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Essential heard you liked headphone jacks, so here's a ridiculous module

Slightly less ridiculous than a dongle, we gotta admit?

Sean Hollister Senior Editor / Reviews
When his parents denied him a Super NES, he got mad. When they traded a prize Sega Genesis for a 2400 baud modem, he got even. Years of Internet shareware, eBay'd possessions and video game testing jobs after that, he joined Engadget. He helped found The Verge, and later served as Gizmodo's reviews editor. When he's not madly testing laptops, apps, virtual reality experiences, and whatever new gadget will supposedly change the world, he likes to kick back with some games, a good Nerf blaster, and a bottle of Tejava.
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Sean Hollister
essential-audio-dongle
Essential

This is really getting out of hand. 

I mean... I guess this is slightly better than a dongle that you'll lose? At least it's magnetic.

Oh, and Essential says it adds an audiophile-grade amp (and an ESS Sabre DAC) for fancy high-impedance headphones. So that's something. 

Maybe it's actually a great idea? There aren't a lot of phones with truly good headphone jacks. Now, the Essential Phone can theoretically be one of those, too. Also, it's made of titanium. Here's Essential's FAQ.

Essential says it's shipping this summer, which is more evidence the company plans to stick around for the time being.

The company won't say how much it costs quite yet, though. Here's what Essential told me: 

Here's the company's blog post about how the Essential Phone supports lossless "Master Quality Authenticated" audio now. The company is teaming up with Tidal to offer a free three-month subscription to Tidal HiFi so you owners can try it out.

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