But of course we all know that the big manufacturers don’t do this not because they can’t but because they don’t want to. Planned obsolescence is still very much the name of the game, despite all the bullshit they spout about sustainability.
This article seems to omit the most important fact about headphones - how do they sound?
I love repairability and all, but it hardly matters if I don’t want to use them in the first place because they traded off too much quality for repairability.
I get what you’re saying, kind of…
But also, most modern earbuds usually sound quite good. Quality in general has become such a bizarre moving target, but here’s my take: We’ve become so used to constant improvement at the expense of satisfaction. I can barely notice the difference between 1080p and 4k. In my mind they’re both “good quality” and therefore I’m satisfied. Same goes for audio quality. I’ve used a few pairs of earbuds and they have sounded “good.”
As a culture, we need to stop with throwing away of perfectly good devices, because it’s extremely harmful to the planet’s occupants.
1080p and 4k isn’t really a fair comparison for great earbuds and shit earbuds in my opinion. The comparison there is like 4k and 480p. There is a massive difference between the 2. I have had $30 earbuds that you couldn’t listen to a podcast on, and I currently have $250+ Bose earbuds that are fucking amazing for just about everything.
Unless of course you’re saying that these earbuds are in fact “1080p” quality. In which case, fair point. I have yet to see someone who’s actually used these and commented on the sound quality though. What I’ve seen from fairphone products is they are consumer friendly at the expense of quality.
My wife had some Logitech headphones that for some godforsaken reason were operating in some voice only ultra low bitrate by default. I mean, they weren’t fantastic even after I fixed that, but the quality was unbelievably low, like somebody making a phone call from the moon, and how she’d put up with it for nearly a year I’d no idea. I only found out after I noticed her swapping between a wired set for general use and wireless for Discord.
Some Bluetooth controllers can’t handle the bandwidth required for sound input and output at the same time unless it’s at very low quality, and if Windows suspects such a device is in use, it defaults to the low quality mode as users are more likely to be able to tolerate it than tolerate their headphones not working at all. It’s overly cautious, though, and uses the low quality mode far more than it has to.
That’s one nice thing I found about Linux, it’s pretty easy to change the codec. Just fiddle a bit until it sounds good without static or delays. This is especially important when using multiple Bluetooth devices simultaneously since the Bluetooth chip can only handle so much data.
Maybe Windows has the option, IDK, poke around a bit and see what’s available. I couldn’t find the option on my work Mac, so I ended up just using wired headphones on my work computer.
Codec support is a bit of a bummer. Otherwise I would have bought them.
Isn’t the codec for headphones just meant to handle the communication between the headphones and device while the device can handle transcoding from the input codec to the output codec?
Or do you mean the quality of the codecs supported puts an upper limit on sound quality?
There are indeed good aspects to this product.
But I won’t join the “Fairphone good” circle jerk and give them the free publicity, because just like Apple and Samsung, they removed the headphone jack from their phones soon before the launch of these headphones, in other words, artificially creating the problem and need to sell you their expensive solution.
You don’t get to ride the “we are pro customer!” free publicity train while also wanting to be the next Apple.
I understand people’s desire for a headphone port, but I really don’t understand the hate for devices that don’t have one. It would be one thing if they vendor-locked Bluetooth headphones so you had to use theirs, but it really just seems like a common sense move in a world where Bluetooth reigns supreme.
As long as a USB-C adapter still provides the same functionality, I really don’t see anyone’s choices being taken away. If it is one less physical port on the device that helps streamline the hardware, I’m all for it too.
And if it is a dealbreaker, you don’t have to buy a fairphone.
The problem is that there are fewer and fewer options with a headphone jack. My current phone has one and I use it all the time.
Bluetooth sucks for a variety of reasons, such as:
- not private
- needs to charge (I’ve had BT headphones die on road trips or whatever)
- not great sound quality
I also like using bluetooth headphones sometimes, but having an option is good, and I don’t want to bring a dongle around everywhere.
Honestly most of these points don’t make a whole lot sense, yet these are the arguments I see every time wireless ear buds pop up in any conversation. Phones by nature are not private, and honestly, who is trying to intercept Bluetooth close to you anyways? Majority of what they would likely get is “oh another person listening to music or tiktok”. I haven’t charged my 3 year old $50 Bluetooth buds in weeks, and they are still sitting at great battery health. Proper research and care goes a long way, though the option to have replacement batteries is def a plus. And if you’re going on long road trips, just pack an adapter and wired headphones if you’re that conscious. What are you doing with your phone that you need top-tier audio quality on the go? Just seems like a very very niche market.
Majority of what they would likely get is “oh another person listening to music or tiktok”
Bluetooth data is encrypted, that’s not what I’m worried about. I’m more concerned about tracking.
Bluetooth transmits a unique ID, which can be picked up by any curious individual. That’s pretty much how “Find my Droid” and “Find my iPhone” work, and providing even more devices to track isn’t great. I can turn off the Bluetooth in my phone and use wired headphones to avoid it, and removing the jack makes that more annoying.
top-tier audio quality on the go? Just seems like a very very niche market
Why not? I often listen to music or whatever when exercising, riding transit, or doing yardwork. Having good sounding headphones is really nice.
Audio jacks cost almost nothing, and I can buy them for <$1 each from Amazon, less if I buy in bulk. So it’s not a cost savings, and they’re not particularly big, so why do they need to remove it?
Even if you don’t care about privacy or audio quality, it’s just really convenient to be able to use any cheap earbuds if you lose your nicer pair when on vacation or whatever. Why not have the option? Why force people to use an adapter?
I also have Bluetooth headphones (bone conduction for listening to audiobooks on my bike), yet I still prefer the wired headphones around the house, on walks, and pretty much everywhere else.
Get an USB c dongle and leave it on the cord then… I too wish we still had jacks, but that battle’s lost, and attacking the only somewhat conscientious phone manufacturer for following trends set by bigger companies is myopic. They do what they must to compete, it’s not like they’re drowning in money.
Even USB-C dongles suck.
There are two types: ones that passes through the analog audio signal from the phone’s internal DAC, and ones that have a built in DAC and pretty much acts as external USB sound card. You need to know which type your phone supports and which type it is you’re buying.
If it’s the type that has a built-in DAC (which I think is the most common but I might be wrong) they are fury-inducing absolute monstrous pains in the ass if there’s the slightest glitch in the USB connection. Because it’s like unplugging the audio device. Playback just stops for seemingly no reason and it doesn’t resume once the connection is good again.
My solution is wired headphones plugged in to a small BT receiver I keep in my pocket. That way I get both an annoying cable and shitty audio quality lol.
I don’t see why you’d buy the more expensive one with the DAC. If the quality from the jack was enough before, the quality from the USB must be as well, it’s not like they removed the DAC from the SoC.
Because some phones doesn’t support passing through the analog signal.
Most Bluetooth headphones are encrypted with a key shared only by the headphones and the host device. Not sure why you think they aren’t private. Maybe really cheap or really old headphones might not be so secure, but the vast majority of Bluetooth headphones in use today absolutely are.
Charging and audio quality are legitimate concerns, but again, you still have a headphone port… It’s just part of the USB-C port on the bottom of your phone. A $5 adapter completely absolves you of having to use Bluetooth.
I really don’t see how needing an adapter is a big enough deal to care about the way people here seem to.
They broadcast the ID and I think type of device. Yeah, the data sent between the devices is encrypted, but that’s not really an improvement over wired headphones since the signal is privacy by virtue of not being broadcast everywhere.
A $5 adapter
It’s not the price that’s the issue, but the convenience. I can’t change my phone while using the adapter, and I have to bring it along wherever I go. Why should I need an adapter for something that used to come standard?
What do I gain from not having a headphone jack? A slightly thinner phone due to slightly more space for the battery? My current phone has a headphone jack, and it’s no bigger than any other phone, and it has a larger battery than most. Better water resistance? I’ve never lost a phone due to water.
So I’ll flip it around, why do you not want a headphone jack? What about a micro-SD card?
My next phone will probably not have a headphone jack, and I’m annoyed just thinking about it.
I’d rather they just give me a headphone jack tbh
fuck wireless headphones! I don’t want to remember charging another god damn thing to start with.
Am I the only one that can’t stand the few hundred millisecond delay of Bluetooth audio?
Not at all! It drives me nuts. I’ve tried watching movies with Bluetooth headphones on, so as not to bug my wife at night, and it just feels off. Almost like watching old subtitled movies. I checked it out and my headphones have a ~250ms response time. My car’s system literally has a nearly two second delay and I can’t take it.
I’m right there with ya. I know many people prefer wireless earbuds, but I like ripping cables out of my ears at random. Makes me feel alive.
This. I hate to charge my headphones everyday
My sony ones survive more than a week.
that isn’t the typical experience though, and letting your batteries drain completely is bad for them. also if you don’t have some sort of routine, a lot of people (myself included) end up forgetting to charge them and end up with no working headphones until they can charge them again, which is pretty annoying.
Idk bro I have a cheap ~40 dollar pair of Chinese wirless earbuds called tozo nc9 (t12s were also a good option iirc) and you’d be surprised how good of a product you can get for cheap these days.
Several hour charge hold, over 48 hours of listening time with the case, noise canceling, better sound quality than most of the bass boosted budget junk put out by American companies.
I mean wired headphones are great too, but at this point it’s become at least reasonable to get a pair of wireless.
I have mpows that cost 60$ and pixel bud pros that cost a lot more. If I didn’t know the price of either I’d say the mpows were within 40$ of the pixel buds pro in terms of quality. The ANC works well. They last longer. But their mic is not great and they don’t have the fluffy quality of life stuff the pixels have.
Yes, I get it. I would still use wired headphones, but I got bluetooth ones as a gift. And to add to your critisism, batteries die and you have to replace them around every 10 years.
I haven’t had wired headphones last me more than a year. One bad snag on a cable any they’re done. 10 years is a long time.
What I don’t get is how no company seems to have worked out a legitimately good service and maintenance model for tech products. Fairphone hasn’t invented the wheel here. They’re going to make money on maintenance, parts and repair.
I would think there would be lowered costs involved in not having to push out a new product every 6 months and market it to customers who just bought something less than a year ago.
The business models of the current tech giants are very much based on planned obsolescence. Selling you a gadget for $ 1000 every two years will always be more profitable than selling you one very five years and doing service in the meantime.
Selling you a gadget for $ 1000 every two years will always be more profitable than selling you one very five years and doing service in the meantime.
Are you aware that the current version of iOS is supported by the phones Apple released in 2018? And they’re still releasing security updates for the prior version, with support for 2017’s iPhone 8?
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Even for unrepairable, at fault replacement(you stepped on it) apple will normally sell you a reconditioned perfect replacement for 50% the cost.
Reliable repair and ultrafast swap and restore are one off the reasons I stick with apple.
In no case is it ever “ almost the price of a new one”.
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The costs (overhead) are too high. They make more by simply manufacturing and selling.
Otherwise they’d be doing it.
I’m wondering about that. I’ve worked with several manufacturers, and their most profitable segment is parts. If you ever want to get the highest annual bonus, work for the parts devision.
