2y ago

Dual headphone jack smartphone scores high in new reparability video

www.notebookcheck.net Dual headphone jack smartphone scores high in new reparability video

The Moondrop MIAD 01 is one of the most distinctive Android devices of 2024 thus far. It has a 4.4mm headphone jack to go with the more conventional 3.5mm type. Furthermore, it seems it might be as appealing to teardown enthusiasts as well as audiophiles, and may, therefore, also be easier to repair...

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- Reminds me of the "therapy spider AI," in Questionable Content.

Dual headphone jacks. You "hear" that, Fairphone‽

Here's specs: https://liliputing.com/moondrop-miad-01-smartphone-with-hifi-audio-features-launches-globally-for-399/
Seems nice. I just wish it had removable battery, like phones used to, so I could carry a spare around, like I used to with Sony Ericsson W200i.
Also dedicated dual SIM + MicroSD instead of hybrid.
Just got an idea, the Galaxy Flip has 2 batteries. Small one, and large one. What if there was a small one built-in, and a larger swappable one. You could then hot-swap the batteries like with some ThinkPads (those with internal + external battery).
- Fairphone has a removable battery pack, it's pretty handy.
  
  But no headphone jack.
- Awesome another decent phone outside of the big 3 that yet again doesn't support TMobile's bands. Just my luck...
- Every phone can have two batteries if you just get a battery pack.
  
  A powerbank is another step in energy conversion and the cables are annoying.
- Unfortunately making the battery removable will make the phone considerably thicker and probably easier to break which is not what most of the users want
  
  The Galaxy S5 was the last of the mainline series to have a removable battery, and was thinner than the S9 which came out four years later. It also had a pretty good water resistance rating.
  Any "downsides" to a replaceable battery are a myth.
  
  Iirc, removeable batteries make phones harder to break. If you drop them, the back cover and battery come off, reducing the shock on the display.

This is a neat explanation of the purpose of the other jack, in case anyone was wondering.
- Yes, but it's basically placebo if your headphone cable is of a normal length
  
  I wouldn't say placebo. It's definitely doing something. I would say it's unnecessary in most environments, and probably definitely on a mobile phone. But to lift right out of the article:
  You may be wondering if balanced audio is “higher quality” than unbalanced — the answer is no. Balanced cabling doesn't provide a better quality of sound than unbalanced cables. Audio source and the quality of materials in the actual cable's construction determine sound quality more than anything. However, balanced audio does a better job of eliminating noise, should it exist in your signal. In a case where extraneous noise is present, balanced audio will be clearer than unbalanced audio.
- The practical reason people use balanced jacks is because they push more power which allows you to use headphones with lower sensitivity. I have a few pairs myself that would benefit from this, they have relatively low ohm ratings so the high impedance setting on my V60 doesn't get triggered when I plug them in and they are very quiet.

Man, this is looking really appealing:
Headphone jack!
Great global and US network support
"Honest" marketing of its cameras (lol!)
Huge :(
Now the only thing that's missing is if it's reasonably easily rootable, so I'll keep an eye on this phone.

2 headphone jacks is definitely a choice. I wonder if there's at least one use case for it in 2024 though
- It's aimed strictly at audiophiles. The extra jack is a 4.4mm jack that's more common in things like DACs.
  An example:
  https://nobleaudio.com/products/dac-amp-with-4-4mm-pentaconn-output
  Pair a phone like this with a pair of Sennheiser's and a bunch of FLAC files and you might have a really good time.
  
  Oh so the jacks are different? Ok then. I thought the other sizes are dead or only used in niche $100k+ equipment
- Second sentence:
  It has a 4.4mm headphone jack to go with the more conventional 3.5mm type.
  4.4mm is for balanced audio output. This audience for this device is audiophiles.
  
  Well idk anything about audiophile stuff. I know I can't afford to even look at such tech lol

Well dang. I'm getting it. I'll sacrifice a decent bit of CPU performance for a phone made with some principles and with the moon audio quality.

Of course it doesn't support band 71, which is the only 5G band I can get at home.

A bit of excessive, I know, but I would love a 6.35mm jack, too.
- Personally I only use smartphones with dual XLR output and optical SPDIF.
  
  Hahaha!! And I thought I was being excessive haha!

Kinda wild these weren’t really a thing. A lot of these DAP/DACs were already running Android & many folks don’t like carrying a second phone-sized device (my DAP is small on purpose for this… well & my previous phone didn’t haze microSD for extra storage). Was it something to do with complaince for the cell radios?
The big question mark to me would be if they open source those drivers & what not or make any required apps downloadable & sideloadable. I would make something like this my next device if I knew I could flash LineageOS for microG on it & not, you know, lose all the audio stuff that makes it special. A lot of these Chinese brands haven’t even done the bare minimum GPL v2 compliance of releasing their kernels so we would have to see on that front. The ability to control your software is just as important as repairing your hardware.
- Yes. All I want from a phone is to be able to run a custom rom and have decent audio chips. I haven't been able to justify having a dedicated dap because I hate carrying more than is necessary.
  
  This is not so much as an edorsement or recommendation, but you might check out the DAPs by Shanling or Hidiz if you have coin to spare. They use Linux & don’t publish kernel mods, but they do have inexpensive, very small, lightweight options that may fit your needs. I have one & it has a place to have a dedicate device to not chew thru my phone’s battery as well as function as a high-quality USB DAC in scenarios where you don’t have a jack (like my old laptop) or the DAC is horrible (like in my dock for my laptop).

Dual usbc when?
- ROG phones have this and a headphone jack.
  
  They also fail the jerry rig durability test. They are very bulky too.

I love the phone despite the large size but can't get GPS working in apps
- That's ... a pretty significant issue.
  
  I would never be able to go anywhere
  
  That would be a bonus for me. I never use it.

From moondrop?! I have some really cheap iems from them, they're great

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