200
Aux doesn't belong on smartphones anymore. (piefed.social)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world
228 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I see a lot of people complaining that the Fairphone 6 doesn't have an Aux jack.

Just use an adapter cable.

A 3.5mm Aux jack takes up a significant amount of space just to connect a few wires that could be connected through USB-C anyway, that space could be used for a bigger battery.

Even if there was a good enough reason to keep Aux it should be 2.5mm Aux and not the usual 3.5 as it does exactly the same thing but uses less space

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I ended up bying a phone without a jack. I got 2 dongles that split into a jack and a charging port, so i can charge in bed while watching videos. One of the jacks has static noise and whine, the other has i think some kind of digital to analog interface that cuts the sound conpletely when the audio is too low.

So i hear static or when i watch a video or listen to an audiobook, when there is a pause in speech i hear the sound cut out completely, or if a video has soft background music on it, it might not pick up on it at all.

It's very distracting.

And if you go online to buy a dongle, they dont really say what they have in them, or you dont know how your phone handles the conversion etc.

So I don't think "just buy a dongle" is the solution. It works but now i have all these problems i didnt have with my old phone that had a jack...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    My dongle that supports charging and analog audio for my car has a whine that changes pitch with the motor speed (guessing it's very sensitive to the voltage or frequency of the alternator or something). Though at least it's low enough that it's almost unnoticeable when actual audio is playing.

    It also requires the phone be unlocked to start sending audio through the USB interface. And maybe about 10% of the time whe I get it all set up and music/podcast playing, the motion of hitting the lock button on my phone to turn the screen off also bumps the usb port enough for it to briefly disconnect, which stops my audio and forces me to unlock my phone again to get it playing through the cable.

    The phone needs to have a DAC anyways if it wants to drive its speakers. I could live with a smaller analog jack, but hate having to use a separate device with its own DAC that is probably way cheaper than the one already in my phone plus they probably don't even isolate the audio signal from the charging signal because the main selling point is just the ability to play audio and charge at the same time.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Clip a ferrite core filter around the audio cable, that should get rid of the whine. You can find them pretty cheap on Amazon or your favorite electronics store.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I did some research about it and it sounds like what I need is a dongle that isolates the charger and audio grounds from each other. Though a ferrite bead might help with the charge whine I get on one of my indoor chargers.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    I also did some searching again and came across the usb-c alternate modes. There is an alternate mode for "Audio Adapter Accessory Mode" and this needs certain architecture of the adapter you are connecting to be automatically detected.

    From the spec: "The analog audio adapter shall identify itself by presenting a resistance to GND of ≤ Ra on both A5 (CC) and B5 (VCONN) of the USB Type-C plug. If pins A5 and B5 are shorted together, the effective resistance to GND shall be less than Ra/2.

    A DFP that supports analog audio adapters shall detect the presence of an analog audio adapter by detecting a resistance to GND of less than Ra on both A5 (CC) and B5 (VCONN)."

    So the host has to support it, and the adapter needs to be manufactured so that it turns this feature on.

    But i find it difficult to find firstly if my phone supports it, and if the jack is designed with it in mind.

    And after that we apply the complexity of also charging in this mode, and chespest possible manufacturing of these things, or they just throw their own DAC in the adapter and call it a day so from phones dac -> usb-c alternate audio mode -> adapters dac -> headphones.

    And nowhere have i ever seen the manufacturer of these dongles say how its constructed.

    But i will stop here and forget about this because it is way outta my league.

    I also have absolutely no idea about if anything i say is correct so readers beware feel free to correct me on all thing usbc!

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent