Then what to do when the battery dies? They only a last a couple of years. I can replace my phone pretty easily, but how can I find another pair of earplugs? That's a process I don't want to go through again. The human-device interfaces should just work.
The only other solution I have found is a USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle but then the phone doesn't fit comfortably in my pocket anymore, and it's very inconvenient when running.
> The only other solution I have found is a USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle but then the phone doesn't fit comfortably in my pocket anymore, and it's very inconvenient when running.
Get USB-C headphones rather than a DAC so that the DAC is in the headphones. There are high quality ones including earbuds.
I literally mean this.