Smartphone sales down 22 percent in Q2, the worst performance in a decade::North American sales are bad for everyone, except, miraculously, Google.

  • @Metatronz@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Two cents on the headphone jack issue folks bring up all the time. The convenience of 3.5 mm is great and valid. Totally agree.

    However, I use and own a lot of wired higher end headphones and a dongle DAC is just better audio quality than the 3.5mm jack. Let me explain.

    3.5mm jacks means the phone’s on board DAC is doing the work and outputting an analog stereo signal. You are stuck with whatever, typically sub-par, DAC is built into your phone. Yes, some phones have better DACs than others, but it is a challenge to sort out and is often not a priority for most manufacturers.

    With type C dongle you can escape your phone’s limitations and use dongles with audio features like fully balanced audio because the signal stays digital from your phone to the dongle. Personally, I’m a fan of 4.4 mm balanced connection, as most of my headphones will run balanced. This is something I could never do with 3.5mm alone.

    DDHifi, XDUOO, ifi, etc makes some great ‘audiophile’ - dumb title but you know what I mean - DACs.

    I often don’t hear this side of the issue discussed.