Pixel 2 and Pixel XL 2 Will Both Ditch the Headphone Jack

J3RK said:
There are reasons though that some of us are resistant, and it's not because we fear change, or are antiquated, or can't "get with the times".
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Unfortunately it sounds that way to me. We can take each argument one by one.

A) I'm an audiophile - Unless you have an LG V20 or a phone with comparable specs this argument is well.... strange. First of all the DAC's in most phones (not all) are pretty shitty and most lack the capability/power to even drive studio quality headphones properly. If they drive them at all chances are you'll lose out on some highs, lows, or just volume of any kind in general. Quite literally taking studio quality headphones and plugging them into your phone because your an "audiophile" is like taking a Celeron 400 and fitting it with a 1080 Ti because you "like to game". It's probably the worst argument to make. Furthermore there are MANY studio quality BT headphones (yes even AKG) which have their own DACs. So the argument that there are none is well as I said before... strange.

B) Connectivity Problems - Now this one I'll give you. However, if you are talking about range it makes no sense to say well I don't have a problem using something with a cord which has a finite range for sure vs something that is wireless. A phone that you would have in your pocket anyway isn't more than a meter from your ears and I've never had wireless headphones that close to my phone which would cause me to lose connection. As I said before I have a BT head unit in my car I get into it every day and listen to music to and from work. The only thing that gives me issues would be Youtube which is a problem with Youtube. The actual convenience and benefits of a BT head unit in your car is immeasurable. When I get a call, the radio automatically mutes. When I'm following directions the sound is sent to the rear automatically. When I get out of the car the phone automatically switches and then back to BT when I get back into the car. I'll take an occasional hiccup any day of the week for that level of convenience.

Having said that, while I've seen issues with pairing, it's never been so bad that it required everyone within BT range to turn their phones off. I have a BT speaker at work. It's never happened....EVER.

C) I just don't like wireless - Ok. That's much better than making poor arguments.
 
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Well, you lost me at "audiophile"...

I'm well aware of the quality of DACs and even the compressed audio being played from most phones. That changes nothing. I qualified my arguments there.

I didn't say I had to have everyone turn off their phones. I said that I had to see who's device auto-paired with something I'm using because they already had it paired at one point before. Sure I could go around and try to police this, remove old profiles, prevent automatic pairing, etc. However, like I said, it's more than I want to think about when I could plug in a fucking cable and hit play.

I also said that if BT works for you, or anyone else, and you're happy with it, then great!

As for my favorite brands making BT headphones, that wasn't my point either. My MAIN point was that I don't want wireless. I want wired. So, if I want one of the new devices, I have in fact resigned myself to using a dongle. I don't want to, but I will. Though if say, AKG wanted to make a set of something I like with the USB connector, then maybe I'd buy a set just for mobile use.

Also, I don't deny that there are good ways to include a good DAC in a set of wireless headphones. I do however still prefer not to use Bluetooth, so that kind of negates that option for me personally.
 
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J3RK said:
Well, you lost me at "audiophile"...

I'm well aware of the quality of DACs and even the compressed audio being played from most phones. That changes nothing. I qualified my arguments there.

I didn't say I had to have everyone turn off their phones. I said that I had to see who's device auto-paired with something I'm using because they already had it paired at one point before. Sure I could go around and try to police this, remove old profiles, prevent automatic pairing, etc. However, like I said, it's more than I want to think about when I could plug in a fucking cable and hit play.

I also said that if BT works for you, or anyone else, and you're happy with it, then great!

As for my favorite brands making BT headphones, that wasn't my point either. My MAIN point was that I don't want wireless. I want wired. So, if I want one of the new devices, I have in fact resigned myself to using a dongle. I don't want to, but I will. Though if say, AKG wanted to make a set of something I like with the USB connector, then maybe I'd buy a set just for mobile use.

Also, I don't deny that there are good ways to include a good DAC in a set of wireless headphones. I do however still prefer not to use Bluetooth, so that kind of negates that option for me personally.
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You wrote like 4 paragraphs just to say I don't like wireless. You could have done it in one sentence if that was your only point.
 
kac77 said:
You wrote like 4 paragraphs just to say I don't like wireless. You could have done it in one sentence if that was your only point.
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There are plenty of reasons to not like wireless.

1.) Quality: I'll consider bluetooth audio when it has the ability to transmit uncompressed stereo channels

2.) Reliability: Interference, randomly becoming unpaired and not working, etc. etc., and it usually happens at the worst possible time.

3.) Batteries: Having to worry about keeping your headphones charged as well

4.) Security: Whenever something is wireless it is inevitably less secure.

5.) Adapter: Sure and adapter is possible, but charging while using one usually isn't.

And that's not to mention the fact that I already own several decent wired headsets, several devices that can plug in via a 3.5mm jack that I don't want to either have to replace or buy adapters for.

It really is just a shit show. Wireless isn't just a "getting with the times" thing. Wireless is a poor quality, unreliable, inconvenient shit show.

When there is a choice between two solutions, one which is wired and one which is wireless. No matter what the device does, unless you absolutely need it to be wireless, ALWAYS choose the wired one. Networking, mice, keyboards, audio, etc. etc. There are no exceptions to this rule.
 
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kac77 said:
You wrote like 4 paragraphs just to say I don't like wireless. You could have done it in one sentence if that was your only point.
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How many should I write to say that your redponses are nigh-on useless, and you aren't changing my point of view? :confused:
 
Sorry, that was kinda dickish to say. However, I have reasons, and you're not really making an impact where these things are concerned.
 
J3RK said:
How many should I write to say that your redponses are nigh-on useless, and you aren't changing my point of view? :confused:
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I'm not trying to change your mind at all and if I recall correctly you initially responded to me. No? It's kind of obvious at least to me that my initial post wasn't specifically trying to change your mind .
 
J3RK said:
I only commented again because I was subscribed to the thread and it re-surfaced again. Audio is something I'm pretty passionate about (being that I design audio equipment) so...
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Wasn't directed at you, it's bound to come up again with the release of the new Pixel in 3 weeks. I personally believe it's dumb to drop the headphone jack, it's cheap to implement, and convenient for the end user. But it's not the end of the world if it's not there :)
 
keshley said:
Wasn't directed at you, it's bound to come up again with the release of the new Pixel in 3 weeks. I personally believe it's dumb to drop the headphone jack, it's cheap to implement, and convenient for the end user. But it's not the end of the world if it's not there :)
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Yeah, that's kinda where I'm at now. I'll work around it, but don't like it. :D
 
Any phone without a headphone jack is an instant No Buy for me. I'm not going back to the iPhone 1 days where I need a dongle to use headphones.

This coming from someone that owns a set of Bluetooth headphones too. I will not buy a device without an audio jack...ever. Google needs to stop copying the iPhone for design cues and hardware trends and forge their own path.
 
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They just want to be courageous too!!!
 
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Well,

With 4 gigs of RAM and a decently fast CPU, I'll have no reason to upgrade to a Pixel 2. I'm sure it will be plenty fast for some time to come. Phones just don't become obsolete as fast as they used to.

The Pixel 2 has no headphone jack (major bummer) and no LTE band 71 support. What does it have? Why would I even be interested.

The only reason I'd get rid of my Pixel now, is the end of security patching, which will apparently happen in October 2019:

img_59026049c61d1.png



This is a shame, as the hardware will probably still be good enough for daily use at that point. It's artificial obsolescence if you ask me. I mean, these are essentially small portable computers. If the hardware is still capable, why should we be forced to replace them so frequently? Somoene needs to lay the smack down and require frequent security patching for much MUCH longer for these devices.


Either way, sounds like I will have 2 years and 1 month left to find a replacement that has:

1.) Analogue audio out

2.) At least monthly security updates

3.) Not designed in China

Currently #2 means Google only, as no other maker lives up to this, but maybe two years from now some other player may start taking security seriously as well? At least I can hope?
 
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