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Probably preaching to the choir here, but headphone jacks are really a must, and USB-c adapters have their limits

Just randomly sharing my experience here. My sister told me a few weeks ago she was going to change for a new phone (a Motorola, she likes AOSP-like experience). I noticed that her new phone wouldn't get a jack.

"Yeah, I know, I hope I can make it work with a USB-adapter". She has nice headphones that she likes to use, so USB-C earplugs were not an option.

Fast forward to today, she told me the adapter she got starts to malfunction:

  • she has to twitch the jack in the adapter for the thing to work
  • when she plugs the adapter in, Google Assistant takes over and randomly starts skipping songs.

She's now considering getting wireless earbuds, but she's not a fan of having to recharge them to be able to use them, and is also cautious about the e-waste potential.

I have a Moto G84 which does the job. It's not the best phone in the world, I'm eyeing a flagship from time to time and keep the G84 as a "connected walkman", but would it break today, I would probably get a G55 (https://www.notebookcheck.net/Motorola-Moto-G55-smartphone-review-Inexpensive-doesn-t-have-to-be-boring.932900.0.html)

That's it for me, do you have similar experiences to share?

121 comments
  • I actually quite like the Bluetooth DAC I got because of the disappearance of my headphone jack. It breaks that physical attachment of my headphones to my phone while giving very good quality audio.

    I'd recommend checking out the Fiio BTR line if interested.

  • This is why I don't like the idea of one device for all my communication and media needs. I have smartphones for comms and dedicated audio devices for music and podcasts, with headphone jacks.

    • Honestly the more I think about this the more I think that you are not only right, but putting all of our proverbial eggs in one basket with smartphones was a horrible horrible mistake. We have done too many trade-offs for convenience.

      Try to buy a digital camera today, pocket digital cameras basically aren't made anymore. And even a mid-range pocket digital camera from the mid 2010s significantly outperforms a modern smartphone camera. It's simple physics, bigger lens captures more light gives you a better picture.

      Try to listen to music. Almost all the digital music we are served up is lossy compressed for streaming. And then we feed it into Bluetooth headphones with even more lossy compression. The sound that actually goes in the ears sounds like crap and bears little resemblance to what the artist laid down on their master, but we're all used to it so we think that's what music is supposed to sound like. A late 1990s Discman has significantly better sound quality even with a cheap DAC.

      Try to do something online. A whole lot of new sites and services don't even bother making a website, it's just a promo to download their stupid privacy invading app. And if you want to do whatever you are doing on a real computer with a big screen, you're SOL.

      And then there is the unintended effect on our kids. I have always been an advocate of mobile technology. But I am looking at the actual effect of growing up with smartphones and tablets, and the result is an awful lot of kids with attention spans measured in seconds rather than minutes. Kids who can edit video and insert images into a document with their eyes closed, but can barely write three coherent sentences.

      I have always been an advocate and user and enthusiast of smartphones and mobile technology. I buy this stuff, I use it, I recommend it to others.
      But I think maybe I was wrong. I think maybe we all were wrong.
      I look at the overall effect smartphones have on society, and I honestly can't say the world is a better place as a result. We take crappy pictures, listen to crappy music, have crappy attention spans, but it's all very convenient so we don't care.

      I think maybe we were better off the other way. And maybe some of that inconvenience is a good thing, in the same way that having to do physical work is good exercise.

    • Agreed, really enjoy my fiio m15s

  • I was dead against losing my 3.5mm jack, and tried to use a USB-to-3.5mm adaptor but it was poor, with issues like your sister experienced.

    I finally decided to try a set of relatively cheap earplugs and I wish I'd done it sooner. They're lightweight, have good connectivity and a convenient charging case. I'm getting better quality audio and experience than I was with my 3.5mm jack - i'd have to replace my headsets every year or less as the wires got damaged over time, and the audio quality is actually better with my bluetooth earplugs. I used to avoid bluetooth after bad experiences over the years with audio drop out and connection issues, but I've not had any problems with my newer devices.

    I'm not pretending they are audiophile quality but neither is 3.5mm audio in a phone - they just don't have good quality DACs in phones. Bluetooth is finally a decent and convenient step up for me for day-to-day use and I'm finally not as bothered about losing my 3.5mm port. It's also worth noting that if you want better audio, you can get bluetooth DACs and plug wired audio into those for an even better experience - I'm tempted but it's expensive and I'm not sure I'd appreciate the benefit enough to make it worthwhile for me.

  • I love my pixel 6a, except for this point.

    Fortunately, I have no bad experience on it with USB c adapter and the jack glued to it 😁👌

  • My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy A32, the last in the A3x line that has one. It's really nice to have a headphone jack because... well, you plug your pair in, and it just works. You don't have to worry about Bluetooth connections, or another battery that will die one day that you constantly have to recharge. Also, you get FM radio functionality on your phone, which isn't really useful, but it's pretty fun to mess with. I'm surprised Apple never had it on the iPod Touch despite the Nano and Classic both having it (some with a special accessory that unlocks the feature, some have it built in).

    Also, support for my phone ends on Android 13 (One UI 5.1), meaning if I want new features (or even emoji updates), I have to get a newer phone, and that means either getting a lower tier model to keep that headphone jack at the cost of performance, or getting the same tier (or higher) at the cost of the jack. And I was never convinced by other Android phone manufacturers either, especially since companies like OnePlus don't sell their products in my country, so my options are either Samsung, Google, or a whole bunch of Chinese companies, many have really terrible skins of Android. Either that or I get an iPhone, and none of the ones that are currently supported have the headphone jack. So I guess I'm sticking with my A32 until the day it nukes itself.

  • I am about to switch to a pixel 7a from a 3a and am facing this issue. My wired ear buds date to some type of sandisk mp3 player I bought about 15 years ago and are pretty rough, so I have been looking at my wired options. Thanks for this post!

121 comments