Every monitor I've ever had has had terrible coil-whine from the headphone jack. I always try them for exactly this reason, and get super annoyed each time. It didn't have to be this way!

I have this problem on my gaming monitor, thankfully it also has USB-A ports so a cheap adapter has solved it.

I have no idea if there are downsides to audio over USB-A but for my fairly basic use case (“being able to hear things and not hear coil whine”) it works pretty well.

Depends what your usb device is, all told. I have a USB C amp for audio that really is quite nice.

> headphones plugged into the monitor

That sounds cool but I've never see a monitor with a jack. Mine all have many USB ports, but not audio. How common are they?

An audio jack is very common. Some even come with speakers. They are usually not very good but they get the job done in a pinch.

I use 2 computers connected to the same monitor via hdmi and use barrier (and a script) to switch screens. The audio for the correct monitor gets activated automatically. It's very convenient.

All the dell midrange monitors I've bought (IE, $400-$1K) have audio jack for headphones.

Interesting you say Dell as most of mine are Dell (3 Dells + 1 MSI), same price range, 2 bought very recently, no audio.

I wonder is it a regional thing (in EU)

I have a 144Hz 1080p AOC monitor and a secondary generic LG one, both have an audio jack

I have a 3.5mm audio jack on a cheap 4k LG monitor I've been using for years