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 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!
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.
Good thing that type-c port is still there either way then.
Headphone jack and removable battery are the two features I will not compromise on. Makes selecting a new phone pretty damn easy. I would have loved a fairphone but sorry, no exceptions.
At some point, you’re just not going to have a phone at all then, the way things are going.
What is your current phone?
XCover 6 pro
Seems like a nice device, it was on my list for a while, but a bit too chunky
Add ip rated and removable storage and you have my list. I have had to compromise on the removable battery on the last few phones though.
My device has both - on top of headphone jack and removable battery.
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.
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.
On the other hand, YouTube and Spotify let you add songs to the queue from your phone without taking over the whole thing.
yeah, in case all of you use their services
I actually quite like the Bluetooth DAC I got because of the disappearance of my headphone jack. It breaks that physical attachment of my headphones to my phone while giving very good quality audio.
I’d recommend checking out the Fiio BTR line if interested.
Thanks!
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
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.
For me I’m really split on wired vs wireless headphones as well. I do love how being wireless makes moving around easier. I’m sure we’ve all felt the rage when the wire gets caught and gets unplugged. But the amount of times I have to charge it while I want to use it is pretty annoying too.
You shouldn’t have to choose
I haven’t had a charging concern for Bluetooth for probably 10 years.
Today, my ear buds have a case. If I use them for music for 8 hours, they tell me they need charging. That’s how much they’ve improved.
The charging case rarely needs charging, and it supports wireless, so I just set it on the charging base.
Yeah once I had 8h multi connect headphones I was sold. Being able to take work calls at my computer, end the call, play my phone audio book or music while I do chores, get call notifications from my PC while I’m doing chores… All seamlessly, I was completely in.
Edit I’d be curious what the downvote is for here, just sharing an opinion.
For me, nobody makes wireless over-ear headphones for people with giant skulls. I have broken headbands over time because they aren’t meant to go wide enough to actually fit on my head.
IEMs aren’t really an option for me due to earwax (they either fall out, or the eartips degrade rapidly and I’m spending $20 every couple of months)
I am in no way trying to sell you on bluetooth headphones because I won’t use them either, but I imagine the Beyerdynamic Amiron Wireless or AudioTechnica ATH-M50xBT2 would fit your head. Neither are exactly something you’d walk around town in, I imagine.
Funny enough, audio technica M50’s are one of the ones that broke 😅 the part just below the leather headband cracked and broke apart after about a year IIRC
Had some Beyerdynamic dt 770s that broke just above the swivel hinge too.
Currently using Sennheiser hd 58x jubilee, theyre holding up well and fit much better than the audio technicas.
The swivel hinge on the DT 770/880/990 family used to be sold individually under $2 for a reason :) I am surprised to hear your M50s broke that way though. I had Sennheiser hd600 and hd650s both crack badly and I had to buy entirely new assemblies for the headband, so I am surprised those are working for you. Good to hear though.
The Amiron/DT-1990/1770 family has a newer mechanism that is much more sturdy and I haven’t had an issue with my DT-1990s.
Kinda surprised the 58x is holding out myaelf. Didnt care for the circular earpads on the Beyerdynamics, just slid around all over the place around my ear (also wear glasses, because of course i need to have as many issues with my head as possible)
Ive been eyeing the Meze 99’s as well, been curious to try that style of headband (plus, not held together by glue. All fasteners.)
I found the Meze too small/tight for me, but they sounds OK. For the 58X, I am assuming you found or figured out yourself the safe way to band the headband for larger heads (if not look it up, probably have better luck searching for HD650 but the band is identical).
Maybe. I tried the Bose equivalent (the Ultra Opens), the fit was fantastic but audio quality was absolute crap for the pricetag (returned after less than 5 minutes of use)
I too have a larger skull (I shop helmets by size not style, if that means anything), and currently wearing a pair of shokz. I’m not the biggest audiophile, but I’ve tried a demo of the higher end one and it’s not too bad. Maybe give it a try?
No not it is not a must. And the vast majority of pwope don’t care.
After experiencing true wireless ear buds, I’m never going back. Yeah no thanks, I don’t want to be literally tethered to my phone.
Did you know?
Phones can have a headphone jack and still have Bluetooth for the people who don’t want to use it!
Ok… Don’t think I said they couldn’t?
Bluetooth can’t even transport mp3 quality. Let alone CD or even HD quality music.
That’s not true. It depends on the codecs both devices use. But regardless, I mostly listen to podcasts and my hearing is by far the limiting factor in audio quality.
I still have been able to play games on my phone with truly wireless earbuds because the latency is awful. I’d love to jsvr an option to plug in.
Do both your phone and earbuds support aptx?
Cheap devices almost never support it, but it’s truly what makes Bluetooth earbuds great.
Google pixel 6 Pro with Google Buds Pro. Not really cheaped out but no aptx on the earbuds. I assumed low latency codec would be there when I bought a pro version of an earbud from a company that removes their headphone jack, but noooooooo.
About 4years ago, I decided to get a phone that I could modify (custom rom, root and such) and that had a proper camera. So I got a xiaomi mi 10, which has no audio jack (or even sd card reader…)
The default adapter lasted about 3years (I dont use wired earphones that often) and I decided to get a “proper” one from a ugreen brand (I found reviews that their previous model was bad and they had released a new better one) (it’s this one
UGreen AV161). It seems sturdy (it has that fiberglass sleeve too), hoping it will last.It’s indeed bad that they dont put a headphone jack and I find it sad that fairphone dropped it too, cuz I’m thinking of buying a phone from them in the future. Not only it reduces the phone’s usability, but also indirectly forces you to buy wireless earphones. On top of that, using wired earphones puts extra wear on the single usb port (which I dont know how easy it is to replace it, I’ve only replaced a micro-usb port).
I dont exactly know where I’m going with this comment, but ok😅
The extra wear on usb-c port is definitely still an issue as I have had that be the reason for needing to replace my wife’s phone twice now. It was worse with micro-usb in my experience, but it stopped me from making use of my usb-c dongles. BTW, if you’re using usb-c DACs, most kinda suck. Weirdly, I found the one from Google actually had the best sound, but if you haven’t had an issue thus far then don’t sweat it.
It was worse with micro-usb in my experience
Indeed, I had to replace the micro usb port in about 4 years (and it was already mulfunctioning probably for years), while the type c port still works almost flawlessly.
About the dac, even though I dont think I can detect the difference, I remember seeing comments that the previous model of my adaptor had a bad dac (or it didnt even have one??), but they seemingly fixed it ij the new model.
(PS. I download flac songs, but I dont think I can tell the difference between a proper lossless flac and a 64kbps opus, lol. It might be bad equipment, it might be my hearing, it might be that I tend to listen at low volumes, a combo of all the above or something.)
It had to have a DAC if it was converting the bluetooth digital signal, but it could have been either a bad DAC or just poorly implemented DAC chip. I’ve seen it in a lot of these types of devices (Fiio, I am looking at you). It’s not like the chips are that expensive in comparison to the final price of the device.
Oh oops, I was talking about a type c to audio jack adaptor
Thanks for sharing the reference to that seemingly sturdy adapter, I’ll share it with my sister if she wants to give it a try.
I edited it to include the model I got.😄 So far it works, not sure how it will be performing in 4year.
indirectly forces you to buy wireless earphones
USB-C wired headphones exist
edit: lol, replied too quickly. You mention wired headphones in the next sentence.
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
The headphone cable is excellent for sure and I will never ever buy another set of wireless headphones again.
I have one set of wireless earbuds (Sony XM3) for when bigger headphones are impractical and for the price the battery life is shit. After roughly 2ish years of moderate use the battery life is cut noticeably and after 3 they barely last 30 minutes. Thankfully changing the battery is fairly simple (go sony!) although the battery used is a weird proprietary cell that cannot be purchased through legitimate channels and is fairly expensive (boo sony). But whatever, $30 on batteries is better than tossing earbuds that cost $250-300 a few years ago.
That said I have moved on from phones with headphone jacks. I still have a few sets of proper ass headphones that are pretty nice. If I want to use them with my phone I don’t fuck with dongles, I have a Qudelix 5K DAC/AMP. This allows me to use my wired headphones with any Bluetooth thing really. The only thing that could improve it is a user replaceable battery, and they made that: the Qudelix T71 although I haven’t tried that. And frankly I’m pretty sure I can figure out swapping the battery on this whenever it croaks. I’ve sourced and changed a lot of batteries in my time.
It’s not as nice as my proper setup for listening to flac or vinyl but it’s pretty indistinguishable aurally for the most part when listening to flac on my phone (vs flac on my home server via my better dac/amp which again is pretty aurally indistinguishable unless you’re a buttsniffing audiophile type. And if you are I dare you to double blind test it)
That BT DAC sounds like it could be a decent option if your phone supports aptX-HD or LDAC at 990kbps.
Qudelix 5K DAC/AMP
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
Excellent recommendation but be sure to use it wired if you actually want sound quality
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
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 😁👌
