There will be an improvement in audio support on Type-C USB connections which will decrease power demands, as USB Audio Device Class 3.0 specifications have just been announced. When compared to the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB audio is a power hog which will shorten the amount of time your battery will last on a phone or other mobile device but it seems that the USB-IF have been working to overcome this issue. Product manufacturers are looking forward to this as USB can be isolated from other internals far more effectively than the 3.5mm jack which would allow them to waterproof their devices.
Hopefully the new compliance testing regime brought about after the consequences of using a bad cable to charge your laptop will ensure we do not have any related problems with audio devices. The Register does remind us that Bluetooth 5 is yet to be commonly found on mobile devices and could offer yet another 3.5mm nail in the coffin.
"Hear that, children? That's the sound of another set of nails in the coffin of headphone jacks in mobile devices."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- BlackBerry throws in the towel on building its own smartphones @ The Inquirer
- Official: Windows 10 has hit the 400 million device mark @ The Register
- Microsoft makes massive changes to MCSE and MCSD @ The Register
This is fucked up,it gives
This is fucked up,it gives devise manufactures more money. that’s it. this is not a pro-consumer move.
Apple did this to improve their profit margin, that’s it. nothing more nothing less.
IMO, innovation needs to be
IMO, innovation needs to be in quotes.
imagine it in sarcastica sans
imagine it in sarcastica sans … quotes sometimes play havok with the link
Make more money from
Make more money from consumers to do something that already worked with no added benefits and even a few hindrances.
Oh yeah that’s going in the right direction… reminds me of public finances…
all phone makers need to do
all phone makers need to do is relocate the damn charging port to the top of the phone from the bottom.
You people are retarded! How
You people are retarded! How do you figure its all about making more money? Just use an adaptor! Clearly the few who have already commented know nothing about technology and evolving…being an engineer I feel its a needed move! And will not change anything, everything will still work that same, just leave the adaptor connected to your headphones, problem solved…for those who live with them connected to your head 24/7 that’s the real problem!
because yes, what the world
because yes, what the world needs are more dongles and adapaters
This whole comment should be
This whole comment should be in sarcastica sans. 🙂
Using “I’m an engineer”
Using “I’m an engineer” doesn’t make YOUR OPINION correct.
im 100% sure he is not an
im 100% sure he is not an Engineer. he just just stating it to make him self look like a “know it all”. in reality he is just a dumb sheep.
u r a disgrace for all
u r a disgrace for all engineers, u r the type of guy who took engineering to become a bank manager. please keep ur stupidity to ur self. every solution u just said are something an apple fanboy would say to make apple look better. do u even know how these dongles work?
engineering is not about changing shit for a sake of change.
You are like those VW
You are like those VW engineers, crooks one and all! The technology industry is the most corrupt industry in the history of the world! Tell Apple to plug their adaptor where the Sun don’t shine!
I’m an engineer and I
I’m an engineer and I disagree with you. What do you think of that, big boy?
(No subject)
I actually like this – not
I actually like this – not necessarily missing out on a 3.5mm phone jack, but the standardization of cables.
How nice would it be to have a standardized cable (e.g., USB type-C) for audio, power, and video, peripherals, etc.?
Sounds super convenient to me. Obviously the negatives are in the execution (i.e. apple removing the 3.5mm headphone jack for no reason other than to sell $160 bluetooth earbuds)
3.5mm AUX has been a cable
3.5mm AUX has been a cable standard for a long time. Why do you think everyone uses it. It’s Apple who isn’t conforming.
Hardly anybody uses their lightning cable for anything but charging. More overpriced crap with insane margins making money off the backs of people trying put rice in their bowls.
Yeah. It’s all Apple, it’s
Yeah. It’s all Apple, it’s not like Lenovorola already did it 2 months ago. But wait.. Let me try something!
The Floppy Disk drive has been a standard for a long time. Why do you think everyone uses it. It’s Apple who isn’t conforming.
Parallel Printer Port has been a cable standard for a long time. Why do you think everyone uses it. It’s Apple who isn’t conforming.
Integrated CD Readers has been a standard for a long time. Why do you think everyone uses it. It’s Apple who isn’t conforming.
VGA has been a cable standard for a long time. Why do you think everyone uses it. It’s Apple who isn’t conforming.
I think we are all getting the point.
As an audio person, I’m all for this change. Just need this to be a Standard, not with every phone making their own standard again. (See 2007-2010)
VGA connector was there for a
VGA connector was there for a long time too. There only sensible reason that we still use analogue audio is that the very old audio equipment is analogue only and is still used in many places.
I trust the audio companies more than phone manufacturers in terms of audio quality, I’ll be happy to get the same, very high audio quality on every device rather than experiencing crappy sound on some of them.
Also, people who are “trying to put rice in their bowls” are not your average Apple customers.
So, the “Audio Equipment”
So, the “Audio Equipment” makers use a ton of different connectors. In fact, most hardware makers of pro-audio gear have been switching TO 3.5 mm or 1/8inch connectors because of the popularity of Smartphones and consumer audio. In Pro Audio, we use 1/8in Aux, XLR, and RCA. And even upon that, the reason why the output remain Analog is because there is much more gear put between your input and output.
Heck, on PCs, most gamer gear don’t use 3.5mm either. They either use USB for a direct connection, or they have a separate digital connection with 3-5 3.5mm plugins. Home theater uses HDMI, Digital Optical, or RCA for input.
Basically, You’ve already been trusting your phone makers to define your Audio listening experience. It’s never changed because.. Why deal with the cost of replacing it? I mean, I even have a $250 pair of Studio grade headphones. And I have to use a dongle already, as the gear it normally plugs into is 1/4″ Aux.
So are they going to start
So are they going to start putting two lightning ports / USB on every device?
What about the people who want to charge and use their phone for listening to music at the same time?
Are they going to throw lightning connectors only on the iPad, ipod and so forth?
This was a stupid move. Stereo AUX was dead simple and Apple’s reasoning is hogwash.
Wireless charging could
Wireless charging could remedy that. I’m not particularly excited about the prospect of replacing a bunch of equipment or futzing around with another dongle.
Perhaps the future could involve replacing the 3.5mm jack.
It’s also old and kills the
It’s also old and kills the quality of the audio output as you’re subject to the Phone’s Internal DAC. Nobody other than HTC and LG care enough about audio to put a High Res Dac in a phone. Make it a standard Digital-Only port, I can decide that High-Res audio matters to me and get headphones with a great DAC. While others can make the decisions to listen to less detailed audio
I’ve yet to see a single set
I’ve yet to see a single set of headphones with even a passable DAC, yet alone a good one.
In my opinion, this is only
In my opinion, this is only acceptable if the device has TWO USB/Lightning connectors.
What if they used yet another
What if they used yet another adapter that splits the one port on the bottom into two? Then you could plug your adapter into and adapter and make things work that way.
It’s ugly, and it exists.
It’s ugly, and it exists. There are already adapters like that for iPhone 7.
Still, having two universal ports on the phone could bring much more than listening to music while charging.
I agree with this. Use
I agree with this. Use multiple universal ports that aren’t as deep.
It’s disturbing how many
It’s disturbing how many outfits have reported on this while completely failing to mention that not only does the USB Type-C specifications ALREADY accommodate analog passthrough over USB Type C as a standard method (P.175, Section A as of Rev. 1.1).
“When compared to the 3.5mm headphone jack, USB audio is a power hog which will shorten the amount of time your battery will last on a phone or other mobile device ”
Only if the outboard DAC & Amp combo is less power efficient than the inboard DAC & Amp inside the phone. Unless you’re doing something exceptionally silly, then the power difference will be negligible. If you’re using a long headphone cable, the power advantage may even lie with the outboard DAC & Amp: by putting it at the far end of the cable, the cable only needs to carry a low-level digital signal rather than the actual amplified driving current.
Great news: There has always
Great news: There has always been a DAC inside your phone to drive the speakers and the headphones. Now with the headphone jack removed, you’ll still have the one in the phone for the speakers AND you’ll have another one in the special cable somewhere to convert the digital audio signal pulled from the data/charging connector. Innovative!
I agree though, if this is the future we’re stuck with, maybe someone can actually make it so the overall net draw on the power source is LESS on a device without a headphone jack, but it’s already a bad sign that Apple took away a perfectly functional clicking button on their phone for a small touch screen below the touch screen that is always on waiting to measure an input similar to a fingertip clicking a passive button press. No, we’re screwed.
So, ummm … next step is
So, ummm … next step is getting rid of remaining analog devices, like speaker output and microphone input. That will help further water-proofing too. Seriously, who uses smart phone for making phone calls nowadays, and even holding it next to ear while doing so …?
/s
How is that Apple’s
How is that Apple’s innovation? Lenovo/Motorola did that months before apple did in the new moto z.