7 ms·

They cannot be serious. Replacing what works great with all kinds of cheap or expensive and easy to repair equipment with what? Another device on the Universal

by cm3 11y ago

They cannot be serious. Replacing what works great with all kinds of cheap or expensive and easy to repair equipment with what? Another device on the Universal Serial Bus. I see the point of attaching storage devices, sound cards and anything else that is not simple and needs a controller and logic to USB, but audio output? I do sometimes use a USB headset because it has its own soundcard built-in, but I actually prefer a simple headset with a 3.5mm mic-in/head-out connection. Why? Well, it works always, it doesn't load another driver, and it doesn't rely on the USB bus. USB is nice but occasionally hiccups and resets itself, which is not something you'll see happen with your mic and headphones because they are not overcomplicated. To be totally honest, I'm also one of those who prefers keyboards attached via PS/2 because I've had USB keyboards reset when I attached another USB device to the shared bus. That PS/2 has real interrupts is an added bonus for something as crucial as keyboard input. With all that being said, as long as this happens in the phone and tablet space, I guess I can live with it, but having to carry around an adapter from USB to 3.5mm audio will be a PITA. This is just another, let's change it to make money with adapters and sell new implementations due to bugs in the old controllers and drivers, scheme. Next year, USB power cords, and you'll have to rewire your house.

dpark 11y ago
> but I actually prefer a simple headset with a 3.5mm mic-in/head-out connection. Why? Well, it works always I can say with certainty that it does not always work. If I plug a pair of Apple earbuds into my Android device, the audio up/down do not work. This functionality isn't consistent even within the Android device world. Having a consistent headphone jack that provides consistency here would be a pretty big win. (Even bigger if Apple gets on board, which it won't.) > I guess I can live with it, but having to carry around an adapter from USB to 3.5mm audio will be a PITA Pretty sure the endgame here is that your headphones have a USB C connection on them instead of a 3.5mm audio jack. > Next year, USB power cords, and you'll have to rewire your house. You can already buy outlets with USB ports. They're increasingly common, but thankfully the transformer is in the outlet so you're not running low-voltage wire all over.
- teamfrizz 11y ago
  I think this is a false comparison for two reasons 1) adding the microphone and volume function to the headjack is a different cable than a normal TRS 3.5mm aux cable, which is the cable we all love. I would rather get rid of the 4 wired microphone enabled 3.5mm than lose the 3.52mm altogether. 2) all of the problems you mentioned that revolve around software - Apple cables not working on android, etc - are only going to get word by introducing USB into this. The idea is to remove proprietary things from analog audio, that's the whole reason the standard survived. It also goes without saying that there is an inherit loss of utility caused by this switch, since so many of the products I already own use 3.5mm.
  - dpark 11y ago
    I'm not attached sentimentally to any cables. I'd love for audio, volume, skip, and microphone functionality to work with all my devices and all my headphones. Would it be annoying to lose compatibility (or require a converter) for all my existing speakers and headphones? Of course. I'd still take that penalty if it meant the overall experience was better and eventually more consistent. Frankly I'm not sure 3.5mm is going to survive in the mainstream anyway. Bluetooth might eventually replace it for mainstream use cases.
    - click170 11y ago
      >Bluetooth might eventually replace it for mainstream use cases. As somewho who uses Bluetooth audio I strongly disagree. I think Bluetooth audio is going to remain niche until batteries get better. Who wants to have to charge their headphones or Bluetooth (often battery powered) speakers every few days?
      - cm3 11y ago
        I may be spoiled but whether I use bluetooth or old-school RF headsets, it's always less reliable and lower quality than wired.
    - shopkins 11y ago

by cm3 11y ago

dpark 11y ago

> but I actually prefer a simple headset with a 3.5mm mic-in/head-out connection. Why? Well, it works always I can say with certainty that it does not always work. If I plug a pair of Apple earbuds into my Android device, the audio up/down do not work. This functionality isn't consistent even within the Android device world. Having a consistent headphone jack that provides consistency here would be a pretty big win. (Even bigger if Apple gets on board, which it won't.) > I guess I can live with it, but having to carry around an adapter from USB to 3.5mm audio will be a PITA Pretty sure the endgame here is that your headphones have a USB C connection on them instead of a 3.5mm audio jack. > Next year, USB power cords, and you'll have to rewire your house. You can already buy outlets with USB ports. They're increasingly common, but thankfully the transformer is in the outlet so you're not running low-voltage wire all over.

teamfrizz 11y ago
I think this is a false comparison for two reasons 1) adding the microphone and volume function to the headjack is a different cable than a normal TRS 3.5mm aux cable, which is the cable we all love. I would rather get rid of the 4 wired microphone enabled 3.5mm than lose the 3.52mm altogether. 2) all of the problems you mentioned that revolve around software - Apple cables not working on android, etc - are only going to get word by introducing USB into this. The idea is to remove proprietary things from analog audio, that's the whole reason the standard survived. It also goes without saying that there is an inherit loss of utility caused by this switch, since so many of the products I already own use 3.5mm.
- dpark 11y ago
  I'm not attached sentimentally to any cables. I'd love for audio, volume, skip, and microphone functionality to work with all my devices and all my headphones. Would it be annoying to lose compatibility (or require a converter) for all my existing speakers and headphones? Of course. I'd still take that penalty if it meant the overall experience was better and eventually more consistent. Frankly I'm not sure 3.5mm is going to survive in the mainstream anyway. Bluetooth might eventually replace it for mainstream use cases.
  - click170 11y ago
    >Bluetooth might eventually replace it for mainstream use cases. As somewho who uses Bluetooth audio I strongly disagree. I think Bluetooth audio is going to remain niche until batteries get better. Who wants to have to charge their headphones or Bluetooth (often battery powered) speakers every few days?
    - cm3 11y ago
      I may be spoiled but whether I use bluetooth or old-school RF headsets, it's always less reliable and lower quality than wired.
  - shopkins 11y ago