in

The significance of the 3.5mm headphone port: no delay!Mobile HiFi is not a fake demand

Speaking of HiFi phones, some people may still be able to name one or two models, but I guess many people have no idea what other HiFi phones are on the market today.

It is true that in the past few years, with the exception of Apple, almost all mobile phone manufacturers in the Android camp have done a lot of articles on sound quality; for example, it is equipped with XXX fever DAC chip, invited audio masters to tune, and the sound quality reaches certain HiFi players. Level and so on. However, all of this ended up with consumers not paying the bill. If you can summarize it in one sentence-people do not have a clear understanding of what “good sound quality” is.

How did mobile HiFi arise

In November 2012, vivo launched a smartphone model X1 (equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack), and the biggest highlight of this phone is the Hi-Fi-level high-fidelity music playback performance; this is mainly due to the use of vivo X1 CS4398 (DAC)+CS8422 chip solution produced by Cirrus Logic.

It is reported that the sound quality of the X1 is close to the level of professional players, and vivo is proud to say that the X1 is the world’s first smartphone with integrated professional Hi-Fi audio solutions.

The significance of the 3.5mm headphone port: no delay!Mobile HiFi is not a fake demand

The first domestic HiFi phone-vivo X1

The full rise of HiFi mobile phones in China began in 2014. At that time, many domestic mobile phone manufacturers such as vivo, Meizu, and Xiaomi set foot in the HiFi mobile phone market. However, when mobile phone manufacturers are emphasizing HiFi sound quality, most ordinary consumers have no idea about this gimmick.

To a certain extent, it is the mobile phone manufacturers that overestimated ordinary consumers’ demand for “sound quality” and expanded a relatively niche demand to a range of general needs. This has led to the difference between product positioning and consumer demand. Dislocation between. It seems that mobile phone manufacturers call ordinary consumers’ demand for “HiFi” as pseudo-needs.

The end of HiFi for mobile phones was about 2016 when Apple released the iPhone 7 (with the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack), and at the same time launched the disruptive true wireless headset-AirPods. These two products have completely changed the pattern of the mobile phone industry and the headset industry. In the next five years, everyone knew what happened-almost all mobile phone manufacturers cancelled the 3.5mm headphone jack on their flagship models, and true wireless headphones became a hot product in the entire industry.

However, even so, the headphone jack on the phone has not completely disappeared. On the contrary, in some scenarios, it still has the advantage that wireless headphones cannot replace.

The 3.5mm headphone jack still has its meaning

Since 2019, the 3.5mm headphone jack has gradually returned to people’s field of vision. Major mobile phone manufacturers have taken action. OPPO Find X2 Lite, Huawei mate30, realme GT, iQOO Z5 and other flagship models can see the return of the 3.5mm headphone jack.

There is no doubt that this is a wireless era, and wireless mice, wireless keyboards, and mobile phone charging have all become wireless. Since these digital products can be made wireless, what is the significance of the 3.5mm headphone jack for mobile phone manufacturers and consumers?

The significance of the 3.5mm headphone port: no delay!Mobile HiFi is not a fake demand

Many models still retain the 3.5mm headphone jack

In terms of daily use experience, currently limited by Bluetooth transmission technology, true wireless headsets usually have a delay of about 100~200ms when transmitting sound. Of course, this delay level is acceptable for most people listening to music and watching videos. But in this delay level, the team game is black, and the experience is terrible.

At present, mainstream flagship mobile phones on the market will use “high-brush” screens. Generally speaking, flagship mobile phones will use 90Hz-120 Hz refresh rate screens, and some gaming phones even have screens with higher refresh rates (such as 165Hz). Let players get a clearer and smoother experience. Manufacturers’ efforts on these hardware are mainly to allow users to get a better gaming experience and allow players to seize the opportunity in the game.

But there is a real problem. If you use a true wireless headset in a game, the 100~200ms delay of sound transmission is undoubtedly a hindrance to these top hardware. Sometimes a delay of several hundred milliseconds is enough to determine the outcome of a game. Wired headsets are connected via wired instead of Bluetooth, so the delay when wired headsets transmit sound can be ignored. Therefore, for most mobile game players, the return of the 3.5mm headphone jack is indeed positive.

How far can the headphone jack on the phone go?

In the future, wireless is definitely the general trend, and true wireless headsets still have broad prospects. But at this stage, the experience of true wireless headsets cannot meet the needs of all scenarios, especially in the gaming experience, there is still much room for improvement. It is precisely because the current true wireless headsets still have many shortcomings, so some consumers are still willing to embrace the 3.5mm headphone jack.

The significance of the 3.5mm headphone port: no delay!Mobile HiFi is not a fake demand

For next year’s flagship machine, we are also very happy to see the 3.5mm headphone jack being retained. At the same time, we also hope that the persistence of iQOO, OPPO, Huawei, Xiaomi and other mobile phone manufacturers will promote the industry to rethink the future of mobile phone headset interfaces.

Of course, if the delay of true wireless earphones can reach 30ms or even 10ms in the future, consumers will happily choose to use true wireless earphones to team up and enjoy the convenience and freedom brought by true wireless.

.

Share this: