Editorial: Headphone jack vs. USB audio. Which is better?

27 June, 2016
Ever since the first rumors that popped up late last year that Apple will be dropping the headphone jack from its next iPhone, the tech world has gone into a tizzy.

Sort by:

  • K
  • Krish
  • Hkt
  • 13 Aug 2016

zodiacfml, 28 Jun 2016Right. When I bought my Sennheisser's, it was revelation. ... moreI completely agree with you. Whatever the technology, the ultimate judge of sound quality is our ear which relies heavily on a pair of faithful earphones. I have been using Soundmagic E10 for the last year. Working fine till now and quite enjoyable to. I plan on trying Sennheiser which I have not used before. Could you please let me the model which has impressed you.
Thanks and cheers.
Krish

    • Z
    • Zunguza
    • wMH
    • 20 Jul 2016

    On point. This will probably damage the USB port faster than when it is only used for Charging & transferring data.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • P%v
      • 02 Jul 2016

      The author failed to mention one major disadvantage of wireless headphones and that is, batteries maintenance. The hassle of monitoring battery level and then charging batteries on a regular basis is quite frustrating in my opinion which is just absent in wired headphones.

        • D
        • AnonD-375713
        • Pkp
        • 30 Jun 2016

        AnonD-554840, 30 Jun 2016Hi, Nice article and shown some light to understand layman... moreActually the author did mention this fact, that both a DAC and ADC (the inverse counterpart: analog - digital converter) is still needed inside the phone, just that this one will not handle the headphones playback. That's it. That's literally the only task it will not perform.
        Some phones actually have 2 DAC/amp chips inside themselves, one cheaper and simpler for the normal tasks like call and ringtone speakers, and the better quality one for the headphones. This 2nd would be moved to headphones. Basically no advantage at all, specially since that 2nd DAC that will now be on the headphones can (and probably will) be of way lower quality, unless you spend a lot on headphones.

          • J
          • Jai
          • 2Z7
          • 30 Jun 2016

          Very simple to understand and informative post!

            • D
            • AnonD-554840
            • uuS
            • 30 Jun 2016

            Hi,
            Nice article and shown some light to understand layman. as you mentioned ADC small ship will not be available on the phone and it will move with the headphone. This might correct. But basic question is that our handset also has speakers which require ADC to provide the analog output. If the phone doesn't have ADC ic inside, then how digital audio convert to analog and produce sound in the phone speakers. I think the author doesn't talk on that. It would be good to mention

              • D
              • AnonD-100398
              • 7ty
              • 30 Jun 2016

              AnonD-375713, 29 Jun 2016Yes, I know about the higher end sound formats supported no... moreYes even Sbc is a great format and is widely used in almost all devices with bluetooth and its still good however Aptx shows lots of improvements over Sbc and Aptx has also been around from i guess may be last 3 to 4 years and if i am not wrong however Aptx did not get that kind of awareness in consumers plus even the bluetooth Headsets OEM'S were also not that good to promote the Aptx feature and its benefits of there bluetooth headsets. & I guess the same will happen with Atex HD however what it shows that the technology does not stop advancing but for new improved tech one have to shell out extra money along with that one also need to know how to make use of it properly.

                • D
                • AnonD-375713
                • Pkp
                • 29 Jun 2016

                AnonD-100398, 29 Jun 2016Dude let me inform you bluetooth has improved a lot if comp... moreYes, I know about the higher end sound formats supported nowadays as well, I just mean that it's impressive how far the good old SBC was able to handle, this one is the same since about 10 years go, and this is what impressed me the most. Like, a mathematically lossless format is pretty obvious that will sound good, or a near lossless one like the 1st AptX (the non HD one), but the old SBC amazes with a new phone sending sound to it, it's like you're listening to uncompressed PCM data.

                  • M
                  • McW
                  • 9LA
                  • 29 Jun 2016

                  T-Dizzle, 28 Jun 2016I love the audio quality of my USB C earphones.Can you listen to music when charging the phone?

                    • A
                    • Alien
                    • ndn
                    • 29 Jun 2016

                    I know it's not on topic, but it is somewhat related. I used to have a Z200 from Sony Ericsson. I simply loved that phone. Hack, I'd buy it today if I could. After many years, I finally managed to get it's ringtones thanks to a guy on YouTube. But all the ringtones are in a *.mmf format.
                    I've tried more than 20 audio converters and players without any success to transform them to wav or any format my Android phone could play them.
                    I have found only one program that could play them called Yamaha MidRadio Player. The thing is that the program is in Japanese and my pc only translates question marks. :(
                    Is there anyone familiar with mmf formats willing to help me convert one ringtone please?

                      • D
                      • AnonD-554556
                      • b1X
                      • 29 Jun 2016

                      Wireless Bluetooth headphones as the only option? Great: One more thing needing a charge, needing us to keep track of the run time, which eventually degrades/diminishes.

                        • D
                        • AnonD-100398
                        • g33
                        • 29 Jun 2016

                        Yes as far as the artical goes even i feel that removing 3.5mm jack is not a good idea as it allows music playback even while charging plus it also serves as FM radio anttena, can be used as a multiple functions functions or also a IR blaster with few tiny 3.5mm attachments available for cheap.

                        Plus the audio is already supported with usb 2.0 or Usb C ports .However I guess equalizing music like controlling bass and treble will be much more difficult with usb ports as there are lots of converters involved.however removing 3.5mm jack will be a bad move in any case.

                          • D
                          • AnonD-100398
                          • g33
                          • 29 Jun 2016

                          AnonD-375713, 29 Jun 2016Agreed, since the compressions pile up, it's not a matter o... moreDude let me inform you bluetooth has improved a lot if compaired to old times ,previously there were only few audio bt audio profiles like a2dp (sbc ) etc for audio but now a days there are more advanced audio profiles like Aptx ,Aptx HD however there is big misunderstanding that generaly people have abt bluetooth audio being infirior to cable .

                          1) for aptx or aptx hd to work flawlessly both the transmitter device and the reciever device needs to have aptx, aptx hd support (+you need to make sure you enable aptx or aptx hd support in some bluetooth headsets so make use of the technology) other wise it works with the old a2dp or sbc format as almost all bluetooth headsets for backward compitable and people think that its not work good as lossless without even knowing abt things i have mentioned.

                          2) Answer For guys who are blaming bluetooth headsets for charging requirement and that its not compitable with 3.5 mm is as follows
                          Although bluetooth headsets can work for almozt 15 to 20 hours with full battery (which can be charged again in a matter of 30 to 45 mins at max with a standred mico usb 2.0 ports you can also charge it with powerbanks if travelling) and full volume even then There are lots of bluetooth devices which already has 3.5 mm support just in case the battery runs out so you see there are both the options available.plus you can use features like pause,forward ,seek,next,volume control with voice calls over bluetooth .

                          3) important point . SOUND QUALITY- Although i like the sound quality of aptx support from my Note5 with my Sony MDR 10 RBT bluetooth headset which also supports Aptx the sound quality is actually better than the wired 3.5mm connections i have used in the past.

                          4) Future of bluetooth - It also looks much betters as Qualcomm has also introduced Aptx HD which is much more advanced and promises more better quality sound than the already better Aptx .The same bluetooth support is i guess given to only 1 phone for now and that is LG G5 ( go look at its specs) but it will be ONLY BE usefull if used with a bluetooth headset which supports the Aptx HD tech . and the bluetooth headset OEM needs to make sure they use that tech in there headphones and brand it properly for the users to be aware of it.

                          Only problem is that good quality,advanced and high res bluetooth headsets costs more but if you see it practically its still worth it.If you are serious about Wireless audio.

                            • D
                            • AnonD-554495
                            • TqN
                            • 29 Jun 2016

                            Wireless audio is not really an option. The problem is the streaming delay, that isn't taken care of by current standards. It's ok if you listen to music while walking, but if you watch a movie, the audio will be slightly out of sync. You can compensate for that with s/w of course, but what if you jump forward or play a game? - That can't be predicted, and it will take some time for the sound to arrive. Due to the packetized nature of digital communication, even digital cables will suffer from this to a small extent. If you have the dac near the source (in the phone) on a dedicated line instead of USB means you don't need to encode, packetize or mix the datastream.

                            Cables break all the time - putting the dac and amp into the cable will mean a lot more expensive cable or headphone. Also, you either need to provide power from the phone to the headphone - another 2 wires - the cable will be thicker as well. Or you can have a battery in the headphone/receiver, but that is extra weight.

                              • D
                              • AnonD-294887
                              • 0%A
                              • 29 Jun 2016

                              Good article. Your point about having to trust the DAC in the headphones with sound conversion is valid for Bluetooth headphones/receivers, too, however. I tried several, and most of them sounded bad.

                              There is also an additional issue with Bluetooth: the quality of the driver and/or compatibility. Nothing ruins music more than dropouts. So far I had 3 phones and only one of them actually manages to play the music without dropouts.

                              As for wired vs wireless, I actually went a third route: wired headphones (ATH-M50x,150€) connected to a BT receiver (Samsung level link, 25€). That way I can have decent sound without paying the extra of having BT built-in, and can still go wireless for a little extra money. And when the battery dies, I can still switch to the 3.5mm jack.

                                • D
                                • AnonD-375713
                                • Pkp
                                • 29 Jun 2016

                                AnonD-553897, 27 Jun 2016AptX is a LOSSY codec, not lossless. The problem with Blue... moreAgreed, since the compressions pile up, it's not a matter of "this issue masks that other issue so it's the same" (Save for frequency cutoffs).
                                Almost any (actually I think the standard mandates that all) Bluetooth devices receive maximum bitrate audio, so it's up to the sending device. Having used Bluetooth devices since about 2009, I gotta say the hate for it's quality was quite deserved, and totally to be blamed on the phones sending. Nowadays any Android device (or Windows 10, dunno older versions) send at maximum bitrate, making it quite undistinguishable from lossless. It's pretty interesting that such old technology (it's like about 10 years old at least), could get better without being changed on the receiver side.

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-375713
                                  • Pkp
                                  • 29 Jun 2016

                                  AnonD-554197, 28 Jun 2016Can someone clarify?..Would the phones still have speakers ... moreThey can't totally ditch the DAC and ADC, otherwise no microphone and loudspearkers at all. They are really just getting rid of the connector, they'll still require a DAC and ADC inside the phone.

                                    • T
                                    • T-Dizzle
                                    • jdM
                                    • 28 Jun 2016

                                    I love the audio quality of my USB C earphones.

                                      • z
                                      • zodiacfml
                                      • Hxc
                                      • 28 Jun 2016

                                      mathew7, 28 Jun 2016Wireless audio is not the answer. I prefer having a 3ft. au... moreRight. When I bought my Sennheisser's, it was revelation.
                                      I was missing a lot when I listen to music using other means, like a cheaper earphone.
                                      Rarely, I almost get teary eyed when it becomes so beautiful to listen.

                                      Going back, this editorial needs an update. He missed one big piece of the story which is Type-C which allows analog audio where it uses a pair or something of wires for analog audio to work. Personally, I won't ever use this interface until there is an earphone with such quality and good price as my Sennheisser's.

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-4254
                                        • XNw
                                        • 28 Jun 2016

                                        Anonymous, 27 Jun 2016thank you for this article. there were some things i really... moreI mostly agree with your comment and insights. I'll like to add one thing.
                                        I think the noise that you mention from contact with clothes, objects, etc. in 3.5mm jack's audio, I'm sure its not electronic noise, or in any way related to signal quality.
                                        Its more likely just physical noise, the one caused due to frictional vibrations being transferred to your earphones, much like a Doctor's stethoscope which carries the heartbeats sound to the ear.

                                        I've used some tough cloth corded earphones, like the Mi earphone from Xiaomi, and I think they do not transfer physical noise too much, due to a tough cloth material being used, instead of hard rubber or plastic in others... You can try them once... :)

                                          2 of 8