Don’t get me wrong. Apple removing audio jack was the biggest facepalm in smartphone history. And you can thank it for not being able to make an upgrade without sacrificing audio jack (and SD card too :/). But USB-C is getting standardized everywhere now (laptops, smartphones, etc.). What makes USB-C earphones not worth the switch?
USB-C is getting standardized everywhere now
3.5 mm has been a standard from the motherfisting 1950s
because it’s already compatible with everything
i have a cheap pair of earphones in my pocket (which i’m prepared to lose). another by the door. a more expensive set of headphones upstairs. a speaker in the kitchen. and when i get in a friend’s car or go to their house, i can just plug my phone in and it works without the aggravation of having to pair to their speaker
tell me, oh “you can just buy a dongle” people, what am i supposed to do? buy one and accept that i’ll lose it all the time? buy 5 and keep one plugged into every 3.5mm i own and don’t own?
plus, y’know - takes slightly more battery, hassle to pair, can’t charge and use dongle, all the other obvious issues
- I have aux earphones and it needs to work with some extension on new phones.
- Earphone while charging
- Enabling OTG for usb eaphone
Because all USB C to 3.5mm Aux adapters are flimsy as mother fuckers that break down after two months use. I would not even care otherwise, I never charge and listen at same time anyway.
If anyone has suggestions for adapter that is not made out of thinnest possible wire and is durable, let me know.
Also, I don’t want to buy USB-C headphones, since I would only use those with my phone, I want to use them also on other devices, and for compatibility it is better to have it analog instead of USB-C. If I were to buy headphones for phone only, I would just get wireless.
I often have use cases at work where I have to plug in my headphones to device I am not familiar with, for audio troubleshooting at our customers device. Most of the times USB is not an option, only standard analog audio.
Modern laptops also come with way too few USB ports, 2.0 and C combined, so I rather not waste one for audio since there is no reason for audio to go through USB. On my main PC I don’t use my internal soundcard but external audio interface for music production, and I want my headphones connected to that, not USB.
So in conclusion, USB-C headphones would be totally worthless to me, no matter the device. Even for phone, I rather go with adapter, or just wireless ones.
I need a special adapter to charge my phone simultaneously
Also, I can’t connect it without an adapter to my car, my headphones or my home cinema stereo
It requires extra hardware to get the same functionality I’d have by having a traditional jack.
Also the excuses these companies make up for removing it are always silly. No, the phone isn’t too thin to have one* – that’s always marketing BS. It’s always, always, always to save the pennies it costs to add a headphone jack. Those pennies of course add up during manufacturing.
They can save costs in that way because some people don’t care. It makes a simple headphone jack seem like a nothing feature, and the narrative can be pushed that those who want it are simply latching on to the past. Something similar happens with the arguments for and against physical buttons vs. touch screens, especially in cars.
*there is a YouTube video (I believe by Strange Parts) where they add a headphone jack to an iPhone which Apple had explicitly claimed was too thin to have one.
Because it sucks and the 3.5mm jack is better. Manufacturers should be forced to include it or pay a punitive fee calculated to far outweigh the savings of not including the jack, perhaps $5,000 per individual unit manufactured.
It’s about saving space, not money. The jack is relatively large compared to other smartphone components. It’s bigger than a USB-C port, for one, when you consider the volume and not just the width.
I have a hard time accepting that argument with the camera islands on every phone now.
It is never about saving space, it’s about saving costs.
It’s never been about saving, it’s been about selling airpods.
There’s no reason to switch.
50 year old headphones are still basically fine except for the port changing.
Let’s invert the question: what makes it worth the switch? If I’m going to change something, you have to prove why it’s worth, not me proving why I shouldn’t.
Everyone’s favourite old headphones not having a USB cable is likely to be the main reason.
The fact that there is more than one “standard” for USB-C audio is enough to hate it.
Analog 3.5mm just works with everything. No dongles, no drivers, no “unsupported device”, no batteries.
It. Just. Works.
And just when you have everything setup with USB-C, here comes the new connection standard, USB-D. Eliminating the audio jack is about planned obsolesce.
Downsides of usb-c headphones:
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Bluetooth security risk surface, exposes your phone to more attacks. (Nobody has mentioned this yet)
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Most/all phones have a single usb-c port. Charging and using headphones difficult
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Usb-c port placement is awkwardly on bottom of phone while must headphone jacks are on top of the phone. Plugging in your headphones on the bottom of the phone with a dongle is awkward.
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The entire process of using a usb-c dongle or using Bluetooth headphones makes the entire system more complicated. KISS (keep it simple). The more complexity there is that can go wrong, the worse the experience. If I’m taking a important conference call, I want my audio to just work.
Not directly related: the whole point of removing the headphone jack was to sell airpods. First apple, then android, and even fair phone. Each time the jack is removed to push sales of the branded Bluetooth ear buds. It’s a user hostile move.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/apple-airpods-success
The excuse may be to save money, Space, water rating, but the reason is increased sales.
I personally still use a pixel 5A which had a headphone jack only because it’s the B tier phone for markets where people are less likely to also buy the airpods.
This is a good example of the general enshitificstion of a service. Make part of the experience worse to drive sales or engagement with another part of the service. Just like Reddit, just like Twitter… It’s user hostile. It means the marketplace is failing
I have a headphone jack and it’s on the bottom of my phone next to the USB?
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I fucking hate the whiny answer of “but my/most existing headphones had an aux so I don’t like USB-C.”
The biggest factor for me is that it simply makes it impossible to charge your phone and use wired headphones at the same time without a special splitter adaptor… Which itself is impossible to roll up with your headphones.
It’s designed to be such an inconvenience to the point that you’re actually just incentivized to buy wireless headphones. And since it was Apple, that of course meant their very expensive Airpods.
That said, I happily use wireless Bose headphones now anyway, but I did have to ditch my audio technicas for that reason.
I fucking hate the whiny answer of “but my/most existing headphones had an aux so I don’t like USB-C.”
Except, you know, it’s a statement of fact and wired headphones can easily last 50 years with no reason to even consider replacing them. We’re past the point where there’s meaningful improvement to quality over time.
Plus basically every other piece of audio equipment has a headphone jack, and there’s no reason they should start being manufactured with USB-C ports with all the added complexity, when all they need to do is send audio.
There are way more aux jack headphones out there, and you don’t want your very high quality headphones suddenly be forced to be considered obsolete just because tech companies feel like selling a different product.
