“The new iPhone xy has the best camera an iPhone ever had” sounds much better than “The new iPhone has generally a better camera than the old one, but the gaps are getting smaller every year and there isn’t much sense in buying a new iPhone every one, two or even three years.”

It’s like telling stupid kids that they’re special instead of stupid

USB-C, or the Audio Accessory Mode, supports both the “Analog Mode” and the “Passthrough mode”. In the latter, the DAC is located in the cable. The jack adapter included with the Pixel 2, for example, is one of these. When the cable does not work, its probably because the phone does not know what mode to use or because it has not implemented the “Analog mode” over USB-C.