Benjamin Young Savage (ᐱᓐᒋᐱᓐ)Headphone jack removal in mobile devices is still one of the worst tech decision for consumers
OxKing@benjancewicz Aren't there USB-C Adapters?
Isho'ye@OxKing @benjancewicz They suck. The one I got that was "guaranteed" to work with my Pixel 6 will randomly disconnect for no reason. It's not a physical issue, because you can wiggle the connector, even dangle the phone from it, and it keeps working. Put the phone in your pocket, *bloop*, it's given up.
Ended up getting a bluetooth dongle, and plugged in a set of MDR-EX85s to that.
xroIf you can find one that actually works, pls tell me 😑
Mostly using BT but sometimes you need a headphone jack. Bought one of the best reviewed USB-C adapters, and it's still shit and adds tons of annoying noise and cracking that my previous phone headphones jack never did.
AaronWell.. in theory you can with the one I bought, but you have to plug stuff in in the correct order for it to work and even then 8 out of 10 times, charging adds a ton of noise, again.
These adapters are also often terrible in keeping EM noise out. Usage in a e.g. car is often impossible.
SylttiTo be fair, I tested the adapter in another friends car today and it worked perfectly fine, as the audio cable was very short. Really seems to be an EMI issue. But only as long as I don't want to charge the phone with a car charger at the same time, that just adds unbearable noise.
Paul@OxKing @benjancewicz sure there are dongles for USB-C and lightning, but that thin, flat connector and strain relief doesn’t fair as well in a pocket (it’s also one more damn thing to buy and lose). The round 3.5mm connectors are inherently more robust.
Tony “Abolish ICE” Arcieri🌹🦀@benjancewicz went Bluetooth in 2009 and haven't looked back.
Life's too short to disentangle headphone cables.
Tr4sK@benjancewicz I have countless of dead jack headphone. 2 of them died of being stuck in a train arm chair.
I've made the switch 1 year ago, my first JBL died after 1 year because of left earpiece battery. Went to repair service, they changed it (FNAC) without complaining.
Now I have Sony WF700 and most probably they will die in a year so I'm really carefull with the ticket :)
Roni Äikäs ⚛️@benjancewicz OnePlus Nord CE 2 with headphone jack 💪
screambiogenesis@benjancewicz I refuse to buy anything without a headphone jack. A pox on the home of manufacturers who don't spec one. Bluetooth has its uses, but it's not worth not having both options.
Abazigal@benjancewicz No dealing with wires or cords. Priceless.
Nick@benjancewicz I'm much happier without the wires
brett@benjancewicz I agree with your point but your picture is a bad example -- the XM4s have excellent noise cancellation technology which would require a battery even without bluetooth.
James Barnes@benjancewicz I once read someone defending the removal of jack ports in phones that “it’s a hundred year old technology!” Exactly. Simple, robust, cheap, and requires no special power inputs. I get why wireless earbuds are convenient but both the hardware and Bluetooth can be temperamental
vox popsicle vox dei@benjancewicz Thank you! Bluetooth is fine for some situations if you choose it, but removing the choice is terrible and I doubt I'll ever buy a phone without a headphone jack.
The more big tech pushes us into the virtual world without cables and switches, the more stuff they can make us buy.
shork@benjancewicz one of those has active noise cancelling
TheJen@benjancewicz Couldn't agree more. It was incredibly stupid.
Kevin Downey@benjancewicz I've never had a pair of earbuds last longer than six months. I love my wf-1000xm4s, I had the battery issue described at about the year mark, sent them in and got a new pair. Having no wires to grab when you are rocking a uncooperative baby to sleep is fantastic.
Wowwoweowza@benjancewicz — what phones are still including the 3.5 jack? Is the only response to this crime a return to common sense?
Auld Ma Twəgg@benjancewicz I've had a good pair of Sennheiser bluetooth headphones for years but I still think it was silly to take away the headphone jack. Are those USB-C to stereo jack thingies any good?
standev@quinsibell @benjancewicz I’ve had pretty good luck with the $4 one I bought off Amazon.
Sid 
@benjancewicz The only piece of wireless tech I've actually really liked is my mouse, and that's really because the battery lasts *ages* even with pretty heavy use. Everything else has been painful to maintain battery-wise.
vermadenThe MDR-XB50AP are really great (still using them) but SONY still has lots of wired [1] offerings.
Also the quite larger Sony WH-1000XM4 and Sony WH-1000XM5 (added picture) both have Jack input and come with Jack-Jack cable while being wireless.
zem
Kapitän Clownfeuer@benjancewicz I'm going with "non user-replacable batteries in just about anything", as one of the worst tech decisions for consumers, personally.
But FWIW I'm with you on the (headphone) cables over wireless argument (in case it wasn't obvious)
Woger the Shrubber@benjancewicz
After a decade of using wireless headphones with my mobile, I switched back to wired... but the extra wire makes an awkward fashion statement. 🎧
After a decade of using wireless headphones with my mobile, I switched back to wired... but the extra wire makes an awkward fashion statement. 🎧
Faraiwe@benjancewicz "courage"
fd2@benjancewicz I would also like to have the option of headphone jack. But I do quite like the wireless headphones I have been using.
Myphatself@benjancewicz I love my wired buds but I own many $20 -$25 Bluetooth earbuds that sound great and last all day. I may only get 6 months or so on a pair but that was my turn around on wired ones too.
Ricki Yasha Tarr@benjancewicz I just use an older Android phone, I drop things constantly no way wireless headphones would last
arifell@benjancewicz
Honestly, I’ve never had a pair of wired headphones last more than 6 months.
Invariably, something will happen while running, they get twisted in my pocket, the Jack gets broken in the socket, and other problems.
My current headphones , with daily use, while physically active have been working for Mr, for a couple of years.
jonossa seuraava@benjancewicz it really grinds my gears that fairphone fucked this up
#1 lighttpd fan@benjancewicz never buying a phone without a headphone jack. also never buying a laptop without an ethernet port (and a headphone jack)
reticuleena
Leena Simon@benjancewicz Also plugging in two Headphones in one device has gotten very inconvenient. Instead of a very small 5€-Y-plug you have to buy a 50€-Bluetooth-Box that is to large to carry it around just in case, and therefore you never have it with you when needed.
Buntbart@reticuleena
I agree: I would also prefer an audio port in the device.
But as an alternative to the expensive box, you could also invest in this adapter and use it with your old Y-adapter:
https://www.reichelt.de/?ARTICLE=337092
If two adapters in a row are too clunky for you, you could spend a little more:
https://www.reichelt.de/?ARTICLE=293659
@oausi @benjancewicz I have a fairphone 3 and still have an audio port. But thanks. Good to know for the future.
I still think we should keep the audio ports directly at the devices.
I still think we should keep the audio ports directly at the devices.
Cent@benjancewicz I think this is kind of missleading. I switched to Bluetooth headphones long before they removed the headphone jack from most phones (not true wireless earphones though) because the cable (the plug) always broke partially in a way that one of the channels got lost (mostly the left channel).
Joram | 🙂@benjancewicz I mean yes, the waste of LiPo batteries is awful, but it's not like my plug-in-earphones would survive more than a year before the cable would break at one of the stressed points near the plug. I used to buy a new pair every couple of months or have to hold the headphone cable just right to have sound on both ears.
So, it hasn't gotten better but it also never was great.
Polychrome 
@Joram @benjancewicz funny thing is, I didn't really have this problem with my wired headphones on the various walkmans and discmans. The quality of everything just dropped over the decades.
uwu1ba@benjancewicz wireless buds are a plague
IdahoLark@benjancewicz Do dang true. Had to upgrade to Bose Bluetooth headphones to work with my phone and the damn things crapped out in less than a year.
John Blair@benjancewicz the analog headphone jacks on my phones always failed before my earphones did, usually from being dropped on the jack. i don’t miss them.
Jay 🆘
Chris Renfrow@jsit @benjancewicz I'm so over dongles.
@crenfrow They’re frustrating but at least they allow you to continue to use your 2013 headphones.
wkrick@benjancewicz Vote with your wallet. I just bought a Motorola Moto G 5G (2023) and it still has a headphone jack.
Beebles@benjancewicz to be fair this is a bad example because the wf-xm4s are notorious for having a firmware update thst crippled the battery life and desycned the two buds' batteries.
IAG@benjancewicz wired IEMs are fantastic and I think much of the stigma around in-ears comes from how awful stereotypical earbuds fit and sound
I thought I hated in ears but it was all because they fit horribly
Also: good cables never tangle
I thought I hated in ears but it was all because they fit horribly
Also: good cables never tangle
Kainoa 
@benjancewicz I have the exact same problem with my XM4's 😭
tamas@benjancewicz @sbi I washed my airpods and they survived
conputer dipshit@benjancewicz @phillmv this happened to mine! first in one ear, then the other. to sony's credit, they are now replacing the whole pair for free. but they didn't start doing that until after I spent $100 on a replacement bud
filipa mv@davidcrespo gross & awful, what hath man wrought etc
Ailuridae@benjancewicz And USB to headphone jack adapters are not a real solution. Especially since aside from the annoyance of a dongle, the dongle needs to be smart and check for analog audio and pass it along, and check for digital audio and convert it if so. If phone usb jack universally supported analog so we just needed passive adapters, they might be slightly more tolerable, but no...
🦋ShouldbeWriting🦋@benjancewicz
I refuse to adapt. ^_^ Wired headphones still have problems, the cord gets in the way a lot, but I never saw enough advantages to switch.
My co-worker constantly has to recharger hers or sometimes loses one.
Tommy Þ@benjancewicz I think almost all of this applies in general with any wireless devices: watch, mice, keyboard, headphones/speakers, ... - they always seems out of power when I need to use them (phone and car excepted only because I'm constantly paying attention to the battery level).
Thomas Guyot-Sionnest@benjancewicz kind of agree, although after my first adapter that wasn't compatible I figured out what to look for... But yeah, most people would be better off going to a shop and paying 4 times as much as it's not always easy to find the right ones.
I have one that allow charging too.. it just cost half the price of the headphones... 🙃
Starstorm (to migrate...)@benjancewicz One thing about the wired vs. wireless debate I rarely see is the latency. On wired stuff, it's absolutely zero, wheras some latency will exist on pretty much every wireless solution. Hence why I tend to stick with wired stuff on gaming; it just feels off when using wireless stuff and the audio lags even a little bit. (Yes, this means having a USB-C audio dongle... though mine's a bit fancier than the garden variety dongle; it's a TempoTec Sonata HD II that despite a slipped cover still works well.) Not having to worry about the battery (not just charge; the battery health after years of usage is also a major concern that needs to be addressed) is also a bonus...
Provided, from experience, wireless is still convenient for calls, as it is less cumbersome to put on and off as well as move around. But admittedly, for me, that's just one use case...