
Only Apple could get away with killing the headphone jack - wyldfire
http://www.vox.com/2016/9/7/12816066/apple-headphone-jack
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Johan-bjareholt
Wow, that was a long article for something very obvious. Its not because they
have guaranteed sales, its because they are one of the biggest smartphone
brands in the world! Its that simple! There are Chinese brands already who
have removed the aux jack and include a type-c to 3.5mm adapter, their sales
are doing fine. The difference is that these Chinese brands are not big enough
to be a trend setter and this won't catch on until some bigger brand starts
with it.

~~~
Grishnakh
So how are you supposed to charge one of these phones and use headphones at
the same time, with only one USB-c jack? Do they use some big, clunky
Y-adapter (USB-c to USB-c and 3.5mm, plus included circuitry)? That basically
defeats the whole point of removing the 3.5mm jack in the first place, which
is to save space; now you have to carry around a clunky adapter just to use
your headphones. This is at least as stupid as eliminating easily-swapped
batteries and SD cards.

~~~
Terretta
Why do headphones need wires? Why should your phone power them, or send them
analog signal decoded from digital? Why not let music fans listen to their
decoder and amp of choice?

Wires suck.

The jack, dongle, charging are only problems if you assume wires persist. If
only Apple were positioned to persuade a popular headphones company to ditch
them...

~~~
Grishnakh
Without wires, the headphones will need a power source. That means a battery.
That means you now have to worry about keeping _two_ devices charged all the
time, instead of one. And the battery in some headphones is going to be
necessarily small, because who wants a big heavy battery hanging off their
head or ears? Why do I want to worry about my headphone battery dying while
I'm using them? I don't have to worry about that stuff with regular earbuds.

If you want to haul around extra boxes full of electronics and batteries
(decoder and amp of your choice), feel free. The rest of us are happy with
cheap earbuds, and don't want all this extra complication.

~~~
Terretta
I have a cell headset that stores in a charging case. Such a brilliant balance
in convenience and battery life. I have never once thought about whether the
headset is charged. Same play Amazon did with the Kindle Oasis cover, and now
Apple with these. You're going to want to keep the two parts in something, why
not a charger case?

Your heavy battery hanging off ears comment is like people hearing about a
Walkman asking how you'll fit LPs in your pockets anyway:

[https://prudentgroove.com/2013/03/29/the-
triple-p/](https://prudentgroove.com/2013/03/29/the-triple-p/)

// PS. I highly recommend carrying an amp matched to drivers on your head. In
particular, this set: [http://blue-headphones.com/powered.php](http://blue-
headphones.com/powered.php) ... an ideal candidate to add a nice DAC to in a
future model.

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makecheck
There’s no evidence that wireless earphones are “better” in any sense. Right
now, if I let the earphones just dangle, they stay together and attached to
the phone nicely. If I take out the wire, both earphones stay together because
they are attached. There is even a logical place for a microphone and controls
on the wire, depending on the model.

What can I do with wireless earphones? Oh that’s right, I can lose ONE but not
the other; or I can lose both; nothing tethers both of them and the phone
together. Oh, and there is probably going to be some reduction in audio
quality for the sake of the wireless trend.

~~~
Grishnakh
Yeah, but consumers are stupid and care more about trendiness than function or
quality. Beats headphones are proof of this: people will spend a small fortune
on ugly, poor-sound-quality headphones just to be trendy. Even worse, these
headphones even have weights added in to make them "feel better", even though
having extra non-functional weights sitting on top of your head is incredibly
stupid from an anatomical point-of-view.

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falkenb0t
I appreciate the idea that Apple is able to take bigger risks based on their
secure position in the market but it is still hard to look at this move as
anything more than a means to force more users to buy Apple brand headphones.

Granted, I have no idea what an 'upgrade' from a headphone jack to thunderbolt
port could imply. If it is possible to increase sound quality through
thunderbolt or reduce phone costs based on the absence of a second port then
I'll gladly welcome the change.

I guess their justification for doing what they're doing remains to be seen
and time will tell.

~~~
gjolund
"Reduce phone costs"

Fat chance

~~~
falkenb0t
Yeah, that's more wishful thinking than anything else

