Apple Adds $800 Lightning Adapter 'Audeze EL-8' Headphones to Online Store

[felt.]

Yup I considered it but there's a big difference between not finding paying for the best worthwhile and being cheap. Both your comment and the initial one I referenced fall in the latter category.

Subjective opinions are great aren't they?

 

[Attonine]

But seriously, to the up-to-date audiophiles on this forum, what would you listen to with these? I'd hate to lay out that kind of dough for headphones that I could just use on my iPhone, especially since most of the audio I do have on their is lossy crap. Just wondering where the tech is today?

Sticking to a portable headphone set-up: Fiio X5, Chord Hugo DAC (Mojo if on a budget), not sure about headphones. For a home headphone set-up: Auralic Aires, McIntosh MHA 100, Audeze LCD 2, or 3 (Haven't heard the 4s).

I'm just going through the motions of setting up a new home system (moved job, apartment, and country), Looking at maybe the Devialet Phantoms, possibly Oppo HA-1, McIntosh MHA 100, or Auralic Vega. ATC SMC20SLA or SMC40A speakers (really want to go active), source Auralic Aires.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I was kind of wondering about this as well. It feels slightly dishonest selling them without some kind of disclaimer, at least in a non-audiophile environment where people don't know what they're getting themselves into.

It is almost painful listening to MP3s with my LCD-X. Supposedly these are a little less resolving but I wouldn't think by a whole lot. My real question is what these do to battery life. It has got to be pretty ugly.

Yes, and you hit the nail on the head. It's not that we're arguing quality of MP3 over uncompressed, or AAC over AIFF, or these headphones over EarPods, or lightning, over analog 3.5mm

It's $800 with superb quality, being outfitted with a connection that allows people that don't know the different to use them with a device that most likely won't carry the benefit of the headphones.

 

[pearphone7]

I'm not even mad at the 3.5mm jack disappearing but man are those things ugly.

 

[DocNYz]

Please read what comes in the box:

Audeze EL-8 Titanium Closed-Back Headphones

Lightning cable with headphone amp and DAC

Standard audio cable for use with non-Apple devices

3.5mm to 0.25 in. plug adapter

Wow, calm down everyone! As iJeremy said, these come with 3.5mm and 0.25" adapters in the box! https://www.audeze.com/products/el-8-collection/el-8-titanium

No one is forcing you to buy them, speakers and headphones NEVER become obsolete (as opposed to tech with CPUs/GPUs that actually get outdated), and Apple has changed the power/data connection to the iPhone/iPad ONCE since the first model.

The price of these headphones as a few people have stated is due to the quality of the components, set by Audeze, and is low-mid in the audiophile world. It's not marketing just a name and some bass at the cost of a full frequency range (like some other now ubiquitous brands ...)

If you want to complain about expensive headphones, check these $55,000 Senns: http://www.soundandvision.com/conte...orpheus-its-55k-headphone#hePiWuBWLtGsIbEE.97

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

yeah..i was trying...

Doesn't hurt anything...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

That's right. AND/OR everyone else would be so totally wrong/obsolete/archaic for clinging to that old, outdated "abomination" 3.5mm jack that "99% don't want to use any more." Soon music would start sounding worse and worse through the old jack too (or it would sound far superior through lightning even if the source is the same old highly compressed file that scientifically could NOT sound better).

And we'd cook up 5 rare, oddball scenarios where having a tiny round hole instead of a rectangular one would cause some specific, aggravating problem when the stars perfectly align to trigger it.

Of course, the 3.5mm jack would only be obsolete and stupid in discussions of products where Apple has dropped it. If it hangs around in Macs for a while, nobody will make such anti-3.5mm arguments in Mac threads.

And 5 guys will make remarkably passionate arguments about how having the adapter is far superior to having a ubiquitous standards like 3.5mm (we'll cook up some kind of odd scenario logic so we can justify the sensibility of an adapter).

That should about cover it.

Sensei...

We are not worthy of your wisdom and experience...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

The price of these headphones as a few people have stated is due to the quality of the components, set by Audeze, and is low-mid in the audiophile world. It's not marketing just a name and some bass at the cost of a full frequency range (like some other now ubiquitous brands ...)

I saw a video of the 'components' in the expensive Beats head-jugs, and they insinuated that they use toilet paper rolls and long ethereal strings to make them. Any statement about the 'quality of the components' in headphones is rather meaningless because you can't go down the street and buy the components and make your own. You can't really compare Apples (pardon the pun here) and Oranges based on anything but sizes and weights.


But then I have a wicked old pair of Bose Q-somethings, and they work fantastic, so far. Until they break, which all other models like mine have done apparently. They keep the screaming kid in 14C at bay...

 

[Matthew.H]

These will be good for audiophiles but I doubt there will be loads of people buying $800 headphones. When I'm out most people I see using iPhones are using the cheap included earpods. I personally use a pair of Bowers & Wilkins P7's which are great quality headphones but still cost nearly $400.

 

[Zombietooth]

Apple today introduced a new pair of headphones onto its online storefront that support an iPhone's Lightning connector in lieu of a traditional 3.5mm headphone jack (via The Verge). The "Audeze EL-8 Titanium Closed-Back Headphones" will run users $799.95 and are being touted by Audeze as the "world's first headphones with a fully integrated Apple Lightning cable."

The included Lightning cable streams a complete 24-bit digital signal from the iOS device to the speakers in the headset through a high quality DSP and 28-bit DAC, giving the headphones "superior performance" for not only music but voice calls as well. The company has also created a companion app that allows users to customize specific sound presets for the device, and the built-in microphone used for making phone calls also supports Siri.
The EL-8's "Cypher Cable," which maximizes and enhances the sound quality of the iPhone's playback, is one of the added costs of the headphone's top-tier pricing, as pointed out by The Verge, resulting in a $100 premium over the standard EL-8 headphones. Still, in comparison to Audeze's LCD collection of headphones, its Apple MFi certified EL-8 lineup debuting today is somewhat of a bargain. Most LCD models range between $900 and $1,500, but the most expensive reaches nearly $4,000.

Those interested can purchase the Audeze EL-8 Titanium Closed-Back Headphones for $799.95 on the Apple online store beginning today. Shipping sits at about 2-3 business days at the time of writing, but anyone close to an Apple store could opt-in for personal pick-up instead.

Article Link: Apple Adds $800 Lightning Adapter 'Audeze EL-8' Headphones to Online Store

 

[Zombietooth]

I just spoke with Audeze. They said the cypher cable will be available for separate purchase February-March 2016. It will work with other Audeze headsets.

 

[iJeremy]

I picked up a pair today. Listening to Wagner with them right now in apple lossless on my iPad Pro. Not bad. Not as good as my Senns or Edition 8 though.

 

[jcmeyer5]

Yup I considered it but there's a big difference between not finding paying for the best worthwhile and being cheap. Both your comment and the initial one I referenced fall in the latter category.

I'd bet a whole nickel that we can get more people to agree with us than you can with you. All without calling you names, which you clearly can't do.

 

[kahkityoong]

I'd bet a whole nickel that we can get more people to agree with us than you can with you. All without calling you names, which you clearly can't do.

One, I don't care much for the number of people who agree as evidence of being correct. Secondly you would be losing that nickel since far more people care about my opinion than yours.

 

[jazz1]

I just spoke with Audeze. They said the cypher cable will be available for separate purchase February-March 2016. It will work with other Audeze headsets.

Hmmm. I like that, as I think I would rather have their open version. Though the lack of internal/external sound isolation would limit their use (for mobile use). Wonder how these babies would sound with my desktop rig using the "normal" cable?