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I just hope they make the inline volume controls better as well. Any of the ones I've gotten from Apple stop working a month or so after initial use. I'd hate to pay a premium for these, and have one of its convenience feature go out on me so quickly.
 
Here's the thing, when it comes to the hardware side of Beats, I'm probably not a fan.

I'd much rather Apple purchase Bowers & Wilkins and base their audio products on that and actually move into high-end audio in quite a big way. Except B&W is a British company and I'd, rightly or wrongly, like it to stay British.

Cake and eat it? :)
 
If the next OS X release of iTunes doesn't finally have native FLAC support, I am going to murder a litter of kittens.
 
I really love the ear pods. That was a huge improvement over the original and the price is still great. I never liked the in-ear headphones. They were not that comfortable and if you are chewing they pop out. They did do a better job of blocking out outside noise, but when I used them to talk on the phone it was weird.

Bottom line, I hope they purchase beats and use their technology to improve their headsets (even as the pods are great). Love the idea of upgrading the music to higher fidelity but hate the idea of trying to upgrade my 10k song library.
 
"Apple is also said to be preparing a new Lightning connector to accommodate high-definition playback on Made For iPhone (MFi) audio accessories"

I'm just going by the article, they specifically said Apple is preparing a new lightning connector. It makes more sense for them to upgrade the existing one, but that's what it said.

The interface won't change, probably just the chips inside the connector
 
With Apple's push for wireless connectivity, I'm really perplexed that they've not figured out how to do wireless headphones yet. Their original BT headset was phenomenal, which of course they stopped making.

I understand the limitations of BT audio, but then figure out how to do an Airplay headset. Wires are just so last century. On my iP5s, I've blocked out the headphone jack entirely with my wood phone wrap, because I just refuse to use wired earphones.
 

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Here's the thing, when it comes to the hardware side of Beats, I'm probably not a fan.

I'd much rather Apple purchase Bowers & Wilkins and base their audio products on that and actually move into high-end audio in quite a big way. Except B&W is a British company and I'd, rightly or wrongly, like it to stay British.

Cake and eat it? :)
ive compared Beats pro vs. B&W new P7 headphones both run &399. For me it was a tie. With giving very little edge to B&W. Beats lower end headphones suck but once u spend some.money there awsome
 
What I am wondering is if they do acquire Beats, will Beats headphones also adopt the same lightning connectivity feature. Could this be one of Apples reasonings for the acquisition of beats; to have "high quality" headphones?

Well they picked the wrong headphones if that was the case...

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ive compared Beats pro vs. B&W new P7 headphones both run &399. For me it was a tie. With giving very little edge to B&W. Beats lower end headphones suck but once u spend some.money there awsome

Or for that money you could buy proper headphones like Sennheiser HD 650, Beyerdynamic DT-880 Pro, Focal Spirit Professional, Audio Technica ATH-M50X or
Sony MDR7509HD. All vastly to superior to anything "Beats", B&W or Bose will ever release.
 
Hang on, didn't Apple specifically say when they announced the lightning connector that it was going to be around for a long time? Why the rumour of a new one so soon?

I will probably be backwards-compatible
 
Lightning Cable Needs improvement

The official lightning cables are not rugged and fail. Apple should rework the integrity of the cable and toughen it up!
 
With Apple's push for wireless connectivity, I'm really perplexed that they've not figured out how to do wireless headphones yet. Their original BT headset was phenomenal, which of course they stopped making.

I understand the limitations of BT audio, but then figure out how to do an Airplay headset. Wires are just so last century. On my iP5s, I've blocked out the headphone jack entirely with my wood phone wrap, because I just refuse to use wired earphones.

I would never purchase another iPhone if they removed the 3.5mm jack.
 
Well they picked the wrong headphones if that was the case...

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Or for that money you could buy proper headphones like Sennheiser HD 650, Beyerdynamic DT-880 Pro, Focal Spirit Professional, Audio Technica ATH-M50X or
Sony MDR7509HD. All vastly to superior to anything "Beats", B&W or Bose will ever release.

No such animal as proper headphones !!!!!
I perfer B&W light and comfortable.
 
They have been upgraded

"The premium in-ear headphones have not been updated since 2008"

Sure they have, around 2011. You even show it in your images.

Early models, in the right-hand image, had a squared-off volume control that would always catch on my collar when I turned my head, pulling the right-hand one out of my ear. The later version had the rounded widget you can see on the left that avoided this problem. There were changes to the plug, cables and other minor upgrades.

They remain the best headphones of any type I've ever tried. Their tone balance is amazing.
 
I couldn't agree more, so much so I've stockpiled a few in case Apple ever withdraws them for sale. Massively underrated and far better sound quality than ones costing over twice as much (from my own experience)
Which ones are you referring to?
The current model. The original ones pre-2008 were okay, but these ones are great. Interesting to see what they change now that the Beats deal is going ahead.
 
"The premium in-ear headphones have not been updated since 2008"

Sure they have, around 2011. You even show it in your images.

Early models, in the right-hand image, had a squared-off volume control that would always catch on my collar when I turned my head, pulling the right-hand one out of my ear. The later version had the rounded widget you can see on the left that avoided this problem. There were changes to the plug, cables and other minor upgrades.

They remain the best headphones of any type I've ever tried. Their tone balance is amazing.

A lot of people don't realise these are dual-driver headphones, which can't be found elsewhere at the same price.
 
Are you referring to these:
The reason I'm asking, is that with all this Beats malarkey, I'm now considering getting myself some new earphones!

Yes.

If you listen to hip-hop or dance pop then Beats are great, because they, and most other headphones these days, are deliberately designed to be bass heavy. The mixers at the studios take advantage of this to produce songs that work well with those sorts of outputs. This is why you hear a lot of flanging and vocoder effects on voice tracks, it amps the uppers so they can be heard over the rumble.

But if you do anything else with them, then they're terribly bass-heavy. It's funny taking a phone call from the kid and hearing someone that sounds like they're practicing for their thug life tribute band. I use mine mostly to listen to podcasts while exercising, and the Apple' one's flat response is the way to go.

The only problem I've had with the latest version is that when you do get warmed up the sweat will make them slip out of your ears. The same is true of any set that doesn't have a headband or ear clip. If you *do* need that snugness, for running say, then you might want to look at some of the Sony ones.

UPDATE: as NATO notes, these are dual-drivers, and everyone else's duals are much more cash.

UPDATE 2: Actually the *one* thing I'd like to see is the cable covered in fabric. I had one set that was like this (can't recall the name, the sound quality was *****) and they *did not tangle*. It was a revelation. No static either, which is largely a side-effect of Apple's use of silicone-heavy plastics.
 
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I have no problem with headphones/earphones utilising the lightning port for high quality HD audio. However I am concerned that this will mean the loss of the port available for charging which means no lying in bed listening to music til sleep time (unless there's a passthrough, but they look ugly as sin).
 
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