On the flip side, my phone does have a headphone jack and it's been a perennial weak spot. Debris gets in there far too easily to the extent that it doesn't even allow me to use a standard headphone cable.

I'm not an audiophile, so wireless headphones and streamed music is more than good enough for me - but as someone who has a headphone jack and would be more than willing to use it, it's not exactly been a bed of roses after a couple of years of use.

Am sure a manufacturer with better QA than OnePlus might be better, or if I'd have wrapped my phone in bubble-wrap every time I place it in a pocket it wouldn't have got stuff in there. But that's the anecdata from someone with one.

I've spent about $600 on various Bluetooth headphones and nothing beats the simple plug and play of a half decent $50 corded set.

Add to that the fact that fully cordless earbuds are beyond ergonomic failure. At least corded can hang around your neck. Bud's one has to pop in and out, hold, put in your pocket. The idea of continuing conversations even if they have passthrough is very rude

I absolutely hated not having a headphone jack so I finally gave in a bought a pair of AirPods Pro. They are literally my favorite thing I've bought in the last decade.

I know it's an extremely expensive solution, and it's super shitty that Apple is basically forcing you to buy them, but now that I have them I love them.

Comments like this always make me really glad that I've never tried "good" audio equipment. I think music sounds great with my Sony XM3s and even my AirPods, and I don't have to travel with a DAC to experience it. shrug

And it's not even about only headphones. It's about billions of audio devices that take one thing as input: line-level audio. Home stereos, car stereos, portable amps, hotel-room docks and TVs, PA systems and mixers.

Then there's the idiotic problem that Apple created but never even solved: blocking the phone's sole port with a "headphone dongle," which prevents you from CHARGING the phone. So now if you want to listen to music while navigating (which kills the battery quickly), you're screwed.

I ended up buying a few of the Lightning-to-30-pin-iPod adapters, which you can then plug a USB+audio cable into. Yes, the ancient 30-pin iPod connector has line audio out, and the cool thing is that it's a true line out; the volume control has no effect on it, so you only have one volume control to dick around with (the one on the amp).

Have you considered LG phones. They pride themselves on having a powerful DAC and obviously headphone jack

I think Apple’s official Lightning to jack adapter is fine for mobile use. Sure, it’s not ideal, but a headphone jack comes with other trade offs which have been discussed to death. At the end of the day I’m under no illusions that audio people like me, who enjoy good wired headphones, are a niche group. Most people don’t miss the jack at all and I think having the adapter is an acceptable solution for everyone else.

well for those of us who live with blue tooth head sets the lack of jack has not been an issue. even when I needed corded headphones the lightning to standard jack worked fine on my 8+. Since it can wireless charge I could go charge and used a corded headset, but to be honest I haven't found a need as the quality of blue tooth headsets/air pods has been superb

Just for reference for others, the Apple headphone adapter I've used with my iPhone XS is rock solid, and I've never had a problem with it.

Did you look at AudioQuest DragonFly DAC? I have been using it for a while and it works great. You can use your regular cable headphone with it.