Rapid tech decay is getting me down

[LaLaLand]

You can use a USB-C DAC that attaches to your mobile phone, and which has a plug for wired headphones. There are also versions that simultaneously allow charging your phone. They aren't very expensive anymore, and have gotten very small over the years. And the sound quality is not only better than Bluetooth (which can be very bad indeed), it is also much better than the internal DACs powering headhpone jacks.

 

[frank05]

Remember a few years ago when Apple removed phone jacks, probably to boost sales of its wireless headphones? There was uproar but nowadays, other brands have also removed phone jacks.

I stuck with my wired earbuds for years after Apple did away with their phone jacks by using a dongle. One day while spending minutes untangling the cord yet again, I decided to buy AirPods and have never regretted that decision.

 

[Music Lover]

You can use a USB-C DAC that attaches to your mobile phone, and which has a plug for wired headphones. There are also versions that simultaneously allow charging your phone. They aren't very expensive anymore, and have gotten very small over the years. And the sound quality is not only better than Bluetooth (which can be very bad indeed), it is also much better than the internal DACs powering headhpone jacks.

I wasn't ware of those.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[audreyh1]

I stuck with my wired earbuds for years after Apple did away with their phone jacks by using a dongle. One day while spending minutes untangling the cord yet again, I decided to buy AirPods and have never regretted that decision.

Same here. I was always annoyed with using wired earbuds out walking because I could never find a comfortable place to put my device and the cord got in the way. Still it took me a couple of years to get AirPods, and not only no wire, thank goodness, but I could download things to listen to onto my watch and didn’t need to carry anything else!

 

[Car-Guy]

Most of my electronics last a long time (maybe not as long as a 1960's rotary dial phone) but still, I'm happy with the working life with most things. My biggest gripe is the need to reset electronic "stuff" so frequently. There's not a week that goes by that I need to reset "something". Smartphone, entertainment center, router, PC's. Heck, I'd need to reset my cars too except that happens every time I restart it. Although on longer drives sometimes I need to reset infotainment/info/nav/xm radio center while driving.

OTOH, mechanically, "most" cars last much longer these days. Back in the 60/70's, 100k miles was about it. Since the late 90's I can easily get 200k miles and with far less maintenance. Example: my 2022 Truck has 80k miles on it now and I've never needed to change the spark plugs (16 of them), transmission fluid, brake pads/rotors, or tune it up, etc, etc... A lot different than 50 years ago.

 

[Music Lover]

Most of my electronics last a long time (maybe not as long as a 1960's rotary dial phone) but still, I'm happy with the working life with most things. My biggest gripe is the need to reset electronic "stuff" so frequently. There's not a week that goes by that I need to reset "something". Smartphone...

On many smart phones there's an option to automatically reboot either when needed or on a schedule.

 

[Car-Guy]

On many smart phones there's an option to automatically reboot either when needed or on a schedule.

Actually my smartphone seem to last longer between reboots than most other electronics. I only need to shut it down and restart it once every few months or so. OTOH, my wireless Internet modem/router needs to be reset weekly, sometimes daily.

 

[disneysteve]

my wireless Internet modem/router needs to be reset weekly, sometimes daily.

That sounds like a device issue. That shouldn't be the case. About the only time we need to reset our router is when there's a power surge or momentary blackout.

 

[Car-Guy]

That sounds like a device issue. That shouldn't be the case. About the only time we need to reset our router is when there's a power surge or momentary blackout.

I've had several replacements but they all have had intermittent issues. Lot's power hits out here. Even have a UPS on it. Could be the poor ADSL service around here. The phone company isn't going to overwork that since there are so few subscribers this far out in the boonies.

 

[explanade]

I stuck with my wired earbuds for years after Apple did away with their phone jacks by using a dongle. One day while spending minutes untangling the cord yet again, I decided to buy AirPods and have never regretted that decision.

Same here. I was always annoyed with using wired earbuds out walking because I could never find a comfortable place to put my device and the cord got in the way. Still it took me a couple of years to get AirPods, and not only no wire, thank goodness, but I could download things to listen to onto my watch and didn’t need to carry anything else!

The white earbuds which Apple first included with iPods became iconic. You saw them all over the world, even in non-Apple devices. People would wear them and the long white cords would drape down.

But I got them caught on something more than once. And it was sometimes a pain to coil them and put them away and untangle them.

I didn’t get AirPods right away. I got many cheap no-name wireless in-ear ones. They worked okay but eventually got AirPod Pros because they were in-ear and had noise cancellation. Also AirPod Pros 2s as well.

Will get AirPod Pro 3 eventually.

Compared to some other brands I’ve tried, the AirPod Pros stay in my ears with the stem designs. If you noticed, some other brands also have stems now.

I don’t think I could fly any more without either ear plugs or passive or active noise cancellation now.

 

[CRLLS]

I prefer the wired earphones over ear buds. They don't need recharging and never run out of power. They can sit in the drawer for months and when I want to use them, they simply work. I don't need a charger either. But the, what do I know. I belong to a n early retirement website.

 

[disneysteve]

I prefer the wired earphones over ear buds. They don't need recharging and never run out of power. They can sit in the drawer for months and when I want to use them, they simply work. I don't need a charger either. But the, what do I know. I belong to a n early retirement website.

Same here. I have wireless ones and use them sometimes, but I'm more likely to grab the wired ones for my iPhone. I was annoyed when I heard they were taking out the ear plug jack until I learned that you would just plug into the charging port instead so that was really a big to-do about nothing.

 

[ls99]

Use wired connections. Don't need microwave RF generators near me. Especially not in my ear!
For music, USB stick in car. Phone is powered OFF unless need to make call, a rare event.
At skating rink also plug into house amp my old iphone to play music. Others use bluetooth.

 

[braumeister]

I stuck with my wired earbuds for years after Apple did away with their phone jacks by using a dongle. One day while spending minutes untangling the cord yet again, I decided to buy AirPods and have never regretted that decision.

In fact, good sound quality is only one of the advantages of AirPods. I've found their noise canceling capability to be almost identical to my big expensive over-the-ear Sony headphones. First time I used them on a flight was astounding.

 

[explanade]

Use wired connections. Don't need microwave RF generators near me. Especially not in my ear!
For music, USB stick in car. Phone is powered OFF unless need to make call, a rare event.
At skating rink also plug into house amp my old iphone to play music. Others use bluetooth.

What frequencies do you think bluetooth runs at?

If they were emitting microwaves, first thing, they wouldn't be such small devices, you'd need a lot more power so much bigger batteries.

Secondly, since they sell billions of dollars worth of them every year, they'd be crawling with PI lawyers filing class action suits for the alleged damage to health they are causing.

 

[ls99]

What frequencies do you think bluetooth runs at?

If they were emitting microwaves, first thing, they wouldn't be such small devices, you'd need a lot more power so much bigger batteries.

Secondly, since they sell billions of dollars worth of them every year, they'd be crawling with PI lawyers filing class action suits for the alleged damage to health they are causing.

Glad you asked!

Bluetooth, frequency hopping in the 2.402 to 2.4835 Ghz range, roughly 40 channels .
And yes, the earbuds do talk back to the phone.
Microwave oven center frequency 2.45 Ghz. They do drift a bit up and down.

Have zero interest what PI lawyers do or don't.

 

[explanade]

Glad you asked!

Bluetooth, frequency hopping in the 2.402 to 2.4835 Ghz range, roughly 40 channels .
And yes, the earbuds do talk back to the phone.
Microwave oven center frequency 2.45 Ghz. They do drift a bit up and down.

Have zero interest what PI lawyers do or don't.

Now do power consumption and output.

Does it put out anything like 1000 or 1100 watt microwave ovens?

Also can you cite evidence that non-ionizing radiation, including very low power microwaves, can be damaging to health?

 

[ls99]

Now do power consumption and output.

Does it put out anything like 1000 or 1100 watt microwave ovens?

Also can you cite evidence that non-ionizing radiation, including very low power microwaves, can be damaging to health?

DO your own further research. Dr Google can be helpful.
Bye.

 

[Koolau]

Now do power consumption and output.

Does it put out anything like 1000 or 1100 watt microwave ovens?

Also can you cite evidence that non-ionizing radiation, including very low power microwaves, can be damaging to health?

Probably no evidence (never stopped someone from suing before) but: IIRC cellphone companies are still being sued for causing cancer with the non-ionizing radiation they produce. Seems thin to me, but, hey, if there's a dollar to be made...

 

[audreyh1]

In fact, good sound quality is only one of the advantages of AirPods. I've found their noise canceling capability to be almost identical to my big expensive over-the-ear Sony headphones. First time I used them on a flight was astounding.

Exactly! There are times I’ve worn them without playing any music. Great on planes or in noisy waiting rooms.

At home with our audio set up if only one of us is watching TV we use AirPods instead of the fancy surround sound system. That’s really nice.

 

[Music Lover]

In fact, good sound quality is only one of the advantages of AirPods. I've found their noise canceling capability to be almost identical to my big expensive over-the-ear Sony headphones. First time I used them on a flight was astounding.

Bluetooth is poor audio quality.