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Phone connectors are rubbish, ancient technology. The only thing they have going for them is the network buy-in from literally 140 years of legacy.[1] They are

by asteli 9y ago

Phone connectors are rubbish, ancient technology. The only thing they have going for them is the network buy-in from literally 140 years of legacy.[1] They are fine in static audio applications, but their performance on mobile devices is abysmal. Put the device in a pocket, and every time you move or sit down, you're putting huge lateral stress on the connector. Either the contacts get deformed and become intermittent, the plug bends and/or shears off in the jack, or the wire on the plug side develops an open circuit from wear. I've personally damaged or destroyed the headphone jack on every phone I've owned that had one. In the last couple of weeks I've transitioned most of my audio to Bluetooth. BT isn't exactly a pleasant experience, but once paired, it's relatively seamless. I even converted my ubiquitous ATH-M50x headphones to BT using a module[2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)#Modern_connectors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)#Modern... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Adapter-Amplifier-Technica-ATH-M50x/dp/B01MFFH54C https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Adapter-Amplifier-Technica-...

flukus 9y ago
I've broken plenty of headphones, normally when the wires go, but over many years and many devices I've never had a broken jack. That includes some rather violent tugs they've had. How on earth are you breaking the headphone jack on phones?
- asteli 9y ago
  Easy enough to do. I think the biggest single culprit is cumulative damage from sitting down or walking with my phone in my pocket with headphones plugged in. Second biggest one is catching the cable on stationary objects. Doorknobs, shelves, armrests on office chairs. I'm pretty sure it's a big enough problem that it's a service item. When I opened up my Nexus 5 to do the screen, I noted that the headphone jack was a floating module, connected to the mainboard by spring contacts. If connector damage and serviceability wasn't an issue, it'd be soldered directly to the board.
  - flukus 9y ago
    > Easy enough to do. I think the biggest single culprit is cumulative damage from sitting down or walking with my phone in my pocket with headphones plugged in. Second biggest one is catching the cable on stationary objects. Doorknobs, shelves, armrests on office chairs. I've done quite a lot of everything in that list. Thousands of hours of walking, cycling and other activities, I've caught it on door knobs and other things very violently. I've never had an issue with the jack breaking though, on phones, MP3 players, walkmans or my PC (I've tripped over the cord a few times). I'm sure it can break, but the post I responded too said it happened with every phone they've had, which I find very doubtful.
komali2 9y ago
Curious, my experience is completely the opposite of yours. Over the course of 5 smartphones from different vendors (apple, samsung, lg), I've yet to destroy a single one. This is from heavy use (near daily during lifting, running, motorcycling, plugged into phone aux, at work). Even if you prefer bluetooth, why not include the jack as a backup/alternative? All the phones with 3.5mm that I know of also have bluetooth.
- tomc1985 9y ago
  Out of the scenarios OP listed I've only ever had problems with cables wearing out, which is why most decent headphones come with detachable cables
makomk 9y ago
2.4GHz wireless isn't exactly a great solution for transmitting signals between devices separated by a big sack of mostly water either. Supposedly reflections from nearby surfaces can help a little, if there are suitable surfaces nearby, but it's inherently tricky.
SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
There exist headphones with low-profile 90 degree connectors. In my experience those solve pretty much all the durability issues the older style jacks had.
AstralStorm 9y ago
Please call when you can make something like Sennheiser HD650 run on Bluetooth with lossless audio (or at most as lossy as a good DAC and amplifier combo) and last more than 3 hours. Oh, and it having less than 10 ms latency. (Not compensated junk, games won't work with it.)
- asteli 9y ago
  If those are your criteria, you aren't listening to audio from the headphone jack on your phone anyway.

by asteli 9y ago

flukus 9y ago

I've broken plenty of headphones, normally when the wires go, but over many years and many devices I've never had a broken jack. That includes some rather violent tugs they've had. How on earth are you breaking the headphone jack on phones?

asteli 9y ago
Easy enough to do. I think the biggest single culprit is cumulative damage from sitting down or walking with my phone in my pocket with headphones plugged in. Second biggest one is catching the cable on stationary objects. Doorknobs, shelves, armrests on office chairs. I'm pretty sure it's a big enough problem that it's a service item. When I opened up my Nexus 5 to do the screen, I noted that the headphone jack was a floating module, connected to the mainboard by spring contacts. If connector damage and serviceability wasn't an issue, it'd be soldered directly to the board.
- flukus 9y ago
  > Easy enough to do. I think the biggest single culprit is cumulative damage from sitting down or walking with my phone in my pocket with headphones plugged in. Second biggest one is catching the cable on stationary objects. Doorknobs, shelves, armrests on office chairs. I've done quite a lot of everything in that list. Thousands of hours of walking, cycling and other activities, I've caught it on door knobs and other things very violently. I've never had an issue with the jack breaking though, on phones, MP3 players, walkmans or my PC (I've tripped over the cord a few times). I'm sure it can break, but the post I responded too said it happened with every phone they've had, which I find very doubtful.

komali2 9y ago

Curious, my experience is completely the opposite of yours. Over the course of 5 smartphones from different vendors (apple, samsung, lg), I've yet to destroy a single one. This is from heavy use (near daily during lifting, running, motorcycling, plugged into phone aux, at work). Even if you prefer bluetooth, why not include the jack as a backup/alternative? All the phones with 3.5mm that I know of also have bluetooth.

tomc1985 9y ago
Out of the scenarios OP listed I've only ever had problems with cables wearing out, which is why most decent headphones come with detachable cables

makomk 9y ago

2.4GHz wireless isn't exactly a great solution for transmitting signals between devices separated by a big sack of mostly water either. Supposedly reflections from nearby surfaces can help a little, if there are suitable surfaces nearby, but it's inherently tricky.

SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago

There exist headphones with low-profile 90 degree connectors. In my experience those solve pretty much all the durability issues the older style jacks had.

AstralStorm 9y ago

Please call when you can make something like Sennheiser HD650 run on Bluetooth with lossless audio (or at most as lossy as a good DAC and amplifier combo) and last more than 3 hours. Oh, and it having less than 10 ms latency. (Not compensated junk, games won't work with it.)

asteli 9y ago
If those are your criteria, you aren't listening to audio from the headphone jack on your phone anyway.