4 ms·

It Sure Feels Like the Headphone Jack Is Dead

12 points by howard941 7y ago

foxyv 7y ago
With the state of bluetooth I still love my headphone jack. It works with my Truck, my Car, my phone, my laptop, my computer, my tablet, my bicycle speakers, everything! Bluetooth is great, but dang if it isn't a hassle. The bluetooth dongle in my car is always having issues, my bluetooth headset randomly sounds like garbage when it changes over to another codec for "Phone". Re-pairing to change between devices is a PITA too.
dTal 7y ago
Meanwhile, outside the world of overpriced fashion-statement status symbol flagship smartphones, on the long tail of cheap devices that normal people actually buy, the headphone jack is alive and well, and will continue to be as long as people want 50 dollar Android phones that play music. You can't kill something so cheap and ubiquitous and functional by pretending it doesn't exist. --- >There are still approximately 600 bazillion devices that still feature the headphone jack. A total and complete phase-out, if it ever truly happens, will take years if not decades to truly take effect Yes! Precisely. But then: >The fight to save the headphone jack is over. It sure seems like we lost. How does that remotely follow?
- ktpsns 7y ago
  > How does that remotely follow? Because the author lives in a bubble, as everybody does. If all your friends have devices without head phone jack's, you probably don't realize that all of them are rich and have brand new upper class devices.
OnlyRepliesToBS 7y ago
not even wrong
romwell 7y ago
Yeah, right. People seem to have forgotten that not long ago, cell phones did not had headphone jacks. Chargers were proprietary, and so were headset interfaces. Then a new, revolutionary feature came: the headphone jack - and for a brief moment of sanity, we could use our favorite headphones with cell phones. That moment has passed. We are still better off than before: at least the USB-C is more or less the same across devices, as are the dongles. But I'd still bet on a brave company introducing the headphone jack alongside USB-C in five years. Meanwhile, in the world of pro audio, nothing will change. The 3.5mm / 1/4" is here to stay.
shubb 7y ago
But where are the cheap USB-C headphones?

12 points by howard941 7y ago

With the state of bluetooth I still love my headphone jack. It works with my Truck, my Car, my phone, my laptop, my computer, my tablet, my bicycle speakers, everything! Bluetooth is great, but dang if it isn't a hassle. The bluetooth dongle in my car is always having issues, my bluetooth headset randomly sounds like garbage when it changes over to another codec for "Phone". Re-pairing to change between devices is a PITA too.

dTal 7y ago

Meanwhile, outside the world of overpriced fashion-statement status symbol flagship smartphones, on the long tail of cheap devices that normal people actually buy, the headphone jack is alive and well, and will continue to be as long as people want 50 dollar Android phones that play music. You can't kill something so cheap and ubiquitous and functional by pretending it doesn't exist. --- >There are still approximately 600 bazillion devices that still feature the headphone jack. A total and complete phase-out, if it ever truly happens, will take years if not decades to truly take effect Yes! Precisely. But then: >The fight to save the headphone jack is over. It sure seems like we lost. How does that remotely follow?

ktpsns 7y ago
> How does that remotely follow? Because the author lives in a bubble, as everybody does. If all your friends have devices without head phone jack's, you probably don't realize that all of them are rich and have brand new upper class devices.

OnlyRepliesToBS 7y ago

not even wrong

romwell 7y ago

Yeah, right. People seem to have forgotten that not long ago, cell phones did not had headphone jacks. Chargers were proprietary, and so were headset interfaces. Then a new, revolutionary feature came: the headphone jack - and for a brief moment of sanity, we could use our favorite headphones with cell phones. That moment has passed. We are still better off than before: at least the USB-C is more or less the same across devices, as are the dongles. But I'd still bet on a brave company introducing the headphone jack alongside USB-C in five years. Meanwhile, in the world of pro audio, nothing will change. The 3.5mm / 1/4" is here to stay.

shubb 7y ago

But where are the cheap USB-C headphones?