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KGI: Apple Developing High-End Over-Ear Headphones, Launching Late 2018 at the Earliest
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Apple killed off their Wi-Fi router and display departments, haven’t updated the Mac Pro in over four years, and haven’t updated the Mac Mini in over three years.
Why they see headphones as a bigger more important than those four things is odd. But then again, watchbands are a bigger priority to Apple than those four things.
Why they see headphones as a bigger more important than those four things is odd. But then again, watchbands are a bigger priority to Apple than those four things.
Would love a pair of Apple noise cancelling cans, cause I really wish my QC35s had an A1 chip. If they come in black I'm already sold.
High price. Have you met Apple? Or Beats?!"High-end" means what, exactly? I guess we'll find out
But what do the people from Beats know about making high-end headphones? Or headphones generally...
In fairness, it is a rumor. There’s no validity that this will happen, but seems believable. Right now I think Apple’s current focus is the AirPods and how they will expand from there.
We'll see. If I manufactured headphones for audiophiles I'd be happy that these are guaranteed to be bluetooth. The highest level headphones are still wired.
I wonder if they will have a proprietary Bluetooth connection what works only with iPhones, Macs and Homepods?
It would also fit in the lineup nicely along with the AirPods and HomePod.
Paste this into Google:
Col4bin site:macrumors.com
Or perhaps more specifically,
Col4bin beats site:macrumors.com
Yep, Apple engineers who's on that project with audio specialization background are deeply engaged in anything with MacOS and Mac products.
Yup but that’s the sad thing when most people are bias around Apple I think those people deserve a bad apple
But then again, watchbands, smart speakers, and face loving phones are a bigger priority to Apple than those four things. Macs are no longer a priority with Apple, and most current Apple fans are quite happy with that, as they disdain non-mobile products, phone jacks, removable batteries, SD slots, and ports. That being said, I just placed an order for a new iMac to replace my 5 year old, which has inordinate fan noise and needs a large facelift. The only reason I bought the Mac is for my wife to experience a seamless transition for her photos, videos, etc., via iCloud. It will be a nice machine, though I could have gotten a Linux compatible PC for about a thousand less with equal or greater spec's. In any case, I'm typing this on my old iMac while listening to Alexa play bossa on my Amazon Echo, which has a phone jack and can be monitored by an Alexa app on either my iPhone 6S+ (phone jack!) or my LG V20 (phone jack, removable battery, SD slot, USB C port, 4 channel DAC!). I suspect these headphones will be top notch for the wireless market, and quite an improvement over ear buds. If they are reasonably priced, and better than current bluetooth offerings, I might buy a pair.
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You realise AirPods work with android etc, yet its PixelBuds that don’t work properly with anything but a Pixel... And why is being able to invoke Siri a bad thing...
It's ok, don't worry about it. It's enough that you pointed out your prescience here.
Definitely will be wireless - only Macs still have phone jacks, and we know how Apple prioritize Macs. Siri's okay for what she does, though I find Alexa more accommodating. If these headphones are under $300, they'd be interesting as an alternative to ear buds for current jackless Apple products.
I bought the Beats Studio 3 a couple months ago for like 200 bucks (VAT incl.). I have always disliked Beats for the overpronounced bass and other issues. But these. They are like the best headphones. Period. And the noise canceling is awesome too. Especially because it DOESN'T put pressure on your ears like the Bose do!
So now they’re turning into a music gear company? They should rather focus on their core products instead of becoming a sort of Samsung that does anything from washing machines to smartphones. No wonder their products are getting crappier.
What the heck, did you just compare some $150 CLOSED cans to HD800's? According to their review, that isn't really a review, but rather a set of numerical scores that are awarded with respect to the price (!), the M50x's have better bass and mids, yet on the same page you can clearly see the frequency response diagram that looks, at first sight, as a diagram for closed headphones with their weird peaks and claustrophobic feel.
The HD800's are audiophile-class headphones. And in the audiophile headphones world, anything that's closed is pretty much irrelevant.
There used to be a good search site devoted to Macrumors, if I recall correctly it was called Mroogle, sadly this doesn't work anymore, it was vastly superior to MR built-in search which is in my opinion horrible.
I find it odd that apple would want to compete against beats for this one. Unless they're thinking of something outrageously different for over-the-ear headphones.
It’s not really surprising at all. The iPhone is Apple’s top money maker, and so the next logical step is to release more iPhone accessories to further monetise the iPhone user base.
1) iPad - uses the same apps as the iPhone
2) Airpods - why do you think the iPhone lost the headphone jack?
3) Apple Watch - the best smartwatch for the iPhone
4) AirPower - to charge everything
5) Apple TV / HomePod - airplay from your iPhone
6) services such as Apple Pay, Apple Music, Siri, iMessage and iCloud make more sense on the iPhone than any other Apple product.
The Apple headphones should be extremely profitable (the R&D costs are fixed, while the production costs should be fairly low), so it’s fairly low-hanging fruit for Apple.
Compared to this, the Mac actually has very little integration with the iPhone. The Mac Pro, monitor and Mac mini are very niche products and sales revenue likely won’t even cover the R&D costs.