Comment on How many of you actually use the headphone jack on your phone?
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I use the headphone jack every single day, both with my headphones and with an audio-in cable for my car.
I’d be lost without it.
Also, I’ve tried Bluetooth headsets and they’ve all died on me for various reasons. I want relatively high quality headphones, and whether they’re wired or wireless, good sound tends to cost more. But I don’t want to spend more on something that will die quickly, so it’s wired headphones for me.
MaxHardwood@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
a cheap external DAC typically sounds better and has more power than the ones built into phones with a headphone jack. If you actually care about the audio quality from your phone then a DAC is more practical.
ook_the_librarian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Oh cool! Another Thing. I love how many of my minor problems are solved just by buying another Thing. My home is now a perfect curation of all Things I own to fix my minor problems. Do you need a little more power from your headphone jack? Get this Thing! Keep it with you; it’s not much help after you lose it. What’s that? You don’t even listen at full volume using the jack? Don’t you understand. It sounds slightly better. You idiots won’t know headroom if came up and bit you on the face.
In short, I kinda like my built-in headphone jack.
GreatBlueHeron@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
Since you mentioned the “power” of an external DAC I’ll add that my experience has been that android will still limit the output unless you use an app that works directly with the DAC. Last time I checked the only option was paid.
CheezyWeezle@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Well the problem is that a DAC doesn’t have any power to it at all. What you are thinking of is an amplifier, which a lot of portable DAC units have in them, but not all of them do. For example, the DAC/AMP I have is the iFi iDSD Black Label, which has its own Amp that is controlled through an analog dial.
If your unit doesn’t have its own volume controls then it is likely just a DAC with no Amp, meaning you are limited to the power output of your source.
GreatBlueHeron@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
No - I know the difference between a DAC and an amp. The Android (or, maybe it’s just Google Pixel devices, I can’t recall) audio subsystem limits audio output. My phone max. output is about 800mV. I believe they assume all output is going to earphones and they’re trying to protect your hearing. This happens even if you’re using a USB DAC. But, there is an app called USB Audio Player PRO (the may be others) that can bypass the Android audio subsystem and send output directly to the DAC and thereby get the full DAC output - typically around 2V.