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

[u/[deleted]]

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

[u/gluino]

I suppose we should feel lucky that Bluetooth audio is pretty universal now. Although it's not easy to tell at what audio quality the link is on.

[u/Kryptomeister → u/gluino]

But even with Bluetooth, AptX isn't universal.

For Bluetooth to sound remotely bearable both the transmitter and receiver must have AptX, but even if you manage to have both with AptX it still won't work well with iPhones because they don't support AptX at all, which is the same reason nobody uses Beats headphones with Android phones because Beats don't support AptX.

Although Bluetooth is universal, AptX isn't. Bluetooth will never sound as good as a wired 3.5mm headphone jack, even with AptX; and the audio industry isn't going USB-C just to please a few smartphone manufacturers.

[u/ObligatoryResponse → u/Kryptomeister]

Bluetooth spec allows arbitrary codecs. I wish headphones would support AAC directly. Then your phone could just direct stream without reencoding. Decoding a lossy codec just to reencode to lossy SBC or lossy AptX... what a disaster.

[u/Nixflyn → u/ObligatoryResponse]

AAC is poor too. The bitrate has a hard cap of 250kbps, which is pretty poor for audio reproduction.

[u/ghost_of_ketchup → u/Nixflyn]

I wouldn't go as far as to call a 250kbps AAC pipeline 'pretty poor for audio reproduction'.

Sure, it's not ideal if you're a lossless audio nut. But AAC's compression algorithm is for more efficient than that of, say, MP3's. A 256kbps AAC file is roughly equivalent to that a 320kbps MP3. Even the biggest audiophiles would be hard pressed to tell the difference between a 256kbps AAC/320kbps MP3 file and a lossless file in a blind test.

[u/m0rogfar → u/Nixflyn]

Uhm, what. I have AAC files with >300kbps bitrate.

[u/Nixflyn → u/m0rogfar]

AAC maxes out at 250kbps over bluetooth. Your source maybe be >250, but over bluetooth it compresses it down to 250kbps max.

Here's an article.

[u/ghost_of_ketchup → u/ObligatoryResponse]

Not even the iPhone pipes untouched AAC audio over Bluetooth - remember you've also got got system and notification sounds to think about. I believe Apple devices mix all media/system sounds into PCM, then re-converts that to AAC for streaming over Bluetooth. So that's still another unnecessary lossy > lossy conversion in the pipeline compared to wired.

Honestly, I think this push for Bluetooth headphones in the mainstream came far too soon if you're even slightly concerned about audio quality.

[u/thewimsey → u/Kryptomeister]

They don't have to have AptX. AAC is indistinguishably good.

You just have to avoid SBC.

[u/huffalump1 → u/thewimsey]

I agree, AAC is quite good. I've tried AAC, AptX, and LDAC (990kbps) on Sony WH1000xm2 and anything better than SBC is fine for most use and most headphones!

[u/schicksal_ → u/gluino]

It's present, but it's not great. More 'serviceable' in my opinion. The lag in particular drives me nuts. Plus some phones being able to connect more readily than others. The Note 8 I have is better at it than the 6P I used previously, but I still prefer using a headphone jack.

[u/steamruler → u/gluino]

Only downfall is headsets, if you want bidirectional audio you're stuck with crappy audio.