Is the return of wired headphones driven by a simple desire for better sound quality or is it part of a backlash against modern tech? Thomas Germain tries to find out.
They exist, but they suck (I’ve bought so, so many). Ironically, the best one to use for Android is made by Apple and it still kinda sucks. Not to mention you can’t charge while using them.
I have a few for various headphone sizes and mine all seem fine. Wireless charging still works which my phone goes in a magnetic stand with it anyway. That all being said, I still just use a stand alone player for audio. That way I can still use my phone and don’t get the random phone noises on top of the music.
Only one of my headphones (I own a lot, it’s an expensive rabbit hole) that isn’t a pair of ear buds or IEMs can be powered by a phone or dongle, and I bought that pair specifically because the Nintendo Switch headphone output was super anemic. I have to use a stand alone DAP or stationary amp for everything else.
I own quite a few of those! I leaned a bit heavier into the higher end of the Beyer and Hifiman lines as I prefer their house sound. Many of those you mentioned won’t do well from any dongle I know of. They “work” technically, but they won’t sound right or loud. The Sonys, Focal, AKG K550, and Phillips X1 are probably OK. It’s odd just how well even the high end Focals do from low power output. The Q701, HD650, DT880-600 and HE-560 are all too demanding for any phone or dongle I have ever used, most DAPs too to be honest. Technically I have the AKG K712 not the Q701, but they are mostly just a tweaked later version of the Q701 with nicer pads.
I see that they make a bunch of lower end he-560’s now under a V2 or V4 model…
I have the original. Not my pic cause I don’t want to dig out the box but they’re these…
Those are usually powered by this(Schiit Mjolnir 1).
Obviously they’re recabled since that’s a balanced only amp. Which has plenty of power at 8W per channel at 32 ohm and 5W at 50ohm.
The later he-560s were not necessarily lower end, they sound the same imo (I owned the v1 and the v3), but they had come cost saving things like ditching the wood grain because of returns and cost and more importantly they ditched the evil mini smc connectors for the cable. I actually prefer the headband of the v3 to the v1, but it is a preference thing and you can actually buy both from Hifiman directly and swap them out (I did this with my Hifiman HE-6). The HE-560 v4 sucks though, I really hate that style of headband.
I don’t have pics handy, but I own the HE-400, HE-500, HE-560 v3 (v1 is long gone), Arya, and HE-6 (heavily modded now). The HE-6 is by far my favorite, but it is stupidly hard to power properly. They did a remake of the HE-6. but it has that stupid he-560 headband, so you’d have to mod it to make it decent. It also doesn’t sound quite as nice as the OG, but it’s pretty close.
With those USB-C to Headphone jack dongle adapters, where’s the DAC? My (aging, days from replacement) S10e has a headphone jack, and thus a built-in DAC. Apple’s 30-pin connector had pins for stereo analog audio, it’s how speaker docks worked. Can’t say about the Lightning connector, but I know USB-C doesn’t have analog audio pins. Unless there’s some standard I don’t know about that repurposes some of them that all devices use. Or, is the dongle a USB sound card with a tiny little DAC and amp built in which is probably small, underpowered and very cheap?
It can actually be both ways, most USB-C to headphone jack dongles have a tiny DAC/amp circuit built in (they are really tiny and cheap), but there is actually a method for sending audio over USB-C that some phones can use. The latter method is usually fairly device or product line specific, I’m not sure if it is an actual standard or not.
I’m not a huge fan of adapters but USB-C to headphone(2.5mm, 3.5mm, 4.4mm, etc) exist.
They exist, but they suck (I’ve bought so, so many). Ironically, the best one to use for Android is made by Apple and it still kinda sucks. Not to mention you can’t charge while using them.
I have a few for various headphone sizes and mine all seem fine. Wireless charging still works which my phone goes in a magnetic stand with it anyway. That all being said, I still just use a stand alone player for audio. That way I can still use my phone and don’t get the random phone noises on top of the music.
Only one of my headphones (I own a lot, it’s an expensive rabbit hole) that isn’t a pair of ear buds or IEMs can be powered by a phone or dongle, and I bought that pair specifically because the Nintendo Switch headphone output was super anemic. I have to use a stand alone DAP or stationary amp for everything else.
I own a few myself…
AKG Q701, K550
Audeze EL-8(closed), Mobius
Hifiman HE-560
Sennheiser HD-650
Phillips Fedelio X1
Beyerdynamics DT880(600ohm)
Sony 1000XM2, MDR-V700DJ
Focal Spirit Classic
I own quite a few of those! I leaned a bit heavier into the higher end of the Beyer and Hifiman lines as I prefer their house sound. Many of those you mentioned won’t do well from any dongle I know of. They “work” technically, but they won’t sound right or loud. The Sonys, Focal, AKG K550, and Phillips X1 are probably OK. It’s odd just how well even the high end Focals do from low power output. The Q701, HD650, DT880-600 and HE-560 are all too demanding for any phone or dongle I have ever used, most DAPs too to be honest. Technically I have the AKG K712 not the Q701, but they are mostly just a tweaked later version of the Q701 with nicer pads.
I see that they make a bunch of lower end he-560’s now under a V2 or V4 model… I have the original. Not my pic cause I don’t want to dig out the box but they’re these…
Those are usually powered by this(Schiit Mjolnir 1). Obviously they’re recabled since that’s a balanced only amp. Which has plenty of power at 8W per channel at 32 ohm and 5W at 50ohm.
The later he-560s were not necessarily lower end, they sound the same imo (I owned the v1 and the v3), but they had come cost saving things like ditching the wood grain because of returns and cost and more importantly they ditched the evil mini smc connectors for the cable. I actually prefer the headband of the v3 to the v1, but it is a preference thing and you can actually buy both from Hifiman directly and swap them out (I did this with my Hifiman HE-6). The HE-560 v4 sucks though, I really hate that style of headband.
I don’t have pics handy, but I own the HE-400, HE-500, HE-560 v3 (v1 is long gone), Arya, and HE-6 (heavily modded now). The HE-6 is by far my favorite, but it is stupidly hard to power properly. They did a remake of the HE-6. but it has that stupid he-560 headband, so you’d have to mod it to make it decent. It also doesn’t sound quite as nice as the OG, but it’s pretty close.
Sorry for the rambling!
With those USB-C to Headphone jack dongle adapters, where’s the DAC? My (aging, days from replacement) S10e has a headphone jack, and thus a built-in DAC. Apple’s 30-pin connector had pins for stereo analog audio, it’s how speaker docks worked. Can’t say about the Lightning connector, but I know USB-C doesn’t have analog audio pins. Unless there’s some standard I don’t know about that repurposes some of them that all devices use. Or, is the dongle a USB sound card with a tiny little DAC and amp built in which is probably small, underpowered and very cheap?
It can actually be both ways, most USB-C to headphone jack dongles have a tiny DAC/amp circuit built in (they are really tiny and cheap), but there is actually a method for sending audio over USB-C that some phones can use. The latter method is usually fairly device or product line specific, I’m not sure if it is an actual standard or not.