Would you give up your headphone jack on your phone???

[Berwhale]

I have a phone with a jack (Galaxy Note 9), but never use it. I find the ES100 much more convenient. I will invest in a Qudelix 5K when the ES100 gives up the ghost.

 

[Berwhale]

They will have to pry my 3.5mm headphone Jack from my Cold Dead Hands!!! Long live The Jack

 

[RobS]

Good question.

I did immensely enjoy the headphone jack from my old LG V30. It sounded good with PortaPros. But the motherboard fried and killed my phone.

While shopping for new phones, I did consider how much having that jack mattered to me, but decided I would probably be happy still if forced to use a USB audio dongle. But also if I'm traveling I wouldn't mind using wireless earbuds with noise cancellation.

Unfortunately I decided to get an iPhone and I found out I cannot use external USB audio DACs connected to it that draw more than 100 mA due to the current limited Lightning port (ironic right?)

So I'm in the process of selling my iPhone and downgrading to a simple Moto G Power I purchsed for $50. It has a headphone jack but a beefy battery that should have no problem running external USB DACs. I also wanted to free myself from Apple's chains, it still feels too restrictive and I'm not ready to go all into the Apple ecosystem.

However I'd still prefer having a headphone jack out of convenience, you never know when you might need it.

 

[GaryH]

S10+ is a wonderful phone. Try to work another deal with Verizon, or perhaps a deal that does not include getting anything for the old phone, but gives great pricing on the S10+. I love mine.

There's also a 5G version called (you guessed it) the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.

 

[Beershaun]

Application is not music. My routine before going to bed is to watch a few youtube videos related to my hobbies end entertainment (comedies, woodworking, gardening, cooking, etc.). It is not for music and fidelity doesn't matter. When home I use my tablet. But when on the road in our RV, I use my phone often for the same purpose. I leave some cheap IEMs in the RV and my various computer bags and such so I always have some way of listening to youtube sound. If I lose the headphone jack, would need to go with a dongle as otherwise have to remember to charge all of these Bluetooth IEMs and such.

If you're not looking for high fidelity music then I wouldn't worry about the headphone jack. Bluetooth headphones are now very cheap and fine for listening to youtube videos etc. so you can get a couple different pairs and stash them wherever same as you do with wired. I'd check out the Anker Liberty soundcore line of bluetooth headphones on Amazon.

Here is their headphones storefront. Tons of affordable ($30-$50) options for headphones.
https://smile.amazon.com/stores/pag...&visitId=98f49b2b-fbc3-4f27-beea-23c6811273c1

 

[Somafunk]

”Would you give up your headphone jack on your phone???”


I’ve not used wired headphones with my iPhone for years so yeah, perfectly happy with the Jack being dropped, wireless convenience and very good sound quality with my AirPods Pro/max suits me fine

 

[escape2]

My last two phones haven't had a dedicated headphone jack. Makes no difference to me. For music listening, I take my dedicated MP3 player where most of my music library is stored.

 

[Helicopter]

I would get an LG v60 and offer it to you for an expedited test. If we ruled out that for some reason, I would probably look for whatever else has a good headphone output.

If I wasn't using it for music, then I would be totally fine with the Bose headphones. Their battery lasts forever. I charge them like once a week. I don't think I have ever run the battery all the way down, even when I forget to turn them off and noise cancelling runs all night.. When you test the nc700, I suggest you look at the battery life.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Gave up the headphone jack?

Guess so. Since I never used it, I never missed it when it was gone.

 

[Rottmannash]

There's also a 5G version called (you guessed it) the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.

But does it have a HP jack and/or micro SD slot?

 

[GaryH]

But does it have a HP jack and/or micro SD slot?

Yes the S10 5G edition does have a headphone jack. It doesn't have a micro SD slot but it does come with up to 512GB of internal storage.

 

[simbloke]

I didn't want to loose the headphone jack but in the end it came down to a choice between the jack and predictable software updates of the Pixel 5. Software won.

 

[nerdstrike]

I've been running a pixel 2 for a while, haven't missed the jack, but I'm a desk jockey and so far at least laptops still have them. I was reluctant to lose the line-out initially but it hasn't proven to be too limiting.

I'm content to pull out a dongle for flights or long journeys, all the more so now that I've read your reviews of the included dongles being pretty capable.

 

[symphara]

Yes I gave up the audio jack and bought some Bluetooth headphones.

For music, Audio Technica ATH-DSR9BT.

For making calls, Airpods Pro, which are a joy to use, especially when using them with multiple devices.

 

[garbulky]

My phone has a headphone jack and I've only used it for maybe a minute or two. As everybody else is telling ya, there are some good bluetooth choices. I use the Amazon echo buds. True they aren't as good as the wired options, but they are surprisingly nice for what they are and super convenient.

 

[symphara]

PS: Sony smartphones have headphone jacks, here in Europe there's one hitting all your requirements, in the US I see there's the upcoming Xperia 1 III.

Unlike Samsung, they don't have as much bloatware and they provide OS updates faster and a for longer time.

 

[Beershaun]

+1 to os updates being my top reason for choosing a Pixel phone. It's a must have for me as my work will not let me use my phone to access our network if it is not on the latest version of software for security reasons.

 

[GaryH]

PS: Sony smartphones have headphone jacks, here in Europe there's one hitting all your requirements, in the US I see there's the upcoming Xperia 1 III.

Unlike Samsung, they don't have as much bloatware and they provide OS updates faster and a for longer time.

Not true. Samsung have improved on the software side in recent years - less bloatware, faster and longer OS updates. In fact they officially promise 4 years of Android updates (3 full version upgrades for flagships plus an additional year of security updates, even more than Google promise). As far as I'm aware there's no equivalent official guarantee from Sony, only rumors of 3 years of Android updates. As for update rollout speed, Samsung was actually faster than Sony in releasing the latest Android 11. Sony phones are also hugely overpriced.

 

[symphara]

Not true. Samsung have improved on the software side in recent years - less bloatware, faster and longer OS updates. In fact they officially promise 4 years of Android updates (3 full version upgrades for flagships plus an additional year of security updates, even more than Google promise). As far as I'm aware there's no equivalent official guarantee from Sony, only rumors of 3 years of Android updates. As for update rollout speed, Samsung was actually faster than Sony in releasing the latest Android 11. Sony phones are also hugely overpriced.

I have family members with Sony and respectively Samsung phones, Sony won on updates big time. Not even close. My father in law has an ancient Z1 which I believe was updated until last year.

Also on bloatware. Last time I set up my father's Samsung even Facebook was a "system application" and couldn't be uninstalled.

As for pricing, at least here the flagship Sony phone is always cheaper than the Samsung. Don't know about the US but I doubt Amir particularly cares.

Anyway notwithstanding my poor opinion of Samsung, Pixel phones are the best Android phones, shame they don't hit the jack requirement.

 

[AudioStudies]

Isn't there bloatware on just about everything now? I wish to hell that I could remove DirecTV from my Sony TV, as my experience with them is similar to getting Covid . . .