Flashback: the headphone jack has been around for over 100 years, still has a place on phones

15 March 2020
The simple 3.5mm plug is a jack of all trades, if you'll pardon the pun. It handles music and call, acts as an FM antenna and even a TV out port.

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • PZa
  • 16 Mar 2020

TimApple, 16 Mar 2020Headphone jack is gone and all of you have to accept it. It... moreIt's not the pass-through that is the problem. You can actually get some very good sounding audiophile dongles these days that beats the 3.5mm jack on the phone. It's just very inconvenient if you need a dongle to plug in some headphones, and you can't use a wired charger and listen to music at the same time.

    • L
    • Love the Community
    • Fv4
    • 16 Mar 2020

    [deleted post]Bruh, only you cared about this enough to give your own post 1 like. What people want is best of everything, not something segregated. Even beautiful looking flagships deserve much utility and modern features.

      Whoever said that people who stick to 3.5mm audio jack is someone who cannot embrace new tech definitely need to get their heads checked. I myself used to be a long-time wireless audio user, but it can never beat a simple yet robust wired audio jack. The fact that wireless audio possesses latency lag and battery life concern alongside software issues after device update made me abandoned the wireless ship altogether. There is just no f***ing way I would use a 3.5mm audio adapter that can break easily and have a short life span.

        • J
        • Justwannasaysomethin
        • s%R
        • 16 Mar 2020

        Its sad because the flagships and apple are killing it. 😭

          • T
          • TimApple
          • SXy
          • 16 Mar 2020

          Headphone jack is gone and all of you have to accept it. It's not even that big of a deal.

          Do you want low latency high quality connection? Just use USB C audio pass through and you get literally the same quality as via 3.5mm as it's the same signal. Use a passive adapter you still use the device's DAC as it's wired to the USB C. Don't want to carry an adapter with you always? Just glue or tape it and the problem disappears.

          There are also BT headphones which are very convenient to use and even though I have a phone with 3.5mm I'm mostly using BT headphones and only rarely connect my expensive over ear headphones because they're usually plugged into the PC.

          The disappearance of 3.5mm is literally a non-issue as long as the phone supports USB C audio passthrough and most phones support it with only a few exceptions like the Pixel lineup - no surprise there, Pixels are known for being a subpar devices on all fronts.

            • L
            • LolPhone
            • xZI
            • 16 Mar 2020

            Vegetaholic, 16 Mar 2020Thanks to Apple now, you het to waste 200 dollars,by purcha... moreI have to admit that AirPods are the most garbage headset alongside the Galaxy Buds.

            Those portable, wireless, Bluetooth-enabled headphone/earphones can get missing easily, battery life questionable, and their quality somewhat decent. Also costs way too much.

            I have both an iPhone and Samsung S and I've never touched those rubbish tiny things. Will still prefer a cabled earphone (not 3.5mm jack).

            My AKG-branded 3.5mm earphones in good condition already has buzzes when playing certain games. iPhone's solution is safer and they can add an extra stereo by removing the jack, but this is obtrusive when held landscape.

              • L
              • Love the Community
              • Fv4
              • 16 Mar 2020

              I should be okay with removing the headphone jack with two mandated requirements on a new flagship phone.

              1. Should have two USB-C ports that can do interchange for listening and charging. I want the ability to charge and listen through wires at the same time. Today's technology already alleviated the issues that caused this more than ten years ago.
              2. Design a better connector for 3.5mm to USB-C. I hate dongles. Samsung and everyone conditioned me to hate dongles in 2016 - 2018. I want it to look somewhat like a VGA to DVI Adapter but sleeker.

                Thanks to Apple now, you het to waste 200 dollars,by purchasing shitty wireless headsets, after that you need to waste another 1000 dollars or more for top end device. If this is what you call innovation and future progress, go f yourself with it. No one needs this kind future.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • Cpk
                  • 16 Mar 2020

                  Gil, 16 Mar 2020I dont know what is a downside for new phones to not having... moreWhat is the downside of having a jack? Or to put it in another what do you gain by removing it? If you have it you are still free to not use it and have wireless headphones if you want to. Whereas if they remove the jack they simply remove your ability to chose and FORCE you to buy expensive gadgets.

                    Anonymous, 16 Mar 2020Thanks for this very clear explanation. I was wondering wh... moredon't concern yourself bro even their older testing method was so wrong .if you want testing result between V60 and Xperia 1 II just check Juan bagnell 3.5mm testing when he have the review units

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • PZa
                      • 16 Mar 2020

                      taghack, 16 Mar 2020Hi, First off, thank you for voicing your concerns. We try... moreThanks for this very clear explanation. I was wondering why jack testing was dropped. Hope you can test the jacks of the Lg V60 and Sony I II given that they use it as a selling point.

                        Samath N8 808 owner, 16 Mar 2020I'm convinced that GSMArena staff are under some kind of in... moreHi,
                        First off, thank you for voicing your concerns. We try our best to monitor such things and address them. We would definitely like to make it clear that there is no "pressure" or conspiracy of any kind going on. GSMArena has always been and will always be impartial. Especially when it comes to the review process. The wired audio output test, in particular, just outgrew its usefulness on a couple of levels. We did publish a news article, announcing its retirement in a more formal matter and introducing our new and rather sophisticated speakerphone test - https://www.gsmarena.com/gsmarena_labs_new_loudspeaker_test-news-41789.php

                        To quote some of the explanation there:
                        "The wired headphones audio quality test, on the other hand, was rendered obsolete by a bunch of factors. Key among those is that phones have become so good that the difference between the best and the worst is measurable only with lab equipment. We updated the test to add headphones' resistance part to the equation, but still, the differences are so minimal so as not to matter. And this has been the case for several years now.

                        Your choice of headphones has a much bigger impact on the audio experience than the output of the phone.

                        Then there's the fact that fewer and fewer phones now come with a 3.5mm jack, so the importance of the external USB-C to 3.5mm adapters that you would use adds another unknown variable. The active dongles have their own DACs so the audio output barely depends on the phone itself."

                        That being said, if we do find the need to test the 3.5mm audio output on any particular phone, for one reason or anther, we definitely still have the capacity and willingness to do so. Hope this clears things up.

                          BliTTzZ, 16 Mar 2020How do you know? You own both devices? Xperia 1 II is not e... moreJust compare the dac provided by both companies and you'll get your answer.

                            • T
                            • Techie
                            • Q7f
                            • 16 Mar 2020

                            Moto Razr V3/V3i (older versions) were also having headsets connected to the phone via miniUSB, much earlier than that of HTC Dream.

                              Getting rid of jack was basically quick way to sell a lot of bt headphones and usb-jack dongles. On users side, besides paying more, you got a lot more trouble with charging and cable music playback at once or if you foget your usb-jack accessory you need every time if you want to use jack. And not deaf ones will want to use jack, as even mp3's sound better, forget flac...

                                Just for comparison purposes today's high quality BT codecs started to scratch the 17 bit limit (for instance LDAC in highest form 96KHz 24 bit tops at 98 dB at 990 KB/s bitrates but only achieved with LG and Sony handsets & on short distance) which is over 16 bit 96 dB limits & new antenna designs which separate it from SoC and give good amplification of signal do give a window of opportunity to achieve full CD quality & that's enough for most folks & applies to most digital music quality available today. But they are far from HiFi or what is achievable by wire (123 dB SINAD & absolutely no roll of up to 100 KHz [per channel] right now). Lo latency problem is solvable by using for instance Opus which isn't exactly lo complexity but designing almost real time ASIC decoder with very low power consumption wouldn't really be a problem while quality again wouldn't exactly be better than LDAC or similar as Opus is hard limited at 20 KHz. Note from Android 10 Opus is also part of Android media framework.

                                  AnonD-492870, 16 Mar 2020I'm for the most part an audiophile. OK. You mentioned h... moreWell all phone's for better or worse have DAC & will continue to do so with or without headaphone jack. What most of them lack is a deacent amplifier & even those with one are deliberately firmware limited like LG ThinQ series. DAC's such as those integrated in higher range of Qualcomm SoC's aren't in any way inferior to self stand DAC chips of other manufacturers but Android & even much more so iOS is. Today you can buy more than deacent USB DAC Amp for phone for some 40€ or less like Meizu HiFi Pro or TempoTec Sonata HD Pro to name a few, personally I am more for sell battery powerd one's as those eliminate good part of electronic interfere trogh power source. All do USB DAC will help you bypass OS limitations there's no rose garden there either as lots of things aren't standardised, there's very little apps that will actually do all right and Android USB digital audio V2 driver is still rather limited & not exactly top quality amongst other things. Why don't DAC Amp's in phones sound as good as USB portable one's or (great) DAP's & this not as good as desktop self stand one's? Simply because they aren't isolated properly and are prone (they all are) in picking in all kinds of electrical & magnetic interfaces. More place gives a better separation of components and lowers the interfaces simple as that. Solution? Thin layer of graphite film applied over IC's & silver plated interconnects (both internal and cable).

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 6wN
                                    • 16 Mar 2020

                                    WazzaG, 15 Mar 2020And because deaf sooner. And dead or injured sooner. Yes you're right. I have a budget Sony headphones. It is 5 years old but still works fine.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • vry
                                      • 16 Mar 2020

                                      Abhi-Darth-Plagueis, 16 Mar 2020yeah man! I blame apple for this. Bluetooth audio has be... moreAlso imagine being a self-proclaimed environmentalist while calling for total replacement of a wired standard with disposable hipster BT headsets.

                                        Flgshp2020, 16 Mar 2020LG V60 giving much better audio experience than garbage Xpe... moreHow do you know? You own both devices? Xperia 1 II is not even out yet.