• SCB@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There are headphones that use the USB port. Headphone jacks are kinda dead tech at this point.

    • jet@hackertalks.com
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      1 year ago

      Hard disagree, you might not use them, but they are critical in many settings.

      Credit card reader, comfortable headsets, hooking up to other systems, audio without batteries, etc. There are a good number of people who still use headphones! (Including most people in South Asia…)

      • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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        1 year ago

        Credit card reader hooked into headphone jack is a dead tech too now that the rest of the world have moved on from mag stripe to chip and pin.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        comfortable headsets, audio without batteries

        These are both solved via USB headsets tho?

        • jet@hackertalks.com
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          1 year ago

          Downsides of usb-c headphones:

          1. Bluetooth security risk surface, exposes your phone to more attacks.

          2. Most/all phones have a single usb-c port. Charging and using headphones difficult

          3. 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.

          4. 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.

          5. Bluetooth audio is delayed compare to wired

          6. Bluetooth Microphone standard is quite poor, the sound quality when talking on a group calls is bad compared to wired.

          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.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            If you buy this phone, you’re exclusively buying it for sustainability, so you’re already accepting an inferior product.

            There’s no reason to cling to headphone jacks as if those are somehow a worthwhile technology.

            • jet@hackertalks.com
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              1 year ago

              I just outlined my use case, very concisely I thought. It may not be your use case. But please don’t dismiss my use case because you don’t use it yourself. Its only polite.

    • dx1@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Audio quality loss and latency are built into Bluetooth. Its only advantage is not having a wire.

        • dx1@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Oh, you mean USB headphones? TBH, way overly complex compared to analog with (albeit negligible) audio quality loss, which still works with legacy tech going back decades. It’s like arguing a bicycle is obsolete because motorcycles exist.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            If bicycles and motorcycles competed for the exact same role, with an opportunity cost allowing only one, how would bicycles not be obsolete?

                • potustheplant@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  You did, because you’re assuming that you can only choose one or the other. Even though it’s been demonstrated that the headphone jack does not require much space, can even be added to phones that don’t have it (check out Strange Parts on yt) and does not have any drawbacks.

                  That opportunity cost is not a thing.

                  • SCB@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    If you can add it to a phone that doesn’t have it already, I’m not sure what the problem is, in your view.

        • potustheplant@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Dude. The only difference between a normal headphone with a 3.5mm jack and a “usb” headphone is that the latter needs to have its own dac/amp. Guess what? YOUR PHONE ALREADY HAS THAT. Usb headphones are more complex, more expensive and not guaranteed to work indefinitely.

          Removing the jack makes 0 sense.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            In my experience, 0 headphones are guaranteed to work indefinitely, and I’ve been using headphones jacks since like '87

            • potustheplant@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              The only problem I have ever had with headphones are pad/eartip degradation and cable issues. It’s rare for the driver to fail.

              That’s in stark contrast to battery powered headphones, given thart batteries will 100% fail given a few years and they’re (in most cases) not user replaceable.

              • SCB@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                At the bottom of your phone (probably? Idk like iPhones and shit), you have a USB-C (or some letter) port. There are headphones that plug in there.

                They are no more battery powered than your phone.

                Kind of shocked this isn’t well known, as this is a tech forum.

                • potustheplant@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Ok, then you’re talking only about usb headphones.

                  If you have a dongle and it breaks, good luck fixing the cable. God forbid the dac is integrated to the headphone itself. Also, if the dac fails you’re also sol. So yeah, I wouldn’t call having a more expensive set up that’s also more likely to fail and doesn’t have any added benefits a good alternative.

                  • SCB@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    This is all also true about traditional headphones jacks, which have failed quite often for me over the decades

                    My favorite headphones of all time failed in this way, and requires I have the jack in exactly the right spot/depth