New iMac Supports High-Impedance Headphones

[Stiksi]

The better question is why did you cut off the quote?

Open the link. That is the quote.

 

[matrix07]

Open the link. That is the quote.

That is not a full quote.

 

[Burger Thing]

Great. Users are able to enjoy lossless & spatial over wired connections... unlike "the future" which still lacks the bandwidth to deliver the same. When does "the future" actually arrive again?

Those:

• who want maximum quality have a way to enjoy it.
• happy with the "convenience" (the future) method can enjoy their compressed audio their preferred way too.

I call that Win:Win!

And personally, I'd welcome a headphone jack back on the next incarnation of my favorite iPad, given an Apple-quality DAC is already inside to play to it and I'm no fan of dongles at all. Those who:

• ARE fans of dongles,
• already own USB-C wired headphone,
• are fans of "the future" option and/or
• want to maximize the quality of the audio from lossless/spatial...

...could fully have audio their way. Everybody could get what they want with one little resurrection that Apple themselves are still interested in adding to brand new hardware offerings in late 2023.

I am with you, Darryl! I bought an iPad Pro this year and watch quite often movies on it in the evening. For that I want to use my headphones of choice (Shure-1540). What is really annoying that I have to use an effing dongle, especially when I am charging my iPad at the same time, as in the evening the iPad's battery levels are quite low. So, unplug the charging cable, dongle goes in (permanently connected with the headphones) and connect the charging cable with the dongle.

Leaving the dongle permanently connected to the charging cable is not an option as by default then the audio output is via the dongle, even with no headphones are connected. No matter what, there are additional steps involved compared to just plugging it in, into a convenient headphone jack.

I was always against removing the headphone jack, as it makes zero sense to me (Well, as a customer and user that is. We all know, why Apple removed it. And courage has nothing to do with it). The iPad has, as you mentioned, a DEC build in. And no, I will not buy those Airpod Max, as I am quite happy with my Shures soundwise.

 

[dude-x]

You're probably right. Just seems like if you're going to do 24-bit, 96KHz DAC, why not go all the way to 192? That or make the baseline cheaper and just do 16-bit, 44.1KHz or whatever. Plus, why doesn't offer a full 24-bit, 192 KHz external DAC, and get even more money? But hey, my mind just works weird. Even I don't understand how I think sometimes…

Apple is conservative. When the iPhone came out it had a screen that was like 70 percent of the sRGB color gamut. It took the iPhone 5 to introduce 100 percent sRGB and get decent blues on screen. Mind you they had high quality screens and digitizers though. But I guess high quality takes time to mass produce. It’s a cost versus efficiency thing

 

[picpicmac]

Should be something that nobody can spin as a negative but yeah

If Apple really cared about its users than every Mac would support Dolby Atmos and come with 13 speakers.

/I tried.

 

[randyhudson]

Converting 192kHz audio to 96kHz is not a lossless process and does result in distortion within the audible band

Right it loses exactly half of the unnecessary data. There is no distortion. Humans can't hear above 20kHz. The frequencies being lost are above 48kHz.

 

[deevey]

Anyone who cares about this already owns at least a DAC/AMP if not each part separately.

Someone who is getting into multimedia production and content creators will benefit from this without needing separate anything though.

You're going to need a pretty expensive pair of headphones to take advantage of this

Plenty of sub $200 headphones (reasonably priced) can take advantage of this.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I like how much credit you’re giving them about this. I thought audio professionals would appreciate a copper line straight in rather than having to always deal with the vagaries of wireless. But I haven’t done any market research and I don’t have the sales numbers, and Apple is definitely not going to tell us.

Audio professionals are quite particular about their equipment and already have the headphones (and potentially the backup headphones) they plan to use for listening, mixing, etc. from now until the next version of their “faves” come out, there’s nothing about adding a 3.5mm jack (or a 1/4in jack) to AirPods Max that’s likely to change that. From a pure numbers perspective, there are more non-audio professionals in the world, too. So, another reason why it makes more financial sense to just focus on “consumers with the money to buy the devices.”

And it’s not like it’s false that there are folks that would like to see a 3.5mm jack on a product they’d never buy.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Audio professionals are quite particular about their equipment and already have the headphones (and potentially the backup headphones) they plan to use for listening, mixing, etc. from now until the next version of their “faves” come out, there’s nothing about adding a 3.5mm jack (or a 1/4in jack) to AirPods Max that’s likely to change that. From a pure numbers perspective, there are more non-audio professionals in the world, too. So, another reason why it makes more financial sense to just focus on “consumers with the money to buy the devices.”

I guess. I suppose I still don’t understand who exactly they’re supposed to be for exactly, and why those people wouldn’t like a 3.5mm jack.

And it’s not like it’s false that there are folks that would like to see a 3.5mm jack on a product they’d never buy.

Alright you got me. I probably was never going to buy these, especially first generation. But without a headphone jack that’s just one more reason why.

When I really want to hear everything I’ll just plug my wired headphones into my Mac. I’m no audio professional but I can hear the difference.

 

[deevey]

Who wants to be tethered to his/her Mac? I'd feel like one of those telemarketer drones sitting all day, can't move more than the length of the cord, having to raise your hand for permission to use the bathroom…

1. Anyone who needs or wants the highest quality audio possible from their Mac.
2. Gamers - latency is dog poo on bluetooth.
3. Anyone who IS a telemarketer drone or simply spends most of their day on calls.