Change my mind: 3.5mm jacks

[solado]

On 12/29/2022 at 1:28 PM, teknohpile said:

My opinion is they are only necessary on audiophile devices and budget devices. 

Not really, Audio latency with bluetooth seems really bad with Android. Borderline distracting when trying to watch content and the delay is so bad the mouth moves before the dialogue. 

[Donut417]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:28 AM, teknohpile said:

My opinion is they are only necessary on audiophile devices and budget devices. 

if your talking phones maybe. But let me hit you with this. Bluetooth support in Windows blows ass. Same can be said about Linux. I gave up trying to get Bluetooth working in Windows 10. I tired Bluetooth with my Steam Deck and while it did connect to my Bluetooth Earbuds I could not get it to connect to my HD4.40's or my Bluetooth keyboard. 

[Godlygamer23]

On 12/30/2022 at 4:22 PM, wasab said:

i cant count the number of times my wire got caught or tangle in something which flings my phone out of my pocket and then crashing it into the hard pavement. i dont want to shorten my phone's life span by introducing an uneccesary hazard. If the phone does not fly away, it is my earbuds falling out of my ears. very big annoyance. 

Personally, the real issue for me is lack of choice, or having to jump through hoops to use an older tech that is still prevalent, or use adapters that are questionable. However, the removal of the 3.5mm jack also affects users who want to still use wired headphones, because now they're forced to say use the Lightning connector on their phone, which shortens its lifespan, rather than just having it reserved for certain functionality. 

 

The real thing I'm after is _choice_. Both situations have their pros and cons, and it depends on the situation the user is in, and what they're willing(or can) put up with. 

[DarkSwordsman]

It's pretty simple for me:

My Bose QC35 II headphones do sound great, but if I want to hop on a voice call/use my mic on the headset, my mic and audio quality drastically suffer. Plus, needing to keep it charged is a bit of a hassle.

Beyond that, compatibility and reliability of devices connecting over bluetooth is not guaranteed.

 

Also, sound quality. Bluetooth is constantly compressed (via AAC most often) and then re-produced in the headset through it's own drivers. As we can see on things like the Macbook Pro, the drivers (at least in the mid 2010 models) were very, very good and had a magnificent sound reproduction.

Another good example are IEMs. I have some $23 KZ SZN Pro IEMs. They are cheap, but they honestly sound better and cleaner than my Bose (even over a wire).

 

At the end of the day, it's more about compatibility and reliability, plus choice. If someone wants to use a 3.5mm, then let them use it, preferably without needing to use a dongle.

[rrats]

Even before I managed to drop my S20 onto concrete and kill it's screen I've used my soon to be 6 years old s8 for music listening. I've tried a few USBC to 3.5mm DACs but all of them had $hit quality audio and were too silent. even the apple one. They are all very inconvenient as well. As for the Bluetooth, those headphones require to be charged and require my phone to waste even more power in order to stream via Bluetooth. Easy problem to be avoided by using a bloody cable

[suicidalfranco]

6 hours ago, DarkSwordsman said:

At the end of the day, it's more about compatibility and reliability, plus choice. If someone wants to use a 3.5mm, then let them use it, preferably without needing to use a dongle.

things that most TWS supporter don't want to understand. The presence of a jack doesn't impede your usage of bluetooth headset, they coexisted long before Apple's courage attempt at creating a problem whilst selling you an overpriced solution at the same time. 

Those who want the jack don't advocate for the removal of BT, those who want TWS for some reason feel threatened by a device also coming with a jack. In before thinness argument:

Here's an iPod touch

the iPod touch is 6.1mm thin without a camera bump

the iPod touch has a jack

the iPod touch will still work with your precious earpods even if it has the jack.

[Neroon]

I got mixed feelings about this. I moved to bluetooth about 6-7 years ago, I was tired of my wire getting stuck while cycling, so it was the way to go, I also enjoyed the freedom it gave me.

It definitely had it's disadvantages, charging is 1 sure, but I think that's a minor one. Batteries dying eventual is for sure, this is definitely more important with expensive headphones vs cheap ones, and I had disruptions near my trainstation, where the signal would get really bad, like if a radio was no longer getting a proper signal.

 

But is losing the 3.5mm a really big deal? I don't think so either, sure there is a small group of people who will want to keep their old(er) quality headphones, which sucks, but USB-C is a thing, new headphones can be just bought, and old ones can use an adapter.

 

When I look to the future, I see 3.5mm dying regardless. People spoke about issues with the cable, but the audio jacks of devices are known to fail. Of course USB has as well, but my experience has been a lot better with those. So I think USB-C is generally superior.

 

So no I'm not convinced BT is the way to go for everyone, but I see no reason why should stick with 3.5mm.

 

PS yes I realize that you can't charge while listering to music with USB-C, but I think this is pretty damn rare, and I think there are still adapters for that. I understand that no one likes adapters, but we gotta move forward.