Back when the 11:11 sales were on I was right on the verge of getting a Xiaomi Mi6 only to realize it didn't have a 3.5mm audio jack. The other lesser Xiaomi models that tempted me did, so I made the ass'sumption mistake and nearly had a case of buyers remorse were it not for a last minute spec check.
The LG V20 has now piqued my interest because:
Mid tier pricing < $600
3.5mm audio
SD card expansion
IR Blaster
NFC
Unfortunately there seems a bit of concern with LG bootloop potential and bad battery performance? My other phones have been Samsung and have all ended up with custom ROMS anyway. I'm a very light phone user but like to tinker.
Any other 2016/2017 phones with ALL the above features that has otherwise eluded me?
The first 3 features wouldn't be too difficult to find, however the IR blaster is something not as common in all phones. Here is a list of some phones with an IR blaster, also you may be able to find a phone through GSM Arena's phone finder filter. I would've recommended the Xiaomi RN4X, however that doesn't have NFC.