USB C headphones keep disconnecting

AnthonyG45

Hi all, just moved over here from CalyxOS after the recent debacle, really enjoying graphene so far. One issue I am having is my USB headphones keep disconnecting. I play a piece of audio - podcast, music, youtube video for example - and after the end of the piece after about 3 seconds the wired headphones discoonect and can't be detected by the phone again. I have to unplug them and plug them back in again to be detected. Phone is a pixel 8.

I've tried the headphones on other devices and no problem. On Calyx they worked fine. I've tried disabling the USB C security (which is not ideal) but this doesn't help.

It feels like a software point but I am no expert - just the problem seems isolated to the phone as currently set up.

I've tried searching the forums and a few other people had a similar issue but didn't seem to get to a concrete resolution.

Any advice would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

DeletedUser433

AnthonyG45 have u tried another media player

de0u

AnthonyG45 Any advice would be awesome.

Indicating which USB-C dongle and/or headphones might (or might not) lead to more input.

Does this happen with multiple USB-C audio devices?

Which model of Pixel is this? Which GrapheneOS build?

In general, providing more details may lead to better results.

AnthonyG45

DeletedUser433 Thanks for the reply. I've tried Spotify, pipepipe, pocket casts. All the same.

AnthonyG45

de0u Ok, its a pixel 8 graphene os build number 2025081400

Headphones are ludos ferox usb c headphones. No doubt these are cheap and not great quality, but as I say they work flawlessly on any other device.

AnthonyG45

de0u I need to test another usb c device if I can find one. Good idea.

mar2112

I'm having similar issues, on my 9a. I tried two different media players and two different dongles.

I tried changing the USB C port from "Charging-only when locked" to "On" with no change in behavior.

foldplay: Bluetooth audio, to car stereo, and with wired headphones using two different dongles goes silent when playing subsequent tracks. If I pause and select play again then play resumes until the end of the track.
Pi Music Player: works fine with Bluetooth to car. Wired audio was unusable but now is working and I don't know why.

Before this issues i only had foldplay on my phone. I only added Pi to troubleshoot. Looks like I'll be using Pi now.

AnthonyG45

Sorry to hear about your issues Mar. Thought I would give a quick update if anyone finds this in the future.

I tried a new dongle with a regular set of headphones with a jack and it seems to work flawlessly, not disconnecting at all on any app. I can only conclude my really cheap, rubbish headphones don't play nicely either with the Pixel 8 hardware or graphene os.

Interestingly I watched a Linus video a few days ago about USB C and Nintendo not bothering to implement support for any non-1st party docks. I thought USB C was a universal standard but they went through the different negotiation steps the devices go through and it looks like every device is slightly different and may or may not play well with other devices. I must say my experience is generally "it just works" but clearly that isn't true always.

So only thing I can say if you are having issues is your device may not be compatible and try other options (apps, hardware).

AnthonyG45

Just to close this off in case anyone searches in the future. I bought some "Official" Google Pixel Type C Headphones from ebay for about £17. Can't validate whether they are genuinely official but the packaging looked reasonably legit. Anyway, they work perfectly, exactly as you would expect in all cases. So the problem was my really cheap previous headphones.

Possible solution then is just to try another set of headphones. Or move to bluetooth if you can be bothered with the faff of charging them etc. Anyway, I'm just glad it wasn't a general hardware fault or issue with all USB C hesdphones with graphene.

de0u

AnthonyG45 Thanks for reporting back! It's good that you have a working solution.