Earbuds
We used to have earbuds that don't need to be charged because they had a headphone jack, didn't get lost so easily because they had a cord attached to a headphone jack, never lost the bluetooth connection because they had a headphone jack, and they cost less because they had a headphone jack. https://bsky.app/profile/daisyfm.bsky.social/post/3l3mfjc6sn62k
But they did tangle all the time. That was annoying.
And the cord would sometimes break inside/connector went bad.
The TWS equivalent to that is one of the buds no longer turning on. I just had to RMA a pair because of that.
Yeah! That's why I loved Sennheiser IEMs, they had oval cables that never tangle up, no matter what you do. Still have a pair for my Switch
Loved those as well and I am very angry they are no longer sold (at least not here). Even Sennheiser doesn't escape the enshittification for their mid-range earbuds
Remember when they got stuck somewhere and yanked out of your ears? Somehow my Bluetooth headset don't get that because it has Bluetooth
I hate it when the Bluetooth gets caught on the door handle and rips my blue tooth out
I do this simple trick (Warning: YouTube video), and my cables don't tangle at all, unless of course I forget to do that. It might cause cable to break more easily, but idk., my earphones tend to break just before warranty ends, which is fine for me.
As a runner I hated cables. All the time I'd be in the middle of a run and my hand would catch the cord mid stride and yank them out of my ear.
Only because people couldn't be bothered with learning the over-under cable coiling method.
All these people saying they like wireless earphones are completely missing the point. Devices with headphones jacks can do both. Taking away the headphone jack means you have to rely on wireless earphones, which have all the issues the post describes.
But Apple was so BRAVE when they removed the jack!
I wholeheartedly agree, I use Bluetooth most of the time, but I want wired to fall back on. When I'm on the go, bluetooth works just fine, but when I'm sitting down at home I prefer to use my full-size Roland headset on both my PC and my phone. No latency, and superior sound quality.
Bless the few companies out there still putting them (and the SD card slot) into Androids, but even they're getting more and more scarce. I need to upgrade soon and I've never felt my opinions were so limited, let alone combining with other things like network compatibility, unlockable bootloader, etc.
Android used to be the anti-Apple. You used to have so many options, and so much freedom.
Wdym, there are adapters and natively wired USB-C headphones.
Adapters are a cop out. Just put the adapters in the phone. It also means you can't charge and listen to music.
Also while there are some natively wired usb-c headphones, I can't think of any. Any decent headphones will use a standard 3.5 or 6.5mm audio jack, and then the dac being built inwith those usb-c headphones means you can't use a seperate dac, it means you can't plug them into studio gear. It's just so incredibly limiting.
There is already a universal standard (3.5mm/6.5mm jack) it carries analog audio, why change to a digital connection which requires digital to analog conversion? Why not let the user be able to have a dedicated piece of gear to do that if they wish.
No professional equipment, or even semi professional equipment uses usb-c. It's a good old fashioned analog audio jack and it's like that for a reason
i really don't want to have to carry one more piece of junk, and while USB C is way better than alternatives, bending the dongle in your pocket while it is attached to the phone is a scary thought, wired earbuds make a hard right turn right out of the socket. The socket does fill with lint, I kind of get it that removing reduces loss of the phone from water damage or related assembly costs to making the socket not-a-water-vector
It also means you gotta rely on the sound quality of the smartphone. I carried an Oppo HA-2SE strapped to my phone just because I wanted better. Wireless earbuds are just like carrying a Fiio BTR-5 and some good IEMs but without all the fuss. Totally has it's own brand of fuss though.
Correct. That's why I will NEVER buy brand new wireless earbuds from Apple, Samsung, or any other phone manufacturer. Oh, you took the aux port out of your phones? Go fuck yourself. I will not financially reward you for limiting my freedoms.
Currently I use Jabra Active 8s. The Jabra Active 10s are supposed to be so much better, but for the price, the 8s are just pretty good.
It also destroyed the "pass the aux cord" when driving with friends.
"Hey, I want to show you a song. Pass the aux cord."
Plugs
Plays
Now:
"Hey, I want to show you a song. Let me connect to your car's Bluetooth."
"Oh, I can't while the car is driving. Can you pull over for a minute?"
"Which submenu was is it in? Bluetooth or Settings?"
"Do you mind if I remove one of the devices already connected?"
"Oh, it just auto-connected to your phone instead."
"Here, I'll just send you a link."
"Your phone locked. Can you enter your password again?"
"Oh, you don't have [streaming service] premium? We'll have to sit through an ad first."
I feel a cold and detached anger, reading that.
Still can't get my honda to Bluetooth.
My old car was a Kia. (Don’t hate me. It was 2009, and I was earning $19,000 a year.)
I got a used model that was the one higher than base, that included the deluxe audio package. Basically, it included an aux input and the crappy speakers had metal grills instead of plastic ones.
I spent years trying to figure out why the aux jack never worked, until in 2014 I took apart the insides, and then took it to a dealership to confirm that the factory had installed the standard wiring harness, which didn’t include connectors for the aux jack. They said it would be cheaper to buy a new car than it would be to have them fix the wiring.
I wound up missing the aux roadtrip experience entirely, and replaced the radio with one that did Bluetooth.
Bastards.
You can still do that if you want. My car's bluetooth is finicky, so I just have a USB C->aux cable adapter I use. You can share between people and have them share their music. It doesn't help with the password issues, but you absolutely can still use an aux cable with modern phones. You just need to use a USB C->aux rather than an aux->aux.
So glad the Europeans finally broke Apple and their ridiculous charger shenanigans. A coworker just got a new iPhone and asked me if I had an iPhone charger, I told them no all Ive got is USB C. They said they didn't know what they had and showed me the bottom of their phone and, sure enough, it's USB C. They had no idea that only Apple kept making their own charge connector and that basically everyone else had settled on one charger/data port like two or three standards ago.
You just need to use a USB C->aux rather than an aux->aux.
And make sure it's not a cheap adapter so you get a reasonable volume out of it.
You can sorta cheat at this with a USBC DAC/dongle (converts USB C to a headphone jack) and just pass the dongled cord around.
You can do this with wired carplay/android auto if you really want. Basically every car made after 2018 has the two, even the cheapest of the cheap.
Bluetooth audio (only) only ever had a pretty short reign. And basically every car that came with bluetooth also had a USB port for ipods which still works with modern iPhones (and some android devices).
Why on earth would you not just hand them the phone to put a song in queue. Also what songs are exclusive to a specific streaming service? Just play it on whatever you were already listening on.
What do you mean used to? I still do. IEMs with replaceable cables are nigh on indestructible.
Yeah this is just another case of apple diehards forgetting the rest of the world exists. Almost everyone still has earbuds with cords.
Hardly just Apple. Android phones have been shifting to removing the headphone jack as well. The workaround is meant to be to use a USB-C dongle, but I ended up just getting multiple bluetooth headsets. I miss my wired earbuds though, that I could hang from my ear when I needed to talk to someone, and never had to worry about charging.
I've thrown away so many headphones because the cable frayed though. There's always some downsides.
Just buy ones with detachable cables, or, better yet, mod headphones to use standard connectors such as MMCX (a set of Koss KSC75s). This also allows for different male connectors (3.5, 2.5, 4.4, quarter inch, XLR..) to suit different needs. There's even bluetooth cables that can plug into otherwise wired headphones. Audiophile world > convenience world.
And they would inevitably get tangled up in your pocket every time and you had to deal with the cord somehow when you connected, usually under your shirt or something. I went through a new corded headphone every 3 months or so. Meanwhile, the free pair of airpods I got from work are still going after ~5 years.
I'm going into my third pair of ear buds because the batteries only survive for 1h after 2-3 years if you are a heavy user, my wired JBL is still going strong.
I remember they used to last me for years around 2005-2010. Now it is like every year at latest i need to get new ones because the cable got fucked.
I bought a pair of wired earbuds off of wish or temu, something like that, they were like eight or nine dollars.
Honestly compared to any Bluetooth headphones I've used, equivalent or better sound quality. And the wire can be pulled out and replaced for just a buck if need be. I've had them for 2 years now and they have been wonderful.
Also Moto phones with their operational 3.5 mm jacks for the win.
They also didn't add an extra layer of compression between the player and your ears - because they had a fucking headphone jack and wires that could transmit audio data without compression.
In ancient times, the wire also acted as antenna to pick up FM radio
The copper age...
It still does if you buy a phone with a headphone jack and avoid shitty companies that disable the FM tuner.
On the other hand, bluetooth headphones never catch on a doorknob and yank out of your ears
On the other other hand, we already had the option of choosing Bluetooth headphones back when most phones still offered headphones jacks.
Truth is, there are obviously pros and cons of each, but it just sucks that we no longer have the choice without jumping through extra hoops.
And the noise cancelling/amplification is something wired headphones probably would never do, and they aren't more expensive than ear buds, unless you got the cheapest ear buds (that probably sounded like shit and had cords that would fray within months of use), oh and if you used them at all "actively" the cords would eventually wear out even in expensive models. I've got a 20$pair of ear buds from 3 years ago(wanted to make sure I wouldn't lose them before investing in expensive ones, now I don't actually like my expensive ones except for airplanes, and still use my cheapos). Oh and you couldn't be more than 3 feet from your phone if it was charging, and you couldn't fast forward, rewind, play/pause (if you had a great pair it had a volume control, that didn't actually change the volume, just added resistance to the signal).
Ask my wife, I was one of the biggest sticks in the mud about losing my headphone jack and changing over to Bluetooth, but since I made the change, I've found plenty of reasons to be happy with it. I still miss my old phones built in infrared blaster though. And easily replaceable battery. There were some neat things you could do with the aux jack (credit card reader), and there was some convenience to having things corded together (especially if you're absent minded) but it's not as rosey as many would insist it was.
The rose tinted glasses people use when looking back (car technology, streaming being worse than cable, the Internet sucking (though much better arguments for this one)) is really a burr in my side.
You can get headphones with removable cables.
Meh. I don't miss getting the cord caught on door handles and having the earbuds violently yanked from my ears!
I like having choices so you do your thing even if it's not the same as my thing.
It's this for me, too. I like to pop them in (or really just one) while I do chores and stuff. I did it before the wireless ones too. And now, I feel spoiled by the lack of wires-getting-caught-on-stuff that I don't want to go back to wired as my primary earbuds.
That being said, I do keep several spare pairs of wired earbuds around, and I am planning on picking up an inexpensive pair of in ear monitors for quiet, music practice
I've literally never had that happen to me, but I've always seen it posted constantly. It's it partially a meme? Or is everyone just constantly getting their headphones ripped out?
It definitely used to happen to me!
It's not a meme, I've broken countless headphones that way. Well, maybe not on door handles, but e.g. in a bus there may be a lot of things the cable can catch on, like arm rests
I didn't believe the hype about wireless headphones until I bought some with noise cancelling and all that for around $130.
Pros:
1 - You don't realize how "tethered" you feel on older headphones until you really try to use wireless headphones. There's a certain freedom you feel when you realize you can place your phone on a hotel table but lie down in bed.
2 - Noise cancelling and noise passthrough is a transformative experience when travelling or find yourself abroad. Airports are much easier to feel relaxed in when 80% of the noise or so can be filtered out as you wait for your flight to board. Additionally, the flight experience is less annoying (no engine drone gets through, even passengers can mostly be ignored) but you still have the option for pass through if someone absolutely needs to talk to you.
3 - Many of these headphones come with some kind of EQ feature, which can occasionally mean that you get speakers with more tunability and thus slightly better bang-for-buck that works globally across apps.
4 - Audio quality. Since these are expensive drivers, you're often going to get better sound quality than those cheap 30 dollar throw aways were ever going to give.
Cons:
1 - Latency. These things could never be used in professional audio situations other than listening to a pre-rendered song for quality judgements. I don't thing gaming would be nice with these either, even if I've tried (and failed) to play counter strike on these on occasion to keep noise levels down.
2 - Mic quality of the built in is lacking on my particular headphones (Sennheiser CX Plus). They're really only intended to capture the outdoor for noise cancellation IMO, not the greatest for calls or recordings. They're servicable, but it's the area I'd like the most upgrade (and it would probably improve noise cancellation features as well.)
3 - Environmental / Sustainability Concerns: Other than people just "losing" these devices with built in batteries that are bad for the environment being a problem in and of itself, there are other long-standing concerns I have about these devices. They often require proprietary non-open software to configure, meaning if the software gets delisted, you will no longer be able to configure them until someone comes up with some kind of alternative using reverse engineering (good luck). Batteries are likely to degrade over time, meaning you'll eventually end up with a worthless ear bud on the left or right and the only solution will be to throw them out. These things are often pretty bad scoring on repairability metrics, and I can't even blame the companies producing them here because they're so small.
4 - Despite passthrough being a feature, it's hard to convey to people that you can actually hear them through the device. There should be some kind of blinking light on the outside that indicates that passthrough is enabled or something.
So I actually do love these devices, but #3 of the cons is really the biggest real issue I have with them. If they're going to cost over 100 dollars, I would like to know that these things won't just become ewaste in the same way that cheap crappy wired headphones end up being as well (which sea life often chokes on or gets tangled up in.) If they costs a premium, I would really like to know that they aren't a figurative dead end when they eventually fail.
On points of audio quality - wired $130 headphones will sound even better, due to cheaper technology allowing to place better components, not having to install local (probably crappy) DAC, and due to wireless audio being lossy, even with aptX.
Tbh I like the convenience of not being physically attached to my phone when listening to music. That said, the removal of headphone jacks from phones is a disgrace.
At least type c can send audio through aux via an adapter
Wait, did they removed the headphone jacks? Forever? From every brand!? 😨
If you want a nice phone, pretty much yeah
Sony still has it (And SD card too)
All this romanticizing the past, but who members having to play with the jack until it was just the right in and out to get full stereo. I member. Who members breaking a wire for the left speaker only, so you only have right audio. I member
The real problem is that new phones dont have it, while there are actually people who use it.
To be honest i dont use it either, but i still prefer having it. Just in case you know? Phones without it did not get cheaper after all...
There are still phones that have it. Sometimes even pretty good ones. It's just that they are not advertised so heavily. I recently learned about HTC U23 or 24 or something. Now I feel dumb because I never bothered to check because I always thought all good phones don't offer headphone jacks anymore.
LG had it to the end, it was amazing. Still keep my v60 around for listening to music.
I think you meant new iPhones* don't have it. There are new models coming out every year with a headphone jack.
You can still get a Sony Xperia 1 VI, or a 5 VI, or a bunch of mid range devices with headphone jack. There are offerings with headphone jack, so if you want one, you can get one.
Now the problem is we love to complain but not put our money where our mouth is. Has the lack of headphone jack made the iPhone sales suffer? No, they've gone up. Does Samsung sell fewer Galaxy's? Nope. Is the Xperia range a massive success because they have a headphone jack? Not by any stretch of imagination...
...because most people don't actually care enough to vote with their wallet instead of yapping away while they buy a jack-less phone anyway.
Who remembers being able to fix it with two inches of electrical tape?
Yeah I remember sitting in class wiring my headphones back together
You're the second person to say this but I've been using the headphone jack for like 3 decades and haven't encountered this issue.
I remember getting horrible feedback in my car's stereo when I tried to simultaneously charge my mp3 player from the car's cigarette lighter adapter and run an aux cable. Somehow this resulted in a feedback loop that ruined the audio quality. I had to either charge or listen to music, not both.
Having lived through that period but absolutely never experiencing this I wonder... Could the (port on the) devices just have been shitty?
I remember crackling when turning the plug and mono when not being inserted properly, though
Are you purposely saying "remembers" wrong or do you think the actual word is "members"?
I expect it's a South Park reference. 'member South Park?
They’re probably referencing ‘member berries.
A friend was complaining that he was always losing his air pods. I told him about my awesome idea to sell a little cord that would connect them so they were easier to keep track of.
He was like, 'Dude! That's a great idea... You've got to start selling those before someone beats you to it-'
Then it dawned on him and he called me an asshat.
Last time I used wired headphones on my old phone, I was riding a bike. One of the buds slipped out of my ear and got caught in the front wheel, dragging my phone out of my pocket and smashing the screen. 10/10
I wish I could watch a video of that.
Also, headphone cords go under clothing when doing activities like that.
https://www.isadoraduncan.org/about-1
Isadora Duncan’s death was as dramatic as her life. On September 14, 1927, she encountered a young driver in Nice, France and suggested he take her for a spin in his open-air Bugatti sports car. As the car took off, she reportedly shouted to her friends, “Adieu, mes amis, je vais a la gloire!” — “Goodbye my friends, I go to glory!” Moments later, her trailing shawl became entangled in the rear wheel, breaking her neck instantly.
same
I got some wireless headphones and now I keep leaving my phone behind.
Because I hear music, I assume my phone is in my pocket and sometimes it isn’t.
That's a weird assumption, probably developed from years of using the cables. I didn't use them because of how inconvenient and uncomfortable they were to use. Yanked an earbud and didn't use headphones in place of speakers. Bluetooth is great
Luckily the music pauses after a few dozen meters
These jacks are still in every other audio device. They were removed from phones to force BT usage, which Google needs for their profiling telemetry network and Apple for their Find my Device thing. God forbid someone turns BT off or even decides they would prefer a phone without BT entirely. There is no other reason and how people prefer to listen to music has nothing to do with the subject.
Doubt there is any conspiracy. Headphone jack was probably removed to cut cost since wireless earbuds were becoming popular and majority of users did not mind. It annoyed me at first as well, but once I went with BT earbuds and headset, I cannot imagine going back to wired except when stationary on PC. Battery life is 30 or so hours and I do not thing I have ever had problems with connection.
Only thing that worries me is that your earbuds probably are an e-waste once battery no longer can hold a charge. That said my current earbuds are basically destroyed even though their battery still is fine.
There were cut because they make a lot of money selling wireless earbuds.
It's no conspiracy. It's just a valid strategy to expand your business. It's not unheard of that companies form cartels. Car companies manipulate millions of vehicles to trick lab tests. Companies like Apple and Google don't have your best interest at heart. Don't ever assume their decisions are driven by popular demand. They actively lobby to steer demand.
Removing a few cents worth of metal to cut costs? Because not enough users need it? That sounds more convincing than one of these companies trying to expand their proprietary BT global network features? Not to me at this time.
Waterproofing is very difficult with a headphone jack. You'll notice virtually every single phone with a headphone jack is 'splash resistant' while many without are able to survive being submerged. It also saves a relatively large amount of internal space, for something that easy to move external with an adapter.
If we're talking about adding back in older communication standards, I would personally prefer an am/fm receiver and IR blaster; it would be cool to use my phone like a universal remote.
Samsung had headphone jack until note 10 and ip67/68 rating since s5. Similar story with other brands. What you described are two separate trends.
am/fm
Cheap phones still have fm radio support. Pretty sure it's disabled in software in everything else, and you need cabled headphones to serve as an antenna either way (not sure if usb c works).
profiling telemetry network
Of course they need it for the very real scary words functionality
Every single signal your Android phone sends, like looking up the address of a website with Google DNS, or just synchronizing your time with Google time servers, which are defaults in most Android phones, goes right into at least a shadow profile.
Android exists to create highly detailed profiles of individuals, using your own device usage, and detecting other devices around you. Like WiFi hotspots to offer more detailed position information.
Every single time any of this happens, you leave a data point in a Google database. Collecting all BT devices every time you see them as data points is so dramatically valuable if this is your core business. Google is an advertisement platform.
The ease of pairing Bluetooth headphones lately is pretty nice as well as not having to run a wire up my shirt to avoid snagging.
I do look back kind of fondly on physically plugging in my headphones and just having it work.
for some reason Bluetooth headphones NEVER connect properly for me. I have to delete them and re-add them. Ended up buying $25 IEMs that are wired and they sounded better than my $200 name brand wireless ones lol
In my experience. Once you pass $100 Bluetooth rarbuds it drifts onto diminishing returns territory. Once the Active Noise Canceling feature started to get passed down to sub $100 earbuds then the more premium ones started to look less and less appealing unless you hop on a good sale.
The IEM selection has been getting pretty good lately as well.
This issue is solely the fault of capitalism. By removing choice you are forced to by a more premium product, but you're advertised it by all the supposed benefits: one less external opening on the phone, no more tangled headphones, no more dealing with headphones that only work when the cord is plugged in just right, no more chance of your headphone port going bad.
They skip over the fact that most of these issues are directly problematic because of cost cutting and designed obsolescence (aka engineered lifetimes). The opening is one thing, but headphones tangle in pockets easily because they use such thin flimsy cords. Same thing goes for cords breaking in the lining and only working at certain angles: a more robust cord would be less prone to issues.
On top of this, the entire designs of phones not having repairability in mind is the only reason that a headphone port breaking is a big deal. If they were designed to be disassembled with replacement parts being readily available, it wouldn't be an issue. They could even make the ports more robust to decrease failure rate.
see also: smart TVs, phones without replaceable batteries
One word:
Backwards compatibility.
Capitalism also solves the phone jack problem, with the retail availability of USB-C to 3.5mm stereo adapters. Here's a Pixel OEM one for $8 on ebay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/276001290580
I never got rid of my wired headphones, all I had to do was plug their jack into the USB-C dongle and plug that into the phone.
I also have bluetooth earbuds but they don't sound as good as my wired ones, and I also use them less because of 3 other minor hassles: battery charging, my wife steals them, and my wife loses them. Wired ones have none of those issues.
I'm sorry you liked something that is rightfully becoming obsolete 🙁 people liked landlines and beepers too ☹️☹️
Grow up. Dude wrote a good comment highlighting how these policies harm the consumer and you reply with "wow how cringe, capitalism good , actually"
That's actually one that I don't think is specific to any instance. By being a Lemmy user we all share some vague view that large corporations are bad, otherwise why would we be here?
Every single problem we face is caused or exacerbated by the logic of capitalism.
So yes, capitalism is bad. Sorry that pointing it out triggers you, but it's important to do so that people begin to understand and we can collectively do something about it. Infinite growth on a finite planet isn't feasible and it's killing all of us.
Communist earbuds made with 14/2 romex
Go back to reddit then. There's a reason you left
What do you mean used to?
That's still what I use. I have seen people using the wireless ones though, they seem quite popular at the moment.
I'm just not sold on the idea of earphones that have planned obsolescence built in, and require Bluetooth.
My current earphones are fab, I've been using them for 10 years now, and they plug in to everything and work with everything.
Why downgrade to something that'll have a ruined battery after 2 years, doesn't work with most stuff, and let's also not forget sometimes doesn't work at all because the battery might need charging.
My wired earphones have not once refused to work for any reason, period.
Moto g84 babyyy!
Hello Moto!
Fair but back when I still used wired headphones on the regular, the things that annoyed me enough about wired headphones to go wireless were:
• the need to untangle them, every time I pulled them out of my pocket
• the cable lasting significantly shorter than any pair of wireless earbuds I‘ve owned (which aren’t many. I got my first pair in early 2019 and my second one end of last year, while I had to buy new wired earbuds at least once a year)
• the hassle of pulling the cable through my clothes, so they don’t get caught
• the cable, through its own weight constantly pulling on my earbuds when I move, so I constantly had to readjust it, so it wouldn’t pull them out of my rest
• because most don’t come with a case, I lost the silicon tips surprisingly often.
• they got yanked out of my ear, either when I got caught on something or when I pulled down my pants and didn’t take my phone out of my pocket first.
Wired earbuds aren’t perfect, at least not for everyone. Sure, they can last longer, but in praxis, for me they didn’t (and I didn’t buy the cheapest no-name earbuds either). And also, I don’t use my earbuds with a lot of different devices, so I don’t need them to be able to connect to anything. Them needing to be charged is a bit annoying at times but so do my phone and my laptop. I prefer the inconvenience of plugging them in once a week to untangling them for a minute every time I want to use them.
Last year, when my wireless AirPods had finally kicked the can after 4½ years, I used the wired Apple EarPods, I had laying around, for a month or so. They’re decent but dealing with the cable got on my nerves quickly, so I got myself some 40€ wireless earbuds again and am much happier. I do still use wired headphones but they’re over-ears, for when I want to actively listen to music in lossless quality instead of just having something for when I’m on the go.
Bluetooth has been around for a few decades now, it's not going anywhere.
And they used to get tangled on everything all the time, got caught on things all the time, frayed and wore out all the time, had janky connectors that had to be jiggled to sit in just the right position to get stereo sound, and got tied in knots when you put them away not matter how carefully you wound them.
There’s a reason everyone is using Bluetooth now, gramps.
Bluetooth is lower fidelity, and I'd rather have tangled cables and ports than batteries that only last 5 years or less.
It might be lower fidelity but it’s not like it’s bad. I got some AirPod Pros using my credit card points and they’re awesome, plus the active noise cancellation means that they have more space to work when they aren’t fighting the metro system or whatever else. I did have some $100 ones that were pretty mediocre so I totally get that bluetooth can be bad but so can most anything else.
People chasing that last 2% of sound quality…I’m not going to waste our time saying that it doesn’t make much of a difference but they need to understand that almost nobody gives a shit. The only people that need to care are doing it for their job and that’s an entirely different situation.
And none of that even gets on the fact that without a cable to manage I can deal with them much more comfortably on the metro, in a car, on a bicycle, while walking, etc. I don’t need to think about where my phone is and I can even share them far more easily and comfortably. The battery, for my use case, just goes and goes and I barely need to charge them. They do everything better except for sound and they already crossed the threshold for great sound quality ages ago so that one is irrelevant to 99% of users.
Don't know where you pulled the 5 year from. I've got mine for longer than that and I have no problems with the battery. Also, didn't notice the lower fidelity, but I mostly listen to podcasts so I not gonna dispute that claim. Why I bought the bluetooth earbuds was because no matter how much I paid for wired earbuds (up to 120€) none of them survived more than 2 years. Approx after a year one would stop working and some time later the other would die too. So yeah, if you enjoy the shitty ultra thin wires that's great, but in my experience even cheap bluetooth earbuds work minimum three times longer than wired ones.
On the other hand Bluetooth can crackle if the airwaves are too noisy, you have to spend more for the same audio quality (and it's still going to take a nosedive when calling someone because A2DP codecs like AAC or AptX aren't available in HSP mode), and the buds have limited batteries which makes them unreliable for long-term wear.
It's all about trade-offs and individual requirements. Of course these days you're pushed to get wireless ones because most phone manufacturers are too cheap to include a headphone jack.
There’s a reason everyone is using Bluetooth now, gramps.
Such as not having other options with their current phones
Or not being up to par with Bluetooth. Seriously, you would still see Bluetooth everywhere even if you had a jack. I prefer Bluetooth over cabled alternatives even now with a phone that has it, so does my brother my sister my friends and family. I'm also sorry to say this but even my grandparents have preferred Bluetooth
Because of the curse of wireless headphones more people use fucking speakerphone in public
bought a wireless headset
just keep it wired to my computer anyways because i never have to care about charging it ¯(ツ)/¯
For a stationary PC a wired Headset is the bestathing you can get. It is cheaper and has better sound and microphone quality. For your phone it is something different.
In the before times, in the long long ago.
There are USB-C headphones.
Which cannot connect to a phone unless it's unlocked, as accepting every USB-C connection carries security risks. They also require negotiation, which can fail at any time, meaning you have to unlock, disconnect, reconnect.
I also have a nice, external (and still cheap) DAC on my computer. It has a headphone jack. This means I need to be able to disconnect the USB-C dongle from my headphones, unless I want to have two separate headphones for my phone and my PC. By extension this requires me to go searching for the dongle from time to time.
I love USB-C. But the headphone jack had what companies and people claim to want: simplicity.
Headphone jacks solved a single but extremly common problem very well. USB-C provides a workaround for it.
that's really interesting. USB-C was meant to be the one peripheral to unite them all: data, video, audio.
But no one considered that video/audio don't typically need to be security vetted, so shovelling them down the same wire protocol as data makes them less useful not more, and now we have to solve a hardware problem with software to let a simple media piece through.
Our desire for tech unity has regressed us
What's next, PCI-e headphones?
And adaptors
All the stories of people complaining about wire troubles as apologists for cell phone manufacturers read like scenes from an infomercial.
I'd gladly take a phone without a camera before I took one without a headphone jack.
You could also just pass the wire inside your shirt, there you go, no yanking on door knobs anymore. People just folding over backwards to defend the loss of choice is insanity, we lost the sd card slot and headphone jack on premium phone brands, and they STILL aren't waterproof, but an old ass Moto G3 that had both was actually waterproof.
Really? You'd rather a headphone jack than something as incredible as the camera?
I am team headphone jack. But it's not as bad as people will say. You can get a USB-C to 3.5mm converter for like $5. Just attach it to your headphones and never remove it, as if its the same old cable.
You'd ditch your phone's camera just to not have to do what I just described?
I use wireless when it makes sense, like on the airplane, and I use wired when it makes sense, like on my exercise bike.
Not op, but I would also trade a camera for a headphone jack if there were no other option. It's because I take on average one picture a month whereas I listen to dozens of hours of music in that same time period. So I guess we all have different priorities, and it would be nice if phone manufacturers didn't force unnecessary change on us.
100%. I use the camera probably once every three to four months while I'm using my headphones through my phone at least a couple hours a day. I'd be much happier just using a dedicated camera when I needed it than either fuck around with an adapter or be locked to wireless headphones .
Apologists?
So you enjoy dealing with a cord?
I enjoy all the benefits that the cord provides and will choose corded over wireless 99 times out of 100. I find the disadvantages of a cord dramatically easier to deal with than the disadvantages of wireless.
I mean, all the phones I've ever had (including my current Samsung A52 from a couple years back) have a headphone jack, but I haven't used anything wired in around 6 years.
I just find Bluetooth to be much more convenient and a nicer experience. I even bought a Bluetooth adapter for my desktop so I could use the same headphones there.
Not to mention, I just looked and there are plenty of phones with 3.5 mm jacks on the market, so it looks like the option is still out there for those that prioritize such a feature.
basement dweller?
I'm only willing to buy a phone that has the jack, it reduces the selection, but I'm not willing to compromise on that. And someone gifted me some airpods recently (pro 2). Tried them out and they were ok I guess, but they also had too many downsides, so they sit on a shelf now. It's not a good enough alternative for me.
I still only buy phones with a 3.5mm socket.
I'm looking for a new phone and it's so frustrating. There are a couple that still have it but there are none that have all the features I want. There's no heartrate monitors on phones anymore either because they want you to buy a smart watch.
I find https://gsmarena.com is the right place to start as you can search, among many other things, for phones with a 3.5mm socket.
This is my current rage inducement. I will be able to keep untethered headphones for likely less than 24 hrs before losing one or both. Plus, without a 3.5 jack, I can't charge the phone and listen at the same time. No more heart monitor, you have to buy a separate smart watch. I wish I could afford a fairphone.
Wait, even they don't have it anymore. Someone needs to make an a la carte phone
I was so pissed when Apple took the 3.5mm jack because I knew the rest would follow, and they did.
OTOH, now that I've gone to the dark side, I listen to music more often and enjoy it more thoroughly because I'm not dealing with tangled cables or having them accidentally yanked out of my ears, and therefore I'm more likely to have my earbuds with me. (they are now always in a pocket in my backpack) I can even fairly comfortably go to sleep with them on, which I do often.
I understand the audiophile arguments, and I'm sure that even with Buds2 Pro, SSC, and some fairly painstaking attention to EQ/DSP settings I'm leaving something on the table. I don't care about whatever that something is. I haven't enjoyed music this much and this often since I was prepubescent.
I have nothing bad to say about anyone else's choices, but the rush to shit on bluetooth earbuds gets a little "I don't even own a TV" sometimes. (for folks old enough to remember that kinda snobby trope around Y2K or so)
Well the most annoying issue is that BT headphones work perfectly well with a phone or laptop that has the jack, it's not an either/or situation. So they were only removed to make you have to spend $200. The arguments about cost, durability or waterproofing are all nonsense.
100% true, I agree with you! They proved this when apple pulled the jack - someone took that model apart and found there was still plenty of room. And Samsung (Galaxy S7 comes to mind but likely there are others) did waterproofing with the jack anyhow.
Planned obsolescence at play here 😢 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence
The luxuries that come from anything with a battery are great, but everything running a lithium-ion battery has its days numbered, and that's really unfortunate for the consumer and absolutely stellar for the business.
Meh.
Most average consumers (in other words, 90%+) don't know, and don't care about the audio quality, etc. They like convenience.
So that's who you market to.
I suspect the average person, lost, tore, broke, etc. wired ear buds before the battery would have given out anyway.
Just my anecdote, but 15 years back or so when Bluetooth earbuds weren't a thing yet, I bought a new wired pair every six months or so at least. Even when I'd run the wire under my shirt and stuff the slack in my pocket, eventually it would get caught and yank the earbuds out of my ears. When that happened too many times, the connection between the wire and the jack or buds would deteriorate.
I've actually never lost a Bluetooth earbud. I buy ones with the little wings so they actually stay. I don't have connection problems unless I'm on the opposite side of the house from my phone, so granted I'll switch to my trusty 30m long wired earbuds in those cases. I've also never had a battery die in one of these. As I type this I'm wearing a pair of Sony Bluetooth headphones that I bought at least 5 years ago, maybe 6 or 7, and as far as I can tell they work as well as they ever have.
While the major issue with wireless earbuds is that they could easily be lost, I'd prefer that over the old wired earphones which gets tangled up or yanked accidentally. If you also buy good quality wireless earphones, you would never lose sound on either left or right earpiece, unlike with the wired ones which often happens no matter the quality. But I still keep my wired earphones as a backups in case I lose my more precious wireless earphones or breaks.
If you also buy good quality earphones, you would never lose sound on either left or right earpiece, unlike with the wireless ones which often happens no matter the quality
Wired earphones are bound to more mechanical failures because they are susceptible to being tangled and yanked than wireless ones lol. I will pick wireless earphones any day.
It's really easy to turn a pair of wireless earbuds into wired earbuds with some hot glue and a piece of string.
How do you lose sound in one ear with a wired connection? Haven't heard of that problem before. At least, not the jack being the problem.
Oh my god how I hated those headphones with cable. I destroyed at least 3 phones because of them. I would have them in and walk and would want to do something on the phone and suddenly I'd get caught on the cable while moving and the cable would jerk the phone out of my hand and it would land on the asphalt and the screen would break. And fixing the screen is so expensive, it's better to buy a new phone, or just live with a broken screen where you cut your fingers on.
Since I switched to Bluetooth headphones this literary never happened again. And every single one of the problems described here has a fairly good solution, at least with the Samsung ones I have:
The only point would be the cost, they do cost a lot more. But compared to buying a new phone constantly because the cable hangs somewhere and jerks the phone out of your hand, even this is undeniably cheaper.
The thing is, bluetooth is not a perfect solution. It drains battery, is patchy and has variable audio quality, creates yet another thing to remember to charge (children are rubbish at remembering so just end up blaring awful videos on long journeys for everyone to hear), you can have issues with connecting devices that are literally inches away, and crucially - they are not mutually exclusive. I currently have a Samsung A52S which has a 3.5mm jack as well as Bluetooth technology. Even phones 10 years ago offered both. They are just removing an option many people still opt to use - especially those who can't afford good quality expensive wireless headphones.
It is a cheap, universal option. Bluetooth technology is expensive and have diminishing battery performance. I've accidentally put £5 wired headphones through the wash before and still work perfectly. They last an entire plane trip UK to Australia without running out. If I am doing a task that requires my hands and don't want to snag, I have wireless ones I can use.
It's not something that needs replacing. I don't need my phone to be thinner than 3.5mm, I m going to put a chunky protective case on it regardless.
It's like getting rid of public transport because most people drive.
Yeah but have you ever gotten the cord caught on something and had the earbuds ripped from your ears? Instant rage.
That only happens if you don't know to put the cord through your tshirt or top you're wearing along your back.
Things that are cheap arent as financially successful as things that are not, even if the more expressive product offers a worse experience.
It's super undemocratic when megacorps or politicians can completely ignore & overrule more than 3/4 of the population & force them/us into something for the financial good of the few.
Eg like railroads, even fairly big corporations would/did prefer railroads directly to their factories, not to mention people traveling by train.
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It was good but too cheap on every step.
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And with minimal running costs compared to alternatives, so extra too cheap.
No car roads ever need to be more than one lane, for everything else (all the current extra lanes) there should be rail tracks giving the people freedom to not-drive at all, or the freedom to drive the last bit & otherwise park the car on a train cart.
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And giving us and nature more space back, not having huge, wide scars all over the surface decimating, separating, and profoundly changing what's left of the ecosystems. And just not having too look and hear all the traffic & trucks is also nice, or being surrounded by huge paved-over surfaces.
And also, my peeps, fight the system with usb dacamps usb --> 3.5mm and/or 4.4mm (they start at ultra-cheap and even those are usually as good as most phones used to have):
Those USB adapters always seem to damage the USB port (or their side of it breaks) when I put the phone in my pocket.
Tried several of them, because I have some expensive headphone pairs. I even tried to use a Bluetooth thingie with a jack, but having a second device to charge wasn't really convenient as well...
Wired headphones are great, and my mouse has a cable too. I might be a dinosaur.
wired usb-c headphones have all of these features today
But they suck.
youre missing out on the thousands of standard headphones that have been produced for decades
nope. You can just get a cheap adapter with USB C on one side and 3.5mm Audio Jack on the other. I don't know about the audio problme though.
I really can't stand people that make this argument, I felt the same way at first, but then I actually started using Bluetooth headphones and they are frankly just better, in almost every way.
And if you really want wired headphones still, you can just buy an inline adapter for like £2.
Reception cuts out of I turn wrong. Headphone batteries are usually flat when I decide I want to listen to something or take a call. Phone wants to pair with every other BT device except the headphones (save for the time it somehow forgets them and I have to dive into the menu and re-pair). Old phone's BT is starting to get flaky. So much latency no matter what. Sound quality still not there yet.
I do like not having a cord, but literally everything else about bt headphones is a step backwards against simplicity & longevity. I have minidisc equipment from the early oughts that still sounds fantastic on the PortaPros I also got at that time.
Also you kids get off my lawn, apparently
Yeah, if you ignore the massive price difference and the fact that they need to be replaced periodically because rechargeable batteries usually only last a few years at most.
The price difference isn't really that big you can get a decent pair of anger earphones for £15 on amazon.
Personally my wireless ones last several times longer than any wired headphones I've had, as the cable would eventually break and I would have to do the think where you wrap the cable a certain way or else one earbud wouldn't work.
To quote the original writer of the post above, in the thread which continues from it:
And phones were sturdier because they were thicker because they had a headphone jack.
If you prefer bluetooth, I hope you know that bluetooth still works on devices that have headphone jacks.
If you're saying it's good that they got rid of the headphone jack, you're telling me good that we have one option instead of two.
I don't want my phone to be thicker, and I don't care for having something in my phone I don't use now. Just like I dint care about having serial ports or VGA ports on my new TVs.
Same.
Was against them until forced to try them. Absolutely would not go back. Being made to charge them is a minor inconvenience in comparison to the many upsides that wireless brings.
Bluetooth earbuds might be better than wired earbuds. Definitely not some headphones.
There are also USB-C earbuds. I've kept a pair in the glove box in case I'm out and don't have my wireless in my pocket. My wireless are not a part of my every day carry, so it's nice to have a backup. I'm grateful to have them when I need them, but I HATE using them now that I have grown accostomed to true wireless.
Working with wired buds is insanely frustrating. They would always get tangled somewhere, they got tangled every time i had to squad down. The ones i have now last over 9 or so hours, which is more than my work day, with the case i can charge them like 3 or 4 times, when they run out of juice, i can recharge them in like 15 minutes to last another 2 or so hours. They are more comfortable, most of the time i forget that they are in. They obviously weren't cheap, but i would pay even more to not have to deal with these dumb ass wires everyone seems to love so much.
Exactly. Get the adapter and don't lose it. Now, if companies made it impossible to wire in audio, well that would be totally insane.
Literally every single phone I've had where I use a USB C headphone adapter, the audio function just stops working eventually. Charging is fine, but audio just quits. I don't even use the port to charge this phone, I use a pad, but the audio has stopped working through USB. It's not a replacement.
Can't beat an infinite battery that doesn't need the resources, production, and disposal of batteries.
Any wireless connection that is less than a meter and connects 2 or more objects that are already physically attached otherwise, is a useless wireless connection.
We used to share our tunes with a simple Y-cable.
Anyone have a tip for me on how to connect two Bluetooth headphones to one device? I've tried on Android (Samsung) and an iPad with no luck... I'm back to the good old Y-cable I've used since the Walkman days.
On Apple there is a share audio feature. If Apple has it I’m sure Samsung has it somewhere.
you get 3.5mm dongles that plug into USB C or lighting ports. Or you can get a wireless DAC with a 3.5 port on it. I’ve got both for different use cases.
Get a bluetooth audio transmitter dongle. Most of them support two pairs of headphones. That's also the only way to get APT-X LL support for low latency audio.
Lovin’ the lack of cord so much I didn’t even realize it had ruined lives…
I still use wired headphones and earbuds. On the phone it's got a USBC connector, so I had to find a compact adapter. Fortunately USBC is a tough connector so they're holding up well enough.
The earbuds themselves are very cheap. They normally only last a few years (3-5 or so). I snagged a couple little zip up pods that hold earbuds from a job fair years ago. As long as I do a quick coil up, it's easy enough to pack them away and get them out without tangling. They also don't get hurt living in my satchel.
I've considered moving to something wireless, but I have enough battery driven devices to babysit already.
I don't use wired headphones anymore, but I keep the 3,5 mm jack in my phones as long as possible. I do this, among other reasons, because of backwards compatibility, freedom of choice, second use usability of device, reliability when needed.
Just don't use Apple shit
Sadly, I reckon about 2/3 of Android phones no longer have a jack, or close to 100% of flagship models.
Yes, but Apple is what made it commonplace
Since I don't listen to music and thus sound quality is not important to me, I prefer wireless buds while working and at gym, but while at home on my computer I use wired over-ear headphones.
Nevertheless I refuse to buy a device without a headphone jack out of principle. If everyone who complained about Apple removing it would've stuck to their guns and refused to buy such device, there's a chance they, or atleast the competition would've decided to not follow along. Instead, consumers just went along with it showing the manufacturers that it's okay to charge more money for less features, and here we are. Not me though. My next phone will have a headphone jack as well.
How are you supposed to plug into the fake cassette tape that somehow tricks the car to play your phone (or discman) through the tape player?
Although now it's hard to find a car with a CD player ffs.
You can get Bluetooth ones now.
These worked better than any noise-canceling wireless earbuds I have tried:
They were much cheaper too.
Want new plugs? Get some earplugs, optionally cut in half or trim to size, punch a hole and fit them on.
Portapros were pretty great, too. And cheap.
Can't hear anything over that cable noise!
Had horrible audio quality both inherently and due to the constant cable dangling noise, didn't stay in the ear due to the cables' weight pulling them down, didn't last long due to the cables getting tangled while carrying, you couldn't wear in bed or during sports or with large coats due to the cables, you couldn't move away from your phone due to the cable length or if you forgot they yanked your phone off the table..
Working out with the wire? Fuggetaboutit
Convenience. No more rubbing noise from a cable. No more struggle with cable at desk.
My buds last for a few hours on one charge. I have two pairs.
Never need 2 pairs when you use wired.
I do still like my Bluetooth earbuds, I can instantly connect them to my TV and not disturb anyone else at 3am
And the cords break every 3 days and eventually the port gets fucked.
Having said that - I LOVE having a headphone jack.
All right I'll say it as much as I hate how expensive they are and their problems with batteries the convenience of not having to deal with a cord wins out for me. Also since these products are so expensive I generally required the quality of them to be much higher in a way I'm buying earbuds more like I would buy a pair of shoes where I wanted to last for quite a while since I used it everyday.
Whereas before I would just lose a pair of those earbuds and say f*** it they s*** anyway and pick up another one for like $3
Should people have the option still? Yes absolutely I don't think that the Jack should go anywhere it's honestly a very useful port for data input and output aside from just earbuds.