
Buying headphones in 2018 is going to be a fragmented mess – The Verge - sarreph
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/18/16903516/headphones-wireless-analog-jack-future-ces-2018
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pathartl
It seems like a pretty simple solution to me, make bluetooth headphones that
also have an analog jack on them. It may not work for earbuds, but I gotta say
my favorite feature of my Bose QC35's is if my device doesn't support
bluetooth I can always use the cable to plug it in. It works when the battery
dies too.

Granted the jack on the headphones themselves is 2.5mm so you need a 2.5mm to
3.5mm cable which makes it a little annoying.

Headphone manufacturers should stick to using either 2.5mm or 3.5mm jacks on
their headphones. Give the option of bluetooth or no bluetooth. Then
separately manufacture wires that have DACs in them. It increases
compatibility, potentially increases profits by double dipping, and makes
"repairs" simple.

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Spivak
Once phones drop 3.5mm connectors is there any advantage left for wired
headphones? Do phones other than the Pixel 1 come with a usb-c DAC? It looks
like manufacturers could go either direction but it seems like Google and
Apple have already picked a side here by removing them.

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pathartl
Desktop computers and laptops. They will probably never disappear from
desktops, especially when it comes to gaming.

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Spivak
I wouldn't be so sure. Audio enthusiasts already have external equipment and
when headphones start shipping with with built-in DACs and amps to work with
phones the case for removing them in favor of USB-* or BT becomes a lot
stronger. Especially when it would be cheaper to do so.

But the point is that digital wired probably isn't buying you much in latency
or quality compared to wireless.

