I've been missing having an AUX jack to play music, so I spent the last couple of days researching USB C to 3.5mm adapters. I figured I'd share my findings for anyone else who might want an adapter but finds USB C confusing.
If you know your phone has an internal DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) connected to your USB C port, you can get away with a simple adapter sans DAC and save a few dollars.
If you don't have a built-in DAC and are driving standard headphones, the Apple adapter ($9) seems like a great deal for the price and is compatible with most devices. The exception is Android devices, which appear to lack the ability to configure the Apple adapters' DAC volume to be above 50% by default.
So, for Androids, I would suggest the Samsung adapter ($9), which has similar performance.
If you're driving fancier headphones with a high OHM rating, you'll want a beefier DAC, which is outside the scope of what I was looking for.
I ended up buying both the Samsung and the Apple adapters due to the mix of devices in my household. Waiting for them to arrive in the mail.
Based on reviews, there still seems to be some amount of chance involved when it comes to compatibility, but I think this info minimizes the chance of you needing to return something. I'm also skeptical of the durability of these devices, I sort of wish they had some chunkier leads.
Also, here are some reviews I found helpful: And they even have graphs!
This is a review and detailed measurements of the USB-C Headphone Jack Adapter DAC and Headphone amplifier for phones and tablets. It was k
This is a review, detailed measurements and comparison of Apple's USB-C adapter to the current and last version of Google Pixel headphone ad
