On January 11, 2019, the first large-scale technology exhibition of the new year - CES Consumer Electronics Exhibition, officially came to an end. As the "Consumer Electronics Exhibition" with the greatest influence in the world (no one), the focus of CES exhibition is on actual products that consumers can see and buy, which also makes it a gorgeous "New Year's shopping conference"...
However, if you think the editor is going to recommend new technologies and new products on CES today, then you are very wrong - in fact, what we are going to talk about today is exactly a "new technology" that has almost disappeared from this CES: USB Type-C headphones.
Yes, if you pay more attention to technology news, you may still remember that the USB Type-C headphones were "snatched" by LeTV, which was still very energetic back then, in 2016, but after it was released, it encountered a lot of complaints and doubts. Especially in the past two years, as some popular mobile phone brands have followed the trend, more and more consumers are dissatisfied with the inconvenience of using Type-Ch headphones, unable to take into account the shortcomings of listening to music and charging, and have always regarded it as a "flawed innovation" and rejected it.
Now Type-C headphones are extinct from CES, and many foreign media even shouted the slogan "Type-C audio is dead". I wonder if any friends will feel "very happy"? But then again, although the reputation of Type-C headphones has never been very good, the truth about how they "made" themselves to death may not be known to the public.
First of all, Type-C "digital audio" is a joke
What are the benefits of using Type-C interface to replace the 3.5mm traditional audio interface on mobile phones? Regarding this issue, the editor has also analyzed it for you in the past. The main benefits are actually that it is easy to control thickness (the Type-C interface is relatively "thin"), and the lack of one interface, which helps to enhance the water resistance of the mobile phone.
However, when the smartphone industry first welcomed Type-C headphones in 2016, "Accountant Jia" who was still in China said this:
emmmmm, the statement is very high-end and the concept seems to be beautiful, but after careful study, there are actually many loopholes. In order to give everyone a better understanding, we use a picture to compare the general structure of traditional mobile phones and "Type-C digital audio solutions".
First of all, the output of traditional mobile phones from the 3.5mm jack is indeed " analog signal ", and the output of "Type-C digital audio" mobile phones from the USB interface is indeed digital signal , but that is just because the audio decoding/ amplification circuit that should have in the mobile phone is "moved" into the headset, and it is not an innovative technology at all. When the so-called "digital audio" signal is decoded and amplified by the headset's built-in chip, it becomes an ordinary analog electrical signal to ultimately drive the diaphragm - what the end user hears is of course the analog signal rather than "digital audio".
signal-to-noise ratio , many built-in DACh can be better than
Secondly, put the decoding and amplification circuit originally built into the mobile phone into the headset, will the sound quality be higher? Not necessarily, because it depends on the specific chip model, filter circuit design, and even the wire materials of the headphones, etc. Take LeTV's " digital headphones " as an example. The built-in DAC chip specifications were not better than those of mainstream HiFi phones at that time; and the actual performance of the many USB Type-C "digital headphones" and even the Cirrus Logic CS42L42 chips built into the Type-C digital adapter cable has nothing to do with "high-end HiFi".
However, for mobile phone manufacturers, missing an audio circuit in their mobile phones can naturally save costs and simplify design. Adding a (not high-end) digital decoding chip to the headset can create a gimmick and make more money. Why not do it?
Secondly, manufacturers who are taking advantage of the situation have consumed consumers' patience
Of course, the cost of Type-C digital headphones has increased after all, and it also requires that the mobile phone must support USB digital source code output function in order to be used normally.Therefore, even if the final sound quality is not enough, objectively speaking, at least a group of "USB digital audio phones" represented by LeTV and HTC have done some work. But do you know that in the past two years, with the popularity of the concept of "Type-C headphones", a large number of manufacturers are actually trying to "get through" using the technology from 10 years ago?
Yes, seeing this picture, some friends may already understand: the above is an internal integrated CODEC chip. Although it is not high-end, it is at least considered a newly designed Type-C digital audio adapter cable. It is the standard configuration of those "digital audio phones"; and the following thing is actually what more consumers come into contact with in daily life. What is it? It's just an ordinary wire, and there's no chip inside it.
analog adapter cable disassembly: In fact, it is the wire
Audio enthusiasts are very disdainful of this type of mobile phone. Because they know that the Type-C interface of such mobile phones is actually even more pitiful than the so-called digital audio technology of "X-Video": although the former is a pseudo concept, it is at least half a cent better than ordinary mobile phones without HiFi design; while the latter is essentially using the analog signal output capability of the USB interface to directly output analog audio, which has nothing to do with "high sound quality".
Of course, ordinary users lack the ability to identify. When they see that the mobile phone has cancelled the 3.5mm jack and a "adapter cable" is attached, sometimes they will take it for granted that this is the so-called "digital audio", and the manufacturer's goal is achieved. However, since the USB interface of this type of mobile phone is essentially an analog signal, after a "redirect" that has no electromagnetic protection and no built-in filtering, the sound quality often deteriorates seriously, which leaves the user with the impression that "the USB adaptation solution is very inconvenient and the sound quality is particularly poor."
has no real technological innovation, how can the rootless tree last forever
To sum up, since the birth of the USB Type-C audio solution on mobile phones was born in 2016, the "authentic" digital solution has actually not made any breakthrough in sound quality compared to previous built-in HiFi phones, and it cannot attract orthodox headphone manufacturers to contribute to their ecological chain, so enthusiasts naturally don't buy it.
The "false" Type-C analog signal design sound quality is even worse than before, even novice consumers find it inconvenient. Over time, USB Type-C, which was shouting loudly at the beginning, was in an embarrassing situation where audio manufacturers ignored it (not able to buy third-party headphones), mobile phone manufacturers did not like it (only a few manufacturers were promoting digital headphone solutions), and users felt it bad (ordinary novices did not think the sound quality was improved, and audio enthusiasts also thought it was inconvenient).
0 Speaking of this, a discerning person can see that the USB Type-C headphone solution on the mobile phone has been a "rootless tree" without fundamental technological innovation from the beginning. Although it is a new design on the surface, it cannot become a new industry standard, nor can it bring a better user experience. Over time, the decline will naturally be revealed.
Type-C headset is dead, who will replace its position? On the one hand, we are currently seeing that many new products such as Sony XZ4 and Huawei P30 have re-used the 3.5mm headphone interface. On the other hand, the rise of the new generation of Bluetooth headphones is also strongly challenging the position of traditional wired headphones on mobile devices.
Interestingly, compared with the Type-C "digital headsets" that lack innovation in essence, today's Bluetooth headsets can achieve Hi-Res sound quality exceeding the lossless level based on the new LDAC transmission protocol. Thanks to the maturity of Qualcomm TWS-Plus solution, binaural true wireless headsets can also connect to the phone at the same time regardless of the main and secondary phones, greatly reducing latency and avoiding the trouble of disconnection - these are basic and real technological advancements, and also experience improvements that users can feel.
[The picture in this article is from the Internet]
