I never had EMI issues on analog audio connectors (you'd need pretty strong signals to interfere in an audible way), and funnily enough, never had any issues with fraying cables. Doesn't lightning have issues with fraying cables anyway? How is it better?
Digital connections as in complementary to analog ones, yes. Not replacing them. If you look at any A/V receiver or integrated amp, from mass-market Sonys to mid-range Denons/Yamahas to high-end stuff like Meridian/Burmester, all have more analog connections than digital ones.
As for balanced stuff, that's not the "industry", that's niche. Believe me, I'm typing this while listening to Electrocompaniet audio, with a fully balanced construction.
Having an adapter is not the same thing, and yes, it's lock-in if you spend money on lightning headphones unusable on any other device on the planet except for the iPhone.
Different problem, Ethernet is physically big, headphone jack is tiny, and the laptops are generally fine on WiFi. Ethernet isn't going anywhere also.
Anyway, moot points. I was pointing out that comparing VGA with the headphone jack is just not relevant. As I said before, VGA had real problems with high-resolution raster displays and it was a matter of time until the industry was going to kick it out. I was buying monitors for my business during this transition. I remember too well how to the VGA monitors became VGA-DVI, and then DVI. Apple's choice had no bearing on the transition.
Otherwise, I see no point in putting tiny DACs in the connectors and calling this an improvement. It makes a lot more sense to have a good DAC in the phone, and that benefits all the headphones you connect to it. You can do other smart stuff as well - my phone has a DTS-licensed sound enhancer which is actually very good, and I prefer to use analog audio to benefit from it, rather than digital.
I'll go one by one.
1) actually, EDGE (not 3G) signal often interferes with audio equipment. Wireless doesn't fray. Lightning does.
I'm sorry, they don't really "fray", they lose connection inside. Obviously no cable is immune to that, that's why I said wireless is the way to go.
2) Because people have no clue how to use them/they want to connect *OLD* equipment. Guaranteed, new cinema system, new TV and new reciever, you can go single cable digital to all of them.
3) I was talking about the audio industry not entertainment industry. I didn't know which industry you were referring to exactly.
4) how and why is having an adapter not the same thing? whats the problem?
5) So you're fine on some devices not having ethernet and other do, yet for headphone jack you hold a different opinion? why? Also, headphone jack and water resistance don't go that well together, Galaxy S7 fares much under water than iPhone 7. Perhaps it's not the headphone jack though... I don't know how hard would be to water proof it as much as they did with headphone jack included.
6) I know, they were just one of the first to ditch it. and you're forgetting about projectors too.
7) Ugh. I don't know what kind of enhancer do you speak of, but surely, its not an analog device that you attach to your phone? And if it is, you sure it operates analoguely?
The only real point i'm inclined to agree with you is that they didn't really think it through.
- not everybody wants to go wireless (bt), although the only concern is *battery*, and it IS a concern. Sound quality point is irrelevant at this point.
- lightning headphones are not a replacement and they just create a confusion. If they shipped airpods with iPhone 7 I wouldn't really care, because wireless is the future here. It would be the same if they shipped normal EarPods with the 3.5mm adapter. I don't want lightning headphones around anymore than you do, despite the fact that I support removal of headphone jack.
Yep, and the wheel is also 5000 years old, maybe we should also stop using it? Also, all the music you listen to is still being recorded with old technology, using even older 1/4 plugs. Please don't be ignorant.
you really don't have to tell me how music is recorded...
Patchbays use older bantam 1/6" connectors, that are self cleaning. Newer studios employ digitally controlled patchbays. In a studio environment, all connections are exclusively balanced, meaning you have 2 wires per channel instead of one (like here), which effectively cancels noise. Further more, most of interconnects for largers devices are done digitally, simply because you can connect 8 channels of high resolution uncompressed audio via simple optical cable instead of bulky, 16+1 (16 for signal, 1 for ground) lines for 8 balanced connections.
Most professional high-end gear uses XLRs, not jacks anyway, and there is more and more hardware that employs DAC.
But that is beside the point. There are a lot of Cathode Ray displays still in use in broadcast monitoring rooms, but that doesn't mean its either practical or relevant for consumer.
There are also a lot of DSP controlled monitors with their owns DACs on the market.