2023-05-05 15:40:59
The move away from headphone jacks on notebooks seems to have started about 3 years ago, although it hasn’t had as strong a grip as what we’ve been seeing over the years on smartphones. There are both people who prefer to use wireless headphones and users who prefer to use wired headphones. So is ditching wired headphones a good idea or not?
Will notebook makers ditch headphone jacks?
The removal of the headphone output on thin and light notebooks, popularly known as ultrabooks, seems to have started to intensify in the year 2020, according to the report on the thefpsreview website. At the time, it was said that Asus decided to withdraw the 3.5mm connection in two models of its ZenBook series (UX333 and UX425), while Microsoft did the same with the Surface Pro X, which although it is a tablet, fulfills the function of laptop too. More recently, we had the announcement of the 2023 version of Dell’s XPS 13 Plus, which arrived without the P2/P3 output, as Oficina da Net reported.
Although it seems that companies are giving up offering the headphone jack on their notebooks, if we analyze some recent launches, we will realize that it actually seems that manufacturers are doing tests with their customers to assess receptivity. Proof of this was the launch of the Asus ZenBook 14 (UX425) in 2020, which came without the 3.5mm connection, but about two years later Asus released a new version (UX3402) with P2/P3 output. Recently, at the end of April 2023, we also had the announcement of the new version of the ZenBook S 13 series, a direct competitor to the XPS 13 Plus, which also has a headphone output.
Is abandoning the use of wired headphones on notebooks a good idea?
With the increasing use of Bluetooth headphones in conjunction with smartphones, some users have preferred to also connect them to their notebooks. The reason is simple: economy and practicality. Instead of buying another headset to use on the computer, people prefer to use, for example, the same TWS in-ear headphones they use to go out on the street. Undoubtedly, True Wireless headphones bring more mobility during sports activities such as cycling, bodybuilding or crossfit, but this point is not essential in the case of using them with notebooks.
The big question is the lose quality when using the microphone of Bluetooth headphones for, for example, holding online meetings or playing games in multiplayer mode. This is because, as we said in this article, “the Bluetooth bandwidth is still limited to simultaneously receive (headphone) and send (microphone) audio signals. To try to maintain overall quality, manufacturers, most of the time , end up sacrificing microphone bandwidth, leaving most of it for headphone or TWS headset audio.” Assuming mobility is not important for the need to use TWS in-ears or wireless headsets, consider purchasing a wired headset might not be a bad idea considering the benefits it will deliver at a cost considerably lower than any wireless solution.
A difference in values between a wired headphone and a wireless one (wireless), considering the quality delivered, exists due to the fact of the technology embedded in models with Bluetooth. In a Bluetooth headset we have, in addition to the speaker (driver), a battery, a Bluetooth receiver/transmitter, a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), an amplifier, an audio processing chip, microphones, among other components. On the other hand, a wired headset has only one driver (speaker) inside it, that is, the production cost will be much lower compared to a wireless headset.
In addition to the issue of cost-effectiveness, there is also the issue of latency, something important to have a good experience in games or meetings. This is the time it takes for the audio to be captured by the headset’s microphone, sent to the computer and finally transmitted over the internet to the person(s) you are communicating with. In a Bluetooth headset, the latency is considerably high and there may be a lack of synchronization between what is displayed in the video and the audio of the voices while in a wired headset, this will not occur, as the transmission of information is practically instantaneous.
Another point to consider is the time of use, especially for those who usually use headphones for several hours on the laptop. There are two points to consider here: battery and comfort.
A Bluetooth headset can be used for a few hours and then it will need to be charged, and at some point it will be necessary to change its battery, as there is a limit of cycles (drain and charge). In addition, because there are more internal components, wireless headphones, especially in-ears, can suffer from ergonomics and comfort, as this considerably increases their volume compared to wired ones.
You might think now that there’s still one crucial point that gets in your way when using wired headphones: the bad contact in the cable. This is no longer a problem, as today we have headphones with detachable cable, be it in-ears or headphones. This allows you not only to change your headphone cable when the audio starts to fail, but also to purchase a better-made cable, as we show in this article.
Finally, as the cost of production of headphones does not depend on various internal components, there is greater freedom to focus on developing audio quality produced through the interaction of the speakers (drivers) and the body of the phone. Since there is nothing inside the headphones other than the driver, getting good acoustics from a wired headphone is easier compared to a Bluetooth headphone. That is, it is certain that you will get excellent sound quality paying extremely little in a wired headphone.
Below are some examples of good wired in-ear headphones that have the ability to remove the cable:
- Moondrop Quarks DSP
- 7Hz Salnotes Zero
If you don’t have the option to buy the headset with a cable that has a microphone, check out this tip that we give about a cable with a microphone that can be perfect for use in conjunction with notebooks.
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