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?
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
I just keep buying phones with headphone jacks. I use bluetooth headphones too, but have a wired set for fallback, especially when travelling.
Also, if you’re on a call or vc, a good wired set wth a well placed mike on the wire (e.g. marshall mode) gives you better sound quality and better exclusion of environment noise than any bluetooth headphones, and you don’t have to worry about earbud batteries running out mid call.
It limits phone selection a lot, but so far there has been good phones with headphone jacks every time
I am about to switch to a pixel 7a from a 3a and am facing this issue. My wired ear buds date to some type of sandisk mp3 player I bought about 15 years ago and are pretty rough, so I have been looking at my wired options. Thanks for this post!
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 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😅
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.
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.
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.
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.
You don’t have to go back. You can have both. A headphone jack does not preclude the use of Bluetooth.
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.
Google buds aren’t cheap but… They aren’t really a prime example or wireless earbuds. Basically just the equivalent of the air pods. Decent sound, but a solid middle ground in terms of features and quality.
Take a look at some other options that do support aptx or at least Bluetooth LE Audio. Aim for BT 5.3 support, but BT 5.2 may be acceptable if you are happy with BT LE Audio latency.I use the Sony WF-1000XMS with BT LE Audio on the Steamdeck and the latency is fine for most gaming. Latexy seems to be around 30-100ms at my best estimation (depending on the quality and complexity of the audio being transmitted).
But the WF-1000XMS don’t support aptx. There are lots of devices that do though. I’d recommend looking for aptx-ll specifically, but aptx-hd is also a massive improvement.As a side note, the reason I use WF-1000XMS is for the excellent ANC (I’m autistic), so I am not recommending them as gaming earbuds, but just as an example of quality earbuds that work for me.
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.
There is no “mp3 quality”, as that can vastly vary depending on bitrate. And what is HD quality music supposed to be? I bet you couldn’t reliably differentiate high quality mp3, CD audio and completely uncompressed wav in a series of blind tests.
That’s like saying people can’t tell the difference between 720p, 1080 and 4K
No, it’s not
Maybe it’s your ears or system but in this house we can certainly tell the difference between a 2 mb mp3 file and a 400mb DSD.
Try a high Bitrate mp3 and the difference becomes a pure technicality.
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?
Of course it is possible, but it is an inefficient use of internal phone space. It adds another physical failure point. Increases risk of water entry. And adds construction/repair cost.
All for some thing few care about already and that number gets smaller everyday.
Sorry to be harshly pragmatic about it (I have a few niche hobbies myself) but it’s time to let it go.
it is an inefficient use of internal phone space.
It is only inefficient for you. I never use the selfie camera. Should I be campaigning for its removal?
It adds another physical failure point.
As you don’t use it, you don’t care if it fails.
Increases risk of water entry.
No. This is a solved problem.
And adds construction costs
More so for the selfie camera.
and repair cost.
If you don’t use it, you don’t need it repairing
I can’t even lol.
Google should remove the extremely popular camera (and takes a tenth of the size) so you can “you” can have a port…
Given the quality of that response, I’m just stopping there…
Have a good day, I’m out.
I’m showing how biased your logic is by swapping one word.
Headphone Jacks are also popular. Over 60% preference on android and 92% of people prefer the rear camera
My facts beat your feelings.
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.
Thanks, do you still have the references of those?
You can’t get a good quality DAC for $15. Lol
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 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!
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 $250-300 a few years ago.
That said I have moved on from phones with headphone jacks. I still have a few sets of proper ass headphones that are pretty nice. If I want to use them with my phone I don’t fuck with dongles, I have a Qudelix 5K DAC/AMP. This allows me to use my wired headphones with any Bluetooth thing really. The only thing that could improve it is a user replaceable battery, and they made that: the Qudelix T71 although I haven’t tried that. And frankly I’m pretty sure I can figure out swapping the battery on this whenever it croaks. I’ve sourced and changed a lot of batteries in my time.
It’s not as nice as my proper setup for listening to flac or vinyl but it’s pretty indistinguishable aurally for the most part when listening to flac on my phone (vs flac on my home server via my better dac/amp which again is pretty aurally indistinguishable unless you’re a buttsniffing audiophile type. And if you are I dare you to double blind test it)
Qudelix 5K DAC/AMP
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
Excellent recommendation but be sure to use it wired if you actually want sound quality
I initially held on to the headphone jack but nowadays I’ve completely stopped caring. My Galaxy Buds 2 Pros are pretty dang good even by audiophile standards and the convenience of TWS is quite nice. For my wired IEMs the 9$ Apple dongle works just fine with my Galaxy S24+. Nowadays some IEMS also have USB-C version and I suspect that this trend will continue. Like it or not that jack will eventually become a thing of the past on the vast majority of consumer electronics, not just on phones.
The g84 is a great mid range phone with all the things that a phone should have, except for a decent camera.
Being Motorola it has a couple of idiotic quirks that will never get fixed
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kills Facebook messenger in the background no matter what your do.
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on some but not all Australian 5g networks, the camera closes after a few seconds and is unusable unless you switch to 4g etc.
I can live with those given the rest of the stuff is great for the price point.
Rarely use headphones so can’t comment much on that side. FM radio seems to manage without.
on some but not all Australian 5g networks, the camera closes after a few seconds and is unusable unless you switch to 4g etc.
The what? How?
Seems wild indeed
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I will be sad when my S10 dies, purely for finding a headphone jack. It might sound dumb, but I only see drawbacks to bluetooth audio, as it’s not solving any problem I had to begin with. :)
My biggest regret was swapping out my old S9 for a free* “upgrade”. Miss that phone everyday.
Sony Xperias have headphone jacks.
Thank you! I had a look, as I thought they were discontinued in the UK, and it looks like I can get one sim-only from a few places. :) Awesome, that’ll do nicely when the time comes, thank you again!
I got mine from Amazon (Xperia 1 VI [XQ-EC72]) since the newest one is non-US, but cellular works.
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.
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.
