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Comment by raw_anon_1111

10 hours ago

This is 2026. iPhones use standard USB C headphones, you can charge your phone at the same time while using your wired headphones using MagSafe and you can even by low end $59 Beats Flex headphones that have all of the Apple magic.

I’m going to need HN geeks to get over analog headphones from the 60s

18 comments

raw_anon_1111

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et-al  8 hours ago

In my experience, USB-C ports are more fragile than 3.5mm audio jacks for repeated plugging in / unplugging cycles.

  • SchemaLoad  4 hours ago

    I've never had a USB-C port fail with many of them being plugged / unplugged multiple times a day for years. At most they fill with dust you have to fish out. Aux ports would often get in a state where you had to very carefully position the jack for it to work.

OSaMaBiNLoGiN  9 hours ago

As soon as those headphones sound better than the analog alternatives, sure.

But they don't. And won't.

  • lynndotpy  7 hours ago

    I am a huge 3.5mm jack defender and I am still upset at how Apple created a post-USB C world. But this is a common misconception.

    USB C headphones and 3.5mm headphones (and Bluetooth, USB A, etc) are all equally as "analog" as one another (with the exception of someone with all-analog equipment, of course).

    You need a DAC somewhere between the chip you're getting the digital signal from and the speakers that are playing an analog signal. And so the quality of that depends on (among other things) the quality of your DAC.

    With USB or Bluetooth headphones, the DAC is somewhere in the headphone. With the 3.5mm jack, the DAC is behind jack. If you have a device with a crummy built-in DAC giving you a noisy signal, you'll be better off using a USB DAC.

    I haven't used Apple's USB C earbuds, but Apple does make a $10 USB C to 3.5mm DAC that performs very very well for its price point.

    • raw_anon_1111  6 hours ago

      The difference is you always can buy USB C headphones with a known good consistent DAC. A 3.5 inch headphone jack serves no purpose in the age of USB C - even my wife’s mixing board has USB C input that she can plug her iPhone into.

      Next thing HN folks are going yo want the iPhone to come with a SCSI port.

      6 replies →

  • Kirby64  8 hours ago

    Why do they need to sound better? Also, in a lot of instances, they do sound better because they can offer powered functionality such as ANC. Can’t get that with a truly analog headphone. I’d never use analog headphones on a plane, for instance.

    • raw_anon_1111  8 hours ago

      I can’t think of an instance where analog headphones would sound better than USB C headphones using the same hardware.

RhysU  9 hours ago

Low-end wired earbuds come in packages with dozens of units. I buy cheap earbuds because my kids love breaking them. Not everyone optimizes for the same thing. Analog remains the bees knees in certain settings.