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USB Type-C Headphones Were Nowhere in Sight at CES 2019 (androidauthority.com)
In a sea of 3D audio products and true-wireless earbuds, USB Type-C headphones were nowhere in sight at CES 2019. From a report: This absence isn't an accident, however. Rather, it's the deafening silence of an abandoned product category. While many looked to USB-C audio as the successor to the famed physical port, the available models aren't catching on, and they don't seem to be going anywhere. Their absence at CES 2019 doesn't paint a rosy picture of their future, either.
In general, it takes new standards quite a while to catch on, however, USB-C was thrust into the limelight far before its time. When Apple and Google ditched their headphone jacks, it limited the pool of audio peripherals to Bluetooth, or the very young USB-C category. Perhaps with a little more time and backing from a few more serious partners this could have matured alongside its older brother the TRRS plug, but it just wasn't to be. [...] One of the biggest issues that companies need to navigate pertains to source and peripheral device compatibility. USB Type-C headphone cables can either be active or passive -- or manifest as a dongle adapter. This inconsistency, paired with the fact that Audio Accessory Mode has yet to be universally supported, results in a barrage of compatibility issues. Hence why many users are unable to operate playback controls or use a headset's integrated microphone.
In general, it takes new standards quite a while to catch on, however, USB-C was thrust into the limelight far before its time. When Apple and Google ditched their headphone jacks, it limited the pool of audio peripherals to Bluetooth, or the very young USB-C category. Perhaps with a little more time and backing from a few more serious partners this could have matured alongside its older brother the TRRS plug, but it just wasn't to be. [...] One of the biggest issues that companies need to navigate pertains to source and peripheral device compatibility. USB Type-C headphone cables can either be active or passive -- or manifest as a dongle adapter. This inconsistency, paired with the fact that Audio Accessory Mode has yet to be universally supported, results in a barrage of compatibility issues. Hence why many users are unable to operate playback controls or use a headset's integrated microphone.
that I still use a 1/8" headphone jack.
Those of us who prefer the advantages of wired headphones over the advantages of Bluetooth ones see no advantages at all in USB-C.
3.5mm FOREVER
3.5mm FOREVER
3.5mm FOREVER
... I don't buy the phone.
USB-C headphones were stupid from day one.
And let's not forget how many people predicted peak iPhone the day they announced this atrocity of usability. ...Those predictions may have been right on the money.
Nobody wants USB-C headphones. We want universal headphones that work not just with cell phones and computers, but professional audio equipment, older audio equipment... and we want it to be near or at 100% compatibility for future audio products. Any digital interface is, by design, going to fail to meet the needs of the ones who purchase it. I for one am glad it was nowhere to be seen.
I take it as a point of pride that I still use a 1/8" headphone jack.
If that gives you a sense of pride I think you might want to set the bar a little higher on your life goals.
Exactly. No jack, no buy!
I have a hard enough time finding a set of regular wired headphones that I like. I'm not putting myself through that pail for something that works on 2% of my devices (conservative estimate). Anyone who removes the headphone port is an idiot. It seems that audio quality is getting the back seat these days; at one time we had portable music devices. Now that went away because everyone started to use their phones and the phones are forcing us to go to bluetooth so there goes the best path for audio.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I have enough problems finding quality analog headsets. I don't want the morass of software based compatibility issues that either bluetooth or usb type-c provide.
Quite frankly it is a hassle enough to replace cables when a headphone set gets damaged (and with the exception of bluetooth headphones, nobody under 200 dollars chooses to go with a 3.5mm female port instead of permanently affixed wiring, which inevitably gets damaged when you accidentally pull on the cable for one reason or another.
I refuse to buy a phone without a 3.5mm jack and SD card slot. Removing either of those is extremely user-hostile and based solely in corporate greed. The argument about people wanting thinner phones is total bullshit. No one really cares if their phone is 0.2mm thinner. People want longer battery life, ease of use, and a phone that doesn't bend to the curve of their hipster asses in their back pockets. People do NOT want to carry overpriced USB Type-C dongles with third party manufacturer lock-out (and potential future DRM lockdown inconveniences a la HDCP) everywhere, nor do they want to carry a different set of headphones for phone and non-phone use. I also seriously doubt that Sennheiser is going to produce USB Type-C professional headphones anytime soon.
Plus, it'll be really hard to use my TRRS-plugged card reader for my credit card processor if I don't have such a jack on my phone.
As the vicar said to the tart.
The experience has changed. This is dress like the typewriter
Bet you still use floppy disks too you grumpy old man.
It's the cables, stupid. Nobody wants cables, least of all tethered to their head. USB Audio was a non-starter.
There is also too few bluetooth headphones that supports HD codecs like aptx-hd (qualcomm) or ldac (sony) or aac (apple).
What I'd like is a simple BT receiver that handle HD codec, and on this gizmo, have a 3.5mm jack so I can plug high end headphone on it, while still being wireless with my phone (that support HD bluetooth).
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
No dangly, messed up cable bouncing around and the battery life is enough for most music sessions, gym sessions or commutes. I would never go back to cable.
You will learn one day or not.
"When Apple and Google ditched their headphone jacks, it limited the pool of audio peripherals to Bluetooth, or the very young USB-C category."
You skipped USB 2.0 and earlier here which offer more than enough speed for headphones and have been the interface for all quality headphones for quite awhile..
Those of us who prefer the advantages of wired headphones over the advantages of Bluetooth ones see no advantages at all in USB-C.
Speak for yourself there bud. I'm not saying USB-C headphones are clearly better in every respect (they aren't) but there definitely ARE advantages to not needing multiple types of connectors. Personally I like having the I/O ports be universal and not have to worry about having the type of connector for a given device. Standardizing on USB-C definitely has advantages in that regard.
Nobody wants USB-C headphones.
Disagree. I want a common connector for every device possible, not just headphones. There is no way to accomplish that with a 3.5mm jack but it can be done with USB-C.
We want universal headphones that work not just with cell phones and computers, but professional audio equipment, older audio equipment...
USB-C does not prevent that. There is no reason USB-C headphones cannot be the universal interface you desire. Bear in mind that 3.5mm jacks aren't universal either and they are FAR more limited in capabilities. And you can adapt back to 3.5mm jacks if you are so inclined.
and we want it to be near or at 100% compatibility for future audio products.
You have NEVER had 100% compatibility nor even close to it. My home stereo doesn't have a single 3.5mm jack on the back of it. My phone doesn't have one. Only one of my cars has one. The 3.5mm port has always been common but it has never been universal and certainly won't ensure compatibility in the future. USB-C actually has a better chance of that at this point and it won't get there either.
Playback controls? Microphone? WTF do either of those things have to do with headphones? Dipshits...
The USB-C spec allows for end to end encryption of the audio stream. Forcing it onto phones allows for one of the last analog holes to finally be closed off.
Not that a lot of people copy out the port but it was there for the desperate and knowledgeable.
I just got a Pixel 3. No traditional headphone jack, which makes me sad. But I couldn't get the camera quality I want with the OS I want and still have the (much-missed) jack. So I'm stuck with the USB-C. Google gave me a nice set of earbuds and a dongle with the phone. And perhaps over the several years I'm likely to have that phone I'll need to buy other accessories, by which time perhaps the market will have matured to respond to the needs of USB-C users.But for now I'm happy.
-Artman -
I have seen a few digital to analog amps for headphones a couple even attach to a smartphone. But most audio makers seem intent on selling everyone on Bluetooth even though you need to spend a lot to get anything really good. Which is probably the point of marketing Bluetooth and not USB C. I don't know of too many audiophiles who think Bluetooth is the answer and still use analog audio jacks.
There's only one USB port on the phone, so I need to put my headphones in that? What if I want to charge it or use some other peripheral?
I loved this:
One of the biggest issues that companies need to navigate pertains to source and peripheral device compatibility. USB Type-C headphone cables can either be active or passive -- or manifest as a dongle adapter. This inconsistency, paired with the fact that Audio Accessory Mode has yet to be universally supported, results in a barrage of compatibility issues.
So, in other words, a complete repeat of every Bluetooth or USB audio adventure ever. No lessons learned.
(2019 and my 10 year old Sony-Ericsson BT headset still doesn't work with Sony Playstations. But at least the Playstation Store keeps getting new updates, and according to the PS4 patch notes, it must by now have the most "improved system stability" ever.)
Someone had to do it.
When I'm moving around I prefer the convenience of Bluetooth, and when I want quality I prefer a decent DAC+amp and nice headphones with a quarter inch jack.
From an engineering point of view digital earbuds/headphones could be great; the analog signal path could be a lot shorter and better shielded, while amplifiers could come tuned to the characteristics of the cans for ideal frequency response.
But from a practical point of view, a lot of decent cans would be ruined by crappy noisy DACs and quality cans would cost twice as much due to the extra hardware. And attaching expensive electronics that will last 50 years to earbuds that you'll throw away because of a frayed cord/blown driver/accidental run-in with a washing machine is simply a waste.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
This is what happens when you have a solution looking for a problem and trying to fix a problem that doesn't need to be fixed.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
I have started using usb-c for video and i can say that the aftermarket cable market is abysmal. You can buy a 30-40 dongle (usbc to hdmi for instance) that is garbage, or a $10 one that is amazing. There is zero correlation between quality and price. Just look at the reviews of apple usbc adaptors, most are garbage (with a high price tag). While ugreen, a no name chinese company is performing very well.
You have the newer apple laptops having multiple usb-c ports but one port is full power (next to the power plug), and another one is not, making things like powerpoint clickers have reduced range if plugged into a different port. How bullshit is that! They shouldn't be able to pick and choose what this or that port will support, can we have some standardization please? Was never a problem with usb 2 and usb 3....
Its a shitshow! There are no standards. I basically have to buy 3-4 adaptors and then just see which one lasts the longest or even works right. I had 3 different usb-c to vga adaptors before i found one that worked reliability without blanking the screen every hour or inducing some weird colours.
USB-C having used it for the last year, is NOT ready. there are major reliability and compatibility problems. Best bet is to read the amazon reviews before you purchase. I haven't dont anything with usb-c audio but i bet its a similar nightmare.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
Most people don't want to have to use a cord. BT is good enough for most. I understand that there are still people that want to use their nice corded headsets. But you all are becoming a niche market and you know how well consumer products fill niche markets. It means your choices will continue to be fewer and fewer.
The reason the audio jack is going away is so that there will not be any analog leakage for the culture/media extortion industries. Once the analog jack is gone all media can be controlled by DRM and the rates of extortion can be elevated without fear of bypass or re-purposing. You are not the customer, you are the crop. removing the analog audio jack is just better GMO.
People listen to a LOT of music on their phones, and not just in their car.
Yup and only very few of those places to listen music into actually are bluetooth enabled.
So yeah, I agree.
The fact that a 2019 flagship phone cannot deliver audio fidelity as good as a 2014 (or 2009) model is absurd.
audio fidelity on the day of their out-boxing.
2 years down the line and Bluetooth should more or less be the same crap quality as on day 1 (unless the manufacturer has pushed an update activating support for new codecs, but that's unlikely, mostly due to licensing issue around codec - as no Bluetooth speaker I know uses Opus nor FLAC)
2 years down the line and the audio jack has taken so much abuse that it's making bad contact and the audio has completely deteriorated.
The second would require hardware fixing which a phone manufacturing company would like to avoid (2 years is *still* within EU Warranty period, it would be mandatory for them to fix it for free), or so probably goes their excuse to remove the jack.
But in practice most aren't actually physically damaged but just extremely dirty, and sometime just cleaning them is enough to remove whatever was preventing the audio plug making good contact in the audio jack. Rendering the above excuse moot.
(And the remaining can still be fixed simply with a soldering iron).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
All part of the long-standing program to eliminate the 'analog hole' ... which started at about the time boomboxes stopped having audio-out jacks.
They can't win ... there are no digital speaker-cones ... but that doesn't keep them from trying ... and pissing off more and more consumers ... who, nevertheless, keep buying products that make hole-plugging easier.
"You must try to forget all you have learned. You must begin to dream." -- Sherwood Anderson
Where do you keep your USB-C headphones? Why aren't they in your butthoal?
Nope! And neither do the millions of people who still use 1/8" headphone jacks. Perhaps we just lack the courage? Perhaps we don't own iPhones? Perhaps we still have some older audio equipment? Or maybe, just maybe, that the 1/8" jack is still the common denominator among all of the audio devices we own?
One problem, from a few. A cable should be a cable, not a device inbetween devices. No active components. No multiple tasks to achieve. Why do Cat5 just work? For decades. Because it is just wires and connectors with few functions. The rest of functions are dealt by devices, protocols, drivers and programs on different layers.
I have 1/8" audio jacks on equipment that I've used every day for the past 8 years and they're still perfect.
...single anecdote...
If the manufacturer uses a good-quality 1/8" jack, you won't see the kind of degradation you're talking about.
Even if the quality of the jack is good:
- falls, hits, etc. and other such will put stress on the soldering of the jack. Eventually a bad connection might develop.
Luckily, this one is simple to fix with a soldering iron
- dirt, pocket lint, etc. *will* get inside (unless your smartphone happens to have a cover over its connectors like some waterproof e-readers do, e.g.: Kobo H2O)
and *will definitely* cause bad contacts (or the jack suddenly thinking that it is plugged in - if it uses some mechanical detection - and the speaker suddenly stopping to work, because the smartphone tries to route audio to a non existing jack).
Luckily that one is trivial to clean up.
But still, my point is that down the line a jack might not work as well as on day 1, and most people being lazy, you know what's the likelihood they're going to fix it themselves vs. likelihood they're going to complain loudly (or worse, bring the device to a Genius Bar where the staff is trained to persuade everybody to just throw away their old hardware and buy a new one. This by itself will train people to think that jacks are a cause of expensive hardware replacement).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
So, in other words, a complete repeat of every Bluetooth or USB audio adventure ever. No lessons learned.
Well the industry is used to this. I mean let's face it, it's not like the old 3.5mm plug worked universally. ... errr. oh wait yes it did.
So, you don't see any problem with manufacturers deciding to replace perfectly good audio quality with lower quality?
I think the manufacturers should make what people want to buy. If I don't care about top tier audio quality why should I have to pay for more expensive equipment necessary to play it? The problem is that what YOU think is "perfectly good audio quality" is probably higher than what a lot of other people (myself included) are willing to tolerate. I'm not saying you are wrong for holding that opinion, just pointing out that other people clearly have different opinions.
We've been having this ridiculous debate since the early 80s when the CD was released. A small minority of people who are super picky about their sound quality (sometimes to the point of absurdity) complain loudly about sound quality and the rest of us genuinely think it's Good Enough and move on with our lives. I honestly don't really care if my smartphone has the sound quality I can get from my stereo. I don't even care if its worse than my last phone as long as it's Good Enough.
The fact that a 2019 flagship phone cannot deliver audio fidelity as good as a 2014 (or 2009) model is absurd.
Why is it absurd? I don't really agree that audio quality has meaningfully diminished but let's stipulate for the sake of argument that you are right and it has. If the people buying that phone don't care (and the evidence seems to be that they don't) then why should the manufacturer of that phone care? Why should they spend extra money putting in capabilities that isn't going to result in them selling more units?
Honestly this is why I think phone makers should make a phone with some base capabilities and then make an interface for a case where people can add capabilities they care about. I would like more battery and a better camera. You would like better sound quality and probably a 3.5mm jack. So make cases that give you top tier audio and give me a good camera and we are both happy instead of having this one size fits all phone that nobody is entirely pleased with.
Well, we can't really say that. iPhone sales have been coming in under Apple expectations lately, which is part of the reason their stock has taken such a beating. Maybe the effect wasn't immediate, but it might be a lot bigger than we think.
The reason iPhone sales are slowing is because A) They charged too much money and B) They barely changed anything from the last year's phone. I have an iPhone X and I would have considered upgrading but the new version is barely any different. Why would I spend $1000 for a phone barely different from the one in my pocket? They just didn't add enough value to make it worth it. Now that said they still are selling huge numbers of phones - the sales were under expectations but still huge by any objective standard.
It has NOTHING to do with the 3.5mm jack. Despite the loud protests of a few, most people genuinely don't give a shit and the evidence is the fact that Apple continues to sell tens of millions of phones. Their sales WENT UP after they removed the jack a few generations ago. Apple has never tried to be all things to all people and while some small few probably did switch to Android over the jack, most people shrugged and went about their lives. It's just not that big a deal to most of us.
Apple is in a unique position with lock-in though - if you don't like the absence of the 3.5mm jack your options are: don't upgrade your phone, or switch to Android or one of the other niche OSes, and lose all the apps you've invested in, and the nice integration with iTunes on your PC.
Umm, "nice integration with iTunes on your PC"? I don't know anyone who actually bothers with iTunes on a PC anymore. Everyone backs up to iCloud. The only reason I have fired up iTunes on my PC in the last several years was to rip a handful of CDs. Otherwise it's utterly useless to me. And frankly iTunes on the PC is a rather terrible piece of software.
If the 3.5mm jack is genuinely a deal breaker for you then you have some VERY peculiar requirements in a phone. Apple sells tens of millions of these things so clearly most people don't really give a shit that it is missing. The number of people who would actually switch over this "missing" feature is almost literally a rounding error. People value what they are willing to actually pay for and clearly the 3.5mm jack isn't a big issue for most.
3.5mm jacks have been the standard for 70 years
How long something was a standard is not a compelling argument to keep using it once there are more compelling options available. Technology has moved on with or without you. Multi-purpose modular connectors are where things are going (probably USB-C) and that's a net gain at the end of the day. On a device with a tight space and power budget, something as bulky (yes bulky) as a 3.5mm jack that only does one thing is a terrible design choice given that it's one job is rendered functionally redundant with both bluetooth and USB.
EVERYTHING works immediately and flawlessly with 3.5mm jacks
First off that is simply not true. I manufacture wire harnesses for a living and some of our products have used these jacks. I understand them better than most. They are not perfect, they are not flawless, they are comparatively bulky, and they are a one trick pony that doesn't even do it's one trick especially well. The only reason anyone gave a shit about them is because they were common. Think of it this way. Imagine that it didn't exist already. Do you think anyone would design it for a modern device? Of course not - people would crucify the company that tried to push such a limited single use connector and rightly so.
Bluetooth at least brings wireless functionality to the table - USB-C audio offers *nothing* for the typical consumer
USB-C offers innumerable functions OTHER than audio including power transmission, perfectly adequate sound plus other data transmission, a standard connector identical reducing the number of types of cables to carry, simplifies devices, and frees up space budget for other features. I'm baffled why you think plugging in headphones is the only feature that matters here. The 3.5mm jack does ONE job that is rendered redundant by at least two other technologies already on the device, takes up a lot of space to do it, and frankly is just a good technology whose time has passed. Let it go.