Hi

I've a samsung s23 standard

Lost my nice earbuds a while ago 😞, so fell back to using my S8 bundled AKG tuned ones. They're not great (i think they have a V sound profile) but tolerable.

I literally tried to use the inline mic for the first time the other day and found voice typing (which i use loads) didn't work.

Much testing established that for whatever reason, the mic sound passthrough (i've got an official samsung USB-C headset jack adapter) to my s23 is really mangled. There's lots of distortion and my words are virtually impossible to distinguish.

I tested buds and adapter with my S8

• mic AND voicetyping works fine over 3.5mm.

• Oddly my vocals are also fine via the samsung adapter but voicetyping doesn't work. I used a voice recorder to confirm mic passthrough. I don't know if i'm missing something e.g. voice recorder knows i've got an external mic available via USB-C but somehow the app i'm dictating to doesn't :\

EDIT: the inline controls work fine on both phones, over USB-C

Sooooo... i thought solution might be to get a different dac adapter and Creative have produced some decent dac devices and support mic use pretty well too.

I felt that the Play! 4 is probably best option (looked at X1, G3, play! 3).

Creative Support couldn't confirm whether the play! 4 would work properly with the S23 (their testing has very hit/miss results, in terms of the play! 4's functionality working properly on different samsung devices) but at least the product is advertised as working with Android devices.

Any thoughts?

Ultimately, i'm just trying to use 3.5mm accessories over USB-C but clearly can't do calls, whatsapp etc with my in-line mic currently, so was looking for a solution to this.

I have considered getting USB-C wired buds but felt 3.5mm offers broad compatibility with audio devices.

I have also considered bluetooth buds. I'm tempted but they're expensive for the better quality ones. Spending £19 on an adapter that works properly is cheaper and i could still buy a nice set of wired 3.5mm buds AND still probably spend only half compared to a BT solution.

I naturally have a concern about how much battery the Play! 4 will consume. I don't think i care about any of the device functionality beyond the core stuff (dac, amp, mic). Don't care about EQ stuff, mic noise management etc and would rather turn it off / not have it, if it minimises drain.

I am aware that the play! 4 only supports upto 150ohm headsets. I'd only be probably using buds with my phone anyway.

Gratitude for reading this and any help people can offer.

cheers,

Gary