6 ms·

While I do own a few pairs of Bluetooth headphones I have yet to have any, from the cheap to the expensive, not have occasional hiccups. Because of this I love

While I do own a few pairs of Bluetooth headphones I have yet to have any, from the cheap to the expensive, not have occasional hiccups. Because of this I love using my headphone jack. I'm sad that this is a trend especially without a good, alternative and standard way of using headphones over, say, USB-C. I mean I would be _completely fine_ with removing the 3.5mm if you could re-use another jack for the same purpose but being restricted to Bluetooth or USB-C dongles, at least to me, sucks.

acchow 9y ago
Have you tried Apple's AirPods?
- BinaryIdiot 9y ago
  No but I am interested in the ideas they're showing. I decided to try out the bragi and I'm actually _super_ impressed; I thought they would be terrible based on a lot of reviews I've seen (I know they're not entirely comparable as the Air Pods have a touch interface but it's the closest I've used). So I'm excited to see more wireless headphones like the Air Pods and what kind of innovation they can bring.
  - MBCook 9y ago
    I've got AirPods and have since launch. I LOVE them. To be fair: I've had to re-pair them twice after they just wouldn't connect. Once in a while only one comes on at first and it takes a few seconds for the other to 'kick in', but that's automatic. A handful of times I've had one cut out and come back within a second or so. But that's daily (at work) use since launch. I'm perfectly happy with them, these aren't serious issues.
- swift 9y ago
  I second this. I've been using Bluetooth headphones and earbuds for years and I was shocked at how well the AirPods worked. Zero dropouts. If you're into higher-end headphones, I can heartily recommend the B&W P7 Wireless. Fantastic sound and the Bluetooth has been extremely stable for me. And they have a wired port as well, so if you want to go that route at any time they still have you covered.
- komali2 9y ago
  Curious about audiophile perspectives - I tried them and found the audio quality to be abysmal. But, I'm a snob, so who knows.
tw04 9y ago
There is a standard way to listen to headphones over usb-c. There just aren't a ton of headphones on the market yet because it's relatively new. But they do exist.
- BinaryIdiot 9y ago
  Sorry, I understand that and was the point I was trying to make but perhaps I didn't do a good job of it. For example I can go to Target, Walmart, Best Buy, etc and there are WALLS of headphones and right about 100% of them are 3.5mm. To make a good transition I would expect at least _some_ of them to be of other port types. I practically never see the lightning headphones for the iPhone and I know the iPhone 7 is crazy popular. I get the demand isn't there for USB-C headphones therefore they're not really being sold so there _has_ to be a catalyst; it's just hard for me to personally pay out $600+ for a phone that won't work with not just my own headphones but almost all of the headphones I can currently buy.
  - tw04 9y ago
    1. 100% of the headphones absolutely do not have 3.5mm jacks. Almost every pair of new "sports" headphones are bluetooth and have no 3.5mm jack to speak of. 2. It's disingenuous to claim it "won't work" with the headphones. Does it need an adapter? Yes. Is that annoying? Slightly. But they absolutely will work. 3. Again... have a little patience. The whole point of the Nexus line is to push other android manufacturers to be better... and to drive adoption of technologies Google wants to see. The Galaxy S8 will have USB-C. Apple is going whole-hog towards USB-C. We are literally on the cusp of it being a broader standard. Are we still 18 months away from it being ubiquitous in Target? Probably... but to pretend like it's not going to happen is silly. IF the argument is "the phone shouldn't move until the headphones do" - why on earth would a headphone MFG start making headphones that don't actually work with ANY phone on the market?
    - tomc1985 9y ago
      To answer (3), there are a lot more uses for headphones than listening to music on one's phone. Switching to USB-C means asking all those device makers to switch from relatively simple analog hardware to a new connector with an established protocol, which means more (unnecessary) logic, which means more costs. I suspect it will be a long time before this stuff become ubiquitous for the low-end.
Nullabillity 9y ago
My (desktop) wireless (non-standard) USB headphones work fine with all my Android devices using a USB-C OTG adapter. But needing a dongle for a dongle that's going to stick out of your pocket sucks, compared to just plugging in the cable. Plus the whole battery thing...

acchow 9y ago

Have you tried Apple's AirPods?

BinaryIdiot 9y ago
No but I am interested in the ideas they're showing. I decided to try out the bragi and I'm actually _super_ impressed; I thought they would be terrible based on a lot of reviews I've seen (I know they're not entirely comparable as the Air Pods have a touch interface but it's the closest I've used). So I'm excited to see more wireless headphones like the Air Pods and what kind of innovation they can bring.
- MBCook 9y ago
  I've got AirPods and have since launch. I LOVE them. To be fair: I've had to re-pair them twice after they just wouldn't connect. Once in a while only one comes on at first and it takes a few seconds for the other to 'kick in', but that's automatic. A handful of times I've had one cut out and come back within a second or so. But that's daily (at work) use since launch. I'm perfectly happy with them, these aren't serious issues.
swift 9y ago
I second this. I've been using Bluetooth headphones and earbuds for years and I was shocked at how well the AirPods worked. Zero dropouts. If you're into higher-end headphones, I can heartily recommend the B&W P7 Wireless. Fantastic sound and the Bluetooth has been extremely stable for me. And they have a wired port as well, so if you want to go that route at any time they still have you covered.
komali2 9y ago
Curious about audiophile perspectives - I tried them and found the audio quality to be abysmal. But, I'm a snob, so who knows.

tw04 9y ago

There is a standard way to listen to headphones over usb-c. There just aren't a ton of headphones on the market yet because it's relatively new. But they do exist.

BinaryIdiot 9y ago
Sorry, I understand that and was the point I was trying to make but perhaps I didn't do a good job of it. For example I can go to Target, Walmart, Best Buy, etc and there are WALLS of headphones and right about 100% of them are 3.5mm. To make a good transition I would expect at least _some_ of them to be of other port types. I practically never see the lightning headphones for the iPhone and I know the iPhone 7 is crazy popular. I get the demand isn't there for USB-C headphones therefore they're not really being sold so there _has_ to be a catalyst; it's just hard for me to personally pay out $600+ for a phone that won't work with not just my own headphones but almost all of the headphones I can currently buy.
- tw04 9y ago
  1. 100% of the headphones absolutely do not have 3.5mm jacks. Almost every pair of new "sports" headphones are bluetooth and have no 3.5mm jack to speak of. 2. It's disingenuous to claim it "won't work" with the headphones. Does it need an adapter? Yes. Is that annoying? Slightly. But they absolutely will work. 3. Again... have a little patience. The whole point of the Nexus line is to push other android manufacturers to be better... and to drive adoption of technologies Google wants to see. The Galaxy S8 will have USB-C. Apple is going whole-hog towards USB-C. We are literally on the cusp of it being a broader standard. Are we still 18 months away from it being ubiquitous in Target? Probably... but to pretend like it's not going to happen is silly. IF the argument is "the phone shouldn't move until the headphones do" - why on earth would a headphone MFG start making headphones that don't actually work with ANY phone on the market?
  - tomc1985 9y ago
    To answer (3), there are a lot more uses for headphones than listening to music on one's phone. Switching to USB-C means asking all those device makers to switch from relatively simple analog hardware to a new connector with an established protocol, which means more (unnecessary) logic, which means more costs. I suspect it will be a long time before this stuff become ubiquitous for the low-end.

Nullabillity 9y ago

My (desktop) wireless (non-standard) USB headphones work fine with all my Android devices using a USB-C OTG adapter. But needing a dongle for a dongle that's going to stick out of your pocket sucks, compared to just plugging in the cable. Plus the whole battery thing...