-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Which South African brand or product do you wish would make a return?
SoundGuys: USB-C audio is dead
- Thread starter saor
- Start date
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
Hmm, this is unfortunate. But why aim for reviving the audio jack as opposed to just fixing the issues with USB-C headphones? Seems regressive.
It didn't pickup yet, but calling it dead is sensational and far from the truth.
The truth is that even if 3.5mm jack comes back, USB-C audio will stay.
Active devices (DACs) will always work and usualy offer substantial improvement over a codec chip built-in inside the phone. A reason is that a phone is very noisy environment, so moving a DAC to the external device is very good option. It is a reason why Bluetooth headphones are so popular. No wires, no poor sound over the wire (most of the phones - finding good sounding phone is a real challenge).
If Bluetooth quality is not sufficient, portable DAC in the form of small USB dongle fills a gap and is becoming increasingly popular. It connects to the phone using micro-USB or USB-C connector (whathever), there is no sound quality difference between these connectors. An added advantage is that any headphone with 3.5mm works.
When home, phone connects to a media server. In other words, there is no need for a specialised USB-C audio headphones.
The truth is that even if 3.5mm jack comes back, USB-C audio will stay.
Active devices (DACs) will always work and usualy offer substantial improvement over a codec chip built-in inside the phone. A reason is that a phone is very noisy environment, so moving a DAC to the external device is very good option. It is a reason why Bluetooth headphones are so popular. No wires, no poor sound over the wire (most of the phones - finding good sounding phone is a real challenge).
If Bluetooth quality is not sufficient, portable DAC in the form of small USB dongle fills a gap and is becoming increasingly popular. It connects to the phone using micro-USB or USB-C connector (whathever), there is no sound quality difference between these connectors. An added advantage is that any headphone with 3.5mm works.
When home, phone connects to a media server. In other words, there is no need for a specialised USB-C audio headphones.
Last edited:
External Dacs are great, I use a Sabaj Da2 with my iphone, the sound is far superior to the iphone dac.
I would buy another one in a heartbeat and recommend it to anyone undecided.
pinball wizard
Honorary Master
Because as apple discovered, you can't have one port that does it all. We need a usb and a separate audio port on our devices. Thank you.
R13...
Honorary Master
Great however they tend not to be too portable. I bought a different make for my MTK chip phone (the sound was kark), and I chucked it because it just wasn't usable when going to gym.
SauRoNZA
Honorary Master
They don't use one port for it all...that's just if you want to be retro.
They use Bluetooth...no port required.
konfab
Honorary Master
Good thing the engineers at Apple, Huawei, and Samsung have you to tell them that this problem can only be solved by moving the chip outside the phone. They all must have completely missed out on the lecture on decoupling capacitors in electronic design.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoupling_capacitor
pinball wizard
Honorary Master
Yeah, I have bluetooth connected to too many other devices at the same time as I want audio via a wired connection.They don't use one port for it all...that's just if you want to be retro.
They use Bluetooth...no port required.
konfab
Honorary Master
Cost of using an audio jack that is already an established standard vs the cost of getting all headphone manufacturers to hone in on one standard for USB-C.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
How is that different from upgrading any other part, though? All parts move to newer and improved standards over established ones over time.
konfab
Honorary Master
That is just the issue. Moving over to a USB-C music port isn't going to make your music sound any better.
Ho3n3r
Honorary Master
Not as regressive as only having the option of either charging or using headphones, not both at the same time. Unless they make a dedicated USB-C port for audio only, which I doubt.
Arthur
Honorary Master
Ja, my view, too. I often listen on wired headphones while phone is charging on USB-C. I suppose one can get bloutand 'phones, but that's another damn device to charge.
reactor_sa
Executive Member
I have a few pairs of wireless noise cancelling headphones, two of them had type c connection. Can use them wired or wireless. Best of both?
Ho3n3r
Honorary Master
As you can currently, innit. Integrating it into the USB port just takes away the opportunity to charge and listen with wired headphones concurrently. Not exactly progress.
LazyLion
King of de Jungle
On a device that measures 15 cm by 8cm, what is the problem with having more than one port?
And don't tell me cost, because you are literally talking about a few cents worth of components.
And don't tell me about battery size, because you could just make the dang thing 2 mm thicker.
And don't tell me cost, because you are literally talking about a few cents worth of components.
And don't tell me about battery size, because you could just make the dang thing 2 mm thicker.
OrbitalDawn
Ulysses Everett McGill
USB-C's benefits don't lie there, though.
I was curious whether that'd be a problem for me, but in the more than a year that I've had an audio jack-less phone it hasn't been an issue even once. But I don't listen on my phone all day, so I can understand it can be a problem for some.
I suspect the future will be wireless audio with wireless charging, so that cables in general becomes less and less of a factor. Apple's AirPods already took a massive leap forward in terms of pairing convenience and control. Battery life is also really good and charging easy. Extrapolate that over the next 5-10 years across manufacturers and cables become less of a thing.
As I understand it the argument has usually been spatial issues. Not having the audio jack gives them more room to work with and do other things.
If I recall there's a new model (might be the Samsung S10) that seems like it might still have a dedicated audio jack.
ekske1
Executive Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2017
- Messages
- 5,064
- Reaction score
- 1,548
- Location
- bblounge at the end of the universe
The verse seems to think otherwise?
https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/11/18178190/ces-2019-usb-c-monitors-docks-dongles-headphones
USB-C headphones
After it became clear that Android manufacturers would join Apple in ditching the headphone jack, the headphone industry faced a choice: it could move to producing USB-C and Lightning headphones, ditch the wires entirely, or continue producing 3.5mm headphones in the hope that people will use the dongles that came with their phones.
The industry has pretty conclusively decided to go wireless, but there were still a handful of USB-C headphones announced at this year’s CES.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13683596/_TK_9943.jpg)
Moshi had the biggest presence at the show with two USB-C models to show off. The on-ear Avanti C are the more expensive of the two at $200, while the in-ear Mythro C cost just $50. Both feature a built-in DAC, which supports high-resolution audio up to 24-bit/96kHz. The Avanti C comes out in February, while the Mythro C is available starting today.
While Moshi went all in, HyperX hedged its bets a little, with two gaming headsets that came with a choice of three cables, a USB-A, USB-C, or analog 3.5mm jack. While we’re still going through our transitory phase, this is ultimately what we’d hoped more companies would offer, but it’s still a relative rarity.
Finally, Belkin also announced a pair of USB-C in-ear headphones alongside a Lightning connector-equipped model.