Rishabh Negi

1. Introduction. We know that our smartphones used to shipped with earphones, especially the Samsung devices used to come with good quality AKG earphones. These offerings slowly disappeared and so happened with the 3.5mm jack. Let's see how it happened.

2. DACs, what is it? DAC stands for Digital to Analog converter, the phones that used to ship with the 3.5mm jacks had this for the port. A good DAC paired with a decent AMP chip gives high clarity with good loudness. A good DAC is also not supposed to mess up with the tonality and FR range, it should be neutral. Long story short It converts the digital song's data into analogue signals that are listenable or intelligible to the likes of speakers and headphones, the human ear. They all need an analogue waveform to receive audio, and a DAC does this conversion, your digital music collection is nothing but a sizeable collection of “0s and 1s” (more on that shortly) that makes sense only within the digital domain.

3. The Horsemen of Good in-built 3.5mm Audio Jacks and DACs Smartphones used to take Audio seriously, especially LG, Samsung, and yes, SONY still cares about the users, more like their 3.5mm jacks were a portable HiFi system. A few examples of this LG V60 ThinQ: Equipped with a Quad ESS Sabre DAC, it can drive headphones with good impedance or those who need good power, 32bit/384KHz sampling rate, and delivering decent. Xperia series, like the Xperia 1 III: Has an equally good DAC, so spending on external DAC, especially the portable ones, didn't make any sense. Same for the Samsung devices like the S10 series, a compact portable Hi-Fi-DAC.

4. The Jackpocalypse: End on jacks. 2016: Apple* removed the headphone jack, calling it “courage.” Then *Samsung, Google, and others followed, citing “space for innovation” (spoiler: the innovation was thinner phones and more dongles). And slowly even the budget phones are losing the 3.5mm jacks, although the budget devices generally don't have a good DAC, removing them isn't a solution.

5. The Dongle Era: Selling the Solution Brands replaced jacks with $9 adapters using low-tier DACs (e.g., Apple’s Lightning dongle maxes out at 24-bit/48kHz) which is more than enough and the amplification is decent but you have to pay for that and the build isn't good Budget Phone Jacks: Even phones that kept the jack (e.g., the budget devices from itel and so and so) used cheap DACs with comparatively high noise floors weak amps, and overall messed up FR range.

6. The KEY downside of this: The key downside was that people don't even buy the least good DAC and go for the ultimate cheap mess, like the $2 DAC dongles, like the Portronics and Zebronics one and the XYZ one in your region or the unnamed brand that you buy outside from the station. The major con of these is that: cause distortion or channel imbalance and completely kill upper treble and sub-bass These don't support inline-mic too, you can't have calls etc. They don't even provide the power to run the basic IEMs, let alone a basic headphone, providing a bad audio experience, I don't recommend them for a casual listener.

Such DACs use an unnamed chip, and poor build quality so don't ever consider these, save up a bit of money and consider buying something good which I'll recommend. The result of all of this: Audiophiles mourned, casual listeners shrugged, and music lost its soul.

7. The 2nd KEY impact Not considering wired earphones, IEMs, and Headphones because of this and thinking that they have bad audio quality. The brand didn't want to save space, they wanted to earn more, by selling their own DACs, Earphones with Type-C ports, or the major point, selling their own TWS. Brands like Apple and Samsung did so, and now every other smartphone brand has its own TWS Earbuds.

8. What should you consider? As I told you, most of the aftermarket DACs are crap, the least you should go for is the Apple dongle, but if you're an Apple user who has a lightning port, it should be the first choice for you. But if your iPhone and Android have Type-C, you can consider better DACs than these standard solutions which can arguably provide a better build, amplification, and overall experience. But the market is growing rapidly and we have a lot of options, so what should we opt for according to our budget, well, let me tell you.

There is a DAC at every price point, but nowadays, even the budget ones are capable enough to run your gear especially the low-impedance ones. Starting with the budget range: BQEYZ LIN: It is a GOOD DAC, has a good build, good cables, good amplification, and no static hissing like some super cheap ones do, neutral sound signature It has a good DAC chip, the CX31993, which is widely used in this range, can decode at 32bit/384KHz which is too much. These are the key specifications of it and again, it is a good DAC choice.

Also, if your country doesn't allow you to purchase the BQEYZ Lin, you can get the DACs like Audiocular D07 or D08. Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini: this is an awesome DAC, has decent amplification and a no cable solution, and has a 4.4mm balanced output port too. All of these 3 will be more than enough to drive most of your basic wired gears, you can check your budget and get one of these as per your choice.

If you have a gear that requires a bit more power, you can check DACs like Allegro Pro, it has dual output channels and it has tuning modes too, and the default one is neutral as it should be. These will be enough for most of the users who generally look for cheap dongles.

9. That's it, I think I told you which one can be your basic choice. Also, if you're using a device like a good LG, Samsung flagship, or Xperia, you won't need a portable DAC. these do the tasks. You can do some research on your choices, also, do not buy those cheap DACs, they are nothing more than a connector to me.

10. Bottom line: The headphone jack’s death wasn’t just about convenience—it was a *downgrade in audio quality* for everyone. While phones like the LG V60 are extinct, phones like XPERIA and DACs like Bqeyz Lin (and DACs like it) keep their spirit alive.

11. Final Thought: You don’t need a $1,300 Sony Xperia to hear music properly. You just need a DAC that respects your ears, the budget ones work too, so make sure it is good enough. Thanks for reading the thread.

Also, if you are an audiophile enthusiast or audiophile, you can follow me for IEM reviews, DACs, and multiple Tech related posts. Here are a few shots of some of my In-ear monitors or earphones for casual guys.