I’m no audiophile, but wired headsets still sound noticeably better since you’re avoiding the bluetooth real-time (data) compression. And you never have to worry about pairing or the batteries dying.
And you’re less likely to drop them, and, if you do, they’re easier to find.
3.5mm jacks have notably better audio quality, no latency, cheaper headphones at better fidelity, utility outside of audio, and, in enthusiast-level devices (like the last few years of LG phones) that have their own internal DACs and amps, can drive audiophile headphones in a way that Bluetooth can’t. My last three phones have all been made by LG for this reason, and will continue to be for as long as they’re the only ones who care about audio quality and not how many dongles they can sell.
I hate snagging wires on things, but there are two issues that keep me from transitioning to Bluetooth completely:
Most of the cheap bluetooth devices I’ve tried have a bizarre delay issue with spoken word. To my ears, it sounds as if nearly every first letter is dropped: “_t _s a _ruth _niversally __knowledged, _hat _ single _an in _ossession _f a _ood _ortune, _ust _e _n _ant _f _ _ife.” It’s so unpleasant.
Bluetooth (inherently?) has a tiny staticky background noise. It’s annoying at low volume on literally every BT device I’ve ever owned. Sometimes I want to listen at the very lowest volume setting. Can’t do that on BT.
Wait, there’s one more thing: I’m a two-phoner, and you just can’t beat wired for fast, easy device switching.
@UncleVinny Iiiiiii don’t think I’ve ever managed to sit through any Regency novels. I just needed a famous line with longer words than “_o _e _r _ot _o _e”.
I’m a holdout because I’m in a crawlspace under this bridge and the War of the Worlds has broken out and I could give a shit about headphones right now. Holdouts?! I’ll show you holdouts, motherfuckers.
@whogots No, that’s the opposite of how mine is. I have a long cord that comes out of my truck’s stereo and plugs into my phone. There’s no jack for that doohickey to plug into.
@Oldelvis Actually, I don’t need it. Because my phone has a headphone jack, my stereo sounds great when my phone is plugged into it, and bluetooth kinda sucks. So… yeah.
I’m “squarely” in the pro-jack world. I can appreciate the magic of the new fangled wireless thing right up until the charge is gone and I’m trapped on a long haul flight/drive/Disneyland line with dead sound producers. I’m not an audiophile but do love the cord, sound and comfort of my Bose headphones (bought on clearance for a decent price)
I have both, but use the wired headphones/earbuds mostly since my MP3 player doesn’t have BT. Generally this is when I am working in the yard and out of wifi range since my phone signal is a bit tenuous where I live. I thread the cord through the neck of my shirt and then out the bottom hem to connect to the Sansa player in my pocket to reduce the risk of snagging.
I do use the BT headphones (QFX set bought from meh…) sometimes when I am inside using the phone to listen to Pandora for instance. Used them extensively a couple of days ago while I was making applesauce and bourbon/peach jam to put up in jars. Saved me from getting wires tangled up in the pots and pans etc. and potentially burning myself.
Gonna probably spring for a set of these just to try them out. If they fit into my hearing protectors I may use them when I mow since sometimes the cord sticks to my skin if I get too sweaty and it tends to pull the earbuds out when I turn my head too far or reach across to get something etc. or occasionally will snag on a branch if I mow too close to the bushes…I’ll have to figure out a way to throw a BT signal to them… maybe put a range extender/access point in the shop to help cover the rest of the acre. But WTH… $15 is worth a try.
@chienfou So, yeah, short answer… it depends.
(since I rarely use my phone to make/receive calls, latency and/or voice quality are not a consideration)
@chienfou “Sansa player in my pocket”…yeah! I’ve got like 6 old Sansa’s. After I moved, found one that I hadn’t used since like 2012…and it still had a charge. Those things are indestructible.
@chienfou@eeterrific I use my ~10-year-old Sansa weekly. I’ve gone through several sets of wired earbuds, but the player still works great. I have a bunch of music on it (w/SD card) and usually just listen on shuffle play. Sometimes I use it for audio books (but not on shuffle ).
Like it says, “Everything you need, nothing you don’t.”
@chienfou@eeterrific@macromeh The old Sansa clips are great. The screen on mine died, though, after hundreds of hours of use.
Audiobook mode was great. You never accidentally tapped the “forward” button and skipped to the next hour+ long track. And having “lock” be a separate position on the power slider was a great idea.
Unfortunately, their new players are not nearly as good, nor as durable.
@chienfou@eeterrific@macromeh@mschuette I never even Rockboxed my standard clip. Too bad the Clip+ was well out of production when it finally died.
I still have my clip. I may take a crack at a screen replacement. I guess I don’t really have much to lose at this point.
@eeterrific@Limewater@macromeh@mschuette
I love my Clips as well. I actually had one stay out in the rain once and revived it by leaving in a jar of rice set on the dash of my car for a couple of days. Those things ROCK!
I use square to accept credit card transactions. Must have a headphone jack for that reason. There is a bluetooth POS version but I’m not spending thousands of dollars for that version of square and not lugging that around with me everywhere I go. The current square device fits easily into my pocket.
@mdjst5 Oh, does that mean I can use it on my Samsung Galaxy Note 9? It might be hard to believe but there are people that use non apple phones.
Besides, even if I had an iPhone, why should I be forced to pay $10 when my existing one still works just because phone manufacturers are trying to sell more bluetooth headphones by removing the headphone jack.
@mdjst5 This is the weirdest goddamn comment on this thread.
iPhones haven’t had 3.5mm jacks for what, 3 years? 4 years? So IF @cengland0 had an iPhone, then the lightning jack was already in use via the lightning-to-aux dongle. And that solution is working for them.
@narfcake Android is far too irrelevant for me to bother worrying about their corporate plots. The ditching of headphone jacks is nevertheless an unnecessary evil to force people to get airpods. Iphones would be equally functional with the headphone jack, but they must have more money to pay off the demons they accidentally summoned when concocting their nefarious plots.
Being a year or so into not having a headphone jack on my phone, I still semi-routinely (say a couple times a week) experience the impulse to plug headphones into it, half-forgetting that’s no longer possible. The lightning-headphone dongle is still in the wrong room about 90% of the time. I often miss the quality of the bigger headphones and the inline controls of the earbuds. It’s usually just a little bit too much bother to go find the dongle or adapter or whatever to plug the headphones into.
The AirPods are a saving grace, compared to every other Bluetooth option I’ve tried (except a FiiO dongle thingy that supports AAC). They’re the worst of all the wired headphones’ tradeoffs (no controls, too stupid-looking to be seen wearing, sound quality… acceptable), but they do nonetheless sound better than the wired EarPods and they’re maximally comfortable.
The batteries in my AirPods haven’t gotten longer-lasting. I still associate that sad noise with trying to play Super Mario on an NES as a kid. I hear it a lot–5 hours is on the high end of what you get out of them. It’s maybe half that on a phone call. At least they charge fast.
Not having wires is a good tradeoff… maybe half the time? I used to snag cords on things too often. Handles and such. So half the time not having a headphone jack is neither worse nor better.
Even if I didn’t have trouble finding one of most pairs, we have a puppy, who’s major focus is finding things we want kept usable, and chewing them. I can buy wired headphones for under $10, I can get replacement foamies cheaper than that.
Advantages of wired headphones:
Advantages of wireless headphones:
I’m no audiophile, but wired headsets still sound noticeably better since you’re avoiding the bluetooth real-time (data) compression. And you never have to worry about pairing or the batteries dying.
And you’re less likely to drop them, and, if you do, they’re easier to find.
All my devices have headphone jacks and none of my headphones have bluetooth, so…
@awk
Oh wait…that’s me
I have both. It just depend on the situation
When the gummint comes to take your radio away, your jack will be all that you have left.
@phendrick FIFY
No audio latency, no batteries, higher audio quality (?), I’ve invested in a nice set of wired headphones
3.5mm jacks have notably better audio quality, no latency, cheaper headphones at better fidelity, utility outside of audio, and, in enthusiast-level devices (like the last few years of LG phones) that have their own internal DACs and amps, can drive audiophile headphones in a way that Bluetooth can’t. My last three phones have all been made by LG for this reason, and will continue to be for as long as they’re the only ones who care about audio quality and not how many dongles they can sell.
Bluetooth delay is so great. I just love talking over the other person.
I hate snagging wires on things, but there are two issues that keep me from transitioning to Bluetooth completely:
Most of the cheap bluetooth devices I’ve tried have a bizarre delay issue with spoken word. To my ears, it sounds as if nearly every first letter is dropped: “_t _s a _ruth _niversally __knowledged, _hat _ single _an in _ossession _f a _ood _ortune, _ust _e _n _ant _f _ _ife.” It’s so unpleasant.
Bluetooth (inherently?) has a tiny staticky background noise. It’s annoying at low volume on literally every BT device I’ve ever owned. Sometimes I want to listen at the very lowest volume setting. Can’t do that on BT.
Wait, there’s one more thing: I’m a two-phoner, and you just can’t beat wired for fast, easy device switching.
@whogots If you’ve read a lot of Jane Austen you should be prepared for a little unpleasantness.
@UncleVinny Iiiiiii don’t think I’ve ever managed to sit through any Regency novels. I just needed a famous line with longer words than “_o _e _r _ot _o _e”.
I’m a holdout because I’m in a crawlspace under this bridge and the War of the Worlds has broken out and I could give a shit about headphones right now. Holdouts?! I’ll show you holdouts, motherfuckers.
@UncleVinny @carl669
Somebody needs to keep counting fucks if mediocrebot doesn’t give a fuck any more.
Fewer dropouts, better sound.
@2many2no Fewer.
What kind of cockamamie wires are you pluggin, son?!
My truck stereo is too old to have bluetooth, so I have to use the aux cord. Can’t do that with no jack.
@Pony Sure you can.
https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Bluetooth-Receiver-Microphone-Streaming/dp/B013QJ0W8Q
@whogots No, that’s the opposite of how mine is. I have a long cord that comes out of my truck’s stereo and plugs into my phone. There’s no jack for that doohickey to plug into.
@Pony Then this is what you need. This has a place to plug into your jack https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075WSFTTV/ref=sspa_dk_detail_8?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B075WSFTTV&pd_rd_w=l5g6e&pf_rd_p=c83c55b0-5d97-454a-a592-a891098a9709&pd_rd_wg=Hb36q&pf_rd_r=X17VC3PARA663GKYDCKG&pd_rd_r=67afb10c-f33a-4776-b3dc-98c18604c916&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNUQ0S0M5T1dBMkMwJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzAwMzI3MU9ZVVNNMEdITzZPUyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNTQ2NzQ3MllaQVg1SExDV1dWRCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
@Oldelvis @Pony Fixed link to remove tracking/referrer crap.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075WSFTTV
@Oldelvis Actually, I don’t need it. Because my phone has a headphone jack, my stereo sounds great when my phone is plugged into it, and bluetooth kinda sucks. So… yeah.
I’m “squarely” in the pro-jack world. I can appreciate the magic of the new fangled wireless thing right up until the charge is gone and I’m trapped on a long haul flight/drive/Disneyland line with dead sound producers. I’m not an audiophile but do love the cord, sound and comfort of my Bose headphones (bought on clearance for a decent price)
@Goofmont wouldn’t that be roundly?
@ybmuG Good one! I was punning on the comment above mine, but roundly would work too!
@Goofmont @ybmuG Since that was my comment above, I got the joke right away.
I have both, but use the wired headphones/earbuds mostly since my MP3 player doesn’t have BT. Generally this is when I am working in the yard and out of wifi range since my phone signal is a bit tenuous where I live. I thread the cord through the neck of my shirt and then out the bottom hem to connect to the Sansa player in my pocket to reduce the risk of snagging.
I do use the BT headphones (QFX set bought from meh…) sometimes when I am inside using the phone to listen to Pandora for instance. Used them extensively a couple of days ago while I was making applesauce and bourbon/peach jam to put up in jars. Saved me from getting wires tangled up in the pots and pans etc. and potentially burning myself.
Gonna probably spring for a set of these just to try them out. If they fit into my hearing protectors I may use them when I mow since sometimes the cord sticks to my skin if I get too sweaty and it tends to pull the earbuds out when I turn my head too far or reach across to get something etc. or occasionally will snag on a branch if I mow too close to the bushes…I’ll have to figure out a way to throw a BT signal to them… maybe put a range extender/access point in the shop to help cover the rest of the acre. But WTH… $15 is worth a try.
@chienfou So, yeah, short answer… it depends.
(since I rarely use my phone to make/receive calls, latency and/or voice quality are not a consideration)
@chienfou “Sansa player in my pocket”…yeah! I’ve got like 6 old Sansa’s. After I moved, found one that I hadn’t used since like 2012…and it still had a charge. Those things are indestructible.
@chienfou @eeterrific I use my ~10-year-old Sansa weekly. I’ve gone through several sets of wired earbuds, but the player still works great. I have a bunch of music on it (w/SD card) and usually just listen on shuffle play. Sometimes I use it for audio books (but not on shuffle
).
Like it says, “Everything you need, nothing you don’t.”
@chienfou @eeterrific @macromeh The old Sansa clips are great. The screen on mine died, though, after hundreds of hours of use.
Audiobook mode was great. You never accidentally tapped the “forward” button and skipped to the next hour+ long track. And having “lock” be a separate position on the power slider was a great idea.
Unfortunately, their new players are not nearly as good, nor as durable.
@chienfou @eeterrific @Limewater @macromeh I will be so sad whenever my Rockboxed Sansa Clip+ dies.
@chienfou @eeterrific @macromeh @mschuette I never even Rockboxed my standard clip. Too bad the Clip+ was well out of production when it finally died.
I still have my clip. I may take a crack at a screen replacement. I guess I don’t really have much to lose at this point.
@eeterrific @Limewater @macromeh @mschuette
I love my Clips as well. I actually had one stay out in the rain once and revived it by leaving in a jar of rice set on the dash of my car for a couple of days. Those things ROCK!
It’s interesting that while the poll results are relatively close, the comments are almost exclusively almost pro-jack.
“No-wires” has a couple of advantages, but there really isn’t much to be passionate about.
@DrWorm I’m sure my TWO pairs of Rowkins sound just great in whatever AC register my cats have chucked them.
I use square to accept credit card transactions. Must have a headphone jack for that reason. There is a bluetooth POS version but I’m not spending thousands of dollars for that version of square and not lugging that around with me everywhere I go. The current square device fits easily into my pocket.
@cengland0 square has a reader that connects through the iPhone lightning port. #NoExcuses $10 at Best Buy
@mdjst5 Oh, does that mean I can use it on my Samsung Galaxy Note 9? It might be hard to believe but there are people that use non apple phones.
Besides, even if I had an iPhone, why should I be forced to pay $10 when my existing one still works just because phone manufacturers are trying to sell more bluetooth headphones by removing the headphone jack.
@mdjst5 This is the weirdest goddamn comment on this thread.
iPhones haven’t had 3.5mm jacks for what, 3 years? 4 years? So IF @cengland0 had an iPhone, then the lightning jack was already in use via the lightning-to-aux dongle. And that solution is working for them.
I am a Headphone Jack Hold out… As for why… Bluetooth doesn’t work with my 90’s era Discman
Data Accessories. Not all have been developed for USB or Bluetooth. Those that have cost a lot more and have battery lives.
Bluetooth zaps battery life on my phone.
Bluetooth devices battery life is to short.
Ditto on all the negative features already mentioned.
I don’t give in to apple’s corporate plots. Headphone jacks are the way to go.
@Hfireborn I believe ditching the headphone jack started on some Android phones.
@narfcake Android is far too irrelevant for me to bother worrying about their corporate plots. The ditching of headphone jacks is nevertheless an unnecessary evil to force people to get airpods. Iphones would be equally functional with the headphone jack, but they must have more money to pay off the demons they accidentally summoned when concocting their nefarious plots.
@Hfireborn @narfcake
What do you know Mr. I Am The Last of 3 People in North America That Still Uses a Windows Phone?
Whew! I can see now why we don’t call you that more often.
Being a year or so into not having a headphone jack on my phone, I still semi-routinely (say a couple times a week) experience the impulse to plug headphones into it, half-forgetting that’s no longer possible. The lightning-headphone dongle is still in the wrong room about 90% of the time. I often miss the quality of the bigger headphones and the inline controls of the earbuds. It’s usually just a little bit too much bother to go find the dongle or adapter or whatever to plug the headphones into.
The AirPods are a saving grace, compared to every other Bluetooth option I’ve tried (except a FiiO dongle thingy that supports AAC). They’re the worst of all the wired headphones’ tradeoffs (no controls, too stupid-looking to be seen wearing, sound quality… acceptable), but they do nonetheless sound better than the wired EarPods and they’re maximally comfortable.
The batteries in my AirPods haven’t gotten longer-lasting. I still associate that sad noise with trying to play Super Mario on an NES as a kid. I hear it a lot–5 hours is on the high end of what you get out of them. It’s maybe half that on a phone call. At least they charge fast.
Not having wires is a good tradeoff… maybe half the time? I used to snag cords on things too often. Handles and such. So half the time not having a headphone jack is neither worse nor better.
Even if I didn’t have trouble finding one of most pairs, we have a puppy, who’s major focus is finding things we want kept usable, and chewing them. I can buy wired headphones for under $10, I can get replacement foamies cheaper than that.
I use Bluetooth all the time. Every once in a while, ill be at work with a dead headset. That’s where the jack becomes useful…perhaps twice a year?
My car doesn’t have bluetooth.
They both have advantages.