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What annoys me the most is that the industry collectively decided that 3.5mm jacks are obselete, removing the option of using wired headphones, for no(?) good r
by ratmeadow 7mo ago
What annoys me the most is that the industry collectively decided that 3.5mm jacks are obselete, removing the option of using wired headphones, for no(?) good reason. We could at least agree that wired and wireless each have their own pros and cons, but no, we're shoehorned into wireless because corporate decided it. Here, you must use <NEW TECH> simply because we said so! It's just the peak of trend following bullshittery and represents a lot of what is wrong with capitalist society.
- crote 7mo ago> removing the option of using wired headphones I am personally a fan of wired headphones with USB-C connectors. I am only ever going to use it with my phone, laptop, or desktop anyways - and all of they have at least one USB-C port. In theory it could also be the best option for audio quality: if you move the DAC all the way to the headphone itself you minimize the length of the analog chain, which should also reduce the possibility for it to pick up any kind of noise or interference. Additionally, the DAC can be perfectly tuned to compensate for any imperfections in the headset itself, which should result in a better audio output than a random 3.5mm headphone paired with a random external DAC. The obvious downsides are that you lose any kind of influence on the audio signal itself by forcing you to use a specific DAC, that the integrated DAC is yet another component which can break and be basically impossible to replace, and that a 3.5mm plug is far less likely to break than a USB-C one. On the absolutely high end you probably want headphone and DAC separate, but for a Teams call or some casual on-the-go Spotify a fully integrated mid-tier headset / headphone seems to be the better option to me.
- vladvasiliu 7mo ago> that the integrated DAC is yet another component which can break and be basically impossible to replace Meh. If you want your headphones to last for ages, you could go just a bit higher end and get a pair with a replaceable cable. Then you can just swap the cable with the integrated DAC, regular 3.5 mm jack, or whatever. I used to have a lightning cable for my Shure IEMs, worked great until the cable developed the usual problems around the connector, just like your regular analog cables. I then bought a BT adapter for the same headphones and never looked back. I've had them for 15-16 years now, still work as good as new. The BT dongle is something like 6 years old, and the battery still holds a good charge. My adapter is a bit of a pain nowadays since it's the last thing I have that uses micro-USB for charging. I hear Shure has released newer adapters with USB C and no wires at all. But that's too expensive to replace something that still just works.
- loloquwowndueo 7mo agoGot recommendations for good USB-C wired headphones? I don’t find wireless (AirPods) all that convenient, so when they inevitably die of battery illness I’d like a pair that won’t suffer the same fate.
- scns 7mo agoThe newer Beyerdynamic models have detachable cables. They sell USB-C cables which i have not used but i am very content with the three out of the four pairs of cans i own by them. The pair i dislike are wireless ones. If you want em for music on the go i'd recommend the DT 700 Pro X.
- avidiax 7mo agoJBL Tune is what I have. I wouldn't call them amazing, but the USB-C connection is super useful. You never pair, you never charge, you can't lose them, and even if you did, they are cheap. The only real downside is lack of ANC, and the wires can transmit some mechanical noise if it rubs on your clothing. I just have a little lapel clip (from my old Etymotics) to stop them moving.
- xeonmc 7mo agoApple EarPods Type-C
- twelve40 7mo agoi don't know what i'm doing wrong but my mac has terrible time recognizing any USB-C headphones. First, it takes a while to recognize, then it never switches over by default so i often end up blasting on speakers if i forget that it's oh, USB-C headphones. Same confusion on Zoom. At the same time, Mac's 3.5mm just works, instantly. But i realize that it might be hard to have 3.5mm on phones due to insane amount of size optimizations on these sophisticated devices we kind of take for granted by now.
- 4k93n2 7mo agoi have a headset that does all three, 3.5mm, usb-c and bluetooth and i usually go with usb-c when using them with a laptop or desktop. im not sure using them with a phone would be good in the long run, especially when you are moving around a lot more with the phone in your pocket. the usb-c connection isnt as tight as 3.5mm so its going to put a lot of strain on the usb-c port. if that goes on a phone youre in big trouble
- alpaca128 7mo ago> Here, you must use <NEW TECH> simply because we said so! Because the integrated battery adds an expiration date to a device that could otherwise last decades if maintained properly. Same as Apple tightly coupling the iMac screen with the Mac's software support cycle even though nothing would stop them from just adding, say, a USB-C port that can act as video input.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoMacs overall are only 10% of Apple’s revenue and with 70-80% of those being laptops and the other 20% being split among Mac Mini’s, iMacs and Mac Studios, what does you think are the chances of Apple spending time optimizing iMac sells?
- alpaca128 7mo ago> Macs overall are only 10% of Apple’s revenue "Only" $43 billion in revenue is more than 95% of corporations achieved. Apple is pretending to be eco-friendly and using that as excuse to ship fewer chargers, for example. If they can optimize the same Mac's packaging to use paper that's folded in all kinds of fancy ways, they can add a tiny bit of functionality to an existing port. You can't tell me Apple isn't able to care about small details, because they absolutely do when they want and not only when it's about revenue.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoApples revenue was $416 billion. Let’s say $41 billion came from Macs and assume 20% of that was from all of the desktops that’s $8.2 billion from iMacs, Mac Studios (more expensive), and Mac Minis (more popular). It’s not too far fetched to estimate about $2 billion from iMac sales or less
- ratmeadow 7mo agoWith the trend of computing devices getting more baseline capable but the functionality/usability not improving at the same rate, I do wonder what the endgame will look like. Will we have a reversion to more efficient, durable designs? Or will we end up with absurdly large computing power in every device to counteract the horrible software rot? Phones with 100+ CPUs? Smart fridges with 1TB RAM? (The latter is kinda scary, imagine rewriting all software in Python - we could easily piss away 1000x hardware performance for no functionality gained.)
- shalmanese 7mo agoWhat's interesting is that Apple was the one responsible for removing the jack from their phones but they've stubbornly kept them on all their computers. The only port in common between a 2015 Intel Macbook Pro and a 2026 Macbook Neo is the 3.5mm headphone jack. But also, the only port in common between a 2015 Intel Macbook Pro and a 1991 Powerbook 100 is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
- Gigachad 7mo agoBecause the MacBook isn’t particularly short on space. The MacBook neo appears to have massive blank space blocks where the speakers are. The 3.5mm jack is fine, there isn’t any need to replace it on the MacBook where you can afford to have both. On the iPhone it makes more sense to use the usb c for audio.
- shalmanese 7mo agoThat hasn't stopped them from periodic stalinist redesigns in an attempt to purge other ports from their machines. But the audio jack always survives.
- TeMPOraL 7mo agoI'm guessing there are some key "user journeys" for scientific / industrial customer base, that involve using 3.5mm jack for something other than audio signal, and said customers would probably sooner change hardware suppliers than deal with dongles and all the problems of introducing USB into the signal path.
- Gigachad 7mo agoMy guess is MacBooks are just used for pro audio work a lot where latency is unworkable. While few have latency sensitive work on an iPhone.
- numpad0 7mo agoIt was the solution to the "analog loophole" "problem". The idea of the "loophole" is that the hole must be plugged shut to eliminate piracy.
- vladms 7mo agoThere is an adapter 3.5mm jack to USB-C which works great, so from my perspective there is no option removed. I keep the adapter with my wired headphones (which I bought many years ago), and I did not encounter any issue (falling, heavy, etc.), it's just a slightly longer wire and a couple of euros spent to buy it.
- gzread 7mo agoCan't use a power bank at the same time.
- kevin_thibedeau 7mo agoYou can with a data splitter. I haven't seen any power banks with that integrated which is a weird miss for an obvious product feature.
- kevin_thibedeau 7mo ago> we're shoehorned into wireless because corporate decided it. You can still buy such phones. You need to take the brand loyalty blinders off first.