this post was submitted on 04 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 87 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
[–] AngryCommieKender 2 points 1 month ago

Reminds me of the "therapy spider AI," in Questionable Content.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 month ago

Dual headphone jacks. You "hear" that, Fairphone‽

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)

Here's specs: https://liliputing.com/moondrop-miad-01-smartphone-with-hifi-audio-features-launches-globally-for-399/

Seems nice. I just wish it had removable battery, like phones used to, so I could carry a spare around, like I used to with Sony Ericsson W200i.
Also dedicated dual SIM + MicroSD instead of hybrid.

Just got an idea, the Galaxy Flip has 2 batteries. Small one, and large one. What if there was a small one built-in, and a larger swappable one. You could then hot-swap the batteries like with some ThinkPads (those with internal + external battery).

[–] cm0002 12 points 1 month ago

Oh look, a "specialty" android device with actual decent specs. Someday something like the Linux phone or fair phone or any of the other "specialty" phones to catch my attention over the years will get it together and do the same lol

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Awesome another decent phone outside of the big 3 that yet again doesn't support TMobile's bands. Just my luck...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fairphone has a removable battery pack, it's pretty handy.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago

But no headphone jack.

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[–] njaard 26 points 1 month ago

Man, this is looking really appealing:

  • Headphone jack!
  • Great global and US network support
  • "Honest" marketing of its cameras (lol!)
  • Huge :(

Now the only thing that's missing is if it's reasonably easily rootable, so I'll keep an eye on this phone.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

This is a neat explanation of the purpose of the other jack, in case anyone was wondering.

[–] iopq 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, but it's basically placebo if your headphone cable is of a normal length

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wouldn't say placebo. It's definitely doing something. I would say it's unnecessary in most environments, and probably definitely on a mobile phone. But to lift right out of the article:

You may be wondering if balanced audio is “higher quality” than unbalanced — the answer is no. Balanced cabling doesn't provide a better quality of sound than unbalanced cables. Audio source and the quality of materials in the actual cable's construction determine sound quality more than anything. However, balanced audio does a better job of eliminating noise, should it exist in your signal. In a case where extraneous noise is present, balanced audio will be clearer than unbalanced audio.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

I wouldn’t say placebo. It’s definitely doing something.

I would say this is still a placebo. Placebos always still do something. A sugar pill tastes sweet and modifies the sugar levels in your blood. The important questions are validity and effectiveness, not whether or not it does something.

Balanced audio will not eliminate noise in most of the circumstances where a headphone user hears noise. There are far more likely sources (the source file itself, DAC limitations, audio amp limitations, external sound from their environment, etc). It will help in some very specific circumstances, but that's like trying to sell snow chains to all car owners on the planet because you can claim that they improve traction.

If you do work in an environment where changing to balanced headphone signalling helps... why are you working with your head inside an RF hazard zone?

(From page): However, balanced audio does a better job of eliminating noise, should it exist in your signal. In a case where extraneous noise is present

Misleading.

Noise exists in all signals. Balanced audio only "does a better job" in circumstances other than what this product is being sold for. Discussing this at all gives it false merit anyway.

EDIT: Giving this some further thought: balanced and unbalanced signalling is mostly moot when you're an isolated device with one cable attached. From an RF standpoint you're not forming both halves of an antenna (dipole or monopole+ground). Electrically they both look extremely similar in this scenario. Your partially conductive human arms waving around will probably couple to RF noise better than the headphone cable.

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[–] Thteven 2 points 1 month ago

The practical reason people use balanced jacks is because they push more power which allows you to use headphones with lower sensitivity. I have a few pairs myself that would benefit from this, they have relatively low ohm ratings so the high impedance setting on my V60 doesn't get triggered when I plug them in and they are very quiet.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

2 headphone jacks is definitely a choice. I wonder if there's at least one use case for it in 2024 though

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's aimed strictly at audiophiles. The extra jack is a 4.4mm jack that's more common in things like DACs.

An example:

https://nobleaudio.com/products/dac-amp-with-4-4mm-pentaconn-output

Pair a phone like this with a pair of Sennheiser's and a bunch of FLAC files and you might have a really good time.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh so the jacks are different? Ok then. I thought the other sizes are dead or only used in niche $100k+ equipment

[–] NightAuthor 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No I’ve got a $70 usb/bluetooth DAC w 3.5 and 2.5 jacks

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

but not 4.4mm which is apparently what the specialty jack on this phone is

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Second sentence:

It has a 4.4mm headphone jack to go with the more conventional 3.5mm type.

4.4mm is for balanced audio output. This audience for this device is audiophiles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Well idk anything about audiophile stuff. I know I can't afford to even look at such tech lol

[–] sethadam1 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You'd be surprised. Plenty of great in ear monitors that are sub $100 and use balanced 4.4mm jacks.

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[–] Mango 15 points 1 month ago

Well dang. I'm getting it. I'll sacrifice a decent bit of CPU performance for a phone made with some principles and with the moon audio quality.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago

Of course it doesn't support band 71, which is the only 5G band I can get at home.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

ROG phones have this and a headphone jack.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (8 children)

They also fail the jerry rig durability test. They are very bulky too.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Kinda wild these weren’t really a thing. A lot of these DAP/DACs were already running Android & many folks don’t like carrying a second phone-sized device (my DAP is small on purpose for this… well & my previous phone didn’t haze microSD for extra storage). Was it something to do with complaince for the cell radios?

The big question mark to me would be if they open source those drivers & what not or make any required apps downloadable & sideloadable. I would make something like this my next device if I knew I could flash LineageOS for microG on it & not, you know, lose all the audio stuff that makes it special. A lot of these Chinese brands haven’t even done the bare minimum GPL v2 compliance of releasing their kernels so we would have to see on that front. The ability to control your software is just as important as repairing your hardware.

[–] Pilferjinx 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes. All I want from a phone is to be able to run a custom rom and have decent audio chips. I haven't been able to justify having a dedicated dap because I hate carrying more than is necessary.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

This is not so much as an edorsement or recommendation, but you might check out the DAPs by Shanling or Hidiz if you have coin to spare. They use Linux & don’t publish kernel mods, but they do have inexpensive, very small, lightweight options that may fit your needs. I have one & it has a place to have a dedicate device to not chew thru my phone’s battery as well as function as a high-quality USB DAC in scenarios where you don’t have a jack (like my old laptop) or the DAC is horrible (like in my dock for my laptop).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

A bit of excessive, I know, but I would love a 6.35mm jack, too.

[–] flubba86 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Personally I only use smartphones with dual XLR output and optical SPDIF.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Hahaha!! And I thought I was being excessive haha!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I love the phone despite the large size but can't get GPS working in apps

[–] ripcord 6 points 1 month ago (4 children)

That's ... a pretty significant issue.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

I would never be able to go anywhere

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