Belkin Launching Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable for iPhones

[EdT]

Waiting for the “Apple is usually the first to remove obsolete components” post.

When Apple removed the floppy disk drive from computers file sizes had grown way beyond the 1.44 MB file size that floppy disks could store, and read/write CD’s and DVD’s were included with computers. When they got rid of DVD’s USB flash drives were cheap and commonplace. When they didn’t support Flash files on iPhones it was because Flash software didn’t work very well on mobile devices and it was also a large security risk. I bought my first smartphone at this time and it was an Android because it ‘supported’ Flash web pages. Like hell it did. Even Android finally admitted that Flash was a buggy unreliable security risk that was difficult to get working on mobile devices.

The 3.5 mm Jack? Cheap, easily available and better quality sound than Bluetooth head sets costing 5 times more. And it works with anything made by almost anyone without needing a separate charger to recharge your battery powered Bluetooth device. And Apple hasn’t used the space freed up for some other device inside the phone. This “improvement’ wasn’t.


And I don’t know that Apple was the leader in removing all of the obsolete equipment that they have been credited with.

 

[C DM]

Launching where? Into space?



It's a reach to call it greedy. Apple has always pushed the envelope of technology, introducing new, better tech. When is a right time to do it, or not to do it? If we always stuck with older tech, imagine the world we'd be in today.

But I do agree that the price of these new accessories and cables is outrageous and unreasonable.

The envelope has been pushed so much that about two years later we are still coming up with alternative accessories to make up for it.
[doublepost=1527013186][/doublepost]

Waiting for the “Apple is usually the first to remove obsolete components” post.

When Apple removed the floppy disk drive from computers file sizes had grown way beyond the 1.44 MB file size that floppy disks could store, and read/write CD’s and DVD’s were included with computers. When they got rid of DVD’s USB flash drives were cheap and commonplace. When they didn’t support Flash files on iPhones it was because Flash software didn’t work very well on mobile devices and it was also a large security risk. I bought my first smartphone at this time and it was an Android because it ‘supported’ Flash web pages. Like hell it did. Even Android finally admitted that Flash was a buggy unreliable security risk that was difficult to get working on mobile devices.

The 3.5 mm Jack? Cheap, easily available and better quality sound than Bluetooth head sets costing 5 times more. And it works with anything made by almost anyone without needing a separate charger to recharge your battery powered Bluetooth device. And Apple hasn’t used the space freed up for some other device inside the phone. This “improvement’ wasn’t.


And I don’t know that Apple was the leader in removing all of the obsolete equipment that they have been credited with.

No need to wait really as it was essentially already brought up in what was quoted above.

 

[itguy06]

Or, for a better, cheaper solution, add a Bluetooth module to your car. You are then free to charge your phone while you play music in your car.

Or just buy a better phone with a USB and 3.5mm jack.

 

[n-evo]

So why would I spend €30 on this if I can get a regular audio cable for a few euros and the adapter that came with my iPhone? Or additionally spend €14 at most for a regular cable and a second adapter? I'm pretty sure I have some glue laying around the house to permanently stitch the two together if that's an issue.

 

[ignatius345]

While $30 (3 feet) and $35 (6 feet) are high, this is a niche product. The percentage of cars that has 3.5mm audio input but lacks USB or Bluetooth, is pretty slim. Most of these cars are probably after market stereo, so many may choose to upgrade their stereo instead.

Anyway, I have several overpriced Belkin cables because they are higher quality and look more Apple-like.

I think I have a Belkin 6-foot 3.5mm male-to-male cable for the same reason, but I'm pretty sure I didn't pay $35 for it.

I don't get as much use out of it as I once did, but a lot of cars still have AUX in, and I personally prefer it sometimes because it doesn't do wonky things like try to start music playing every single time the stereo powers up. Going in through a cable can be a nice end-run around the very stupid interfaces they have sometimes.

I will concede the point that their cables are better made than the generics, but this still feels quite steep.

 

[kwikdeth]

Except, yanno, digital audio is far superior to what can be delivered over a headphone jack. So there is that small detail.

Oh when did the iPhone start supporting SPDIF or optical Toslink @ 96K, cuz I'd love to digitally interface for the best signal... Oh wait... You mean a digital signal that's resampled to filter frequencies and compress bandwidth so it can be shunted over the Bluetooth stack, introducing aliasing and compressing the audio over the already compressed audio since the format isn't actually lossless to begin with. So There is that small detail.

 

[iriejedi]

Amazon - got a little blue tooth puck in my AUX.... sits under seat.... now my old car acts like a fancy new car with blue tooth audio - paid like $25 for a 'nice one'

 

[EdT]

The envelope has been pushed so much that about two years later we are still coming up with alternative accessories to make up for it.
[doublepost=1527013186][/doublepost]
No need to wait really as it was essentially already brought up in what was quoted above.

The point I was trying to make was that, in the past, when Apple removed a component or didn’t support software they gave a very concrete reason. I didn’t own Apple computers for most of the examples but all of the reasons were valid, if perhaps a little early. Floppy Drives were too small in capacity for files people used, CD and DVD drives could be replaced by using USB flash drives, even for watching movies, although there were conversion problems there. As I said, I didn’t own an Apple computer yet, and if I had maybe I would have been angry at Apple removing one of these devices or removing software support but there was a physical reason given that applied to the device/software in question and the size/space/security concerns were real for all brands of computers, even if Apple may have removed the item a little too early.

I don’t have the courage to repeat the reason that the phone jack was removed.

 

[gco212]

People need to understand that Apple did not do this change because of superior sound. Those claiming it are ignorant and reaching for a reason to defend Apple's decision even though that particular reason is completely wrong. They are just blindly protecting Apple.

The reason Apple made the change was space inside the iPhone. The 3.5mm jack takes up a relatively large amount of space in modern phones. This was yet another move by Apple to enable making the iPhone thinner. Personally, I would much rather Apple make the phone larger, but it's still a valid reason. I dislike the change and think it was the wrong choice, but it was a reasonable idea.

 

[Wanted797]

There is NO better tech than the headphone jack for the SIMPLE purpose of plugging in a pair of headphones. What Apple did is straight garbage.

You’re that guy who complained about the MacBook Air not having a CD drive, but now complain that Apple won’t make a new version of the MacBook Air aren’t you?

 

[bladerunner2000]

You’re that guy who complained about the MacBook Air not having a CD drive, but now complain that Apple won’t make a new version of the MacBook Air aren’t you?

No, I'm that guy that complains about Apple soldering everything inside every macbook and imac.

Thanks for playing.

 

[Mac 128]

While I agree that removing 3.5mm has caused problems, it is not fair to say that the cable is expensive without noting that the cable is in fact an external sound card. Apple's implementation of the lightning port only allows digital audio and does NOT include analog audio signals that would be required by a 3.5mm jack. This happened when apple went from 30-pin to lightening. So this cable would have to include an DAC (Digital to Analog converter) chip somewhere.

Apple's version has a DAC hidden inside the tiny jack.
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Apple+Lightning+to+Headphone+Jack+Adapter+Teardown/67562#s136722

Yeah, except the free (otherwise $9) adapter they give you in the box, plus a $5 3.5mm male-to-male cord will do the same thing. So why pay for a dedicated cable at a significantly higher price, which only locks you into one option?

Sweet, what took them so long? And for the times when I need wired (instead of wireless) charging in the Jeep, I don’t have to use the Apple adapter plugged into the Belkin Dual Lightning Port adapter.

Except you can accomplish the same thing with the free adapter Apple gave you, and much less expensive male-tamale cord. I'd say the "inconvenience" of having to use an adapter is more than worth the cost of this dedicated cable, leaving you unprepared for any other situation.

As much as I agree with the fact, that the DAC is in the Lightning plug, this isn't worth more than $10.
It's not high tech, the DAC isn't any better than the one in the pack-in adapter, it's a cable. A plain old cable. Nothing more, nothing less.

How do you know that? Have you seen the tech specs on the DAC or a sound analysis of it's analogue output?

 

[ignatius345]

Except, yanno, digital audio is far superior to what can be delivered over a headphone jack. So there is that small detail.

Did you know about this thing called compression? Because from your response it sounds like you haven't.

 

[Scott549]

The Apple adapter works fine. The sound quality is the same. I know Bluetooth technically has inferior sound quality, but in my experience I have not been able to tell the difference, and I definitely care about sound quality.

 

[Juicy Box]

Except, yanno, digital audio is far superior to what can be delivered over a headphone jack. So there is that small detail.

I think that you might be confusing wired and wireless solutions.

By definition, sound is analog, and any digitization of sound technically removes parts of that sound wave. Any digitized sound gets converted back to analog at some point.

Now, if you are referring to stuff like sound over digital vs analog RF modulation, I would agree that digital is superior.

 

[jonblatho]

And Apple hasn’t used the space freed up for some other device inside the phone.

With the iPhone 6s, the headphone jack forced the Taptic Engine to cut into space that was formerly occupied by the battery. The space freed up by removing the headphone jack was mostly used to shift the Taptic Engine downward and make the battery bigger.

 

[colinchuang]

What we actually need is an adaptor similar so we can use the lightning EarPods on a Mac...a bit of an oversight...so the reverse dongle of the one that comes included with the iPhone.

Belkin today introduced a certified Lightning to 3.5mm audio cable, and announced that pre-orders will begin on its website today.

The cable has a male Lightning connector on one end and a 3.5mm output on the other, allowing iPhone models that lack a headphone jack to be connected to a car stereo via the AUX port without the need for any adapters.

The cable can also be used to connect an iPhone to other products with 3.5mm inputs, ranging from home speaker systems to over-ear headphones. This is possible because the cable has a built-in digital-to-analog converter.

Lightning to 3.5mm audio cables have been available for several years, but Belkin's edition is certified by Apple under its MFi Program, which was recently expanded to include specifications for this type of cable.

Belkin's cable will be available in a three-foot length for $29.99 or in a six-foot length for $34.99 in the United States, with prices varying elsewhere. In addition to pre-orders on Belkin.com, the cables will available in the coming weeks at Apple Stores, Best Buy, Target, and select other retailers worldwide.

For a pricing comparison, Master & Dynamic recently released an Apple-certified Lightning to 3.5mm audio cable with an in-line microphone for $69.

Article Link: Belkin Launching Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable for iPhones

 

[ElZamo92]

Oh! My first car was the same as the one in the first photo. It came with an 30pin iPod connector

 

[FelixDerKater]

9.99 tops.

 

[B4U]

Only twice as expensive of buying 1) an Apple lightning to 3.5mm and 2) a 3ft patch cord.

That is the first thing in mind when I see the price.

 

[Flyc17]

Screw you Apple, I've had enough of your Socialist BS. Don't tell me what I need and when I need it. I've got a 6S and when it's life is up, I'm gonna buy my first Samsung. Get over yourself, you've lost your way and paving the path to your irrelevance.

 

[Le Big Mac]

Line level output or adjusted with volume control?

The included adapter is not line level, which makes it not so good for using with a car stereo or any device with its own volume control.

 

[C DM]

Screw you Apple, I've had enough of your Socialist BS. Don't tell me what I need and when I need it. I've got a 6S and when it's life is up, I'm gonna buy my first Samsung. Get over yourself, you've lost your way and paving the path to your irrelevance.

Seems like it's more capitalism that's in action (and behind it).

 

[spyguy10709]

Except, yanno, digital audio is far superior to what can be delivered over a headphone jack. So there is that small detail.

But by relying on a DAC that is part of the headphones, most users will see WORSE sound quality on sub-$75 or so lightning audio solutions than they would have if they connected decent IEMs or headphones to the good old fashioned jack.

 

[Sefstah]

Except, yanno, digital audio is far superior to what can be delivered over a headphone jack. So there is that small detail.

Digital audio headphones? Did you read his comment? I’m pretty sure my iPhone 8Plus doesn’t have a digital output. Unless you have a special one that none of us know about.