[ClieOS]

It has been rumored to death with the lack of 3.5mm headphone jack on upcoming iPhone but Motorola has beaten Apple to the punch with the new Moto Z / Z Force, which won't come with a 3.5mm jack and will require a headphone with digital input or an extra DAC adapter to work with your 'normal' headphone. So my fellow HF'er, what is your take?

 

[Mundus]

Never liked the idea of an external smartphone DAC, and I don't see headphones having quality builtin DACs. Of course I hope headphones would be analog through USB-C and not digital. Still though, the more types of connectors the headphones carry the more inconvenient for us to carry multiple adapters like we do with 3.5mm to 6.3mm. Kind of annoying that they are doing this to have even more slimmer phones. This phone fad needs to die, I pretty much only put phone cases just because the phone feels too slim and uncomfortable to hold.

 

[trellus]

Not crazy about ditching a 3.5mm headphone jack just to make the phone slimmer. I haven't felt any of my iPhone's were "too fat," and I started with a 3GS.

I do have a few portable DAC/amps that are compatible with iOS using a CCK cable (FiiO E18, FiiO K1, FiiO E07k), but most of the time I use my iPhone 6s Plus as a source I'm using the jack or Bluetooth and only the occasion that I'm using headphones that need more power do I use an external DAC/amp.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClieOS /img/forum/go_quote.gif

It has been rumored to death with the lack of 3.5mm headphone jack on upcoming iPhone but Motorola has beaten Apple to the punch with the new Moto Z / Z Force, which won't come with a 3.5mm jack and will require a headphone with digital input or an extra DAC adapter to work with your 'normal' headphone. So my fellow HF'er, what is your take?

One upside: more USB audio support.

 

That said, if I'm going to walk around, I'd probably just go back to a DAP (most likely the X1) rather than strap a DAC to my smartphone (and ditch Spotify also). I mean, what was the whole point in getting an IEM where the bulkiest bit is the carrying case - which, even if it's an Otterbox, will stay in my bag - but then have to strap a DAC-HPamp to the phone or use a large headphone with active electronics in it? The phone gets slimmer by an insignificant margin, but then that means barring a flex phone you'd need a tougher case for it anyway, and on top of which you either use bulky headphones or use a DAC-HPamp strapped to the phone.

 

There were a few cases before that integrated the DAC-HPamp circuits, but the downside with those is that they were a bit pricey and their product life only lasts as long as that phone.

 

On the other hand, if making the phone slimmer doesn't impact battery life (good luck with that), and I can have a DAC-HPamp smaller than a Fulla or Dragonfly save for a clip, then I'd clip that onto the back of my shirt collar and then use ultra short IEM cables with it. Of course, with available tech so far, this means that DAC-HPamp won't have its own battery, and will rely on the phone's battery, which is 1) slimmer and 2) I'll end up using the Type-C port to output a signal to the DAC-HPamp and can't have it hooked up to a powerbank.

 

What phone designers aren't taking into account is how this is nothing like a Macbook, where the CoreM board's lack of active heat management allowed for a small motherboard surrounded by battery cells, on top of which you'd have a bag to carry it anyway, which means you'd have space for the mutli-USB port adapter, and you are not likely to even use the Macbook unless you're on a more comfortable table. By contrast you would expect to walk around and listen to a smartphone, or if the USB-C trend does happen, a phone on vibrate plus a DAP.
 
 
 
 

 

[Mython]

http://www.head-fi.org/t/811128/thoughts-and-opinions-on-the-removal-of-the-headphone-jack

 

[wuwhere]

I don't use it so I care not.