Apple Supplier Cirrus Logic Releases Kit for Creating Lightning-Based Headphones Ahead of iPhone 7

[tallscot]

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has announced a new MFi Headset Development Kit, a reference platform that is designed to help "Made for iPhone/iPad/iPod" accessory makers quickly develop Lightning-based headphones.

The development kit, available through Apple's MFi Program, includes a form factor reference design and other resources to help MFi licensees create Lightning-based headphones. A reference iOS app is also available.Multiple credible sources have confirmed that Apple plans to remove the 3.5mm headphone plug on the iPhone 7 series in favor of an all-in-one Lightning connector for audio output, charging, and connectivity, but only a handful of Lightning-equipped headphones are available today.

Apple introduced new MFi Program specifications in June 2014 that allow third-party manufacturers to create headphones that connect to iOS devices via a Lightning cable, but the rollout has been slow. Philips has unveiled Lightning-equipped Fidelio M2L and Fidelio NC1L headphones, pictured above, over the past two years.

Apple may also release Lightning-equipped EarPods, but a more recent conflicting rumor said the iPhone 7 will ship with standard 3.5mm EarPods and a 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter. Apple is also believed to be exploring Bragi Dash-like wireless headphones (AirPods?), but it may hold off on adopting the technology until 2017 or later.

Those interested in learning more about Lightning-equipped headphones can watch our video: Lightning Headphones: Are They Better or Just an Inconvenience? We also shared a video showing what an aftermarket 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter looks like as they begin to reach the market.

Article Link: Apple Supplier Cirrus Logic Releases Kit for Creating Lightning-Based Headphones Ahead of iPhone 7

[doublepost=1467309055][/doublepost]I've done some long road trips in my car where I have the iPhone plugged into the USB jack of the car at the same time I'm listening to the music with ear buds.

How will I charge my phone and listen with ear buds at the same time?
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Not to mention...when Apple made the decision to drop the CD drive, that trend sort of contained itself to the computer world, because that is where the bulk of those drives still existed. A lot of music people (older ones, myself included) will still buy audio CDs. Point being...if Apple dumps the 3.5mm jack, they by no stretch of the imagination will be a catalyst for it's removal across multiple industries. 3.5mm, and even 1/4" jacks, have been standards in the audio world for a very long time. If they couldn't get CD drives completely out of service across multiple industries (not saying that was their goal, just looking at the aftermath), they certainly won't get it done with a technology that is still currently the standard in multiple types of devices. This especially won't catch on outside of the Apple world because the incoming / replacing tech would be proprietary with god knows what type of licensing expense. Try convincing Onkyo, Yamaha, or Denon, or any other number of Audio equipment manufacturers that this will be the new standard. They'll laugh you out of the office. Guitar manufacturers, guitar pedals, audio recording gear, etc, all would have the same reaction. If they switch to anything it will be USB.

Agreed.

It was a mistake to eliminate optical drives. They didn't eliminate CD-ROM. They eliminated OPTICAL DISC DRIVES. You then had DVD and now Blu-ray. It's a mistake to eliminate the 3.5mm audio jack too.

How is TAKING AWAY A FEATURE something the consumer wants? You are handing your competition a reason for people to buy their product! "You can buy this Mac for $1,000 and then buy all these expensive adapters and external Flash card readers and Blu-ray drives and USB hubs, or you can spend $500 for this Windows PC that includes all those things built in." Or in the case of the iPhone, "Why pay more for a phone with fewer features?" "You will have adapters filling your pockets."

Dumb, Apple.

It really pisses me off that when I bought a Mac "Pro" that cost A LOT MORE than a Windows PC and I had to buy a $100 Samsung Blu-ray burner. Of course, the reason Apple didn't adopt Blu-ray is because they don't want people buying movies on Blu-ray. They want them to buy movies on iTunes.

The Mac fan boys argue that I don't need Blu-ray. Tell that to every wedding video company I edit for and every film festival who wants Blu-ray screeners. Sony and Microsoft have sold about 50 million consoles that have Blu-ray drives.
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I'm still not seeing a convincing argument for the tangible benefits of ditching the 3.5mm audio port.

Other comparisons don't seem to resonate with me. For example, Ditching the Optical drive in machines had tangible benefits in decreased size/weight, more space for storage, increased battery space & life, airflow design enhancements, and removing the drive also meant removing one of the moving parts that needed the most repair/replacing (that most people I know, just attached an external drive instead of replacing anyways)
and there was already well established (and arguably better) alternatives with thumb drives, AirDisk, NAS,external drives that were faster and more capable than what apple was including in their internal drives etc..
Also Apple still offered Optical drive equipped machines for some transition time.

With ditching the 3.5mm port what is tangibly gained? increased hours of battery life? (certainly not with Bluetooth, or lightning headphones that are terminating so you can't charge and listen at the same time)

What is actually held back by keeping the port? (there are already phones thinner, and with water resistance that still have the port, so it's not those)

Decreased costs for customers? (Not in terms of headphones or adapters that have to include extra circuitry, certifications, etc. and the costs will certainly be passed to customers)

It's just that so far we haven't seen any tangible indication of what would actually be gained by ditching the port, and what is actually held back by keeping it. For consumers or technology (since we can already buy lightning headphones, or Bluetooth headphones if we want, the port certainly isn't holding those back.)

Something isn't bad tech just because it is "old", I still use a keyboard and mouse every day both are technologies going back many decades, I still use wheels every day, zippers, Velcro, etc... my point is simply that "old" isn't a reason unto it self to be replaced. (though I will gladly replace my wheels with hover plating when we have it available )


Someone please help me understand, I genuinely want to know, I'm not trying to be hostile but I just don't get it. for as fervently as some people seem to want it gone, there must be tangible benefits for getting rid of the port and real disadvantages by keeping it right?

Apple is putting a second speaker where that analog port is now, so all of those hours you sit listening to music through the speakers on the iPhone will sound better!

 

[Sevendaymelee]

The fact that we're even talking about "improving" audio output on a device that, for the most part, will be offering it's customers 256kbps music is laughable lol.

 

[darkgoob]

For the love of God, I pray Apple does not remove the 3.5mm headphone jack from the whole line of phones.

Reasons

I am a musician. Bluetooth audio is too laggy to play live so I use a 1/4" audio cable to jack into the iPhone.

On stage I keep a portable battery plugged into the lightning port to keep the device charged while I perform. Losing the ability to charge the phone and play music at the same time would be catastrophic for me.

At festivals I wear a small portable amp on my belt and wear the iPhone on my arm or around my neck. I wander through crowds, synth-bombing bluegrass circles etc. At every event, I lose one or two cables to the general chaos of everyone being drunk etc. I use a long cable 3.5mm extender cable so I can wrap it around my arm a few times to where if it gets pulled on, it won't get unplugged out of the phone. I use the kind with a special, thin connector so that they work even if my iPhone is in a hefty case.

Fortunately, 3.5mm to RCA cables are cheap and ubiquitous at stores. I always bring three so I have a backup if one stops working, and/or one gets lost. If all three vanish I can always find one a nearby Walmart or Radio Shack etc. Sometimes I have to settle for ones with a thicker end on them, but I have never had a problem finding something that works for just a few bucks.

However, Lightning-to-1/4" adapters that support charging and audio will be:
• overpriced
• difficult to find at stores
• short and stubby
• poorly made unless you buy the even more overpriced Apple brand ones
• easy to lose
• you won't have any way to know in advance if audio quality or latency (lag) will vary between models of these
• cheap knock-off ones could be rendered inoperable by iOS updates

A lot of them will be made solely with the purpose of headphones in mind, so they'll have volume and mute controls on them which will actually be a huge disadvantage for me due to the fact those buttons could get pressed accidentally whether the dongle is in my pocket or hanging out where the chaos of crowds can affect it.

Conclusion

I sincerely hope Apple does not remove the 3.5mm jack from the whole line of phones. At least leave it on the "Plus"-sized model. I could understand removing it from the smallest of the models, but removing the 3.5mm jack from the whole line is just nuts.

If this turns out to be true, then I will surely know that Apple has completely lost its soul as a company and, instead of increasing profits by innovating and creating exciting new products in new categories, they are resorting to forcing everyone to buy even more expensive proprietary stuff even at the cost of making their products far less useful. They are standing on the sidelines of VR, AR, and gaming; they waved goodbye to many of the niche pro markets they once dominated; and they don't even make a decent monitor anymore.

I may just be done with technology all together. Screw it.

 

[Mac 128]

please move iPhone to USB-C first, then do USB-C headphones if you must move away from 3.5mm jacks.

Please don't switch to USBc first. I have hundreds of dollars invested in Lightning cables and accessories, which I just finished replacing my old 30-pin cables and accessories with. I don't want to have to do it all over again in less than 4 years.

And I definitely don't want to have to do it to buy hundreds of dollars in USBc adapters and accessories to use on the one other Apple product with a USBc port, and on no other consumer electronics I own, nor am aware of. Nobody is using USBc right now in any significant way. When I leave my Lightning cable at home right now, I can buy one, or borrow one almost anywhere I am. Few people even own a USBc cable, much less a native USBc equipped product.

 

[KJL3000]

Are they gonna put a female Lightning port on Macs?? How else do they expect us to use Lightning headphones across devices?

3.5 mm to lightning adapter. /s

 

[Mac 128]

3.5 mm to lightning adapter. /s

You say that sarcastically, but that's exactly what it will be. And it could be the least expensive kind of adapter one could use.

Essentially, when connected to the Lightning connector, it would basically bypass the internal DAC & amp, and just pass the analogue signal straight to the headphones.

The alternative is unthinkable -- a 3.5mm to Lightning adapter with a built-in ADC, which then gets converted back to analogue via the headphone's DAC. Of course you wouldn't need an amp or DSP in the adapter, unless it was designed for use with a mic input, in which case you'd need everything and a DAC.

That said, I expect the Macs will all add a Lightning port.

 

[bingeciren]

Are they gonna put a female Lightning port on Macs?? How else do they expect us to use Lightning headphones across devices?

Even if they do, that headphone will still be restricted to iPhone 7 and above and to those Macs with a lightning port. It makes no sense to spend that much money on a headphone, which cannot be used with any other device. Lightning only headphones makes no sense. The only thing it makes sense is a detachable lighting to 3.5mm jack.

 

[jthesssin]

i'm wondering if Bose will create a lightning cord for the qc 25. Does anyone know where the conversion happens? Could they do it in a cord or doest it require a rework of the internals?

Im in the same boat...sort of. I have a pair of Def Tech Symphony 1's that use USB and their own internal DAC. Hoping Def Tech will release a Lightning to Micro USB for these headphones.

 

[milo]

I think Apple will be unpleasantly surprised by low sales if they remove the headphone jack, the same way they were unpleasantly surprised by sales of the Apple Watch, Apple Music and Apple Pay.

Remember when they shipped an iPod shuffle with no buttons? The apologists were out in full force but it tanked and they backtracked and brought them back. I wouldn't be surprised if similar backlash hurt sales enough to force a similar retreat from a dumb move.

 

[cult hero]

I'd actually be happy about this if the iPhone used USB-C rather than a proprietary connection. I'm a huge fan of all-in-one ports. I'm not a huge fan of Lightning at all.

 

[Mac 128]

I'd actually be happy about this if the iPhone used USB-C rather than a proprietary connection. I'm a huge fan of all-in-one ports. I'm not a huge fan of Lightning at all.

Is that so you could replace hundreds of dollars in Lightning cables and accessories you've accumulated over the last 4 years, and spend hundreds more to buy brand new USBc cables and accessories that can only be used on your iPhone 7 and Retina MacBook, and few other devices anywhere else in the world at the moment, so then you have to buy more expensive adapters for all your USBc cables and accessories to use on just about everybody else's equipment for the next 2-3 years until enough people actually start using it to make carrying those adapters unnecessary?

Good plan.

 

[Corrode]

Even if they do, that headphone will still be restricted to iPhone 7 and above and to those Macs with a lightning port. It makes no sense to spend that much money on a headphone, which cannot be used with any other device. Lightning only headphones makes no sense. The only thing it makes sense is a detachable lighting to 3.5mm jack.

Every iPhone since the 5 has Lightning. No reason why it would be iPhone 7 only.

 

[bingeciren]

Every iPhone since the 5 has Lightning. No reason why it would be iPhone 7 only.

You are right. I should correct it by saying that it would be restricted to all phones having a Lightning connector.

 

[Mac 128]

You are right. I should correct it by saying that it would be restricted to all phones having a Lightening connector.

Which headphone are you referring to? The one pictured in the article absolutely can be used with any device that has an audio output, just by switching the cable.

Not only that but iOS devices count for almost a billion active devices. That's a pretty large pool of devices to use a Lightning equipped accessory with, not including new Macs which may come with Lightning ports too.

 

[bingeciren]

Which headphone are you referring to? The one pictured in the article absolutely can be used with any device that has an audio output, just by switching the cable.

Not only that but iOS devices count for almost a billion active devices. That's a pretty large pool of devices to use a Lightning equipped accessory with, not including new Macs which may come with Lightning ports too.

It is absolutely fine as long as a Lightning headphone can be used with older equipment having only a 3.5mm audio jack. My concern is for those "Lightning only" headphones.

At first, I couldn't see that it could be used with any device by switching the cable.

 

[sziehr]

Or you could say they're bold and willing to take some heat to advance technology. A few years years from now, after a bit of an inconvenient transition period, we'll all be blissfully enjoying higher-quality audio from our iDevices, and no-one will miss their 3.5mm jacks.

There are other issues. The largest being apple does not sell lossless music. So that lighting pair of headphones will sound even worse when paired with that awesome lossy audio they keep shoving out. The audio jack can handle all that lossy sound just fine we do not need to replace it to get a higher quality signal when the source is missing huge chunks of original data.

 

[Mac 128]

It is absolutely fine as long as a Lightning headphone can be used with older equipment having only a 3.5mm audio jack. My concern is for those "Lightning only" headphones.

At first, I couldn't see that it could be used with any device by switching the cable.

If Apple really does this, it will be short sighted of any customer and vendor who buy and sell headphones that have fixed wiring for one type of connection. I haven't catalogued them all, but any manufacturer who rushed to implement Apple's Lightning specs 18 months ago, with a fixed wire Lightning cable did a lot of people a disservice. I can certainly see some manufacturers making some cheap fixed wire Lightning buds to sell in drug stores, both to keep costs down, and make them more lightweight, and disposable (much like cheap earbuds sold at the drugstore now), but anyone looking for a good pair of headphones will want to avoid such unecessary limitations.

There are other issues. The largest being apple does not sell lossless music. So that lighting pair of headphones will sound even worse when paired with that awesome lossy audio they keep shoving out. The audio jack can handle all that lossy sound just fine we do not need to replace it to get a higher quality signal when the source is missing huge chunks of original data.

Yet. The rumors are that Apple will sell lossless music soon. A rumor about redesigned iTunes, and ultimately removal of the 3.5mm Jack all point to that being the case. Add to that the release of BT 5, increasing the potential of new wireless implementation also adds to the logic behind a major digital audio quality improvement from mobile devices.

 

[macs4nw]

There are other issues. The largest being apple does not sell lossless music. So that lighting pair of headphones will sound even worse when paired with that awesome lossy audio they keep shoving out. The audio jack can handle all that lossy sound just fine we do not need to replace it to get a higher quality signal when the source is missing huge chunks of original data.

Jitter is a problem that plagues all digital audio files, regardless of resolution, and for our current line-up of hand-held digital audio devices, even a modestly-priced outboard DAC can do amazing things, and yes, even for lossy files such as those offered by many downloading services.

I invite you to check out the Dragonfly by Audioquest, or one of the many HRT asynchronous DACs in that company's line-up. It was an eye-opener for me how much better 256, or even 128kbps downloads can sound.