S21 ultra. USB-C earphones poor call quality

[new666uk]

Hi all,

I have an S21 Ultra which I upgraded to from an S8. Whilst massively disappointed in Samsungs decision to remove the universally simple and reliable 3.5mm jack I have an issue making calls using wired USB-C earphones. These are Samsung AKG earphones and when I connect them to the phone, I can play audio just fine but if I make a call, the sound quality drops and the other party can barely hear me speaking.

To eliminate that the earphones are faulty, I tried my old 3.5mm earphones via a USB-C dongle and get exactly the same result. Plain audio is fine, calls are terrible.

I regularly used to make calls hands free whilst cooking or gaming and it's a PITA to have to actually hold a phone to me ear when legacy models enjoyed freedom for years. 

1. Instead of universal compatibility as with 3.5mm earphones, is there a software restriction so only 'preferred' models of earphone work via USB-C? If so, how come listening to music is fine? 
2. Is there a menu hidden away somewhere that will allow better control of the USB-C audio that may fix this? 

S21, camera and huge screen aside, is a bit of a backwards step in technology from my experience so far.

[GoanGeek]

Bluetooth is the way forward unfortunately.

I use bose 700 nc headphones ( which I got free with the Pixel 6) and they are awesome.
My Son uses the galaxy buds Pro and they are really good as well.

I would strongly suggest getting used to Bluetooth devices.

[new666uk]

Why would you say that @GoanGeek ? Generally speaking, pack in devices like 'free' earphones are average quality. 

The question isn't to debate the merits of bluetooth over wired. It is a functionality question - essentially, has Samsung restricted the access to the USB-C audio to preferred devices only to drive users onto a specific product.

I have had truly wireless earphones (Jabra Elite 75) but frankly the audio quality and amount of signal drops resulted in me returning them. Convenient, yes but too many compromises. Also, the inability to replace batteries in earbuds is not environmentally sound and drives a disposable culture I choose to avoid. Remember, when purchasing wireless earbuds, a good percentage of the cost is going on batteries. I'd rather spend all my money on audio quality in earphones. FWIW I use a set of 3.5mm wire in-ear monitors for music listening and bought cheap Samsung AKG USB-C's specifically to make hands free calls. 

If anyone has a genuine contribution to make to the question I'd love to hear it.

[GoanGeek]

You have to buy a specific adapter to use your wired earphones and even there its not great.

I have merely stated what is becoming the norm and the future.

At the end of the day it's your choice. You either have to move with the times or find some other way to get what you want.

It is what it is.

As I mentioned my boss 700 headphones don't drop calls even when I am two rooms away.

Also the buds Pro are a good option if you wanna invest in long term.

Or you might just put it on speaker

[KZEN916]

Ifory are affordable ($13.00 - $16.00), excellent sound quality, noise-cancelling, and Amazon. I'm interested in the wireless ones, although I do appreciate my Galaxy Buds. However; I really like wired-in headphones with phone speaker. If you listen to music as much as I do, you may need to replace them about 3-4 months, sometimes longer...but you can, there's deals for Prime users.

[Aimz49]

I've tried different jack, different wired headphones with mic/without mic... nothing changing this. Changed settings in phone etc etc.

Really what I need to know is - does using wireless headphones/earphones fix this issue? Want to know before I fork out on more gear as what I've bought so far to try has been pointless 🙄

[amanm063]

Although it's been 2 years, I recently bought new wired earphones and they are having the same issue. What  fixed it for me was going to developer options and search for  USB audio routing. Try turning it on and off again and then there will be media transcoding settings open them and disable transcoding or any other options. You can play with them and see if any setting kept on still works fine or not but I am not into it. Then you can try your earphones. They should work as they did for me. Samsung has made a pathetic system only they can understand and fix. Will be switching to others and also will not be buying their buds as they don't have any case tracking.