The woes of USB-C audio on mobile phones - and is the jack coming back?

[cybershot]

If anything. The future is phones with no ports at all. Two concepts e this week to be launched without a single port.

Meizu made a smartphone without any ports

Vivo's all-glass phone has no ports and a full-screen fingerprint reader

 

[skyscraper101]

If anything. The future is phones with no ports at all. Two concepts e this week to be launched without a single port.

Meizu made a smartphone without any ports

Vivo's all-glass phone has no ports and a full-screen fingerprint reader

Hmm.. an eSim only device and no front camera. Style over substance.

In theory I've nothing against eSims, but they are totally impractical unless your carrier supports it and you never need to swap out. I use various SIMs depending on which country I'm in and it just wouldn't be practical.

 

[editor]

If anything. The future is phones with no ports at all. Two concepts e this week to be launched without a single port.

Meizu made a smartphone without any ports

Vivo's all-glass phone has no ports and a full-screen fingerprint reader

Happily there's still high end phones coming up with the lovely jack where it should be, given the users the choice of using USB-C headphones, wireless or the traditional jack. Imagine! Putting the consumers first!

 

[Favelado]

My Sony WH-1000MX3 headphones use an USB -C charger and i've lost the fucker. Sony's official replacement partner want to charge me 38 euros for the cable which is crazy. I'm confused about whether I can use a different one or not. Sony seems to have various versions and I dont know which one will work.

Can anyone help me?

 

[skyscraper101]

My Sony WH-1000MX3 headphones use an USB -C charger and i've lost the fucker. Sony's official replacement partner want to charge me 38 euros for the cable which is crazy. I'm confused about whether I can use a different one or not. Sony seems to have various versions and I dont know which one will work.

Can anyone help me?

A standard USB-C charger? You can get cables for a couple of quid on eBay.

 

[Favelado]

A standard USB-C charger? You can get cables for a couple of quid on eBay.

I don't know if its a standard one or if they are different types. Im a bit lost
The Sony manual says to only use theirs and there are some random internet reports of other ones not working with the headphones.

What do you think?

 

[skyscraper101]

I don't know if its a standard one or if they are different types. Im a bit lost
The Sony manual says to only use theirs and there are some random internet reports of other ones not working with the headphones.

What do you think?

I'd take a punt for £2. €38 seems ridiculous but unsurprising of Sony trying to markup something because its 'own brand' - from my brief reading online it seems this may be a 'fast charger' but technically any standard USB-C should be fine. The techradar article seems to suggest so.

Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless Headphones review | TechRadar

 

[Favelado]

Very kind, thank you.

 

[skyscraper101]

Very kind, thank you.

Actually, don't buy from that link above (now removed), that was for the old model.

You want USB C not Micro USB - thats the difference between the MX2 and MX3 models.

Fast Samsung Galaxy S8 / S9+ Plus Type C USB-C Sync Charger Charging Cable 5055401753364 | eBay

 

[Favelado]

So we reckon it's bollocks that another brand of USB-C won't work then?

Cheers for the help Sky.

 

[rubbershoes]

So we reckon it's bollocks that another brand of USB-C won't work then?

Cheers for the help Sky.

I've bought several ebay USB c cables and they all work fine. If you get one and it's shit it's only cost you a couple of quid

 

[mauvais]

USB and indeed USB-C is a standard, which - as a minimum - means charging should work as standard.

You do want a charger of the right current rating (e.g. 2A) or higher. Lower would mean slow or no charging.

 

[Don Troooomp]

I'm pro jack.
The things work, you don't need adaptors, and headphones are easy and cheap (or easy and expensive if you like quality).
I use a wired headset for calling when I'm in the office - it's light and comfortable, and I can't find a btooth version that's any good. It never needs charging and I can use it while charging the phone without having to buy an adaptor.
I have 2 btooth headsets but they hardly gets used because you can never guarantee the battery won't die half way through a call - I have 10 calls scheduled for this week, each call expected to last 20 minutes, all one after the other.
I'm staying with wired.

My next phone is likely to be a Samsung Note 9, another phone with a headset.

 

[editor]

I'm pro jack.
The things work, you don't need adaptors, and headphones are easy and cheap (or easy and expensive if you like quality).
I use a wired headset for calling when I'm in the office - it's light and comfortable, and I can't find a btooth version that's any good. It never needs charging and I can use it while charging the phone without having to buy an adaptor.
I have 2 btooth headsets but they hardly gets used because you can never guarantee the battery won't die half way through a call - I have 10 calls scheduled for this week, each call expected to last 20 minutes, all one after the other.
I'm staying with wired.

My next phone is likely to be a Samsung Note 9, another phone with a headset.

The Samsung S10 is expected to come with a headphone jack as to do some of the other current flagship/mid-range phones. Unlimited headphone power!

 

[dervish]

I have a headphone jack in my V30 (with it's super-duper quad bit DAC), I use bluetooth headphones though. The sound is perfectly acceptable and I love the convenience of it, not having wires is so nice and easy. They have a three hour battery life and have only run out on my once, at the very end of a three hour coach trip.

I used to think that the headphone jack was an essential, it's a nice to have now, I would be perfectly happy without it and a usb converter in my bag for the rare occasion I needed it.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

What do you think?

I think don't go outside with them if it is too cold
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/...tooth-headphones/wh-1000xm3/articles/00206130

They look great btw Sony WH-1000XM3 Review – Easily the best noise-cancelling headphones

 

[Favelado]

Thanks for all the replies. I got a Samsung lead for a few euros here in Madrid and it is fine.

I think don't go outside with them if it is too cold
https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/...tooth-headphones/wh-1000xm3/articles/00206130

They look great btw Sony WH-1000XM3 Review – Easily the best noise-cancelling headphones

i haven't had a problem with them yet, although it might not have been below zero when I've worn them. Maybe close a couple of times but no issues. I have a pair of AKGs, which aren't noise cancelling, but still have decent sound in case.

I am not poor in Spanish terms, but my modest salary and bank account means the Sony headphones are maybe the most expensive thing I own (really). I was doing 14 hour days for three months and bought them myself as a reward. I got the silvery-grey ones. They are fantastic. Good headphones pay for themselves as i think they genuinely increase the quality of your day to day life. I can study for my DELTA course in a cafe and not be bothered by people around me as much as well, as long as I put one of those sea-sound type things on very quietly.

Within a couple of years I think the technology will just block all ambient sound out completely. At the moment my Sony's cut out about 50% of it.

 

[NoXion]

If anything. The future is phones with no ports at all. Two concepts e this week to be launched without a single port.

Meizu made a smartphone without any ports

Vivo's all-glass phone has no ports and a full-screen fingerprint reader

Ugh. Fuck that noise. What's with this obsession manufacturers have with shifting everything from hardware onto software? Especially since software is much harder to fix, much easier to fuck up (whether by deliberate sabotage or just shitty programming), and shifts the balance of power further away from end-users and towards manufacturers and service providers, in an area where they already have an inherent advantage.

As of right now, I could take my phone to a technician who could easily fix the dodgy ports on my phone. But if I was relying solely on software interfaces and they were to fuck up, then it's much more likely that I would be forced to use "approved" vendors in order to get the problem fixed, at vastly inflated prices.

Of course, that's exactly why manufacturers are keen to peddle this kind of software-based chicanery. It makes them more money, it's got nothing to do with actually improving products for the end-user. Don't be fooled.

 

[mauvais]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. There's a near miss of an argument in somewhere there about proprietary vs. standardised, but that's about it.

Wireless charging is still hardware, for example. SIM cards were still software just with a hardware component. Forced wireless headphones are largely stupid but you never had the 'balance of power' with a 3.5mm socket, it still broke, and approved vendor or not, it probably stayed broken. Such is modern hardware.

 

[NoXion]

That doesn't make a lot of sense. There's a near miss of an argument in somewhere there about proprietary vs. standardised, but that's about it.

Wireless charging is still hardware, for example. SIM cards were still software just with a hardware component. Forced wireless headphones are largely stupid but you never had the 'balance of power' with a 3.5mm socket, it still broke, and approved vendor or not, it probably stayed broken. Such is modern hardware.

You need specific hardware in order for wireless charging to work, and I didn't mention it anyway so I don't even know why you're bringing it up - wireless hardware is not the same thing as shifting functions into software. You can swap out SIM cards - there's your freedom right there, and it's the hardware component that grants you that. A 3.5mm socket can be repaired or replaced, but good luck even getting the problem diagnosed if there's some kind of fuck-up when you're forced to rely solely on Bluetooth or some other wireless data transfer.

 

[mauvais]

You need specific hardware in order for wireless charging to work, and I didn't mention it anyway so I don't even know why you're bringing it up - wireless hardware is not the same thing as shifting functions into software.

The phones in the post you responded to have got rid of all ports, part of which is wlreless charging.

You can swap out SIM cards - there's your freedom right there, and it's the hardware component that grants you that.

You can theoretically switch with eSIM, which is a standard, but how that actually manifests itself in practice is yet to be seen. If it worked well then there would be a greater degree of freedom in, say, international roaming. You don't need anything physical to switch deals.

A 3.5mm socket can be repaired or replaced, but good luck even getting the problem diagnosed if there's some kind of fuck-up when you're forced to rely solely on Bluetooth or some other wireless data transfer.

Bluetooth should be more reliable than a hardware port, and it shouldn't be possible to degrade. That doesn't make it the better option, because 3.5mm has lots of practical user benefits, but hardware sockets on mobile devices are probably the most susceptible to damage, and now that hardware is usually a sealed unit, no easier to fix than any other part.

 

[editor]

If I had to have wireless earbuds then this rumoured feature would definitely ease the pain

In addition, there is a first picture showing the new Samsung Galaxy Buds wireless headphones in their carry case, which can be charged wirelessly from the Galaxy S10 (Plus).

Samsung Galaxy S10 & Galaxy S10 Plus: Offizielle Bilder (Update)

 

[dervish]

If I had to have wireless earbuds then this rumoured feature would definitely ease the pain


Samsung Galaxy S10 & Galaxy S10 Plus: Offizielle Bilder (Update)

Mine have a lovely little case that automatically charges them, I have to charge the case about once a fortnight. No pain involved.

 

[editor]

Mine have a lovely little case that automatically charges them, I have to charge the case about once a fortnight. No pain involved.

Another thing to drag along/forget when you're going off on a trip though.

 

[dervish]

Just like a pair of wired headphones.

 

[skyscraper101]

Rubbery ended earbuds. Not for me.

 

[editor]

Just like a pair of wired headphones.

Don't recall having to ever charge them or needing to bring along a special box just to make them work.

 

[dervish]

My wireless ones have never got tangled, caught in anything, or started to only work in one ear because the plug got bent.

 

[editor]

My wireless ones have never got tangled, caught in anything, or started to only work in one ear because the plug got bent.

You'll have the slow but inevitable run down of the battery's capacity to look forward to. And then you'll have to by another pair. No wonder the industry is pushing wireless earphones.

 

[dervish]

Yep, but I've had them 6 months, they are still going strong, when they die, which I don't think will happen for another 6 months minimum I can stand to spend another £25-£30 for another pair. They still don't get tangled in anything and they are way more convenient to use.