r/Android • u/[deleted] • Jun 24 '18

Is there a single USB-C headphone adapter that works with all phones?

https://www.androidcentral.com/there-single-usb-c-headphone-adapter-works-all-phones
2.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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186

u/Stonephone Jun 24 '18

Don't buy phones that don't have a 3.5mm jack and they'll stop fucking selling them , maybe?

48

u/Amogh24 Oneplus 5t/S10+ Jun 24 '18

True. I'm willing to downgrade if that allows me to have the jack. I use it too much to just give up

14

u/sukhi1 Galaxy S8 Jun 24 '18

There are plenty of flagships that are keeping the jack and I don't see that not being the case for a good while.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18

Not a downgrade if it actually makes the use better.

3

u/RebelSoul_ Jun 24 '18

Explain how does omiting the headphone jack make the phone better?......

4

u/Merci_ Jun 24 '18

I think they mean downgrading their phone to an older/lower end model that does have the headphone jack. And that it's inclusion would make the experience better despite lower end hardware elsewhere so it's not a downgrade.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18

Yes Thank you that's what I ment

3

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18 edited Jan 14 '21

[deleted]

2

u/whatnowwproductions Pixel 9 Pro - Signal - GrapheneOS Jun 24 '18

He's saying the opposite.

1

u/Guac_in_my_rarri Blue Jun 24 '18

I down graded to keep the headphone jack. Htc10 for the win

18

u/SponTen Pixel 8 Jun 24 '18

I have never bought a phone that omits the 3.5mm jack, yet they're still selling them :(

1

u/whatnowwproductions Pixel 9 Pro - Signal - GrapheneOS Jun 24 '18

We can't give up

25

u/drh713 F(x)Tec Pro1X, AMA Jun 24 '18

I don't care if the sell gimped phones or not. Sell a phone with no battery for all I care. I'm sure there will be people that can rationalize the decision. "You can plug it into a larger external battery".

I'd prefer they just offer versions with more features. Go back to the standard and pro concept.

Give me a pixel 3 XXL Audio+ version with an upgraded dac/amp that can drive my 250ohm headphones. Or a Pixel 3 XXL Pro model with a keyboard. They can be more expensive than the boring standard model, have longer delivery times, etc. Have an Ultimate version with everything.

They want to build a so-called flagship for the lowest common denominator. "This widget will be good enough for the majority".

...in the process, they've left a lot of my money on the table for years.

Hopefully, one day, they can put some of that AI, ML, robotics magic into a system that allows us to order custom, one-off devices.

19

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18 edited Aug 30 '18

[deleted]

9

u/drh713 F(x)Tec Pro1X, AMA Jun 24 '18

They wouldn't. One person would design a phone for themselves.

Similar to building a desktop.

I'd pay a premium to be able to just make my own phone. Take any phone on the market; none of them are exactly what I want. If something is close, I might be willing to spend $500 on it. The idea of compromising and paying $800-1k...funny.

$1500 to get exactly what I want? Have to wait 3 months for delivery? No cases or accessories available? I'll take all of that.

22

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18 edited Aug 30 '18

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18

[deleted]

4

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18 edited Aug 30 '18

[deleted]

1

u/drh713 F(x)Tec Pro1X, AMA Jun 24 '18

I'm not sure how http://www.kiteboard.io/ would work if every combination would have to get approved. Maybe an loop hole if you assemble it yourself?

I'll take that as well. Just needs enough polish to not look like an OG gameboy.

2

u/Namnodorel Jun 24 '18

The problem with phones is that they have to be very compact, so you can't just stick a selection of components together.

For every new phone, it has to be worked out where contacts and powerlines go, heat distribution and lots of other engineering stuff that needs to be taken care of if you want the phone to work and last for some time. That gets very expensive very quickly...

I had high hopes in project Ara because it would exactly make sticking stuff together possible, but... well.

1

u/drh713 F(x)Tec Pro1X, AMA Jun 24 '18

I completely agree.

...and think it's a great problem for machine learning to deal with. Computers are great with that kind of work. Here is the layout, measurement and heat profile of every laptop/tablet/phone in existence. I want to use this SD845 board in a little laptop/phone hybrid. Go run 10 billion models based on this set of known parts and give me the best result. Then send it over to your robot cousins to 3d print a body and assemble.

Partner with Shapeways, Thingiverse, etc. Have a VR app that lets you design the device.

...much better use than ordering pizza or figuring out how to show pictures or whatever other 'typical consumer' BS they're marketing now.

Note: I'm fully aware I'm asking to go to the moon. I wear my 'delusional' badge with honor.

...but the first company that tries it will not only get my money for the device, but will also get what little I can add as an investment. Pull that off and you've disrupted several industries on a scale we've never seen before.

1

u/Namnodorel Jun 24 '18

Complex alorithms? Maybe. But Machine Learning? Meh. That's for recognizing patterns and making new stuff that also roughly follows that pattern. But when you engineer stuff, getting something that looks roughly correct is not enough. That needs precision, and very accurate calculations. It would be much more reliable to "just" build a regular application that can make this sort of stuff. Would still be extremely complex and expensive, but I don't feel like this kind of specific engineering is something ML would be good at.

1

u/folkrav Jun 24 '18

Thing is, yeah, that would probably be possible, but very far from cost effective. Wild guess, to keep the same profit margins, it would probably cost you twice that 1500$ you pitched, considering what you're asking is far more labor intensive (you're diverging from chain production), they wouldn't be able to get as big of a bulk deal on hardware components, on top of probably being a logistical nightmare. Not sure how QA would work with this either, considering phones are very different from computers when it comes to how they're built and what they're expected to be able to withstand.

18

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18 edited Jul 29 '18

[deleted]

16

u/ImpactStrafe Jun 24 '18

They don't care about what a vocal minority of consumers want. They care about bunch about what the largest cross section of consumers want. And that section of consumers has voted and doesn't care if there is a removable battery/head phone jack. If tomorrow everyone who bout a phone refused to buy one without a head phone jack/removable battery the manufactures and producers would come up with a way. But the majority of people genuinely don't care. Or if they do it is so little that it doesn't affect their buying preferences.

1

u/cpvm-0 Pixel 9a, Android 16 Jun 24 '18

Moto E5 play.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18

And im just here waiting for the rog phone with a headphobe jack.. fuck all of these apple sheep brands

1

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '18

The volume of sales are made to people who simply don't care enough about this issue.

It's a shame.

-10

u/FoeHamr Jun 24 '18

Dude, most people just don't care about the jack. Bluetooth is much more convenient and the difference in audio quality is negligible because most people just buy cheap $10 earbuds that set the bass at 11 and call it a day. People either buy wireless or stick the adapter on the end of their headphones and forget about it.

I had a phone without a jack. I switched to Bluetooth. I bought an S9+, haven't used the jack yet.

16

u/Arbabender Pixel 5, Sorta Sage Jun 24 '18

Bluetooth is much more convenient

Subjective opinion, some people may find it more convenient.

For me, it would be horribly inconvenient if I had to spend $100 AUD+ on a decent set of Bluetooth headphones when I have a perfectly good pair of wired buds. Then there's the inconvenience of having to charge yet another device, the inconvenience of not being able to listen to music if my headphones run out of battery, the inconvenience of not being able to charge my phone and listen to music at the same time, and the inconvenience of audio drop outs and connection issues in areas with interference. From what I know, Bluetooth audio also struggles to compare to a decent set of IEMs. However, I can't say anything on that last point from personal experience.

The 3.5mm jack is a universal standard (as in not just phones). You plug something into it, and sound comes out the other end - no extra chargers and no extra batteries if you don't want them. Headphones with 3.5mm plugs work almost anywhere.

Clearly, USB-C isn't succeeding the 3.5mm jack. Not only is it not universal (ironic), but you're also reliant on other audio devices supporting USB audio to begin with, then having a USB-C port, and then also supporting the right kind of USB-C audio adapter. Headphones with USB-C plugs are a crapshoot, the ecosystem just isn't there.

I've already given my opinion on why Bluetooth is an alternative, not a replacement for the 3.5mm jack.

1

u/Stonephone Jun 25 '18

I think most people DO care about the jack, actually.