this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2023
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Alternatively, if your current phone doesn't have a headphone jack, do you wish it did?

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[โ€“] small44@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (8 children)

Yes, I mostly use wireless earbuds but you never know when you have to use a wired earbuds like if you forget your case and your earbuds are out of charge.

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[โ€“] Harpsist@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Yes. Yes yes.

[โ€“] naqahdah@my.lserver.dev 10 points 2 years ago

I use a headphone jack when I'm looking for a particular listening experience, which I have amp / DAC / etc for. If I'm using my phone to listen, I'm both not worried about sound quality, and don't want to be tethered to it by a cord.

I suppose if I were really arsed about it, I'd just get a USBC dongle. That said, I can see where that would be a hassle for people that prefer wired, and I think I've held only a couple of phones in my life that couldn't have just accommodated a headphone jack instead of saving the 1.5 cents it probably costs to leave it out.

I'll admit, my initial decision to just use wireless was more from seeing the writing on the wall; airpods sales would need to basically evaporate to get most of the manufacturers to course change at this point. Hell, the phone I'm currently using is the first I've had in years that even came with a charging brick in the box, so I'm assuming ditching the cable is next, followed by microtransactions to use various built in apps and services... like the phone dialer. Need to keep them margins infinitely expanding to appease shareholders.

[โ€“] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

Sorry, no VPN voting allowed

[โ€“] lichtmetzger@feddit.de 9 points 2 years ago

I have excellent Bluetooth headphones that last multiple days on a single charge. You would think that makes the headphone jack just not important anymore. But I live in a neighborhood with a very satured frequency band which is so bad sometimes that the thing I'm listening to cuts out every few seconds.

Every time this happens I am so happy that I can just plug in a cable and I'm making sure this option will be available to me in future devices. Wireless is not always great.

[โ€“] Michal@programming.dev 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Wireless are more convenient for most use cases. I like the compactness of wireless earbuds, no tangled wires, and the charging case. I can even use just one bud at a time.

However, wired headphones have some advantages in rare use cases that wireless can't handle yet:

  • connecting two headsets at once so 2 people han watch a movie on a plane. Bluetooth can stream sound to only one device at a time (at least on android). With Jack you can just use a splitter
  • switching between devices easily. Just unplug and plug where you want it. With Bluetooth you have disconnect and reconnect.
  • you can easily plug it into aux without any pairing process, just plug and play. With rental cars i noticed the device memory is often full and i have to remove a device before pairing. Not as seamless as audio jack for once off uses.

I don't mind missing audio jack, but at least make usb c dongles interchangeable. Iirc you can't use the same dongles on samsung and Pixel device. I ordered one that did not work.

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[โ€“] ExLisper@linux.community 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I keep my bluetooth and location off so it easier and faster to just plug in headphones. For now I'm trying to get a phone with a jack. Hope they will keep making some.

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[โ€“] KindaLost@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

I was gifted a phone without a headphone jack after my last one died a few years back. I miss it all the time, remembering to charge bluetooth headphones and not losing bluetooth buds is tricky for me. So a lot of the time I just dont play music anymore. Very annoying.

[โ€“] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago (7 children)

I don't get it. This poll is largely in favor of jacks. I love my Bluetooth buds so much more. No more with I have to deal with broken wires. No more do I have to deal with moving my hand and accidentally snagging the cord, forcing my phone to the floor. No more do I have to deal with the cord creating noise as it rubs against the zipper of my jacket...

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[โ€“] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago

I use wireless headphones for everything, I have a Bluetooth to aux adapter for my car, and I still won't give up my headphone jack. It's so useful when the batteries in those things die, or when you hop in a friend's car and want to play something without fiddling with Bluetooth pairing.

I'm still mad that all these major manufacturers just blindly followed Apple and took it out.

[โ€“] jprjr@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I feel like every comment I'm reading assumes there's only two options - either headphone jack + wired headphones, or no headphone jack + Bluetooth.

I just use a USB-C dongle with a headphone jack on it. It'd be nice to have it built-in, sure, but the dongle is only a few bucks, small, doesn't really add a lot of extra stuff to carry if I'm already carrying headphones.

It's not a deal-breaker for my if a phone doesn't have a headphone jack because if it doesn't I can easily add one.

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[โ€“] BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago

i wish it had a headphone jack. bluetooth quality is not for me. i need direct connection

[โ€“] ThatsMrCharlieToYou@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (17 children)

I'm somewhat surprised by the result if I'm honest. I have switched to wireless and won't go back at all. I do understand the use case for those who want them too but I did not realise it was such a popular request in modern phones!

[โ€“] Fleppensteijn@feddit.nl 8 points 2 years ago

It sucks when headphones run out of battery, especially on a long trip

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[โ€“] eochaid@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No. Not at all.

Honestly, I hated the wire part of my wired headphones for years. I tend to listen to things while I'm doing chores around the house and I can't tell you the amount of times the cable caught on something and sent my earbuds or my phone careening to the floor. Or was forced to untangle myself from a door knob. Or forgot I had earbuds on and stood up from my desk only to throw my phone to the ground.

I went on a bit of a journey with bt headphones but eventually got a pair of Sony Linkbuds and a $30 Bluetooth thingy for my car that plugs into the aux jack, and never looked back. Every other day I plug the case in on my nightstand along with my phone. Nbd. Linkbuds don't have the best sound quality I've ever experienced in BT buds, but the comfort wins over all others.

I also recently got a pair of PineBuds Pro for $70 and man that battery case is legit. I only have to charge that beast once a week. Just waiting on someone to release a better sound profile for those things because they are BAASSSY. But beyond the bass, the potential sound quality is actually quite good. I'm looking forward to what the pine64 community does with these.

I'll also say that I have audiophile hearing (I've been tested) and I absolutely hear the difference in sound quality using BT and a good set of cans - when it comes to earbuds, the difference is negligible between wired and wireless. Given that 1. I'm more often listening to words than music from my phone and 2. The convenience, I'll go for wireless more often than not if given the option. Plus, outside of niche phones and defunct LG phones, I never saw a headphone jack that could properly drive a good set of cans. There are way more output devices I would choose over a phone to drive high quality audio.

That all said, do I think manufacturers should remove the headphone jack? No. Apple did it to sell more airpods. Everyone else did it to save a nickle on their costs. Just because I don't use it doesn't mean it should go away. If anything, there's an accessibility element. BT buds are expensive. USB-C / Lightning buds are expensive. Aux buds are cheap. And wired buds are the easiest and cheapest way for someone to get audio out of a phone or talk on the phobe without fucking holding it in the air to broadcast their conversation to the world. And for that reason, I think the jack should ABSOLUTELY come back.

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[โ€“] TechDiver@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

I use a Samsung galaxy note 9 which has a Jack because i want a Jack. I replaced the screen twice after it broke just not to buy a diff phone. Fyi note 10 comes without a Jack

[โ€“] willnever_fadeaway@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago

Yes, it goes well with my bluetooth/wired headphones, so even if the headphone's battery is low, I can still use it to listen to music.

[โ€“] cokane_88@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

I hate Bluetooth and refuse to use it whenever possible.

One plus nord CE 2 lite, 250 bucks, headphone jack And memory card.

[โ€“] vgfn@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Bluetooth has barely improved since it came out, wired audio is a solved problem.

It felt like a practical joke at first, but fr gimme my jack back.

[โ€“] Allan8795@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I only buy phones with headphone jack. But the way things are going,these greedy manufacturers will sooner or later make it obsolete. Just like the new shitty trend of selling phone without charger in the box.

[โ€“] lunicoDee@feddit.it 7 points 2 years ago

Had to sacrifice it to ne able to use grapheneos

[โ€“] InFerNo@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago

Yes, it just works. I use it daily.

[โ€“] drathvedro@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'd rather ditch the phone entirely than switch to one without a headphone jack. Too long to explain, but I have a thing against wireless, a thing against corporations making decisions for me, and a thing against phones in general.

[โ€“] Streptember@kbin.social 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm fine with the dongle because all I ever use the headphone jack for is for listening in my car (no bluetooth), so the dongle just stays on the end of the aux cord in my car.

No dongle would obviously be better, but it's a very minor inconvenience for me,

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[โ€“] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I have once owned wireless earbuds. It was cool to have free head, but I was too lazy to keep recharging them like every week or so. They finally died. Or at least the case did. I have replaced the charging chip in it, but it only extended the lifespan by a few weeks. It's now unable to charge both earbuds at once. Still, better than self-heating short-circuited case.

I just don't like them overall. Battery, latency, audio cuts after a bit of silence (power saving), and at the end, more waste.

I still use Bluetooth audio, but differently. With my laptop. When working on laptop, I have my earphones connected to it. But it is more convenient to play music on my phone, so I connect my phone to laptop for audio as well. In fact, I feel like the sound card in my laptop sounds a bit better than my phone, and with laptop I can use aptX HD.

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[โ€“] Lazylazycat@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I ended up getting Bluetooth headphones when I upgraded my Pixel. I deliberated over it for AGES.

Charging them is less annoying than I thought it would be (I bought my headphones in January and have only had to charge them about 4 times??) but it annoys me that you can't just plug them in and they work. Talking to anyone on the phone using them is terrible. Bluetooth cuts out sometimes, randomly. I miss my wired headphones :(

[โ€“] folkrav@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I'm in the minority that basically never needs one and is okay with using a USB-C dongle in those cases. But I don't mind phones having one, and perfectly understand the argument for keeping it. Form over function is definitely a factor in modern phone design.

[โ€“] Granixo@feddit.cl 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I use it, all the time.

Phones that lack a headphone jack or a microSD slot are worthless to me.

[โ€“] darkmatterstyx@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I've never had a need for the headphone jack, so I didn't care one way or another when they started dissappearing. But, I can definitely see how removing such a simple and cheap port from phones would be such an issue for a lot of people. No one should be forced into replacing accessories that work perfectly for no reason, just adds to all the damned e-waste already generated.

[โ€“] WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

I've managed to avoid giving up the headphone jack, using a Pixel 5a right now. Although when I eventually have to get my next phone I have a feeling there might not be many choices left with the headphone jack.

[โ€“] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago (8 children)

As someone who currently uses headphones throughout pretty much all his free time, yes I use wired whenever possible and my current phone was one I got because of the headphone jack. Last thing I want is to have to stop listening to whatever I'm listening to all because my bluetooth headphones need a charge.

Currently I'm stuck with a pair of shitty dollar store headphones, but they are so much better than the wireless ones I have because of just how long I can enjoy music, videos, etcetera, without needing to worry when my headphone battery needs charged. A headphone jack is extremely important to me.

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[โ€“] flashgnash@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

My phone doesn't have a headphone jack but even before they started disappearing I rarely used them anyway, much prefer wireless

I'm of the probably unpopular opinion around here that the less cables and IO I need the better, will often transfer large files over lan on WiFi rather than plug in because often in the time I've found a cable, plugged in, set the right USB mode, found the file on my phone's filesystem and transferred it the slightly longer wireless transfer would be done

Have a ThinkPad which has a ton of IO, but I think a couple thunderbolt/PD ports, a usb port and maybe an ethernet port if you do lots of fiddling with networking are plenty

Oh micro SD on the inside of phones too someone else made a point about that but that's more an upgradability/maintainability thing imo

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