More than a decade after launching in Europe, the Netherlands company is now selling its repairable phones in the US, starting with the Fairphone (Gen 6+).
(The company is also teasing its next-generation Fairbuds 2 wireless earbuds, launching later this year, which it says set “a new bar for repairability and performance.”)
I wish they could figure out a type of earbuds that wouldn’t require batteries. Sadly, it seems that technology is either unachievable or lost to time.
Do wired usb-c headphones not exist? Don’t get me wrong, I hate that everyone has dropped the jack and buds can fuck right off, but they’re just advertising those buds as an adjacent product, they’re not locking anyone in.
So a lot of people are pissed because they launched their fair buds immediately after removing the headset jack from their phones. Seems more profit motivated than sustainable motivated.
The big problem for me is that there is only one port, so you can ether listen to something, or, charge the phone, not both. Just having two ports would solve this.
Also, not something I really care about but a lot of people do, the headphone jack is an analog output, where as the USB-C is a digital output, and you need an analog signal to run a speaker. So they need to have their own DACs (Digital-Analog converter), and many of the USB-C headphones have poor quality DACs that loose detail. Used to be the DAC was just in the phone, and was generally of good quality.
Do you have evidence for the Apple USB-C DAC, that is about 10€, losing details over commonly built-in DAC with in ear monitors? That is not my experience nor have I found any reviews reporring that.
Depending on the headphone you want to use, that dongle is insufficient. My kiwi ears astrals sound worse with it and the koss ksc75 are rather quiet. This is with the EU version of the dongle, which has half the power of the US version.
It’s also another damn thing you need to carry around and that can break. There’s no reason not to include a headphone jack. Stop defending greedy design decisions that actively screw you over, it makes you look quite dumb.
I have yet see the need to use iems with excessive power requirements where they end up “rather quiet”, my Kiwi dongle DAC can blow my ears out if I were to long for it. If you do have a need for that, just upgrade the DAC to your extraordinarily high power reqirements. Lighter sized DACs pack a much stronger punch and can facilitate your early deafness if that is your preference. USB-C gives you that flexibility. All of those solutions are perfectly portable, you also don’t need to carry a separate part, just keep it connected.
I am not defending a"greedy decision", the only downside for most people is a bit more wear on the USB-C port and that is a minor issue given how reasonably priced the replacement part is and how easy it is to install.
The ksc75 is not an IEM. You’re also mentioning a completely different (and more expensive) dongle than the one in the comment I reolied to.
And no, more wear on the usb-c port is not the only downside. In some places (e.g. where I live), you simply can’t buy most dongles. I always have to travel or import stuff. You also have one more thing that you need to buy, carry around and that can break.
The kiwi dongle is pretty much the same price as the apple dongle, about 10 EUR. More powerful DACs in the lighter format are more expensive but they are also more powerful than what you’d usually find in a phone with headphone jack.
Yes, the ksc75 is not an IEM, I had to look it up. I was only talking about IEMs before.
In the age of the internet buying DACs is a non issue.
@megopie technically you can buy an adapter that has two connectors, one for charging and one more, either a headphone jack or one more USB. But I agree with the sentiment, a second built in port would be neat.
I see many people complaining about phones not having an audio jack anymore. But really I don’t think it would make that much sense add one to the phone. The only thing I could see is to make the usb c modular like framework did.
Why do you think “most” bought bluetooth earbuds in the first place? What’s the source for your data regarding how many people want the jack back? Also, not sure where you live but in the EU it’s very common to see people wearing wired earbuds/headphones.
Again, you’re defending corporations taking away options from consumers while also (presumably) being a consumer yourself. Adding the jack would not make the phones more expensive and would also not take away any of the features you want. Why would anyone in their right mind be against this? What a joke.
One good-ish reason is that In A Certain country the Bluetooth connections are monitored by Flock cameras and all, so you will be identified if you have Bluetooth headphones on in a public place. And that’s likely to spread other places too eventually…
This is a phenomenon that is easy to demonstrate with monitor apps for airtags, pervert glasses, and even Tesla automobiles (yes, they constantly send out a Bluetooth signal your phone can pick up).
Mh true. An usb c Adapter with aux and usbc inside of the case of the phone would be cool I think. Then you can easily add it to the phone where most people won’t need it. And you don’t have to redesign the whole phone for the audio jack
I wish they could figure out a type of earbuds that wouldn’t require batteries. Sadly, it seems that technology is either unachievable or lost to time.
Do wired usb-c headphones not exist? Don’t get me wrong, I hate that everyone has dropped the jack and buds can fuck right off, but they’re just advertising those buds as an adjacent product, they’re not locking anyone in.
So a lot of people are pissed because they launched their fair buds immediately after removing the headset jack from their phones. Seems more profit motivated than sustainable motivated.
The big problem for me is that there is only one port, so you can ether listen to something, or, charge the phone, not both. Just having two ports would solve this.
Also, not something I really care about but a lot of people do, the headphone jack is an analog output, where as the USB-C is a digital output, and you need an analog signal to run a speaker. So they need to have their own DACs (Digital-Analog converter), and many of the USB-C headphones have poor quality DACs that loose detail. Used to be the DAC was just in the phone, and was generally of good quality.
Do you have evidence for the Apple USB-C DAC, that is about 10€, losing details over commonly built-in DAC with in ear monitors? That is not my experience nor have I found any reviews reporring that.
Depending on the headphone you want to use, that dongle is insufficient. My kiwi ears astrals sound worse with it and the koss ksc75 are rather quiet. This is with the EU version of the dongle, which has half the power of the US version.
It’s also another damn thing you need to carry around and that can break. There’s no reason not to include a headphone jack. Stop defending greedy design decisions that actively screw you over, it makes you look quite dumb.
I have yet see the need to use iems with excessive power requirements where they end up “rather quiet”, my Kiwi dongle DAC can blow my ears out if I were to long for it. If you do have a need for that, just upgrade the DAC to your extraordinarily high power reqirements. Lighter sized DACs pack a much stronger punch and can facilitate your early deafness if that is your preference. USB-C gives you that flexibility. All of those solutions are perfectly portable, you also don’t need to carry a separate part, just keep it connected.
I am not defending a"greedy decision", the only downside for most people is a bit more wear on the USB-C port and that is a minor issue given how reasonably priced the replacement part is and how easy it is to install.
The ksc75 is not an IEM. You’re also mentioning a completely different (and more expensive) dongle than the one in the comment I reolied to.
And no, more wear on the usb-c port is not the only downside. In some places (e.g. where I live), you simply can’t buy most dongles. I always have to travel or import stuff. You also have one more thing that you need to buy, carry around and that can break.
Stop being a corpo simp. Makes you look dumb.
The kiwi dongle is pretty much the same price as the apple dongle, about 10 EUR. More powerful DACs in the lighter format are more expensive but they are also more powerful than what you’d usually find in a phone with headphone jack.
Yes, the ksc75 is not an IEM, I had to look it up. I was only talking about IEMs before.
In the age of the internet buying DACs is a non issue.
@megopie technically you can buy an adapter that has two connectors, one for charging and one more, either a headphone jack or one more USB. But I agree with the sentiment, a second built in port would be neat.
“SPEND MORE, BUY MORE”
Yeah, no thanks. I’d rather just have a headphone jack. This is a problem that has been solved for quite a while.
I’ve tried a few of those, I always get a buzzing or it gets weirdly hot, one just blew out my headphones. So I don’t really trust them at this point.
Yes they do.
I see many people complaining about phones not having an audio jack anymore. But really I don’t think it would make that much sense add one to the phone. The only thing I could see is to make the usb c modular like framework did.
“I don’t care about this, so fuck everyone else”
Nice attitude dude.
That is not what I meant.
I don’t see the reason to add it back for a few people. While most don’t ever will need it
Why do you think “most” bought bluetooth earbuds in the first place? What’s the source for your data regarding how many people want the jack back? Also, not sure where you live but in the EU it’s very common to see people wearing wired earbuds/headphones.
Again, you’re defending corporations taking away options from consumers while also (presumably) being a consumer yourself. Adding the jack would not make the phones more expensive and would also not take away any of the features you want. Why would anyone in their right mind be against this? What a joke.
One good-ish reason is that In A Certain country the Bluetooth connections are monitored by Flock cameras and all, so you will be identified if you have Bluetooth headphones on in a public place. And that’s likely to spread other places too eventually…
Does Flock have any technology to read radio waves coming from wires, or is that not a thing?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isnt broadcast done only manually? I.e. when you begin pairing? I guess it depends on device.
Yes however you can still see the signal and probably identify the mac address or something.
Bluetooth is not secure.
This is a phenomenon that is easy to demonstrate with monitor apps for airtags, pervert glasses, and even Tesla automobiles (yes, they constantly send out a Bluetooth signal your phone can pick up).
Mh true. An usb c Adapter with aux and usbc inside of the case of the phone would be cool I think. Then you can easily add it to the phone where most people won’t need it. And you don’t have to redesign the whole phone for the audio jack
Maybe, that sounds good imo. But those adapters break easily, so either it should be very good adapter or easily swapped design.