4 ms·

Sometimes I read the comments about the headphone Jack and it’s like. How did we move from VHS to DVD to BluRay to Streaming with all these people who are so at

Sometimes I read the comments about the headphone Jack and it’s like. How did we move from VHS to DVD to BluRay to Streaming with all these people who are so attached to the past they can’t move on…

blitzar 4y ago
We didnt have the modern internet.
jokteur 4y ago
If you are into music production, then you really care about audio latency. And no, the consumer wireless headphones you can buy have terrible latency. I wouldn't say that wired headphones are stuck in the past. VHS to DVD was a huge jump: you didn't need to rewind anymore, quality didn't suck so much, you could have multiple languages. Going from wired to wireless isn't so much an improvement in technology. There are still lots of advantages of wired technology: it is cheaper, you don't need to recharge, latency is better, no findling with Bluetooth problems.
- philliphaydon 4y ago
  Sure but that’s audio production and people in audio production don’t tend to use a 3.5mm headphone Jack… on phones people more often than not can’t tell the difference in audio quality.
  - schrijver 4y ago
    Headphones meant for audio production tend to come with a 3.5mm headphone jack with screw thread that allows you to securely fit an adapter to full size jack. I find it very likely that people who are into audio production want to use their cabled headphones on their phone. I do. And the people who are into hi-fi too. It’s just that it’s too small of a part of the market.
Puts 4y ago
"I can't believe we managed to moved on from horse wagons to cars when people are so attached to wheels.." Everything that is old is not per definition bad.
randomfinn 4y ago
> BluRay to Streaming That's a great comparison. Streaming and wireless headphones are both really convenient but initially a step back in quality. Streaming is frustrating on a good quality large tv and Bluetooth audio on good quality headphones. In a few more years the quality issues will hopefully be solved. In the meanwhile the majority of consumers don't care and will drive adoption.
Jach 4y ago
The answer is by having carrots and not just sticks in the whole ecosystem. Modern video formats and screens are much higher resolution (to take but one important dimension), even for old movies that get an HD re-release, there are many incentives to move on especially once you've already bought into one aspect (like replacing an old CRT TV). The ecosystem around the audio jack isn't the same, there are fewer incentives, and a less clear improvement trajectory -- people have ancient wired headphones providing superior sound to some latest wireless thing, but there are no VHS cassettes that can match the clarity of 1080p or higher.
- chaos_a 4y ago
  > but there are no VHS cassettes that can match the clarity of 1080p or higher. A rare VHS format from 2002 called D-VHS could do 1080p on VHS tapes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4lDU-QLUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4lDU-QLUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiu0LPeLQPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiu0LPeLQPE
odessacubbage 4y ago
removing the headphone jack solves a problem i don't have while introducing new problems i don't want.

blitzar 4y ago

We didnt have the modern internet.

jokteur 4y ago

If you are into music production, then you really care about audio latency. And no, the consumer wireless headphones you can buy have terrible latency. I wouldn't say that wired headphones are stuck in the past. VHS to DVD was a huge jump: you didn't need to rewind anymore, quality didn't suck so much, you could have multiple languages. Going from wired to wireless isn't so much an improvement in technology. There are still lots of advantages of wired technology: it is cheaper, you don't need to recharge, latency is better, no findling with Bluetooth problems.

philliphaydon 4y ago
Sure but that’s audio production and people in audio production don’t tend to use a 3.5mm headphone Jack… on phones people more often than not can’t tell the difference in audio quality.
- schrijver 4y ago
  Headphones meant for audio production tend to come with a 3.5mm headphone jack with screw thread that allows you to securely fit an adapter to full size jack. I find it very likely that people who are into audio production want to use their cabled headphones on their phone. I do. And the people who are into hi-fi too. It’s just that it’s too small of a part of the market.

Puts 4y ago

"I can't believe we managed to moved on from horse wagons to cars when people are so attached to wheels.." Everything that is old is not per definition bad.

randomfinn 4y ago

> BluRay to Streaming That's a great comparison. Streaming and wireless headphones are both really convenient but initially a step back in quality. Streaming is frustrating on a good quality large tv and Bluetooth audio on good quality headphones. In a few more years the quality issues will hopefully be solved. In the meanwhile the majority of consumers don't care and will drive adoption.

Jach 4y ago

The answer is by having carrots and not just sticks in the whole ecosystem. Modern video formats and screens are much higher resolution (to take but one important dimension), even for old movies that get an HD re-release, there are many incentives to move on especially once you've already bought into one aspect (like replacing an old CRT TV). The ecosystem around the audio jack isn't the same, there are fewer incentives, and a less clear improvement trajectory -- people have ancient wired headphones providing superior sound to some latest wireless thing, but there are no VHS cassettes that can match the clarity of 1080p or higher.

chaos_a 4y ago
> but there are no VHS cassettes that can match the clarity of 1080p or higher. A rare VHS format from 2002 called D-VHS could do 1080p on VHS tapes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4lDU-QLUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT4lDU-QLUY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiu0LPeLQPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiu0LPeLQPE

odessacubbage 4y ago

removing the headphone jack solves a problem i don't have while introducing new problems i don't want.