have gone over to being proper USB soundcards with a DAC today.
I get it. However, I switched to having a good set of overear headphones connected via Bluetooth some years ago. I’ve never looked back, the freedom is amazing!
If you are making music, so is the latency.
Yeah. Headphone jacks are essential only for people who own nice wired headphones they want to continue using.
she has to twitch the jack in the adapter for the thing to work
This is the downfall of all headphone jacks tbh
A good quality DAC connected to your USB port will give you far better sound than having a headphone jack.
A good quality DAC connected to your USB port will give you far better sound than having a headphone jack.
Nobody’s advocating for taking the USB-C port away.
You didn’t know? You can’t have Bluetooth, a USBC port and a headphone jack at the same time. You gotta pick 2 of the 3
Good thing that type-c port is still there either way then.
The jack is for convenience while you’re mobile. I have a good collection of really decent iems and use them all the time when I’m not worried about the cable snagging on something. At work I use BT, it’s okay but not great. But yeah, for my uses, a headphone jack is a must.
