If you like paying over-the-odds for an iPhone and supporting Apple's planned obsolescence, it's a yes.
If you have a little bit of sense, it'd be a no.
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Apple Unveils iPhone 7 With Water Resistance, A10 Fusion, New 'Jet Black' Color, Updated Cameras, No Headphone Jack, and More
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If you have a little bit of sense, it'd be a no.
Not a chance. The EU wants you to be able to reuse the expensive chargers. They don't care about the cable. And if you take your Samsung phone and it's charging cable, that fits right into my Apple charger. Or the Anker charger that I got for my Apple devices.
Like I said... it's very difficult to compare the old way to the new way.
Everything has changed over the last few years.
You used to have one price for minutes, one price for texts, one price for data... add it up and that was your monthly payment. And you also had to produce $199 to $399 at the time of purchase.
Now... most major carriers just give you voice and texts included... and you simply choose how much data you want. And now the only other line-item each month is the monthly cost of the phone. Add the monthly cost of your plan with the monthly cost of the phone... and that's your monthly payment. Oh.. and no more down payment. You don't need $199 to $399 anymore a the time of purchase.
Overall... your monthly bill might be more these days... or it might be less... or it might be the same.
But it's difficult to make an, ahem, apples to apples comparison between 2011 and 2016.
Yes, an external DAC can be better than the one apple uses in its phones, but they could also be used with every other iPhone. Dropping the headphone jack hasn't altered digital audio functionality at all.
I bet there will be less expensive options on the market quite soon. Here is what I used a few years ago in an older car - sound quality was good enough for me. (Keep in mind that I'm not an audiophile).
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The "quality" portable DACs, though, are massive, cost a fortune, and provide about 4 hours of battery life before dying. The current iPhone 6S DAC is about as good as you can get in that small of a form factor, and there is little doubt that you can expect to receive a DAC that is no better than the internal DAC (and likely much worse) on a pair of lightning headphones.
Furthermore, there are a ton of components that shape how you hear your music and which can either improve or decimate sound quality. The first that comes to mind is the quality of headphone drivers you're listening to your music through. No matter how good of a DAC you have, if you're listening to music through a pair of Apple earbuds it will never sound as good as the stock iPhone DAC with pair of professional-grade headphones, for example. My point is to say that while in the broadest theoretical sense an improved DAC could improve sound quality, portable DACs of the type to which you're referring (1) do not exist, but (2) would not be as cost-efficient of a means through which to improve your listening experience as buying even a marginally better set of headphones
Your post is not actually true. It's actually completely wrong.
The 3.5mm jack does not convert the music from digital to analogue. The appropriately named digital to analogue converter (DAC) handles the conversion. It is literally a connection point from the signal from the DAC to the wires in a pair of headphones. It's like a wall socket for an electrical wire.
Fun science fact of the day - your ears are analogue.
Because now manufacturers can make audio products with genuinely better foundation. The DAC in idevices is meh.
Remember when Apple made computers! #disappointedagain
Looks like they ran out of room adding the Haptic engine. They were forced to remove the jack. As for those saying this moves audio into fully digital, no- you were using a DAC before, you were already in a digital world. The phone jack was not a deliberate, forethought choice. But lovely marketing spin.
Having to use a dongle makes the experience worse. Beyond being just plain awkward, I have to buy extra dongles or carry my dongle with me at all times so I can use any of the headphones I already own or anyone else's headphones. Requiring a dongle to be able to use the billions of headphones already in the world is the opposite of the "it just works" philosophy that used to be the hallmark of Apple design. Apple backtracked on the recessed headphone jack of the original iPhone. Hopefully they will come to their senses. More likely, this will contribute to Apple's decline. Best case, we end up with a new fragmented category of consumer electronics device.
What bill? RingPlus offers free cellphone service; calls, text and data over the Sprint network. Seriously, look it up.
so how does these new earpods that come with iphone 7 work with my mac? Or even new macs that's only gonna have usb C ports?...
Do i need another dongle to convert lightning to usb C?
Do i need another dongle to convert lightning to usb C?
Your ears were and still are analogue, even when the headphones connect digitally. The D/A conversion just happens later in the "line" before you hear something.
Lucky you to have two phones. I have four phones. Honestly. Private phone, Contracted Company phone, Contractor Company phone, (My own) Subcontracting Company phone. I'd kill to get a quad-SIM phone.
Oh I agree. But that's better than paying the $650-850 all at once.
People say the price of the iPhone went from $199 to $650 when contracts and subsidies went away.
But that isn't true.
You were always paying full price of the phone over time then... and you still are today.
They just don't call it a "subsidy" anymore.
Which makes sense... since that isn't what a subsidy is anyway.
Maybe someday humans will come equipped with a Lightning input.
Until then I'd prefer the required DAC to be the high quality one in the iPhone rather than the unknown DAC in the adapter or headphones.
In that note -
Wired Audio >> Wireless
I don't think Apple's long-term goal is lightning audio. They just want the damn jack gone since over time it depreciates in it's value. Apple's probably banking on everything wireless and just providing a bridge between today and 2 years from now.
The current square readers have been completely wireless for over a year now.