The comments on this post are entirelly missing the point. Jesus christ lemmy. Yes, we know you like 3.5 mm jacks. That is not the point. The point is that FairPhone launched earphones with ANC with replaceable batteries. This is good!
Not when they’re twice the price is decent Sonys
We’re allowed to want both.
Well, my point is that we wouldn’t need wireless headphones if Fairphone still had a headphone jack
Counterpoints:
- Good IEM-s don’t really need ANC. If the silicone tip doesn’t isolate enough you can use foam tips that basically function like hearing protection earplugs.
- No battery is even better than replaceable battery.
- Wired IEM-s never get obsolete. At worst you’ll need to replace the silicone tips from time to time, or the cable and today even 20€ Chinese IEM-s have replaceable cables. With good care wired IEM-s can last decades.
So you basically said there’s no need for fair wired headphones because cheap 20€ chinese wired ones perfectly serve that market?
Even better that fairphone builds true wireless earbuds with all those fair features, because there is no alternative there already.
If you don’t think you need ANC you’ve never experienced good ANC, even the best passive noise isolation won’t quiet down the sound of a full cafeteria or bus.
No wired iems will never be obsolete, but I will just be leaving them at my desk where the downsides over wireless are less.
I’ve used passive noise isolation earbuds that work better than any ANC. This one time I took them off after a long flight, only to realize that a toddler was crying behind me.
Really happy to see replaceable batteries! It’s a wear item and guaranteed to brick your device after a number of years if they aren’t replaceable.
guaranteed to brick your device after a number of years
But what’s the number? Also, a battery not lasting all day is hardly bricking.
iPhone batteries are covered under warranty if they drop below - I think - 80% of original capacity. Using that as a benchmark, something between that and 50% is going to be frustrating for the average user. Perhaps frustrating enough to replace.
“Brick” caught me off guard too. When thinking about a product that can’t be used while simultaneously charging has a battery that’s nearly shot, though, it struck me as a fair description.
Do you not know that batteries stop being able to charge eventually?
Yeah. Eventually…
Lol
I think that’s an issue of semantics. If someone needs their device to last all day and it doesn’t anymore, then it is effectively bricked. Could one find a workaround to the issue? Oh probably, something as simple as lugging around a battery bank should do the trick, but ultimately users being able to just swap the battery in their device themselves isn’t a big ask. It gives a modicum of ownership back to the person who actually bought the device.
Which Bluetooth headphones last all day without topping up at all? I’m curious what a use case is that would require someone need them.
Nah I’m thinking of phones in this scenario. That said, both benefit from having user replaceable batteries.
Replaceable batteries are coming to the EU in general, at least for portable devices, via the EU Batteries Regulation, which is in force already and requires all portable batteries to be easily removable and replaceable by the end user from 2027
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They probably calculate cost saved by economy of scale, vs profit generated from planned obsolescence in other markets.
Might be more profitable to run different SKUs.
The EU is a relatively large market, and it wouldn’t make economic sense to develop and produce EU-specific devices. I’m pretty sure you’ll also be seeing replaceable batteries.
EU has single handedly done more to improve myself than my own government with this one law.
Damn, how much do you pay your government?
Low income American here, upwards of 24% of everything I make.
And every penny of it used to fund fresh boots for your neck.
Well I do like FDAs, and roads though. But I’d rather have healthcare as well, and I’d like way less of it to go toward it cops and wars. Mainly I want a lot more of the taxes coming from the billionaires.
more taxes from billionaires
Okay so look up the name of the guy who was point man for the business plot.
Look up his son’s and grandson’s names.
And then, after doing that; explain how that’s ever gonna happen.
I don’t believe the EU will make earbuds batteries serviceable. Phones and laptops, sure.
They got rid of the headphone jack for this PoS?
wireless charging is not supported
This is 2024, right? Heckling aside, I’ll look for the next release.
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I never understood wireless charging either, you still can’t move your device around (well if we ignore the fact you can move it around somewhat with a cable). It requires a charging pad too, so it also takes up more space.
for earbuds it’s useful as many modern phones can share their battery to wirelessly charge another device, so you can top up your earbuds off of your phone while you’re out somewhere and not need to lug around a charger and cable.
For wirelessly charging phones, I agree the pad style chargers defeat a lot of the point, but I am a fan of the dock-style wireless chargers. I have one at my desk and can just glance at my phone to see notifications, and I have to set my phone somewhere anyways, so this lets me top up my phone without really thinking about it.
That’s the only benefit I can think of, the reverse charging on phones (which is very slow). They could add that feature to the usb port though. I mean the dock thing sounds alright I guess, but I just plug my phone in, then it’s charging on desk and in hand and it only needs to be in for like 30 mins and it’s full charged.
Is their app open source?
Their website has a page that says they “embrace open source”
I couldn’t find the source code specifically for their app. Maybe this?
https://github.com/fairphone/android_device_fairphone_FP5
Honestly have no clue what I’m looking at there. There seems to be no iOS equivalent, so who knows.
Otherwise, their app permissions seem pretty reasonable:
• discover and pair nearby Bluetooth devices
• Access Bluetooth settings
• Pair with Bluetooth devices
• connect to paired Bluetooth devicesBut yeah, if no open source, that can definitely be a deal-breaker for the market they seem to be targeting.
This seems like part of their android os for FP5, TWRP is a common open source android recovery image: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWRP_(software)
Probably a attempt to open source the component they can, in the release note, they list the components that are not working.
FairPhone’s is not really the open source crowd though?
They proclaim to value open source and it seems they’ve tried to do some stuff in the past. I think software freedom is a natural conclusion of hardware repairability but it seems their priority is instead on being green and workers up the chain getting a fair pay.
If they launch a phone similar to zenphone 10. I’ll def buy it.
ASUS removed the ability to unlock or root their most recent phones. Not letting users run what they want on the device they own is a hard pass from me.
Wtf! Omg fuck these companies
At least the 10 never had the ability. The 9’s ability was yanked in the middle of its lifecycle. I was 🤏 close to buying a 9 on the 10’s release for a discount & I am so glad I opened a second tab to check what the unlock process would be like before a purchase only remembering not long after release the was an OmniROM version. Additionally I was wise enough to see thru the bullshit department (PR) that the feature would “soon return after maintenance” after the unlock servers had already been down for a couple months. Unsurprisingly they were never brought back online & the unlock app was revoked from the downloads page for the device.
Now I just wish that they would bring their phone to a US provider that is not T-Mobile. I can’t buy their phone until it runs on a network that I can use.
wat? you cannot buy the phone and then choose the provider yourself?
Yeah most phones in the us are locked to a network. Some of them are unlocked to certain network vendors but won’t work with others (for example if a phone works on Verizon its a near guarantee even if its an unlocked phone it won’t work on any other networks)
It is a pretty simple thing to look up the bands that the phone supports. All of the providers publish the bands that they work on. This is not difficult. This is a manufactured problem.
It’s true. Its not a coincidence the most hostile telecom (Verizon) is also the one that had a former CEO as chairman of the FCC during the Trump administration. It would be very easy for OEMs to introduce more multiband phones to the market but Verizon has some sweet licensing deals on their network brands.
It’s mega gross!
Can you not buy the phone and then get whatever sim you want?
Jesus your country is so messed up :(
here’s hoping the next Fairphone finally launches new in the US.
Really would love to finally use one.
They sell an official version with US antennas through Murena!
they sell the fairphone 4 not the 5. And while I’m not against e/os/, that’s kind of neat for me I think it’d be awesome if they sold the original model with android with all of Google Spyware lol
The bootloader is open so you could throw Fairphone’s Android on there no problem. I think they provide the files for that (didn’t check so don’t know for sure)
This is true. Hopefully they will soon sell the 5! I tossed lineageOS on mine, and have felt pleased with it.
Did you buy it from fairphone or are you saying you got the fairphone 4 with e/os/ from Mureno?
I bought the 4 from Mureno with e/os/ on it.
I’m curious what made you not like e/os/. I’m interested to try it if they do the fairphone 5
I didn’t have strong feelings about it, and had extensive experience with LineageOS. I just stuck with what I knew.
Wait, why don’t they launch in the U.S.?
I’m not sure, I assume due to the lock in to carrier stores in the US? Or just expenses of doing business. I can’t even order those earbuds to the US.
there is the fairphone 4 on Murena with e/os/ but they don’t even have fairphone 5 😭
The US market has three big gatekeepers named Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. They charge huge money to certify devices to work on their networks. No certification and phones won’t work properly for mission-critical stuff like VoLTE, VoWiFi, and in some cases 5G. Without these features, no-one will buy the phones.
You also need to be selling a big number of those phones to eat the cost of all that certification. And what do you know, the telcos operate the stores that sell the lion’s share of phones in the US market.
All that adds up to niche handsets only working on 1 or 2 of the telcos, or only partially, and only selling direct to consumer or on Amazon or Best Buy or wherever in negligible numbers.
And that’s why you can’t buy a Fairphone at retail in the US.
Ok i never understood this. But can i ask wtf is there a certification required for using volte or vowifi ( particulary VoLTE )?
It’s easy to forget that our pocket computers are also telephones, and thus emergency calling devices. These are regulated with good reason. The operator/their partners have to test the device on their network to ensure it is compliant and emergency calls can be made as expected; they also need to build the VoLTE/VoWiFi/IMS settings for that specific network into the handset’s software before it will work - VoLTE has many complications, it is not one size fits all. Accordingly, some operators allow BYOD, while others will only whitelist the specific hardware and software combination they have tested and signed off on.
So why exatcly 3g or 2g never had this problem. Also why is that then that i can use 4g internet but somewhow making a phone call on the same network is not allowed?
Over 2G and 3G, voice calls are circuit switched. VoLTE and VoNR are packet switched, over IP, VoIP. Totally different. VoLTE is not as standardised as it may seem from the outside whereas 2G and 3G voice calls were.
Internet access is not regulated as an emergency service.
Does the 5g have the same problems or did they improved it . Because right now that may be a collosal problem if my country ever wanted to turn off 2g ( which to be fair likely wont happen for a long time ).
Wired 3.5mm jack.
Hear me out. I don’t use Bluetooth headphones. They don’t last the commute and work day.
With a jack you can listen and charge you phone at the same time and never worry about charging your headphones/iem.
If I need to use Bluetooth for connection I still can but overall better battery life
With removable batteries, you can swap in a fresh pair. Not ideal, but a possibility now.
One thing sibling comments miss is how you can offer a jack & them, as a user, can still use whatever style you want & disregard the jack. It’s a cheap part that takes up some volume but not enough to force an entire redesign. But when manufacturers remove the jack, you are forced users into consuming either the wireless earbuds (that they all ‘conveniently’ sell branded) or cosuming a dongle which takes up the one charging port, are unruly in a way that puts additional stress on the port & make the wires hang awkwardly. Almost all other gear with audio that isn’t a modern smartphone includes the jack which means you can’t bring your existing gear—or it starts prompting every apparatus to start adding Bluetooth capabilities which includes the latency, flakiness, slow pairing but also the security & fingerprinting issues of keeping devices with Bluetooth always on in the first place. Even with replaceable batteries, you still need microcontrollers & firmware delivery.
That is to say, if Fairphone cared about sustainability, they can offer a better earbud on repairability (pressing doubt on the frequency-response curve tho), but they should still be offering a jack on their phones since wired headphones/IEMs are a more sustainable (& private & secure) personal audio option.
If you add a 3,5mm jack to those small earbuds, there definitely won’t be any space for a battery. It’s one or the other.
I think he meant having the 3,5 mm jack in a phone.
I’d give up the space of a battery for a jack, yes
The buds don’t need a jack. Just the lead that connects to the phone or whatever. That takes no real space.
Just to be pedantic; a battery is significantly larger than 2 tiny wires of copper. The battery is almost 50% of the volume in the earbud.
Which ones are you referring to? What’s is your actual use time, like 8+ hours a day without charging? I use cheap generic MPOW ones I got for $40 and they easily last me at least 2 days
fun edit:
With a jack you can listen and charge you phone at the same time
With wireless headphones you can also charge your phone and listen at the same time
But any reason to prefer wireless is sort of moot because having a 3.5mm jack doesn’t preclude a wireless headphone feature.
With wireless headphones you can also charge your phone and listen at the same time
Yes, but that’s not the point. The point is that if I want to use wired headphones, I can’t charge my phone. Something I was able to do before, and now it’s a “privilege” for wireless users. It’s bullshit.
Problem solving: 2 in 1 Samsung USB Type C to 3.5mm Headphone and Charger Adapter for Galaxy S23/S22/S21/S24,60W PD USB C to Aux Audio Jack Dongle Cable Android Phone Fast Charging Cord for iPhone 15,Google Pixel 8/7a https://a.co/d/6dewjjB
JFC y’all are dumb. Just get a goddamn splitter. It’s not “privilege” that you get to keep using lead paint in your house, when you can do the same thing without the drawbacks or the lead.
It’s not “privilege” that you get to keep using lead paint in your house, when you can do the same thing without the drawbacks or the lead.
What a weak ass analogy. A mini-jack doesn’t harm anybody.
How can you say that! It harms the shareholders of wireless earphones manufacturers!
What phone do you have where you can’t charge it and use wired headphones?!
I might be out of the loop lol. Is that an iPhone thing? I use android.
I don’t own one. I had to buy one without a phone jack out of necessity (needed a phone right that second), but that’s what I’ve been hearing. You need a dongle to connect your wired earbuds, and while you’re using the dongle, you can’t charge your phone.
Has this changed?
You can buy a USB-C splitter or replace your current dongle with one that gives you the exact ports you want.
For example, the Belkin Rockstar is USB-C to USB-C+3.5mm jack. It’s $40 but there are a ton of cheaper options - JSAUX has a few for $15 or so on Amazon, and there are other no-name branded versions out there for around $10ish.
So… I was more referring to a 3.5mm jack on the phone.
Commute time is a little over 2hours each way. Office use is 6-8 hours. Listening + calls and needing a microphone.
Would rather not to have to do the dance for multiple devices and chargers vs just one and a single usb input.
Some of the bushes and trains have a usb but you have to get lucky and then decide what needs charging more…the phone or the buds.
Give me a wired option any day. Also used less battery power and sounds better.
Unrelated, but how do you tolerate that length of commute every day? I’d last 3 days before either looking for a new job or a new house.
Well… It’s not a commute that I need to do every day. Also I can (to some extent) work on that commute as the majority of it is on an inter-urban train. Timeboxing tasks to 30 mins or an hour can be quite productive. That said, having decent music and or noise blocking configured for your environment helps a lot. I highly recommend these guys - I have their full app and being able to dial just the right frequencies to deal with whatever is bugging you is amazing…
That said, without my device and quality headphones/iem I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it.
Please, just give us back the headphone jacks!
Or let us amputate the legs of techbros (they’re obsolete in the world of cars and electric wheelchairs).
(Downvotes incomming) People still use wired headphones? It’s a very small market these days and Lemmy users are simply bubbled power users
I mean for working out and on the go I use Bluetooth ear buds.
But damn do I sometimes wish I still had a headphone jack on my phone. Like just grabbing my nice pair of open ear headphones, throwing down on the couch and listening to music for example.
And of course I always had backup wired ear buds with me, just in case the battery ran out.
But eh, I can live without the headphone jack, now I just wish they would have used the space for a bigger battery.
I still have 200 euro wired in ear headphones that are my favorite pair so I need to 3,5mm port. But I never got the loud commotion over the disappearance of the port, because you can easily use a 3,5mm to USB-c cable. Having said that,I do still appreciate such a port in my phone because sometimes I forget to take the cable with me or I lose it.
no one uses wired headphones until they suddenly really wish they had wired headphones
Exactly how I bought mine. Only pair I could find in my house were insufferably cheap and hurt to use. Realized I could get a very decent wired pair for like $20. Love those things now
The low-end Chinese IEMs from the likes of MOONDROP, TRUTHEAR, etc. in that $20 range are surprisingly good if anyone is interested in picking up a spare.
I ended up getting a CCA CRA pair, and they’re surprisingly good too. Currently $22 for a pair with a mic. It was either those, or MOONDROP, but I think either of them would be well worth the 20 bucks
Well, I do.
Some devices cannot use Bluetooth audio devices, or it’s buggy or laggy af. I don’t mind wireless buds for the gym, but they sound worse and die before a flight across the US is complete. Wired headsets so don’t have to be charged, or if they do have ANC, its usually a replacable battery instead of a rechargeable battery.
I dunno if it’s just my Fold 4, but when I ride the train or visit an apartment, I get bombarded by pairing requests from Bose headphones and other bluetooth devices like home speakers. It’s probably some setting that Samsung quietly flipped on in a recent patch, but it’s really annoying. Fuck off, 𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚎’𝚜 𝙱𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚀𝚞𝚒𝚎𝚝𝙲𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝 𝟺𝟻 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚜, I don’t need pairing notifications every 10 seconds.
I use both wireless and wired, depending on what I’m doing. The earbuds fall out when I’m exercising, but have better call-quality because of the noise canceling.
And I use wired for chatting, when playing games with friends on playstation. And I still have an ipod I use occasionally… so I just kinda have both.
I prefer to have a headphone jack on my phone, but I have a dongle adapter for usb-c, if I want to use my wired ones. I would just prefer not to use the adapter if I didn’t need to, because I’ve already had issues with my phone’s charging port trying to crap-out on me. The charging port isn’t as robust, and you do lose some quality with the dongle. I deal with it just fine; but a headphone jack on a phone might tip me towards purchasing that one, if I were looking to buy a new phone. It depends for me, but it’s not the end of the world, just an inconvenience that could easily be avoided
Yep. Lots.
Less than you think
Probably not. I’m curious about actual number and not just anecdotes though.
Nah I like em because I’m paranoid. I had paranoiac family who weren’t power users who behaved similarly at the dawn of this shit.
There’s no way I’m spending a lot on a headphone I need to toss in the garbage when the battery becomes useless.
Nobody knows what they’re missing out on after the early mp3 era conditioned people to be used to shitty audio quality.
As a DJ and audiophile in general, yeah I’m not thrilled on headphones using batteries and Bluetooth. I’ll give up my hard-line when I’m dead.
Sure, some wireless for exercise or casual use is fine. Full deal breaker if I’m performing though.
You’re doing DJ performance from a phone?
I’m not a DJ, but I can listen to high end audio from 3.5mm, even a phone, and you just can’t over Bluetooth. Its lossy janky and barely a standard.
There is also the latency if you are playing games with audio cues.
Oh. Oh god ive never even tried that. That sounds horrible.
Rhythm game enthusiast use wired headphones & kernel+pipewire settings to further reduce latency—as do musicians for recording on playback. Pro gamers use wired peripherals too for inputs & some even go analog for monitors for lower latency. Is it a stretch to say “wireless” is shorthand for “casual”? 🤔
AptX over Bluetooth is lossless and has been available since 2016. Android only though.
My experience of Bluetooth has always been settings that I can’t change, security issues, and devices that run different implementations on both ends. See ‘barely a standard’, even when the box for each reads the same standard number.
Which is why I’m so reluctant to call it a standard; it isnt standardized.
No, it isn’t. It just has higher bitrates, but still not enough for lossless.
If that’s true it seems like the name is fooling people
Towards the end of my DJ’ing career, I was to the point of showing up to a venue (that had an existing sound system) on my motorcycle with my controller, headphones, microphone (that didn’t smell like beer breath) and laptop in a backpack. I’d just plug in and go. But even then the idea of DJ’ing from just a phone or tablet seemed weird to me. I understood the appeal of it but…
The sticking point for most people is stereo. When you throw on AC/DC, you expect to hear the guitar out of the just one speaker but when DJ’ing a large room that doesn’t work. Half the room hears the guitar and the other half just hears high hat. So you end up flipping the mono switch, ya know, just for that one song. Then eventually you’ve done three gigs in a row and realize that it’s been mono the whole time and no-one noticed, not even you.
Headphones jacks have two audio out channels. We typically think of them as left and right, but they aren’t, that’s just how most people use them. Once you get past the mono idea, you realize you have two distinct audio outputs on your phone or tablet. If the music software can do the mono summing instead of the mixer, then then you can hook the “left” output cable to mixer ch 1, and the “right” to ch 2. Make sure the same output of the mixer goes to both speakers and you’re in business. You just need dj’ing software that can play two different songs at the same time on your phone and interface with a controller, probably via bluetooth.
Now you can show up to a party with just your phone that you were already carrying anyway, plug in to their controller, and make a surprise appearance.
It still weirds me out, but modern phones have the horsepower to do this. They certainly don’t have the disk space for a terabyte library, so you aren’t going to work a six hour wedding with an iphone, but there are TB SD cards so certain Androids could certainly do this.
There’s probably also software that will do everything over bluetooth so a completely wireless phone could work.
I’ve been out of the game for over a decade. I can’t imagine how far the controllers and software have come and don’t want to find out because I’m sure my poor wallet can’t handle it.
I agree modern phones have the horsepower to do a full on audio production; how does a 3.5mm jack help in this setup that a multi-bus USB-C DAC or mixer can’t do a better job than a driver that’s confined to 5mm of space?
Excellent points, appreciate the write up. Better said than I could myself.
I will also note that in my personal experience phone was more of a hail mary when I’d be doing like a wedding reception or private party and needed a tune for client that wasn’t already in my USBs. When the tip depends on it, yes, I absolutely DJ with the phone.
For a while, youtube was a life saver for new songs.
Nowadays there is an earbuds with USB C wireless adapter like Anker Soundcore P10 or JBL Quantum. that is good and no pairing
Pretty sure the market would be bigger if manufacturers didn’t remove the feature in order to push to wireless.
What I like about them is not having a battery, meaning they have a lot less impact on the climate. And it isn’t needed when they are always connected to an other device with a battery that is less than 1m away.
I imagine phones no longer having headphone jacks isn’t helping the wired headphones market. I’d gladly use wired headphones if it meant I didn’t need to charge mine or worry about them dying on me. Aside from working out, it’s not like the wire is exactly in the way…
My 3.5mm AUX says hello
I have Samsung Bluetooth earbuds that I have had for a few years and they work great but I rarely use them. I rarely listen to music through headphones. If I were to buy a new pair I may consider that ones from Pine.
I’d much prefer a 3.5mm jack
They going to get all my business.
“I want my two dollars!”
> only support AAC and SBC codecs
> available for 149
Eh.
I had at least hoped for FastStream.
I mean even Sony didn’t get it working on my XM4s, I don’t know why people expect it from $150 earbuds.
Hang on, is THAT why call quality is abysmal with practically every bluetooth device?
Yes. and why it’s wildly complicated on Windows machines where you have an audio output device for headphones and for headset, and once something starts using the mic the output device itself changes.
So joining team chat in a game will either make audio sound horrible or break it entirely if you had specified the output device instead of using default device.
How in the fuck is bluetooth even a competing standard? If it’s “good enough” than so is SD video and VHS tapes.
Bluetooth turns twenty-six this year, maybe we’ll be closer to good integration once it hits it’s thirties.
There’s a lot of things that make the Bluetooth experience better… it’s just almost all focused on mobile phones, maybe apple laptops if you stay in their walled gardens, but definitely not stock windows.
I say stock because if you do use windows and want to use Bluetooth you can improve things with a third party driver https://www.bluetoothgoodies.com/a2dp/ it’s still not great but at least you can use better codecs than default
If you’re using earbuds then being a codec snob is kind of unnecessary tbh. And if you want quality, ethically made repairable electronics, they cost a premium. $150 is not wild.
Hard disagree that earbuds negate codec importance. I love open-back over-ears, but one of my best pairs of headphones are Moondrop IEMs, and I can hear differences in audio quality more noticeably on them than a lot of speakers. I very often plug them into a Bluetooth receiver for semi-wireless convenience, and I can absolutely hear the difference between LDAC and SBC.
However, yeah definitely agreed that $150 is fair for what’s being offered here. Limited codec support is common (if unfortunate) enough in similarly priced gear without the other benefits these bring, so I’d say it’s fair enough unless the drivers themselves are bad.
I meant to say wireless earbuds but yes you are correct
Bluetooth headphones are unusable for videos and games if they only support high latency codecs.
Then don’t use them for that or don’t buy them.
My most expensive earbuds were $75.
At $150, I’d rather buy multiple “lesser” ear buds and not worry about battery lifespan.
Then these aren’t for you and that’s fine. You don’t value what they offer, and you’re not obligated to buy them. Some of us do.
Sorry, what? They are obliged to buy them, if not today, they will be when their phone stops working and they have to buy a new one, because that won’t have a jack connector.
Except of course if they don’t use a smartphone.
In-ear phones have the potential of having the highest fidelity of all headphone types. So, no, being a “codec snob” is completely justified. Though I personally won’t be using BT phones before we get lossless connection as a standard. Wired are cheaper, last longer and have less environmental impact during production and after EOL.
In-ear phones have the potential of having the highest fidelity of all headphone types.
How so? Isn’t converting from digital to analog better than from digital to digital to analog?
Anti Commercial AI thingy
Nothing to do with ADA conversions (and digital-to-digital, eg SRC or bitdepth conversion, is completely transparent if done even remotely adequately). Small drivers close to eardrum with good seal just seem to be easier to manage when it comes to frequency response and distortion. Most open circumaural headphones, for example, seem to have deficiencies in lower end no matter the price.
Small drivers close to eardrum with good seal just seem to be easier to manage when it comes to frequency response and distortion.
Are you saying the length of the cable from my phone to my ears has an impact on audio quality?
Also, is there no loss when converting from the digital audio format to whatever bluetooth uses?
Most open circumaural headphones, for example, seem to have deficiencies in lower end no matter the price.
This seems unrelated to jack vs bluetooth.
Anti Commercial AI thingy
Are you saying the length of the cable from my phone to my ears has an impact on audio quality?
Why of course that is why OP only buys the finest MONSTER Vibranium-Plated Unobtanium-Engraved Analog Audiophile Cables.
No, they’re saying accurately reproducing sounds for people to listen to has much more to do with the vibrating membrane to eardrum interaction than anything that happens between the source material and the vibrating membrane.
Theoretically, yes. Practically, bluetooth has been way funkier than cable ever has for me. It drops, loses packets, and sometimes tries to catch up on whatever shit it was doing to suddenly have the audio sound like it’s fast forwarding. My ears aren’t the best, but that’s the kind of shit I do hear. Membranes can’t protect you from that.
Anti Commercial AI thingy
Turning your nose up at SBC isn’t being a codec snob; it’s having functioning ears.
And if you’re on Android, AAC is not well implemented compared to on iOS / MacOS. Maybe this has changed in the past couple years but it was immediately noticeable to me when I upgraded from the WH-1000XM3s to the XM4s, I could immediately tell that the audio was worse if they weren’t using LDAC. And these don’t have LDAC.
Unlike with competent compression codecs (mp3 vs AAC vs FLAC), where most people genuinely cannot tell the difference between a well-compressed song vs a lossless one, many people can immediately tell the difference between AptX and AAC or SBC on Android.
There are plenty of true wireless headphones out there that support LDAC or AptX for less than $100. It’s not surprising to me that people in their target audience would think $150 for something that sounds terrible to them isn’t reasonable.
If you’re using Bluetooth headphones it’s kind of moot anyway IME.
Running sbc at higher bitrates than default sound subjectively better than most existing codecs. I use 552 kbit/s regulary and it sound great. Unfortunately the support for higher sbc bitrates is terrible.
It’s not just about quality (AAC is perfectly fine quality-wise), it’s IMHO more about the extreme latency, and the fact that they have to to drop down to terrible-sounding HSP/HSP when using the microphone, since A2DP is monodirectional. Sucks that they don’t support LE Audio.
Starting to notice a trend with these “specialty” device companies, crap specs and high (relatively) prices.
The FP5, released last year has a SoC that performs worse than the Tensor. The TENSOR, a chip widely regarded as shitty, and can be had on a phone 200$ cheaper. :/
The high prices at least should be obvious, a product using fairly sourced components will always be more expensive.
fairly sourced components
Uses Qualcomm
Mmm, ok…
The workers literally get paid bonuses for each phone that gets made. The phone’s parts all get certified for sustainability. They need to find manufacturers willing to fulfill their requirements, for which they will obviously charge more.
I’m not saying that they’re for everyone or should be free from criticism. I personally decided against buying one due to the size, performance and camera. But if you’re complaining about a sustainable product costing more than a regular one, you’re missing the point and were never in the target audience in the first place.
Then don’t buy them and keep buying from less ethical sources. You’re not the target market for this. It’s fine.
Other’s make it cheaper because they don’t care about “fair”. How do you think cheap products become cheap? Think about it for a second.
Anti Commercial AI thingy
You can be “fair” and pricey, just put a better competitive SoC, rn it’s near budget tier for upper mid range money
And then they expect someone to use it for 10 years? LMAO, that thing is gonna be sluggish AF in another 1 or 2 tops, can’t imagine trying to use it in 10 lolol
You can be “fair” and pricey, just put a better competitive SoC, rn it’s near budget tier for upper mid range money
That’s the thing, fair SoC’s aren’t cheap because they aren’t available everywhere nor is a fair supply chain easy to setup. Do you think somebody just snapped their fingers or trusted the words written in a contract? "This supplier says they’re fair and ethical, so I’ll believe them 🤷 "
Who do you think has to verify suppliers claims? Do you think they are free? Do you think a manufacturer will simply throw out an unfair supplier to be ethical and fair if that meant loss of business or revenue?
Think about it from the extreme: are slaves cheaper than paid employees? Then continue the thoughts from there and the impacts they have on the cost and availability of products. Just walk through the logistics yourself and compare the cost of doing business ethically vs not. Maybe even write it down to get a better picture.
Anti Commercial AI thingy
Only 899,- and your first born kid. One could think it’s on purpose…
