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Intel Wants To Eliminate The Headphone Jack And Replace It With USB-C (9to5mac.com)
An anonymous reader writes: With rumors circulating about how Apple may do away with the 3.5 mm headphone jack on its upcoming iPhone 7, Intel has shared a similar desire, citing "industry singling a strong desire to move from analog to digital." Intel believes USB-C is the future audio jack. They believe USB-C has more potential than the 3.5mm audio jack as it allows users to add additional smart features to headphones in the future. For instance, a future pair of headphones could monitor one's pulse or inner-ear temperature for fitness tracking, something that could only be possible if the headphones were connected to a smartphone via a USB-C cable. What's also worth mentioning [quoted from 9to5Mac]: USB-C already supports analog audio transfer through sideband pins simplifying the engineering steps necessary to swap 3.5mm with USB-C in device designs. In the second quarter, Intel should have a finalized USB-C standard for digital audio transfer. Intel does note that the transition from analog to digital will be expensive as the headphones have to include amplifiers and DACs, but scale will offset the early costs over time.
Two reasonably hefty wires to supply power, and a fibre optic cable, (or maybe two), for data. If they're going to break with the past, they should take the opportunity to make a really good interface. Too costly? FTA:
"Intel says that such a transition may make digital headphones more expensive, as the headsets will have to include amplifiers and DACs, but scale will offset the early costs over time".
I would think the same reasoning applies to fibre optic transceivers and connectors.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
And laaaaaaaaaag. Regular BT has 300ms lag, and even the very best BT headphones+transmitter have more than 60ms lag in real world applications. That may be cool for lag-aware applications that just do local playback of video, but for anything live and general video review it's simply infuriating.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
How about customer desire? I like my headphone jacks simple and robust, thanks.
Nothing wrong with that. There is a real beauty in simple. However what might be optimal for you is not necessarily optimal for the majority. There is a saying in manufacturing that local maximums make for global minimums. Basically you can optimize one person's or group's requirements so much that it actually makes the overall system worse. For example for myself I almost never plug headphones into my phone. When I do connect it to an audio system I usually do it via wifi (home) or bluetooth (car). The audio jack really just is a place where dust gets into my phone and provides me no utility at all. So if we cater to your desires we are by extension making the product worse for me. Eventually something has to give.
I manufacture wire harnesses for a living. Believe me when I say that I appreciate the beauty of a simple interface better than most. But at some point keeping things simple starts holding back progress. I think we've just about reached that point with the 3.5mm jack.
I certainly could do without yet another converter and I don't feel like replacing my perfectly serviceable, simple and robust, headphones.
You wouldn't have to replace them. At worst you'd have to get a small adapter for them. I understand you not wanting to but I think the writing is on the wall on this one. The 3.5mm jack forces too many design compromises for it to remain in place forever.
Phono jacks are a global standard for audio connectivity. They are an old standard, yes. Very old. But there's no reason to try and make it obsolete. It's perfectly suited to it's task, and we are so path dependant now that making such a huge change requires more than the availability of a potential replacement tech. If there isn't a pressing need for a replacement, like a serious engineering or tech limitation, why bother?
I know why Apple would want to 'bother' - shitty behavior. USB-C means they can lock out 3rd party headphones and force everyone to buy their own.
Oh, I don't doubt that HDCP will show up(it is Intel's baby after all, even they don't take the lead on pushing it). The real hilarity will arise because a USB-C audio connector using the analog sideband pins won't be 'protected'; while one using the data pins and acting as a USB audio device potentially(but far from certainly) will; so there is epic scope for user confusion about what situations will and won't be broken by DRM. Should be a blast.
At least with video, the 'HDMI, yes, VGA, no." rule is pretty simple.
3.5mm connectors on laptops already have this issue where you have identical connectors for line in, line out and microphone.
The solution there have been a combination of color coding the connectors together with a marking that indicates in/out/mic.
I don't see why you can't place a sticker next to the USB-C connector that has analog out. Then you end up in the same situation as the one you have now with the difference that if you know your headphones support digital audio you can use any connector.
As for headphones; on the ones with digital support there is probably no extra cost of also supporting analog signals since the chip will have an analog part anyway. It's just a matter of a line in pin on the chip and an internal switch to select internal or external source.
This means that both digital and analog headphones will work on any device that just outputs the analog signal.
Both digital and analog headphones will work on any device with multiple ports if you connect them to one of the ports marked with the headphone.
If you want to connect to any port you will need digital headphones.
The issue arises if you make a computer with USB hosts and doesn't make one of them support analog audio. Then you won't have anywhere to connect cheap headphones that only supports analog.
I don't see this as causing much more confusion than the current 3.5mm connectors.
And also so your new factory sealed headphones can install malware the first time you plug them in. There is no such thing as a secure USB device. No OS handles all USB attack vectors, including Linux.
I will not buy headphones that pose a security risk to my devices. Why can't simple things stay simple. If you want smart headphones, run another cable along with the audio cable and plug it into two ports, or use wireless.
Also, doesn't the USB 3 cables carry a lot of power? How safe will ear buds be if there's a nick in the cable and some wires get crossed?
Eventual breakdown is a design feature... as long as it lasts past the 90 day warranty, the early edge of the design goal has been met. If the system doesn't suffer a "replacement level" failure within 3 years the design is faulty - damaging to the future of the company.
That's a red herring, though, as anybody who has ever worked with pro audio equipment will confirm. Intel's audio (or that of your graphics card) hisses, because of their crappy drivers and circuitry, not because there is something wrong with the headphone jack. This stuff is so bad that you even need to disable it in the BIOS/EFI if you don't use it at all in order to get good audio performance.
You can easily test that for yourself by buying a high quality audio interface and plugging in a pair of high quality headphones.