I felt a strange feeling when reading more details about Apple's Lossless music service the other week. I thought it was strange that Apple were promoting a feature that they specifically tell you is only useful when plugging a DAC into your device (Hi-Fi Lossless tells you this on every device after enabling). I've started to get the feeling there's a possibility we can do away with the wholly unnecessary idea of a portless iPhone. It's been rumored on and off again for a long while but never comes to fruition. Apple may introduce a second generation of AirPods Pro/Max along with an iPhone capable of wireless lossless playback but that's well over a year away. By that point would they remove the lightning port after having spent the past year telling people they should get a DAC to enjoy the best sound quality?
It seems like moving from an integrated headphone jack to a dongle headphone jack is one thing but removing the ability to plug ANYTHING into the iPhone all together is going too far. Perhaps Apple know this and are planning to keep the lightning port around indefinitely (at least until they stop making iPhones post 2030) to always provide backwards compatibility with wired accessories. Maybe this is why they were so comfortable giving wired DACs such notice in their lossless system? Maybe maybe maybe....
... then again it's Apple. They probably don't give a flying f*** about DACs and will introduce the portless iPhone with wireless lossless capabilities all the while telling audiophiles that using DACs are "outdated and niche" because Apple's wireless solution is better (it won't be) thereby making wired DAC lossless a mac only feature.
Curve ball: they make a MagSafe compatible wireless USB accessory specifically designed for people to use DACs with. I doubt they'd do this but who knows.
It seems like moving from an integrated headphone jack to a dongle headphone jack is one thing but removing the ability to plug ANYTHING into the iPhone all together is going too far. Perhaps Apple know this and are planning to keep the lightning port around indefinitely (at least until they stop making iPhones post 2030) to always provide backwards compatibility with wired accessories. Maybe this is why they were so comfortable giving wired DACs such notice in their lossless system? Maybe maybe maybe....
... then again it's Apple. They probably don't give a flying f*** about DACs and will introduce the portless iPhone with wireless lossless capabilities all the while telling audiophiles that using DACs are "outdated and niche" because Apple's wireless solution is better (it won't be) thereby making wired DAC lossless a mac only feature.
Curve ball: they make a MagSafe compatible wireless USB accessory specifically designed for people to use DACs with. I doubt they'd do this but who knows.
