Hacker News Reader

Comment by jwr | Hacker News Reader

The problem with the disappearing 3.5mm jack is, as usual, a problem that only a few geeks like us care about.

Taking myself as an example: I can't use the Apple earbuds, they immediately fall out of my ears. Which is why I use either large over-ear headphones (MDR7506), large over-ear noise-cancelling headphones (BOSE) for work in noisy places, or in-ear headphones that stay put even when running (Sol Republic Relays). And I want to have the flexibility of using any of those.

Every wireless option I've ever tried sucked badly. Some really badly. In various interesting ways.

But "most people" (I love that phrase) won't care. It seems the included apple earbuds are good enough for almost everyone.

View on HN

Headphones aren't a niche geek thing, though. Apple bought a company that sold millions of wired headphones and successfully marketed them as trendy fashion items.

When Apple sees kids walking around with Beats headphones, what device do they think it's plugged into? It's all smartphones.

> trendy fashion items

Exactly. They're already selling wireless ones, and have been for a while; I see them regularly on the train. Now they're making the ones with wires subtly uncool. They will succeed in so doing.

Ok for most of those who do not use Apple headphones adapter provided will solve their problem. So those who still have the problem are: those who have gazillion headphones and use them all; those whose cars for some reason don't have USB connection; and those who like to charge the phone while listening to the music.

Currently using a pair of Bose QuietComfort 35, which are wireless and connect via bluetooth.

The only issue I have with it is that pairing can occasionally take a minute or two, because I have to pair with a different device sometimes and it remembers the last connection first.

However, other than that, they work fantastically. The noise cancellation is on point, the battery lasts for ~8 hours or so, and I have been a very happy camper since getting it.

Recently compared it to my girlfriend's QC25, and I really enjoy having the convenience of not having to pop in a battery and no wires.

Every Bluetooth headphones I've tried have the same problem: they don't always work and they are fiddly. When they do work, I can even suffer the crappy sound quality (Apple refuses to implement aptX). But overall there is just way too much fiddling around (switch them on, switch them off, hold this button for that amount of time, etc) and too many cases when they suddenly stop working (dead battery, radio interference causing drops, etc).

I still remember the mindboggingly crappy Jabra sports Bluetooth headphones I bought, and the sinking feeling when I opened the box and found a hastily thrown in armband for the phone and an additional piece of paper saying that it is recommended to wear the phone strapped to your arm. Upper arm. Right arm, because that's the side where the receiver is. The effective range of these headphones was something like 30cm.

I don't want to fiddle with stuff in my life, I want to use it. I want to connect my headphones and have them work.

I'm sure BOSE (and other popular headphone-manufacturing companies) will be producing a line of bluetooth-enabled headphones in response to Apple's decision, if they aren't already.

And after everyone's purchased the apple ones, BAM, they release Beats by Dre plugs, only $599

Reply on news.ycombinator.com