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There is an open standard; it's the analog headphone jack. </sarcasm> But there is no 'other' open standard yet, although Intel and other vendors are pondering
by niftich 10y ago
There is an open standard; it's the analog headphone jack. </sarcasm>
But there is no 'other' open standard yet, although Intel and other vendors are pondering it [1].
This doesn't mean that HDMI or DisplayPort can't be shoehorned to do it and you can't carry those over the USB type-C plug, but they're meant for other things. This type of 'let's invent one that meets our needs slightly better than the 5 others' is what leads to standards proliferating (and I'll avoid linking the xkcd).
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12305410 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12305410
- comex 10y agoUSB audio has existed for decades and can be used with type-C like any other USB class. Intel's thing may provide improvements but it's hardly necessary.
- niftich 10y agoThis is correct, it's called 'Audio Device Class', specs here [1][2]. It's said that the new enhancements that Intel is pondering add power-management features to this spec, but I can't find much documentation on it, other than rumours. [1] http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/devclass_docs/audio10.pdf http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/devclass_docs/audio10.pdf [2] http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/devclass_docs/frmts10.pdf http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/devclass_docs/frmts10.pdf
- karmelapple 10y agoWhat about Bluetooth audio? That is an open standard.
- eridius 10y agoIt's not a very good one. Audio quality sucks and bluetooth has a lot of issues. But if you want to use it, Apple's always supported Bluetooth headphones.
- niftich 10y agoI was limiting my comparison to wired audio interconnects. It may be that from many people's point of view, the user experience is comparable and/or better. But it's accomplished using a fundamentally different mechanism. I wanted better apples; even if some oranges are tasty too.
- jolux 10y agoThe open standard is Bluetooth...
- theshrike79 10y agoThe current 4-pole headphone jack used in mobile phones is hardly a standard. At least both iOS and Android use their own flavour when doing anything more complex than play/pause.
- niftich 10y agoThey're standards, there's just too many of them! [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)#TRRS_standards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)#TRRS_s...