this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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On a recent post, there were a lot of comments, which said that they were missing the headphones on newer mobile devices.

How many actually use the headphone jack?

I ask, because I have one on my phone, since I really wanted one, but I rarely use it. Like Tops 1/Month.

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

I used to every day when I worked at a music shop and would play audio demos from it. The loss of the port made my job VERY difficult to do. Now that I work in a new field and have had to invest in some bluetooth earbuds, I don't find that I'd need the port very often, though the audiophile in me misses it sometimes, especially since bluetooth can be so unreliable sometimes. Don't miss the dangling cable, but the thing is, I can bluetooth earbud on a phone that has a 3.5mm jack too, the fact that they removed it from phones as a standard when it's such a cheap part to implement is baffling, especially when we're paying tons for phones. I can have 16gb RAM, and 8-cores, bud God forbid I want to be able to plug in a speaker and have my phone plugged into the charger at the same time, like a repurposed old phone for a home audio system or something.

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

I used to use it everyday on my old phone, new one doesn't have it and I hate using the dongle. My USB-C port is already wearing out from it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I use my ksc75 daily with the headphone jack.

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

I do. Every day. Decent headphones that block a lot of outside noise but don’t need a battery.

Constantly thankful that I don’t have to find a Bluetooth setup.

Contentious part is that I listen to high quality (generally lossless) ripped music. Bluetooth and some adapters do weird things with compression and you can really hear it.

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

I bought BT headphones to get rid of the cable when I'm outside. So now it's rare for me to use the headphone jack. Only when I use the cable headset for work or when I connect my phone to the stereo amp. So maybe once every other week.

[–] KiloGex 3 points 1 year ago

I bought wireless headphones about 4 years ago and haven't used wired since. Even when playing through speakers, in my car, and all that I just use Bluetooth.

[–] atrielienz 3 points 1 year ago

What headphone jack?

[–] Usernameblankface 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Very very rarely. I have a cheap Bluetooth adapter in my car, and I don't regularly use headphones because everyone I care about is immediately annoyed when they see headphones over/in my ears.

[–] linearchaos 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sunk into the Samsung ecosystem. When they stopped including a headphone jack on my phone I had to go and buy Bluetooth earbuds. I have a practically unused pair of Shure wired earbuds that are fantastic that I simply can't use.

[–] coffeebiscuit 3 points 1 year ago

There are USB-c to mini-Jack cables/dongles.

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

I use it a few times a month. I've got fantastic Bluetooth earbuds, but occasionally in zoom calls I'll switch from my PC to my phone on the fly, and the wired PC headset comes with me since it's got a nice microphone and noise cancelling. I can't imagine trying to switch quickly like this with Bluetooth!

I also tend to use wired headphones when commuting in busy areas (city train stations etc.) as Bluetooth falls apart in these conditions... dropouts piss me off. I listen to offline MP3s for the same reason.

I've gone without before - my last phone didn't have a headphone jack and I never bothered with the USBC dongle because it was a pain - but having the flexibility is more convenient.

I only upgrade every 4-5 years, so it makes it easier to find a newish phone that has a headphone jack. It frustrates me that new laptops still include headphone jacks, but most new phones don't. It's a stupid inconsistency.

[–] protput 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Tbh. I love my Samsung buds. I don't understand people complaining about the hassle of wireless. It is the wires that are always a hassle imo. My earbuds just pop out the case and are ready.

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

I used to, but now don't really care. Earbuds are really nice, except Bluetooth pairing is complete ass and you need to worry about it being charged.

[–] aDuckk 3 points 1 year ago

Used mine every day until that phone's screen stopped responding and at the time none of the otherwise decent phones with decent prices had a jack. Headphone jack will remain a consideration in my next phone purchase once this one dies.

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

I don't have one anymore. I did not want to get rid of it. The cons of a wire did not outweigh the BT pros for me. Now I know. Things don't sound as good. Don't sound bad but wired still has that edge.

[–] pbk 3 points 1 year ago

The last time I used it is about 10 years ago. Don’t miss it. Always hated the cables dangling around and pulling the headphones out of the ears. Wireless is just way more comfortable.

[–] scoops 3 points 1 year ago

Multiple times a day. I have a wired pair of nice pair of headphones at my desk at work. Using cable is the simplest way to switch between phone and computer. In the car 3.5mm, at the gym I have iems I like to use. The other times I find it valuable is plane travel with steam deck and phone easily swapping audio source for whatever I am I'm the mood for. On planes I use circum-aural with active noise canceling. At work I have on-ear. I have different headphones for different situations.

[–] JGrffn 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I use mine whenever I want to use my M50Xs. I tried buds, twice. Galaxy buds and Sony XM4s, the XM4s fell into a pool and the galaxy buds were simply misplaced. The galaxy buds sounded like absolute trash while the XM4 were actually decent, but why would I prefer them over the M50X? Now I'm switching from my note 9 to the pixel 8 pro and I don't know what I'll be doing about the lack of headphone jack.

My girlfriend has it even worse, her car only has AUX, no Bluetooth. I got her a Pixel 8 for Christmas, so she'll lose the only way to put music in her car. I also don't know what I'll be doing about that.

Honest take? We've got neural chips on our phones, we got cameras rivaling pro-level cameras, but we keep losing some very essential and basic features for no fucking reason. The headphone jack should've never been removed. Hell, the IR blaster should've never been removed, I'd kill for a high end phone with such things. Radio is another one, it's never going away as a means of communication, but fuck me for thinking I should have an antenna for radio in a box full of antennas for everything else, right?

Hey maybe I'm wrong about radio and it's just unfeasible to provide good quality signal for all things in a 6 inch box. Maybe I'm wrong about the IR blaster somehow even though TVs, LED stripes, and garage doors still use IR. But it's ridiculous to force no headphone jack as a trend that everyone just follows, all for pricier and shittier Bluetooth buds.

We used to be able to fit all this shit into phones back then, there's 0 reason to exclude them over size constraints now. If the reason is "butt fastah phowns", my 5 year old note 9 still feels more than snappy enough. Maybe we should spend more time making our shit efficient in order to use less space for heat dissipation, as well as better battery life or less battery size for the same battery life. Seriously who needs the kind of computing power found on phones nowadays? Is it really worth it to sacrifice basic QOL functionality for more speed?

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[–] Metans 3 points 1 year ago

Never for headphones, but I use an aux cable to connect to my amp and play along with music

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

If I had one, I would. I walked my kid to school recently and grabbed some wired ear buds for the walk back. I had to spend the walk back listening to boring nature and shit.

There is really no reason to not have one. It does not significantly increase the cost of the phone. The space saving excuse does not really hold water. If the Zenfone can fit one, then all the other gargantuan phones should be able to.

[–] ben_dover 3 points 1 year ago

another strong "yes" from me. my wired headset has much better speech quality than bluetooth ones. i didn't upgrade my phone since the new Pixels dropped the headphone jack, instead i fixed the screen and battery and keep it another couple of years

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Every day.

While I'm walking/commuting, I have my headphones in and am listening to something, be it music, podcasts, or audiobooks. Even on days I don't have anywhere to go I'll go on a walk for about an hour and will be listening to something the whole time. I'd buy a phone without a camera before I bought one without a headphone jack.

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

I do, I like that I don't have to worry about charging

[–] Linkerbaan 3 points 1 year ago

Bluetooth earbuds are everything younger me dreamed of when dealing with when taking a tangled wire mess out of my pocket.

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

Whenever I'm in the car I use it to plug my phone into the Aux port. I also like to play rhythm games on my phone and Bluetooth has too much of a delay.

[–] Agent641 3 points 1 year ago

I use it every day, to store valuable pocket lint and bits of dirt.

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

Every day as my headphones have a wire aswell as bluetooth. The latency is definitely there while the wire sounds fuller too. Im sure there difference would be mitigated with a more expensive pair of headphones but I also need to be battery concious with my 5 year old phone and bluetooth drains faster.

[–] Darcranium 3 points 1 year ago

I use mine 2x per week and despise Bluetooth for many of the reasons described in this thread by others

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

I've been using a phone without a headphone jack for 3 years now with galaxy buds, if i didn't accidentally break the included usbc headset id be using that instead (even on pc) but i did so now i use the headphone jack on my wireless xbox controller on pc (connected to my pc via usb because my motherboard's audio makes noises when the pc is basically doing anything and echoes my mic into my left ear on windows (not a toggle in software or anything but said problem goes away if i power cycle pc by psu and then boot into linux)) and on phone i get to deal with Bluetooth and if i did have a usbc headset again i wouldn't be able to use it and charge the phone in a practical way (wireless charging is an option but my phone discharges faster than it changes wired (when connected to pc), wireless charging is even slower)

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

I bought 2 different Bluetooth earphones that I ended up rarely ever using and instead use my standard quality cable headphones.

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

I have a headphone jack on my phone, I still use a USBC-aux dongle because it doesn't suck.

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

I bought the USB c to 3.5mm adapter to keep using the headphones I bought back in 2008.

[–] squirrelwithnut 3 points 1 year ago

My current phone (Pixel 8) and my previous phone (Pixel 3) don't have one. My previous phone before those had one but even then I never used it, because I've been using Bluetooth headphones for forever.

[–] MdRuckus 3 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I haven’t used wired headphones in about 8 years. Bluetooth all the way.

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[–] wazzupdog 3 points 1 year ago

At least a few times a week, or when a new album releases when I'm not at home.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Absolutely use it at least weekly. My partner has Bluetooth wireless earbuds and they are always a problem - dropping connection, short and inconsistent battery life, dying at inopportune times, etc. They don't seem to even notice these issues because they've used wireless for so long, but it always drove me nuts everytime I tried switching.

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[–] AgentGrimstone 3 points 1 year ago

Often enough to want it. I use it all the time in waiting rooms.

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