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Lightning Headphones: Are They Better or Just an Inconvenience?
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What a crock of a comparison. ANY difference heard between identical headphones is going to be in the DAC/amp implementation. On a set of $800 headphones, yep, it's likely to be pretty good. Better than Apple can do inside the phone with space and price constraints. (Even though Apple generally does a very good job).
How good do you think the implementation is going to be when your typical $25 headphones now need to include license fees for the lightning jack, and a DAC and amp integrated into a set of tiny earbuds??
How good do you think the implementation is going to be when your typical $25 headphones now need to include license fees for the lightning jack, and a DAC and amp integrated into a set of tiny earbuds??
I mean... considering 256 AAC is totally transparent for the vast majority of the earths population and going to 320 or Lossless only introduces inaudible tones... then no, it isn't pointless. And in Apple's ecosystem we should be expecting this level, and not 128 Napster-era mp3 garbage.
It's beyond volume though, and power sources will matter - yes - but a better DAC or Amp improves sound quality regardless. You could get a Receiver with a Phono in, in my example, that would serve as it's own Pre-amp, no additional power. That's a step up in output quality and from an Analog source too. You could further go down the rabbit hole and get a powered pre-amp and improve it even further. Or get a better receiver and set of speakers and improve beyond that...
But with Digital... it really does matter too. Even a low-powered headphone with a better DAC than what's present in the iPhone is going to sound better. Add their own set of batteries and it should improve even further. Move to computers with expensive sound cards and they *still* sell external DACs.
They both largely solve the same problems... often this is with the Noise Floor... the 'hiss' or 'buzz' you may hear when music is playing or between tracks... even with the volumes not perfectly level, this should be noticeable. A poor setup you'll hear this introduced at lower volumes, and the better you get the more volume you need to have before it hits - if ever.
For digital, they should also correct any jitter that may occur. Putting the DAC right before the speaker should remove a lot of in-betweens for where that jitter could occur. The only comparable way to have this occur in my example, would be if my record was warped.
And... I just want to add: you likely know all of this already. So just consider this info for anyone else bothering to read that does not... I'm not trying to debate who knows more, just throwing all that in to look at it in a different perspective.
For what it is, I think the included DAC is decent. But you can still get excellent sound at affordable prices, you just need to be smart about it.
Step 1: Use lossless files
Step 2: Get an external AMP/DAC combo
Step 3: Buy a decent pair of headphones
It's all much cheaper than you would expect. I have an excellent home stereo that cost a pretty penny (think Naim/Harbeth), but I also get great sound from my iPhone -- I simply bypass the internal DAC/AMP and use lossless files. You can get an excellent desktop or portable rig going for a few hundred dollars.
No, it proves the reviewer thinks expensive headphones are 'better'. None of the headphones reviews would be considered HiFi quality devices by audio reviewers.
Can you get gigabit wifi? Even if you can it will be very susceptible to even the slightest interference, whereas a physical wire is going to give your consistent, reliable performance.
Bingo. Today your 3.5mm headphone will work on any music player....except the iPhone 7 if the rumour is true. On the counter, the Lightning headphone will not work on on most apple products....
An adapter to use it on a Mac? ...... Poor user exerience.
Yeah, everyone wants to own headphones that can only be used in Apple products. Rock on kid!
The DRM reason is the only one I can possibly think of that might make a shred of sense - and even that I wrote off at first. However, I wonder if this change will come as a concession to the music industry for offering high resolution audio? I think it's a terrible trade-off for the average consumer, but the industry has tried pretty hard to lock-down high resolution, and this may be a way for them to finally force it in to the mainstream...
It would be daft to remove something that has superior performance. In the world of quality audio , Bluetooth sucks. If you don't care about sound quality, yeah Bluetooth is convient.
I usually love Apple's work, but I have to say that's the most ridiculously stupid decision they could ever take, for very little benefit to us, the regular users. Given how flimsy headphones are, I don't want to have to buy a new $100 pair of headphones every couple of months, all so that apple can shave off another 0.0001 off the iphone. I'm actually all for them to add back some width and actually give us a decent battery.
According to some rumors, Apple's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will not include a headphone jack, requiring headphones to connect to the devices using a Lightning connector. In light of these rumors, we've taken a look at several different pairs of Lightning-connected headphones to explore the benefits and drawbacks of an iPhone with no headphone jack.
In the video below, we compare headphones at three price points: the $45 Brightech earphones, the $300 Philips Fidelio M2L headphones, and the $800 Audeze El-8 headphones to offer some insight into how they sound compared to headphones connecting with a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Apple has perhaps been preparing for the removal of the headphone jack since 2014, when it introduced a Made for iPhone specification to allow third-party manufacturers to create headphones with Lightning connectors instead of 3.5mm headphone jacks.
While Lightning-connected headphones can only be used with iOS devices and prevent the devices from being charged while in use, two obvious negatives, there are also some significant benefits.
Our iPhones today include a 3.5mm headphone jack with a built-in digital to analog converter, or DAC, for playing music, which is then amplified through a built-in amp. Size and cost constraints associated with the 3.5mm headphone jack limit the quality of the DAC and amp, but in Lightning-connected headphones, the DAC and the amp are built into the headphones themselves instead of the iPhone, allowing manufacturers to control sound quality.
In our tests, all of the Lightning-connected headphones, from the $45 pair to the $800 pair, sounded better than comparable headphones connected to an iPhone using the 3.5mm jack, so while many of us may be disappointed with the inconvenience of no headphone jack, at least there's the silver lining of better quality audio when using Lightning-connected headphones.
Note: Philips provided MacRumors with the Philips Fidelio M2L headphones free of charge for the purposes of this hands-on test. Audeze provided MacRumors with a loaner set of the El-8 headphones which were returned at the conclusion of testing and the Britech headphones were purchased by MacRumors. No other compensation was received.
Article Link: Lightning Headphones: Are They Better or Just an Inconvenience?
Nope. I never use the earbuds on anything but my iPhone. On my Mac I use Grado labs.
What I would really, really love from Macrumors is a comparison of 'running' headphones that use Bluetooth by someone that both runs long distances (half marathon or greater) and appreciates expensive headphones.
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There was a time when Sony was perceived by the market as a leader in innovation and accessibilty. Then in their self sufficiency restricted their gadgetry compatability to nonuniversal inhouse accessories (Sony Memory Stick, Sony Betamax, etc). They called it innovation, and in fact they were superior to their conterparts indeed, but the trade off was incredible inaccessibility. Unless Apple is sure to win the market with this new format, its better not to create massive inconveniences. Continue this pattern, Apple will loose credibility like Sony did. Sony might seem like a joke today, but every household used to own several Sonys just 20 years ago.
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Huh? is the jack not part of the phone????
Again, huh? "Sounded better" based on what? Too bad "Stereo Review" magazine isn't really around anymore to debunk this kind of fluff.
Hopefully nobody believes this article, it's meaningless.
I'm not an audiophile in any way and usually buy the wired $20 Sony headphones for gym use, this time I opted for the BT ones and it's better than the similarly priced wired headphones...
Yeah, no, you're totally wrong. All caps for this: ANALOG WIRED HEADPHONES ON A MOBILE PHONE ARE THE WORST.
I cannot begin to understand this status quo sentiment. I want wireless headphones that are amazing and as long as the 3.5 mm jack exists we will never get it.
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Ultimately, you can't introduce sound quality that isn't there, so justifying the removal of the 3.5mm jack by reference to an improved DAC just doesn't make sense. The amplification will have a greater perceived influence on sound quality than the DAC itself.
I encourage you to do an A/B on a 256 file. You'll be hard pressed to notice much of a difference between DACs. Do that same comparison with a lossless file and the difference becomes much more apparent.
Sure. But how likely is it that headphones with a mainstream price will have a better DAC/amp combo than the one that Apple uses in the iPhone? If you want an expensive high-end solution like that Audeze model, you can use it today without removing the 3.5mm jack.
I have never heard "hiss" on the iPhone even at maximum volume (unless it was in the recording, of course
).This is voodoo. Jitter is a non-issue.
The Apple I know will sell an *additional* $19.99 adapter to allow simultaneous changing and listening. It will be inconvenient for customers but wildly profitable for Apple.
Another accessory to be sold by apple, the lightning adapter so you can listen to your headphone and charge for $29.99
Apple you are disconnected....DIS-CONNECTED. Apple has really messed up the aesthetic functionality. We have the hump battery case, the apple mouse charging location, the apple pencil charging method, and soon to be some wonky accessory for the lack of the headphone jack. The only thing that would reverse the disapperance would be INDUCTIVE CHARGING, but done sexy. I have a few ideas that would be amazing for this.
Apple you are disconnected....DIS-CONNECTED. Apple has really messed up the aesthetic functionality. We have the hump battery case, the apple mouse charging location, the apple pencil charging method, and soon to be some wonky accessory for the lack of the headphone jack. The only thing that would reverse the disapperance would be INDUCTIVE CHARGING, but done sexy. I have a few ideas that would be amazing for this.
I understand your frustration....
Problem is there are hardly any Mac-related-rumors these days.