This cheap version works only with Huawei, as it is a pure mechanical adapter. Huawei seems to use a D/A-converter in the phone. Most devices need an external D/A-converter, as the one of Fairphone or one of the other working adapters.
2 Likes
That explains it. Iâve now ordered two from the recommendation list and will expand the wiki when i gained level 1 trust, if nobody else adds the Huawei adapter to the wiki.
2 Likes
If you really just ask which is the best and price is not a problem then Iâd say the audioquest dragonfly is great. But its a dac and amp in one and meant for high end headphones so if you just want to casually listen to music its a bit overkill. Also youâd need another usb to usb c adapter for it. Otherwise the apple one is really good.
Hi,
My phone is my (tele)work horse and for (often long) online meetings I need good enough audio, both output and input - my colleagues need to hear me well.
Thatâs where Fairphone original USB-C to Mini Audio Jack Adapter (3.5mm) falls short - the microphone volume is much too low.
I have purchased two other adapters and both of them work fine, people hear me well.
They are
- Belkin - LâAdaptateur USB-C 3,5 mm RockStar audio + recharge Belkin, F7U080
- Hoppac Adaptateur Jack Femelle pour Casque 3,5 mm vers connecteur Audio stéréo USB-C Compatible avec iPad Pro 2021/2020/mini 6, Galaxy S21/S21+/S21 Ultra/S20/S10/S9/Note 10/A52
I have also purchased one small headphones set (backup and on the road solution) with direct USB-C connection, and this one also works well (Ăcouteurs USB C MagnĂ©tique Ăcouteurs USB Type C HiFi StĂ©rĂ©o Ăcouteurs Filaire Anti-Bruit Casque avec Micro et ContrĂŽle du Volume pour Samsung S22 S21 S20 FE/Ultra Xiaomi 12 Oneplus Pixel 6 Pro Poco F3 )
I am surprised that I did not find anybody else mentioning this issue.
I am also surprised that three random 3rd party products work better than the original one.
Belkin is more expensive, but also provides charging which is important, and Hoppac is even cheaper than the original.
BTW It is not one potentially defective adapter, I have two and they both behave the same.
Best Regards
1 Like
I want to report back on this topic. The Anker adapter broke this week. It had been used daily. Daily use in this case means listening to podcasts and music while commuting, cycling, working in the garden, etc. I did not do anything weird with it. The headsets I have owned previously lasted me at least several years of the same extended use, which suggest the adapter was not of great quality.
I suspect it was either the USB-C connector or the wire that failed. The USB-C connector had started to play up, randomly cutting out my music (although the player did not pause, so Android was still seeing the adapter). Reseating it would fix the issue. This would happen about every other day.
The other potentional culprit was the cable, which bent almost 180° degrees as it came out of my jeans pocket.
Either way, I am now forced to order another adapter (in this case the Ugreen 90° adapter, as I hope it will prevent the bent cable issue). So far, I have spent âŹ73,87 on adapters and delivery costs. Not very eco or budget friendly.
As Iâve said before, the lack of a 3.5mm port has turned out to be a much larger issue for me than I thought when I bought the phone. I donât regret buying an FP4 at all, but boy do I wish they would reintroduce the jack.
Further thoughts:
- on the fragility of the 3.5mm plug: I used the 3.5mm on my ZTE Axon 7 for almost six years with zero problems (and the same for all my previous phones)
- on the FP adapter: I donât believe itâs sturdy enough. The cable will be bending all kinds of directions and fail, just like the Anker adapter.
- on the Sharkoon adapter I mentioned in an earlier post: I have used it temporarily after my Anker broke. In one day, the connector has bent and the housing has started to crack open. This adapter is not meant for your pocket.
1 Like
Yes an adapter in the pocket sounds frail, depends upon the pocket. Atop jacket pocket may suit it better and yes a 90° one could help as there will be less fulcrum force on the USB C socket.
I use a Spectra X DAC with 7Hz Timeless IEMâs
One warning with this combination: Donât have the volume more than about 50%. The Spectra X DAC puts out a lot of power.
Sound quality is way better than any crap Iâd get with bluetooth.
Hi,
Iâve bought this model:
USB C auf 3,5 mm Adapter from MOSWAG.
I canât recommend. The Sound is very flat, like an very old radio.
Hello, (almost) 1 year later ⊠
I treated myself to the Sharkoon Mobile and I have to say, itâs worlds better than the corroded apple part. 
Much louder and you can hear the different sound modes well. Whatâs not so good, Iâve already read, is that the LED sometimes jumps back to some setting. But the sound setting (acoustic) is retained. 
I also found out that this is probably related to the resolution/quality of the audio. With audio in Signal, for example, the LED jumps to 48, the same piece saved in the phone jumps to 44.
As I said, it doesnât matter acoustically, so itâs a bug or a feature. 
Iâm happy and satisfied with the Sharkoon (k not c 
) device.
1 Like
Hi
I have a headset with minijack connector I would like to use with my FP4. As the phone does not have a jack connection, I bought a USB-C to minijack converter thatâs supposed to work for exactly this purpose (this one: KĂžb USB-C til 3.5 mm adapter - Med opladning - Sort pĂ„ Av-Cables.dk)
Unfortunately it does not work. The phone does not seem to recognise that an audio device has been plugged in, so it keeps playing sounds through the normal speaker rather than the headset.
Does anyone have experience with making something like this work?
Thanks
Welcome to the Fairphone community.
There are different devices on the market, some are just mechanical adapters, those work only with some Huawei phones for example, which do have a DAC already on board. For most phones, like the FP4 you need an adapter with a built in DAC.
You can find a list of tested devices here:
1 Like
I donât know if this could help or not: I do use often an old wired headset, which I connect to my FP4 using the USB-to-Jack adapter Fairphone sells.
Sometimes, when I get a call and plug in the adapter, my phone doesnât recognize it fully, meaning that the microphone works all right, but I donât hear anything through the headphones. In this case I just need to switch the (loud)speaker on/off (on the phone) and that fixes it each time.
USB adapter is quirky, but it works, my headset is actually an old gaming headphone/mike combo, but it works just fine for hands free callsâŠ
I Had a similar issue and it turned out to be the headphones, have you tried with another headphones?
I would strongly suspect, given the size of that adapter, that it is not actually a USB-C to analog audio adapter, but is instead using audio adapter accessory mode. If thatâs the case, then it wonât actually work with many, possibly most, phones, including the FP4. Itâs really unfortunate that this mode was both created and not required: USB-C would arguably be better, and certainly less at risk of not working, if the mode didnât exist, or if it was required for devices supporting audio.
On the other hand, it is arguably also the fault of the vendor for not describing the item properly. If you do an image search with the product image, most AliExpress sellers of what appears to be that adapter do specify, at least, that it only works with certain (mostly Huawei and Xaomi) phones. The listings aggravatingly donât specify that it uses audio accessory mode (and some claim to support phones that I recall as not supporting audio accessory mode), but given that none of them say anything about a DAC or amp, it seems most likely that it is using that mode, and thus largely not useful.
As a not entirely pedantic point, Iâd like to note that the FP4, like essentially every phone, does, of course, have an internal DAC and an amplifier (and an ADC), as it needs those for its speakers (and microphones). Instead, it doesnât have a way to output analog audio over USB-C, or an analog jack.
I bought this one:
For me this works and has the advantage, that you can charge the phone while listening to music.
To not have a parellel discussion about audio Jack adapter I moved your post to this existing topic.
2 Likes
Hi folks,
Iâm very new here, but have a lot of experience with using audio adapters on my USB-C phone socket.
For simple use you need an OTG adapter. Available with/without extra charging port.
For listening to serious music there are two options:
(1) BT 5+
FP4 Bluetooth supports the AptX codec. That means FLAC (cd quality) streams. Best listened to by a reasonably good Bluetooth headphone (over ear closed when used outside the house or in a house with many noises)
(2) a DAC dongle with at least a (single ended) 3.5mm jack headphone socket. Also works on a laptop or pc
- For standard use with low-medium impedance headphones (read about this on the Internet) you could go for the FiiO DAC dongle series KA1, KA2, KA3 USB-C type (price ranges from 50-90 euros). I use the 90 euro KA3 which also supports a 4.4mm balanced connection.
- One step up, and a very light dongle is the THX Onyx (approx. 200 euros) 3.5mm and also for higher impedance headphones up to 200 Ohm+. Works best with the Android USB Audio Player PRO app (one time purchase of approx 8 euros).
- For those who own Beyer Dynamic type headphones with an impedance around 500 Ohm you really need a dongle with a powerfull amp like the iFi Audio GoBar approx 330 euros.
The more expensive dongles are really for HiRes listeners using streams above CD format) 24 bit and up to 192Khz (Qobuz streaming service) or MQA files (Tidal streaming service)
Sorry for all the audio tekkie stuff, but if you are a music lover and want to listen properly on the go this is the way to go.
Regards!
5 Likes
I had thought one of the points of Type C was not needing OTG adapters; are you referring to something else here? The OTG adapters I remember were typically micro-B male to A female. Unless you want a split to provide power separately, there shouldnât be a need to have an adapter other than a DAC+amp Type-C-to-3.5mm dongle.
AptX is a proprietary, lossy codec; it is neither FLAC, nor similar to FLAC, a lossless, open format; it is also not similar to CDDA CD audio. The FP4 does nominally have support for aptX, aptX HD, and aptX adaptive, but software support has been regressed recently, and it may not work for many users, even after the update that attempted to fix it, but fixed only aptX HD.
Another, flexible option, for people who like wired headphones, is that the FiiO bluetooth amplifiers will also work as USB audio interfaces, so using them, you can switch between wireless and wired use.
1 Like
Great to hear that you know everything better 
What would this community do without you.