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You really want to take up your only usb-c port for headphones? Would be nice if they gave an extra USB port to compensate for the loss. Also USB can do analog

You really want to take up your only usb-c port for headphones? Would be nice if they gave an extra USB port to compensate for the loss. Also USB can do analog audio supposedly...

charcircuit 4y ago
>Also USB can do analog audio supposedly... That's how the USB-C to 3.5mm adapters work for if you need to use headpones which don't have a USB-C cable.
- sgtnoodle 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure USB-C adapters have tiny little DAC ICs embedded inside them. They show up to the phone as a USB sound card. A lot of USB-C cables have little ICs built into them. It's required as part of the PD spec. A port isn't supposed to provide a laptop with 60W or whatever unless the cable itself communicates that it's rated for it.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
    Like everything USB-C, there's several incompatible ways to do it.
  - LinAGKar 4y ago
    There is both. Some phones, e.g. OnePlus, have analog audio output on USB-C and can use a passive adapter. If the phone lacks analog output, e.g. Samsung, it needs an active adapter with a USB controller and DAC like you mentioned.
    - hajile 4y ago
      Passing an analog signal fractions of a millimeter from a bunch of digital signals is a recipe for very crappy sound. I have yet to find an analog USB-C audio adapter that didn’t have terrible quality and usually some hissing or other noise too.
      - sgtnoodle 4y ago
        I have some balanced armature earbuds, and they are sensitive enough to pick up noise from poor digital grounding even in the 3.5mm jacks in a lot of phones. Additionally, they are often too loud even on the lowest digital volume setting. 8 years ago I actually made an inline attenuator, which solved the problem on my phone at the time. My current phone is a pixel 6. I got a USB-C adapter with a DAC built into it, and it actually sounds pretty good. The volume levels are reasonable, and there's no noticable noise other than perhaps an unnoticeable hiss. Years ago, I had a desktop case front IO panel with a really bad ground loop. I ended up cutting the molded over plastic open and cutting the PCB traces between the audio ports and the USB ports, and the problem went away.

You really want to take up your only usb-c port for headphones? Would be nice if they gave an extra USB port to compensate for the loss. Also USB can do analog audio supposedly...

charcircuit 4y ago

>Also USB can do analog audio supposedly... That's how the USB-C to 3.5mm adapters work for if you need to use headpones which don't have a USB-C cable.

sgtnoodle 4y ago
I'm pretty sure USB-C adapters have tiny little DAC ICs embedded inside them. They show up to the phone as a USB sound card. A lot of USB-C cables have little ICs built into them. It's required as part of the PD spec. A port isn't supposed to provide a laptop with 60W or whatever unless the cable itself communicates that it's rated for it.
- TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
  Like everything USB-C, there's several incompatible ways to do it.
- LinAGKar 4y ago
  There is both. Some phones, e.g. OnePlus, have analog audio output on USB-C and can use a passive adapter. If the phone lacks analog output, e.g. Samsung, it needs an active adapter with a USB controller and DAC like you mentioned.
  - hajile 4y ago
    Passing an analog signal fractions of a millimeter from a bunch of digital signals is a recipe for very crappy sound. I have yet to find an analog USB-C audio adapter that didn’t have terrible quality and usually some hissing or other noise too.
    - sgtnoodle 4y ago
      I have some balanced armature earbuds, and they are sensitive enough to pick up noise from poor digital grounding even in the 3.5mm jacks in a lot of phones. Additionally, they are often too loud even on the lowest digital volume setting. 8 years ago I actually made an inline attenuator, which solved the problem on my phone at the time. My current phone is a pixel 6. I got a USB-C adapter with a DAC built into it, and it actually sounds pretty good. The volume levels are reasonable, and there's no noticable noise other than perhaps an unnoticeable hiss. Years ago, I had a desktop case front IO panel with a really bad ground loop. I ended up cutting the molded over plastic open and cutting the PCB traces between the audio ports and the USB ports, and the problem went away.