In probably 40 years of extensive use of 3.5mm jacks and devices I have only encountered crackle from plug movement in one or two instances. That would be over innumerable devices and probably tens of thousands of hours of usage. The solution for poorly designed sockets is for them to be properly designed. I have never encountered any contact problem with headphone sockets in Sony devices, for instance. The problem you illustrate is possibly Apple's fault for their choice/design of the 3.5mm socket. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6546098?start=15&tstart=0
My 13" Unibody had a charming excremental socket that tried to do optical as well, and as a consequence of faulty design by Apple, was off-spec and had a tendency to slightly eject some 3.5mm standard jacks inserted into to it if they were moved even slightly. Do you remember the iPhone 3GS and it's recessed headphone socket? Once again, Apple were being disobliging with a non-standard implementation. You are proposing a solution to a problem that quite probably is caused by Apple, not any intrinsic fault with the technology. The real solution isn't USB-C, it's for Apple to stop doing non-standard 3.5mm sockets or to design and have them constructed to a higher standard.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
That's like saying broadcasting telephone calls over electrical wires is no different from optical fiber. Optical doesn't get interference.
They do it with wireless headphones.
They can have a legacy 3.5mm connector on the headphone end, they'd just be removing the port from Macs and iOS devices.
No it isn't. It's stating a basic truth. Actually, if you want to get down to fundamentals, all 'digital' signals are actually analogue at the fundamental level. We are talking about 1m cables, not ones measured in Km.
I love your earbud example as it couldn't demonstrate the ludicrousness of your proposal more aptly. The circuitry I said there was no room for in earbuds would appear to have been located in the the USB plug which is comparatively enormous:
What a complete nonsense to infer a superiority for a 'solution' that merely shifts the circuitry from one side of an electrical socket to the other. Given how swollen that USB-A plug is, I doubt there would be room in a svelte USB-C plug for the circuitry without also causing it to look like it had a bad case of goiter. There is no guarantee that dirt won't get into a USB-C socket in some instances, or that some might be inadequately formed, giving rise to electrical connection/contact problems that afflict some 3.5mm sockets. Rather than a bit of crackle, the consequences would likely be far worse auditorially. Then there is the increased cost to the user. Those earbuds you gave as an example are $80. When my daughter was younger she was atrocious for breaking earbuds. Luckily I could keep her supplied with JVC cheapies at €7 a pop, but put a USB-C plug on the end stuffed with a D/A converter and OP amp and the cost would certainly be far higher than that.
I think you misinterpreted my comment about devices. I wasn't talking about just headphones or ear-buds but also audio equipment you might want to provide an analogue audio signal to. I have two HiFi systems in my house and one in my car. All of them have a cable with a 3.5mm jack on the end that I can use to connect any of the multiple devices I have with 3.5mm audio sockets like iPods or my phones, an old walkman for playing tapes, an FM radio, etc. No, franken-verter-dongles are not an option as they are aesthetically rank, as is your suggestion for dual USB-C and 3.5mm leads on headphones. What is the point of Apple designing aesthetically pleasing devices that require users to employ unaesthetic solutions to get adequate utility out of them? Dongles, fly leads, adapters and docks are unaesthetic crap solutions to problems that shouldn't be created for users to overcome.
I don't have any problems with 3.5mm, except the fore mentioned one resulting from poor design on Apple's part. You would want a mag-audio connector to detach under strain, that would be the whole point; to save the conductors in the cable from breaking.
Comments
Optical doesn’t get interference but telephone calls start and end as an analog electrical signal which is susceptible to interference.
In probably 40 years of extensive use of 3.5mm jacks and devices I have only encountered crackle from plug movement in one or two instances. That would be over innumerable devices and probably tens of thousands of hours of usage. The solution for poorly designed sockets is for them to be properly designed. I have never encountered any contact problem with headphone sockets in Sony devices, for instance. The problem you illustrate is possibly Apple's fault for their choice/design of the 3.5mm socket. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6546098?start=15&tstart=0
My 13" Unibody had a charming excremental socket that tried to do optical as well, and as a consequence of faulty design by Apple, was off-spec and had a tendency to slightly eject some 3.5mm standard jacks inserted into to it if they were moved even slightly. Do you remember the iPhone 3GS and it's recessed headphone socket? Once again, Apple were being disobliging with a non-standard implementation. You are proposing a solution to a problem that quite probably is caused by Apple, not any intrinsic fault with the technology. The real solution isn't USB-C, it's for Apple to stop doing non-standard 3.5mm sockets or to design and have them constructed to a higher standard.
Quote:
That's like saying broadcasting telephone calls over electrical wires is no different from optical fiber. Optical doesn't get interference.
They do it with wireless headphones.
They can have a legacy 3.5mm connector on the headphone end, they'd just be removing the port from Macs and iOS devices.
http://www.cio.com/article/2370975/peripherals/unique-logitech-earbuds-connect-to-pcs-via-usb-for-audio--video-calls.html
No it isn't. It's stating a basic truth. Actually, if you want to get down to fundamentals, all 'digital' signals are actually analogue at the fundamental level. We are talking about 1m cables, not ones measured in Km.
I love your earbud example as it couldn't demonstrate the ludicrousness of your proposal more aptly. The circuitry I said there was no room for in earbuds would appear to have been located in the the USB plug which is comparatively enormous:
What a complete nonsense to infer a superiority for a 'solution' that merely shifts the circuitry from one side of an electrical socket to the other. Given how swollen that USB-A plug is, I doubt there would be room in a svelte USB-C plug for the circuitry without also causing it to look like it had a bad case of goiter. There is no guarantee that dirt won't get into a USB-C socket in some instances, or that some might be inadequately formed, giving rise to electrical connection/contact problems that afflict some 3.5mm sockets. Rather than a bit of crackle, the consequences would likely be far worse auditorially. Then there is the increased cost to the user. Those earbuds you gave as an example are $80. When my daughter was younger she was atrocious for breaking earbuds. Luckily I could keep her supplied with JVC cheapies at €7 a pop, but put a USB-C plug on the end stuffed with a D/A converter and OP amp and the cost would certainly be far higher than that.
I think you misinterpreted my comment about devices. I wasn't talking about just headphones or ear-buds but also audio equipment you might want to provide an analogue audio signal to. I have two HiFi systems in my house and one in my car. All of them have a cable with a 3.5mm jack on the end that I can use to connect any of the multiple devices I have with 3.5mm audio sockets like iPods or my phones, an old walkman for playing tapes, an FM radio, etc. No, franken-verter-dongles are not an option as they are aesthetically rank, as is your suggestion for dual USB-C and 3.5mm leads on headphones. What is the point of Apple designing aesthetically pleasing devices that require users to employ unaesthetic solutions to get adequate utility out of them? Dongles, fly leads, adapters and docks are unaesthetic crap solutions to problems that shouldn't be created for users to overcome.
I don't have any problems with 3.5mm, except the fore mentioned one resulting from poor design on Apple's part. You would want a mag-audio connector to detach under strain, that would be the whole point; to save the conductors in the cable from breaking.