Libratone Debuts Battery-Free Noise Cancelling Headphones With Lightning Connector Ahead of iPhone 7

[Carmenia83]

Don't expect noise cancellation to work with an adapter. And draining your device faster is never a welcomed feature. Trash I tell you!

I would only need noise cancellation when i'm on the plane watching movies on my iPad or listening to music on my iPhone. Relevant concern for people that watch in-flight movies or use their laptops, neither of which apply to me so not an issue.

I'm not concerned with the battery drain if it saves me from having to charge the headphones separately. ANC typically uses very little power, hopefully that will carry over to the iPhone's power consumption. I carry a battery pack in my bag when I travel in case I have a long day and need to juice up anyway.

 

[Bawstun]

Lol at anyone defending a $179 tag for these earbuds. Either ya'll have tons of free cash to spend, or you don't recognize the value of a dollar. That's literally insane to me. Paying more than $20 for earbuds seems insane to me, and even that is high.

 

[sidewinder3000]

My cheap in-ear buds from Sennheiser already have some noice-cancellation because they seal your ears with the rubber tips (like they all do). Is a 140$ premium for ANC worth it? Doubt it.

It is if you want a noise cancelling mic to make phone calls, genius.
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How do you charge your iPhone and listen with these at the same time? $200 for headphones that ONLY work for one device? You're joking right? Nothing is gained by removing the headphone jack. NOTHING!

You know, at first I wasn't swayed by your argument, but then you ended it with ALL CAPS, AND EVERYTHING BECAME CLEAR!
[doublepost=1472812735][/doublepost]

Lol at anyone defending a $179 tag for these earbuds. Either ya'll have tons of free cash to spend, or you don't recognize the value of a dollar. That's literally insane to me. Paying more than $20 for earbuds seems insane to me, and even that is high.

What's insane is that you don't understand that their are millions of people who do have tons of free cash to spend. And the ones who aren't deaf like to spend it on decent headphones.

If you don't notice or care about sound quality, that's fine. But why mock or protest with "faux shock!" what you don't understand? For people who love music and appreciate good audio quality, good headphones or speakers make all the difference.

 

[sunapple]

It is if you want a noise cancelling mic to make phone calls, genius.

No idea what you're on about, might be because I'm no genius apparently.

 

[Bawstun]

It is if you want a noise cancelling mic to make phone calls, genius.
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You know, at first I wasn't swayed by your argument, but then you ended it with ALL CAPS, AND EVERYTHING BECAME CLEAR!
[doublepost=1472812735][/doublepost]
What's insane is that you don't understand that their are millions of people who do have tons of free cash to spend. And the ones who aren't deaf like to spend it on decent headphones.

If you don't notice or care about sound quality, that's fine. But why mock or protest with "faux shock!" what you don't understand? For people who love music and appreciate good audio quality, good headphones or speakers make all the difference.

Who says my shock is faux? It is very real. I flew into Colorado, from Arizona - about 700 miles, for $80 roundtrip. You could double that to 2 flights and 1400 miles and it would still be less than those earbuds. Real world usage just can't justify that price to me, ever. Even if I were a millionaire I would not purchase these, maybe I'm just not flashy enough.

 

[redshifted]

Audeze has just announced corded magnaplanar in-ear monitors - theiSINE10 and iSINE20:

https://www.audeze.com/products/sine-series/isine10-ear-headphones

No active noise-cancelling but both have Lightning Cipher cables offering Amp/DSP/DAC functions and an App that adds equalization. Lots more expensive at $400 and $600 list and a look that you'll either love or hate .

 

[skellener]

Headphones that work with one device. No thanks.

 

[emsmac]

To those remarking that "it's about time we went digital" with regard to headphones--they've really changed nothing here, just shifted locations slightly and required duplication of semiconductor components.

Consider the lightning earbuds and 3.5mm adapter--

- DAC has moved about an inch; from motherboard to connector

- DAC chip is as small as possible due to connection form factor limitations and now sealed in plastic which may compromise heat shedding which may mean less ability to deliver power; those high impedance drivers in larger headphones may not sound as good

- PCB for DAC is now more concerned with size than signal quality; working 15 years in PC audio I can guarantee many compromises were made on capacitor selection as well as ground isolation and other layout concerns to fit inside the connector package

I'm not saying this wasn't a necessary or justified move, just that it's unlikely to improve audio quality.

 

[zhangd116]

Just six days before Apple is expected to announce the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack, Libratone has introduced new Q Adapt in-ear noise-cancelling headphones with a Lightning connector in lieu of a standard 3.5mm audio jack.

The headphones feature a battery-free design with four levels of active noise cancellation, drawing power from the iPhone or iPad they are connected to through the Lightning connector.

The pair have in-line controls for volume, playback, phone calls, and Siri, and one for the four active noise cancellation settings and talk-through.

The earbuds have a fabric-covered cable available in four colors: elegant nude, cloudy white, stormy black, and rose pink. They also are equipped with three sizes of interchangeable rubber earpieces.

Apple introduced new MFi Program specifications in June 2014 that allow third-party manufacturers to create headphones that connect to iOS devices via a Lightning cable, with features such as passthrough power and active noise cancellation.

Libratone says the Q Adapt headphones will be available in mid-September for $179 and will ship to customers at the beginning of October.

Other Lightning-equipped headphones released to date include, among others, the Philips Fidelio M2L and Fidelio NC1L.

Article Link: Libratone Debuts Battery-Free Noise Cancelling Headphones With Lightning Connector Ahead of iPhone 7

Received my Libratone Q Adapt in-ear days ago, tried for several hours, decided to return it.
Here are some points that annoyed me the most:

• The noise-cancelling does work, to some extent. But don't compare it with Bose or Sony, it cannot even completely cancel the low frequency air condition noise which is a piece of cake even for Bose QC15
• The shape of the earbuds is poorly designed, not about the look, but about practicality. The earbuds came with 3 different sizes of silicon tips but none of them were able to keep the earbuds in my ear.
• Not sure what triggered this design but the edge of the earbud has a very "sharp" feeling, especially when you put them in your ears. They stopped "cutting" my ear after I put the large tips on which somewhat cover the edge, but then the earbuds became something like Apple EarPods which does not isolate the environment, and also made the noise-cancelling useless