This article was published on July 14, 2018

This Nintendo Switch adapter addresses one of our biggest annoyances


This Nintendo Switch adapter addresses one of our biggest annoyances

Last November, Nintendo “fixed” what is perhaps the one glaring deficit on its most adaptable console to date: lack of support for any headphones that don’t use a 3.5 millimeter jack. Unfortunately, the fix was a messy one, requiring USB-based wireless headphones, or a nasty mess of adapters.

To say it wasn’t ideal is putting it lightly. For a device that’s supposed to be portable, it’s absurd that you’d have to plug in wired headphones considering most of our devices are dropping the headphone jack en masse.

Now, though, a Kickstarter campaign from a team named Human Things seeks to remedy perhaps the biggest oversight on our favorite handheld by adding true Bluetooth support. The device, called Genki, is a simple dongle for the Switch that promises Bluetooth 5.0 support, and multi-user audio — which would allow users to connect two audio devices at the same time.

It plugs in to the USB-C port and doesn’t require its own battery. The Genki team claims it only draws a small amount of power from the console, making a standalone battery a bulky and unnecessary add-on.

The adapter also works with the Switch’s external ports with an additional $10 dock adapter.

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Human things has already raised more than $330,000 for the device, which it promises to ship in November of this year. You can grab yours for $39, 22 percent off MSRP, over at Kickstarter.

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