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.
I have a very nice set of Bose corded noise cancelling headphones and use them when I fly for work and at home sometimes when I want to chill out.
The advantage they have over Bluetooth is that the base functionality still works when the single AAA battery that powers them goes flat. Unlike Bluetooth headsets they also don’t switch to low power/BLE mode when they’re supposed to be “off”, so they don’t go flat when they’re in my travel bag for a week or two. They also plug straight into in-flight entertainment systems so I don’t need to use the $3 headphones the airline provides.
The AAA powers the noise cancelling for about 15-20 hours straight and the case has a spot for a spare so the whole setup is pretty good.
I have the same kind of headphones. They cost $400 (at the time) and now they are useless with most devices.
I also use sleep phones at night to fall asleep to asmr and those run with cables. If my tablet didn’t have a jack I wouldn’t be able to use them, and those sleep phones are a lifeline. Being able to listen to asmr on headphones while laying on my side makes it so much easier to fall asleep. All the Bluetooth variants are cheap Chinese knockoffs that fall apart after a couple months, but the sleepphones are still working years later.
I was in a similar situation. Not sleep-phones, but just a particular type of headphones that I like. Have you thought about getting a Bluetooth receiver for them? It’s super annoying, but it’s the only way I’ve been able to keep my headphones. Just thought I’d suggest it if you hadn’t thought of this solution/kludge yet. https://www.fiio.com/btr3k
The other option is to get a USB-C adapter. https://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-play-4
Yeah I’ve been thinking about trying that actually. Even thought about trying to rewire the sleep phones to make them permanently bluetooth but didn’t want to mess them up. May try that or the adapter sometime.
Most high end noise cancelling bluetooth headphones work as you describe. Noise cancelling and Bluetooth require it to be charged, but you can plug to a cable and listen passively.
Yeah the issue we’re slowly running into is that there’s no more 3.5mm sockets in newer phones.
When my current phone dies it’ll be a toss-up between trying to find a decent phone with a headphone socket or trying a USB C audio adaptor and see how that goes.
A $10 dongle is gonna be a lot better than limiting yourself to the obscure few phones that still have a headphone jack. They make ones that allow you to play and charge too, useful especially in cars.