[BangOn]

Just to set the record straight, we are not going to discuss wired vs. wireless here. We are all wired in this discussion.

So this new connector called USB-C came to be the one connector to rule them all, replacing even 100-year old standards like the 3.5 headphone jack. Many people have mixed feelings about this transition. I'd be mostly fine with it, most smartphone manufacturers put the headphone jack on the wrong (top) side of smartphones in the past, so it wasn't that useful anyway. If you don't believe me, watch this hilarious video, the segment from 7:05 to 8:15.

Europe has new regulations forcing phone makers to use a common charger, okay, I know, that's the charger side of things, not the phone side, but then I see no evidence at least Android phones staying with microUSB long. Almost all the high end and midrange Android phones come with USB-C ports already, I suspect in no time the bottom of the barrel of phones get their USB-C ports as well.

On the Apple side the iPad Pro already has USB-C and the iPhones are either getting USB-C in the not so distant future, or they are going entirely without any ports. We'll see.

So while your phones - at least your Android phones - already have USB-C ports and not so much headphone jacks - hello Samsung Galaxy S20 -, do you want to connect your shiny new wired IEMs to your phones via a dongle or directly to the new one port to rule them all, USB-C? My point is, I still don't see that many of the shiny new wired IEMs coming with USB-C ports. But I would like them to do so.

 

[Dorick]

Thing is most of us don't use our iems with phones (LG being the exception). So if the default is with USB c that just means we will have to swap out the cable right off the bat which is annoying and costly.

Secondly the quality of the USB c dac has to be very good to justify this switch, otherwise you're basically handcuffing your iems performance right off the bat which would result in bad reviews and result in low sales which benefits no one.

For a quality USB c dac (think dragonfly level), that's a hundred to a couple hundred of additional cost to the iem which is not sustainable if the vast majority of your customers won't use it either ways.

So here's my conclusion, at the very low end (sub $100) I can see the argument for inclusion of a cheap USB c dac with the package, but that would result in suboptimal performance anyways. Anything higher than that I just don't see the value addedness for such a change.

 

[buonassi]

Triton audio and plussound are two manufacturers who have usbc dacs built into their iem cables as an option.

For convince this surely satisfies, but it probably isn't the last word in sound quality.

If you're dropping $250 on a cable, you probably are serious enough to carry a proper dap. Plus who wants music being interrupted by phone notifications?

 

[BangOn]

So here's my conclusion, at the very low end (sub $100) I can see the argument for inclusion of a cheap USB c dac with the package, but that would result in suboptimal performance anyways. Anything higher than that I just don't see the value addedness for such a change.

The last time I've been around here we very much discussed sub $100 headphones as well. This is my usual price range. Meanwhile I've found this:

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/6/15/17467216/usb-c-headphones-wireless-future