> As for headphone jacks. I haven’t used wired headphones with my iPhone for over 5 years. Dropping the jack has literally had no impact on me whatsoever. In fact it’s one less hole to fill with pocket lint.
Your needs don't define the needs of everyone else in this world. It wouldn't be a controversial move if it didn't piss off a bunch of people, now would it? If the airpods/dongle works for you, great. That doesn't mean they don't piss off and inconvenience a large group of people because if they didn't, there wouldn't be the corresponding backlash.
> Before you go on a tirade of audiophile nonsense, I’ll remind you that most people listen to audio and video that is streamed over cellular data in a lossy format. All arguments are rendered moot. I am a content iPhone X user, so now you know of at least one.
In case you didn't know, audiophilia is actually a very expensive hobby so most people aren't audiophiles. Most people pissed off about the removal of the 3.5 mm jack are not audiophiles. It is the everyday people wanting to listen to their device through headphones that are inconvenienced by this move. Audiophiles listen to music on their desk with their $2k open-back headphones and $2k dac/amp stack. And when on the move, they use digital audio players to play lossless flac. Most people pissed off are not pissed off because of sound quality, they are pissed off because now they have to use a dongle to do something as basic as listening to their device privately.
Not to mention the fact that Apple/Google/HTC/etc claim that the reason why they removed 3.5 mm was to improve sound quality. In their opinion, 3.5 mm is archaic and is holding back the audio industry. This seems like a bullshit excuse, because you don't hear any audiophiles complaining about that, and they are the people would'd drop $2k for a 5% improvement in their dac. If they removed 3.5 mm because it's holding audio back, where are the improvements and benefits from using their latest hyped flashy "adaptive" audio technologies? Where are the white papers? If you ask anyone working in high fidelity sound, I don't think anyone would have suggested that this is what we needed.
> Your needs don't define the needs of everyone else in this world...
But yours do? You are part of, in my experience, a extremely vocal minority who are doing exactly what you are accusing me of.
> In case you didn't know, audiophilia is actually a very expensive hobby so most people aren't audiophiles.
I am actually very aware of the fact that it is an expensive hobby. A lot off the tat is baseless nonsense.
> Most people pissed off about the removal of the 3.5 mm jack are not audiophiles. It is the everyday people wanting to listen to their device through headphones that are inconvenienced by this move.
How? They gave away a dongle until the X series phone. It works just fine. I see on my daily commute a heck of a lot of headphone users. I see a lot of dongles and I see a lot of wireless headphones, AirPod being extremely common. I can only presume that the majority either use the headphones that came with their phone (a lot of apple headphones out there) or keep the dongle attached.
> ...now they have to use a dongle to do something as basic as listening to their device privately.
So? A bit of history; back in the day, expensive 'on/over the ear headphones came fitted with TRS Audio jack (6.35mm). In order to use decent headphones on your walkman/discman, you had to use a converter (a dongle in modern parlance). The horror!
> Not to mention the fact that Apple/Google/HTC/etc claim that the reason why they removed 3.5 mm was to improve sound quality. In their opinion, 3.5 mm is archaic and is holding back the audio industry. This seems like a bullshit excuse, because you don't hear any audiophiles complaining about that...
Do you have any evidence other than the opinions of individuals who spend thousands on snake oil?
> If they removed 3.5 mm because it's holding audio back, where are the improvements and benefits from using their latest hyped flashy "adaptive" audio technologies? Where are the white papers? If you ask anyone working in high fidelity sound, I don't think anyone would have suggested that this is what we needed.
For portable music players, I doubt many would care...
Your needs don't define the needs of everyone else in this world. It wouldn't be a controversial move if it didn't piss off a bunch of people, now would it? If the airpods/dongle works for you, great. That doesn't mean they don't piss off and inconvenience a large group of people because if they didn't, there wouldn't be the corresponding backlash.
> Before you go on a tirade of audiophile nonsense, I’ll remind you that most people listen to audio and video that is streamed over cellular data in a lossy format. All arguments are rendered moot. I am a content iPhone X user, so now you know of at least one.
In case you didn't know, audiophilia is actually a very expensive hobby so most people aren't audiophiles. Most people pissed off about the removal of the 3.5 mm jack are not audiophiles. It is the everyday people wanting to listen to their device through headphones that are inconvenienced by this move. Audiophiles listen to music on their desk with their $2k open-back headphones and $2k dac/amp stack. And when on the move, they use digital audio players to play lossless flac. Most people pissed off are not pissed off because of sound quality, they are pissed off because now they have to use a dongle to do something as basic as listening to their device privately.
Not to mention the fact that Apple/Google/HTC/etc claim that the reason why they removed 3.5 mm was to improve sound quality. In their opinion, 3.5 mm is archaic and is holding back the audio industry. This seems like a bullshit excuse, because you don't hear any audiophiles complaining about that, and they are the people would'd drop $2k for a 5% improvement in their dac. If they removed 3.5 mm because it's holding audio back, where are the improvements and benefits from using their latest hyped flashy "adaptive" audio technologies? Where are the white papers? If you ask anyone working in high fidelity sound, I don't think anyone would have suggested that this is what we needed.