On a recent post, there were a lot of comments, which said that they were missing the headphones on newer mobile devices.
How many actually use the headphone jack?
I ask, because I have one on my phone, since I really wanted one, but I rarely use it. Like Tops 1/Month.
You do realise that making a post like this makes wired users more likely to reply? I use wired daily, wireless too big and stuffy.
Good argument. But isn’t that always the case when asking if ppl are / aren’t into a topic? A person, who is invested in the topic is way more likely to reply. I agree with you, but I don’t know how I could’ve avoided said issue.
You can’t really avoid it in any easy way. If you could, the field of statistics would get a decent amount simpler. The only way to deal with the bias is with a survey pulled from random people, which you can’t really do easily here.
But this one will have a lot of bias, all the same.
Airpods are too big and stuffy?
Use it every day. Yeah wireless earphones are great, but they’re far from perfect; some pairs have delays and issues with audio quality, turning on bluetooth drains my phone battery quicker, and I have enough devices which I need to maintain and recharge all the time - I can’t be doing with another one.
The only hassle you get with wired earphones is them tangling up and limiting how far you can move your head, but I’d take those over connection issues any day.
I only use wired headphones.The annoyance of batteries, the higher prices and the much shorter lifespan makes wireless a no go for me.
You can buy some nice wired headphones and expect them to last 15+ years if taken good care of. Good luck trying to keep wireless ones for more than 5 years with a good battery life.
I hate charging things all the time. Wired headphones it is
I use wired headphones every day. I always used my headphone jack.
My latest phone doesn’t have one, so I have to use a dongle to convert USB C to jack. I’ve looked at USB wired headphones but they just integrate the dongle and the choices are limited.
I much prefer wired in-ear headphones when I’m out of the house, versus larger over ear Bluetooth headphones at home.
Wired headphones are super convenient as they don’t need charging, are cheap and easily replaced, give good quality audio because the technology is simple and analogue (converting now loses that benefit), and are convenient as I can pop them in and out, hang them round my ears and don’t worry too much about losing them as they’re on wires.
It pisses me off 3.5mm audio jacks are disappearing - just to save phone manufacturers money or to make devices pointlessly thinner. Phones need a minimum heft and thickness to be comfortable to hold; I feel like they’re chasing pointless design goals now at the cost of what the customer actually wants/needs.
And wireless audio can be annoying when you have interference with Bluetooth, or the device runs out of battery, or are just more expensive so you worry about losing or breaking them.
It’s enshitification in the phone space.
What headphones jack! There’s no headphone jacks anymore! They got rid of it because apple wanted to sell air pods!
God damnit!
No replaceable batteries, he SD card slots no headphone jack! Nothing!
(I am aware that there are still phones out there with headphones jacks but they’re either really low end or from a smaller manufacturer like Asus that don’t really sell at T-Mobile which is my service provider)
I still prefer and regularly use wired headphones. More specifically, 100% of the time on my phone, and about 25% of the time on my tablet. I probably listen to audio on my phone a couple of hours a week. So not a ton, but equally also a fair amount.
I use it all the time. I have lots of equipent that doesn’t use bluetooth that I connect my phone with.
Me. I own both wired and wireless earphones and I want to be able to use both.
I recently switched to wireless over-the-ear headphones and overall happy. However, when it comes to earbuds - they would only be wired. Unlike my large headphones, which can be unscrewed for that, most earbuds would have trouble wen replacing the battery. And - maybe more importantly - easier to lose since they’re separate and so small.
Fair. Personally I prefer wireless, since my headphone wires break all the time due to heavy use, but I can understand, why you’d like to be able to use both.
This is the correct answer. It’s about having choices. I very often forget to charge my wireless when I need it and when it’s dead, all I have to do is pull my wired out since my phone has the headphone jack. And when I work, I use my wired to listen to music, because in that situation, wired is simply superior. So I will always buy a phone with a headphone jack because I don’t want a perfectly workable, harmless feature that I need to be taken away from me.
I think people who dislike the headphone jack must be young and not have (good) wired headphones.
Older people (older than teenagers and young adults I mean) often have a few pairs of good headphones they got over the years, and it’s a massive waste to just throw them away and buy wireless because that’s what the trends demand. And in most cases wireless won’t sound as good, because the budget needs to go to bluetooth chips, and dacs, and batteries and all that crap, instead of just focusing on audio.According to Wikipedia, ‘The original 1⁄4 inch (6.35 mm) version descends from as early as 1877’, and it’s been an industry standard since then.
You can use it not just for headphones but as a line out, to connect all kinds of audio devices between them. You can hook up your phone to a car audio system, an old radio (if it has input, I think most do), a guitar pedal or an amplifier, a reverb or an effects unit, etc., just with the “magic” of wires.I’m 39, and I almost never used the headphone jack on any of my old phones, and I’m one of those that doesn’t miss the jack.
I get why people want it, I’m just not in that camp, and most of my friends are the same.
I’m about 20 years older than you, and the only wired earphones I have came with devices. They’re in a box with other crap I don’t use.
I haven’t used wired earphones since about 2006.
So yea, I don’t think “older folks have more wired stuff” holds true at all. All my peers embraced BT and were happy to ditch wires.
There are honestly no good wireless headphones out there. Yes, in the price range ~300€ you can get some decent earbuds. But still not even close in sound quality to what you can buy for 100€ with a wire.
Oh come on. For $230 you can get the Sony WH-1000XM4 (or similar). Works wired or wireless, active noise canceling, pretty long battery life.
For 99% of people, those are “good” wireless headphones. I’ve been very happy with my XM3s for five or six years now
Meh, this old argument.
You’re on a mobile device in environments with gobs of noise.
Damn few people could tell the difference in sound quality in those situations, fewer still would care (e. g. People like you. Not to be dismissive at all - that’s your thing).
A car is 70db+. Just being outside in a city you’re probably looking at a variable noise level of what, 40-70+?
If that’s important to you, cool, do what you like. But most people are looking for something with far less quality. You don’t need that kind of quality to hear a podcast clearly, or listen to “Dance Dance Track 15”.
You don’t need that kind of quality to hear a podcast clearly, or listen to “Dance Dance Track 15”.
You don’t, but once you’ve had it, turning back and going to something more expensive that is worse, more annoying to use and will be aproaching useless in 3-5 years? For what? Like it straight up is less convenient for me because i forget to charge it and then it starts dying mid-run or mid commute.
According to Wikipedia, ‘The original 1⁄4 inch (6.35 mm) version descends from as early as 1877’, and it’s been an industry standard since then.
I could be mistaken, but I believe the modern headphone cable/jack is 1/8”.
1/4" are the bigger ones like the size of a guitar cable.
1/4"? Feh. I use only XLR for my audio needs. /elitist audiophile
You’re correct. But you can use an adapter. Some headphones (especially more expensive ones) come with their own. And some devices (like my USB audio interface) come with a big jack for headphones, but again an adapter makes it irrelevant whether it’s a small jack or a large one.
If you’re gunna use an adapter anyway then it makes it irrelevant whether or not there’s a headphone jack in the phone. People in this thread talk about how you can’t use expensive wired headphones with your mobile devices anymore as if adapters don’t exist.
We’re not talking about the same thing here. First off a large jack to small jack adapter would be needed in rare circumstances, if you happen to use a pair of headphones that only uses a large jack with a small device like a phone, which obviously only has a small one.
That whole large jack discussion was started because of the quote from Wikipedia I posted, where they mention just how old the jack is. I’m guessing you haven’t read the rest of the comments since you brought it up?2nd of all a jack adapter is just “wire”, it’s passive ( doesn’t have any circuitry), and doesn’t require any support.
For a dongle type of adapter that’s quite different. Software and hardware and compatibility come into play.
Lots of dongles have a DAC built into them which is separate from the phone DAC. It’s duplicating something you already have, and if your phone has a good one buit into it (which it should), the flimsy dongle most probably has a very cheap one.
I have a dongle and it only works if I plug it in before taking calls. If I already answer and then use the dongle the sound won’t work out of the headphones so it’s useless…
I have gone too far in the headphone hobby and have exited the nice middle zone where the headphone jack has value. It can’t power my headphones and my phone has no systemwide EQ so there would be no point anyway.
Some people in the headphones sub talked about using qudelix 5k to power it if you wanted mobile but at that point the jack becomes useful only for charging while listening (admittedly useful!). I don’t really think compromise free mobile listening works though, if you have good wired headphones they are fairly likely to be open back already. For those people, a midrange priced Bluetooth Focal Bathys is probably as good as investment as any other closed back for mobile.
Hence why I believe the headphone jack is for those in the middle of the pack: they have closed back wired headphones that are good enough to not want to use Bluetooth, but not headphones too difficult to power or a strong preference for EQ. Which is a ton of people to be fair. I only commented here cause you said “people who dislike the headphone jack must not have good wired headphones,” but I have several and don’t need a headphone jack in my phone. I’m aware that those in my position are a very small portion of the population and agree with most of what you said, just wanted to provide a different perspective.
Oh also, if you’re using an adapter for 1/4” to 1/8”, may as well just use a USB-C or lightning adapter. 1/4 or 2.5mm balanced and a shitload of power would actually make a phone jack useful for my case though!
I have only ever bought phones with a 3.5mm jack. I have expensive Sony headphones I use for music and would hate having that option taken away from me. That’s why Fairphone is still a miss for me right now.
All of my Bluetooth experiences from headphones to Alexa devices have been more of a nuisance than a convenience, often not pairing, randomly unpairing or forgetting connectivity, finding it difficult to unpair to pair another device, not finding devices literally centimetres away, draining phone battery faster, short bluetooth device lifespan, recharging requirements, sound quality, and price points all going against them. I have seen people unironically suggest adding a wire to the Bluetooth headphones so you could charge them from your phone while listening to music. Bluetooth isn’t good enough to supercede wires.
Usb C converter is not the same as plain wired connectivity, its more fragile than 3.5mm, it cannot be rotated or twisted, it is bulkier, prevents charging at the same time, and adds yet another small expensive wire to forget, lose, or break. It solves a problem no-one asked for. Anyone who doesn’t want a smashed screen has a chunky case so phone thinness doesn’t matter.
I just want all of my tech to work with each other universally. We used to have the choice of both and I think returning to this standard will make everyone happy.
I used mine all the time and do miss it. Now I mostly use wired headphones plugged into the laptop, and use Bluetooth or casting to speakers from phone. If you don’t use yours you won’t miss it.
Every. Single. Day.
My cars bluetooth is broken, so I connect my phone via headphone jack. This way I can still use my cars speakers and mic to receive phone calls and listen to music or audiobooks on my one hour drive to work.
I also despise bluetooth headphones. My phones batteries last longer since I don’t use bluetooth anymore and I can’t be bothered to not lose them and always have them charged when I want to use them.
With my good wired Bose headphones I pay a third of what the wireless crap would cost, have better sound and they are always ready, easily to take care of and at worst slightly tangled from being crammed into a jeans pocket.
It’s actually the most useful port in my phone. Some of their best headphones out there are wired (those that don’t target professionals at least), so it’s nice that I just plug them in and expect them to work willy nilly. I can even use an external amplifier with it if need be.
Bluetooth is still the worst thing I’ve dealt with in my life.
All the time, always and forever.
I will buy adaptors, and seek out wired headphones with a jack that fits my phone.
Friends and families have bought me wireless headphones, but I am a walking Bluetooth black zone (I’m constantly having to reset Bluetooth connections on my all my devices, no one else in my household has the same problem), and I’m notorious for loosing things.
I superglued my wireless ear buds to a chunky necklace so even if one fell out it wouldn’t get lost, it would just dangle around my neck. Lost the whole thing somewhere between the garage and the front door one night. Got my housemates out crawling in the grass looking for it with torches and playing the “lost ear bud” tone from the app, but we never found it. Not even when mowing the lawn did we ever hear it getting chewed up.
I’m not an audiophile, I have reverse slope hearing loss and I’m currently using a $10 pair of 3.5mm earphones with a $7 usbc adaptor and its exactly what I need because it’s cheap, replaceable, and I wouldn’t even notice better audio quality if it stuck it’s tongue in my ear.
