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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[–] rowinxavier@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I have my headphones in literally right now. I use my phone as my primary media system, so video sources like YouTube and Nebula and audio like music and podcasts. I listen with wired headphones for any time I am not physically very involved as they are higher quality and provide a much more enjoyable listening experience, but I will switch to Bluetooth headphones when being more physically active.

That said, I am a very high consumer of audio. I currently have 129 podcasts I am subscribed to (some no longer run, but most are weekly to monthly), along with a whole lot of audiobooks. I am currently at well over 2200 hours played in my podcast app this year and that excludes all the audiobooks and videos.

[–] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I can just leave a spare pair of wired earphones in the car, desk, bedside, or wherever and they're ready to use without having to constantly carry an earbuds case around. Now I have to buy an adapter for each one I might use. Keeping several spare BT earbuds charged would be impractical.

And the adaptor then blocks the charging port, which has sometimes been a problem.

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 4 points 1 year ago

You have a phone with a headphone jack? Who are you, 2012?

[–] goldenlocks@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I use it in my car

[–] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

One every month or two, when I play audio in the old vehicle. It's nice to be able to charge at the same time.

[–] Reality_Suit@lemmy.one 4 points 1 year ago

Current phone doesn't have one, but I loved the LG V30. It had a high end DSP.

[–] SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago
[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Daily.

Driving to and from work it plugs into my car and at work it plugs into my headset.

[–] Okami_No_Rei@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I use it daily for connecting it to my car stereo, and about once a month when I mow my lawn or have to fly on a plane. I'll never buy a phone without one.

I prefer wired headphones. I don't want to worry about keeping them charged, and the few pairs of wireless headphones I have tried died or had the buttons stop working after a few uses from getting waterlogged with sweat, while I've been using the same pair of $6 wired headphones for 10 years without issues.

I don't care for Bluetooth or USB audio connections as they don't always work intuitively, they might take multiple button presses to set up, and every manufacturer seems to think they need to be set up in a slightly different way, while the auxiliary audio cable just works with no setup.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I would use it, if my phone had one.

[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Never.

You’ll never hear from the people who don’t miss it because it’s nothing for us to talk about, so it seems like everyone only wants them back when in reality the vast majority don’t care.

[–] benvars@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

Weekly, since i moved i don't really care how much noise i make, but i still use my wired headphones daily with my computer

[–] yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] papabobolious@feddit.nu 3 points 1 year ago

I want it mostly for aux in various cars. Also neat to plug into PC speakers and such.

I'd pass up on fingerprint scanner and nfc before the jack tbh.

[–] Robboman93@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I use it everyday, I still like wired earphones a lot.

[–] joelfromaus@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago

I stopped using wired headphones before I had a device without a headphone jack.

I found the cord infuriating, always seemed to get caught or tangled on things, always making sensitive skin contact (like just beneath my jawline) where I was forever readjusting it and sometimes the cords lifted the headphone out of my ear.

Conversely, I’ve had three pairs of wireless headphones. First pair didn’t like getting christened in the washing machine, second pair is still going strong and third pair are AirPod Pros I bought before a flight for the noise cancellation which are also going strong. Maybe I’ve outsmarted the whole of Apple’s engineering/marketing department but I’ve never felt like the sets I’ve had are underperforming on battery life and have no reason to buy sets to replace the working ones I have. The small conveniences, like not being tethered to my phone and freedom from cords, have absolutely made the change to wireless worth it to me.

The biggest and most obvious downside against wireless headphones is compatibility and price.

[–] IcyEcho@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago

I used to use mine almost every day with the same set of earbuds that I've had for probably close to a decade at this point. Since getting a phone without a jack, I listen to music significantly less now which is quite upsetting. I'm not the type to use the speaker on the phone since I've always seen that as rude, and the wireless earbuds that I have are just inconvenient to use at best and not the same quality compared to the wired ones (That's not to say that they're poor quality but I can absolutely tell the difference on my favourite songs).

I've been very tempted to just go back to my old phone once the contract on my current one has ended if modern phones are going to move away from 3.5mm jacks.

It has been an excellent universal standard for decades and the arguments about it being obsolete make no sense as it isn't being replaced by something superior, it's just being deleted entirely and a cumbersome workaround is being sold as a positive thing. The only real argument I can see for deleting the jack is that it saves the manufacturers a couple of pennies per unit.

[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I had wired headphones, went to a good wireless one (Sony WH-1000XM3), and I will never go back.

Most people I know that want the headphones jack back want it to be able to use good quality wired headphones they already own, mainly because they can't afford (or just don't want to buy) a good quality wireless one.

Seriously. If you can buy a new mid-range smartphone, you have enough to buy premium wireless headphones. If you can't, most cheap smartphones have audio jacks. Just skip this smartphone generation to buy good wireless headphones and you are set for years.

[–] Metans@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] andyMFK@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago

I use it every day

[–] pbk@lemmy.world 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.

[–] rollingFlint@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I use it daily, to connect my phone to my car AUX input and my various (very expensive) headphones.

[–] Samueru@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I use my ksc75 daily with the headphone jack.

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[–] SpaceMan9000@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I use both practically daily.

[–] Darcranium@lemmy.world 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

[–] scoops@lemmy.world 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.

[–] MicrowavedTea@infosec.pub 3 points 1 year ago

I thought I'd use it when I got my phone but I've since found Bluetooth headphones that are actually convenient so I don't. Now this headphone form factor is dying so I might go back to wired once they stop working. I hope the jack still exists by then.

[–] Iseja@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Used to use it daily but dropped it a few too many times with a cable inserted and now it can only be used in the car in a very specific angle.

[–] silverdiamond@sh.itjust.works 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)

[–] Xeroxchasechase@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

All the time

[–] JGrffn@lemmy.world 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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[–] tjsauce@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I used to use it, before buying a USB C headphone amp cause my headphones lacked bass

[–] NeroC_Bass@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

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

[–] ohlaph@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I used to. Then I bought a new phone and forgot to check to see if it had one. It did not.

[–] bitwolf@lemmy.one 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.

[–] thorbot@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I never do, because it doesn't have one

[–] murmelade@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Well I tried shoving the wire up my own ass but I prefer the songs on my phone.

[–] AlphaOmega@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

When I had a motorcycle. This was a daily use item. Now I only use them when out on walks/hiking

[–] 01011@monero.town 3 points 1 year ago

My phones don't have one but I use a headphone jack on my tablet.

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