Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
why is it so hard to keep your adapter connected to your precious $1000 headphones?

i'm with apple here... get rid of this technology from the 1800's.

i give it 2 years before the headphone jack is gone from all flagship phones.

Why stop there, why not remove it from tablets and computers?
 
why is it so hard to keep your adapter connected to your precious $1000 headphones?

i'm with apple here... get rid of this technology from the 1800's.

i give it 2 years before the headphone jack is gone from all flagship phones.

Maybe its because battery technology is not good enough and probably wont be for another 20+ years. Battery technology is whats holding back the wireless speakers/headphone options. If you want good sounding speakers you need the watts to back it up which means for wireless headphones you also need small powerful battery's with long usage life which do not exist in today's technological age.

There is a reason why wireless surround speakers for a home setup still struggles with its implementation. If the home struggles this badly, then you can rest assured that the wireless mobile headphones will sound like dirt until the day a new battery gets invented that is 10x smaller and 100x more powerful than we have now.
 
Oh? Does the adapter allow simultaneous charging and listening? That's an honest question, I don't know. If not, then no, it's not the same thing at all.

Besides, why should I have to keep track of yet another dongle? They've been making a lot of boneheaded decisions lately. Almost exactly the same mistake with MacBooks having only one port, and that follows the ridiculous Mac Pro where you have to plug everything into it externally -- which is just stupid.

No. Is that something you do often? Remain tethered by two wires? Serious question. The only time I could ever imagine this being the case is if you are one of those people who listens to music all day at a desk job.

As for the dongle... Why not just leave it attached to your headphones? If you're not using the supplied lightning headphones, then I'm sure your other headphones are something more bulky, to the point where it wouldn't matter. And if you are using bulky headphones because they sound better, then that goes back to my original point... You should like lightning headphones because they'll sound better ;)
[doublepost=1473315957][/doublepost]
As an audiophile no headphone jack is quite put off, the adapter thing is not great option. Is not that we all carry a big chunk of equipment out to listen music like me I have daily headphones to go with. EarPods simply gets untouch from day1 and Bluetooth quality is not there yet... Why Apple?

As an audiophile, you will love the significant increase in sound quality from the Lightning port.

Have you ever connected your phone or iPod to your car stereo using the analog jack? Then compared that to connecting via USB? The difference is quite substantial.

I'm not sure why this even needs to be said, honestly.
 
  • Like
Reactions: M. Gustave
There's no reason to adopt Apple's proprietary standard, or, for that matter, USB's to accomplish what the 3.5 mm Jack has always done. It provides the budget headphone listener no improvement. It provides the audiophile, whether they are using high priced easily-drivable cans or not, no improvement.

All this adds is immediate inconvenience for consumers trying to find headphones to buy, inconvenience for consumers trying to listen to non-lightning headphones upon purchase (the mere existence of the dongle is an insult), and inconvenience for consumers trying to charge their product while listening at the same time. It also adds great uncertainty for the longevity of any given headphone utilizing said standards. Are we really willing to believe that these companies have any true loyalty toward these standards, that consumers won't find themselves having to do headphone upgrades for the simple fact that their cable is no longer compatible?

As technologies improve, standards evolve. In this generation, you must accept this.

Do you see VHS tapes being sold anymore? No. Because DVD was better quality. New standard. Then blu-ray is on its way to knock DVDs out. Now we have 4K moving in.

Those old red/white/yellow analog cables? Gone. HDMI is the new standard.

What about floppy disks? Gone. Or even CD drives in computers? On their way to being phased out.

None of these changes are instant, but people eventually let go of their old tech from the past when they see how good the future is.
 
As technologies improve, standards evolve. In this generation, you must accept this.

Do you see VHS tapes being sold anymore? No. Because DVD was better quality. New standard. Then blu-ray is on its way to knock DVDs out. Now we have 4K moving in.

Those old red/white/yellow analog cables? Gone. HDMI is the new standard.

What about floppy disks? Gone. Or even CD drives in computers? On their way to being phased out.

None of these changes are instant, but people eventually let go of their old tech from the past when they see how good the future is.

Argument fail.

Wireless Bluetooth headphones are not better than the wired equivalent headphones. I already post exactly why a few posts above yours (battery power needed at this size does not exist) This is not a move forward but a move backwards inregards to actual sound quality being produced from the headphones. Yes the signal is better; however, the speakers are crap and all wireless headphones are crap unless there really big with multiples of lithium ion battery's, but these headphones cost up words of 300 (beats) and have the actual space for those battery's (big in size).

Once people hear the new Airbuds they will complain! There is not a set of headphones that small on the market with any decent quality. They will sound so bad it'll make you not want to listen to music. The only people who will like them will be the people who can't tell the difference between a 64kbps mp3 audio file and a full 320kbps MP3 file. I won't even bother talking about uncompressed formats either.
 
  • Like
Reactions: boltjames
The only people who will like them will be the people who can't tell the difference between a 64kbps mp3 audio file and a full 320kbps MP3 file. I won't even bother talking about uncompressed formats either.
I'm 66 years old, having worked in a steam plant for over 40 years. 64kbps is fine for me, compared to what I had as a kid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cigsm
I'm actually downgrading from 6s to se in a few weeks.

I need a smaller form factor, I have an average sized hands but the 6s is just not comfortable for some reason. Oh, the weight difference is another story.

I will save some money for the (previous generation) MacBook like 2015 when the new one comes out. The reason? well, iPhone is just a start, now they'll remove something from MacBook as well.
 
Yes lets progress from the 1800s to a port where you cant charge and listen at the same time...

Unless there's an adaptor to charge and listen at the same time.
 
Hilarious. They include the new headphones and a tiny adapter in the box, and the macrumors whining continues.



New I assume will be overpriced headphones ( won't judge them until they are released but it's apple) and an adapter? Meh they removed choice from a consumer and one more thing you can lose. Naturally I've moved to using Bluetooth more because of convenience for the loss of quality so this doesn't bother me but still... No need for them to ditch it considering its the same exact phone with a few differences
 
As technologies improve, standards evolve. In this generation, you must accept this.

Do you see VHS tapes being sold anymore? No. Because DVD was better quality. New standard. Then blu-ray is on its way to knock DVDs out. Now we have 4K moving in.

Those old red/white/yellow analog cables? Gone. HDMI is the new standard.

What about floppy disks? Gone. Or even CD drives in computers? On their way to being phased out.

None of these changes are instant, but people eventually let go of their old tech from the past when they see how good the future is.
Newer does not automatically equate to better.

Bluetooth offers superior convenience in many, but not all, use cases. That can be worth something.

But Lightning headphones are just moving the DAC closer to the ears by a trivial amount at the expense of proprietary lock-in. Consider that audio must become analog before you can hear it. The 3.5 mm connector is universal and fully capable of sending high quality audio short distances. Even in cases where digital output would be desirable, Lightning is still the subpar choice compared to USB C simply because it is proprietary. What non-Apple products will accept your lightning headphones?
 
I'm a little disappointed that Apple chose to remove the headphone port. Had there been a worldwide change to another better port then I could see it. Don't try to bring wireless/bluetooth up as that other better alternative because it really just isn't. They're making customers move to their own proprietary port which if history repeats itself, is never a good move. Courage? No, more like arrogance.

Removing the port when almost all other devices in our lives still have it and don't look like removing it any time soon is a little crazy, not courageous. Nobody is asking for a lighter thinner iPhone, what most people really want is wireless charging and better battery life.

My iPhone 6s wears the apple battery case and you really notice the difference when you remove the case, the phone is amazingly light and thin. I very rarely see this slim and light phone because I need it to last the whole day and until the battery case came along it just didn't. With wireless charging I could put it on my desk and it would charge without me noticing it. If they made the whole phone a little thicker and put a better battery in it then I wouldn't need this case.

Obviously there are going to be all kinds of requirements for a phone depending on how you use it, so my requirements may not suit yours. So I'm not trying to change minds, make my problems into yours. I spend my cash on something that works for me and you spend your cash on something that works for you.

I'm not trying to be down on Apple but I feel they've run out of steam. Phil obviously loves cameras although we've seen in previous years how amazing and excited they've been about the camera. In truth I find the camera on a smartphone to be pretty awful in anything but perfect lighting situations. The one on my 6s is supposed to be amazing, it certainly doesn't seem to be for the stuff I use it for.

I know it's hard to constantly wow customers, there's only so much tech out there and Apple tend to add that tech when it is reliable and it has a genuinely experience changing use. Look at RFID and fingerprint security. A perfect example of other rivals throwing the tech in their phones for the sake of adding to a spec list.

With a 6s I suppose I'm not really the ideal customer for the latest iPhone, it doesn't really wow me and I'm not that unhappy with my iPhone (except of course for the battery life) but I do use my Bose in ear headphones to listen to a lot of podcasts and I'd have to stop if my battery got low as i couldn't charge and listen. Do I sense another adapter with 3.5 jack and lighting charge port.

I tried Android a few years ago and hated it, it seemed clunky and a lot less intuitive, maybe it was muscle memory. I'm certainly not planning any switch right now but if I don't see the changes in the next iPhone that suit my needs I may have to start searching for something that does suit my needs. That's just common sense.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Craiguyver
Apple doesn't want to be 'brave' and change the industry. They want to lock you in more and more to their eco system of hardware and software to keep the money rolling in. They already locked you out from your phone pretty well - no direct file transfers, no swapping out the battery, no adding more storage, no standard charging connectors that work with...you know...everything else.
You cant even skin their iOS UI without jailbreaking FFS. What's next... Sorry, no more SMS...iMessage only? MP3 support - sorry? Non-Apple-email - not any more?

Now they're even locking you out from charging and using wired headphones at the same time. How can I stay on a conference call several hours long with this set up? Oh wait, I can't.
Wireless "AirPods"? Only if you want to look like a seagull **** in your ears, before losing an "AirPod" in 2 minutes.

Meanwhile Apple's professional and desktop line of products continues to sit in the doldrums, while other manufacturers innovate and produce some interesting new hardware - not all of it is good, but at least there is some evolution.
 
The removal of the jack and the end of subsidies has killed my two-year cycle upgrade.

Not enough new features and my lack of "courage" I guess.
 
I see this complaint here, year after year, when a new iPhone is announced. It's not enough wow factor, it wasn't a big enough leap, it's only an incremental boost, etc. What would you have them add that would be a killer new feature? What aren't they exploring that you want them to explore?

I know, I'm in this forum forever, I recall the complaints in the past, but this time it's warranted. I've owned a 3GS, a 4, a 5, and a 6, my kids own 6S's, and this is the first iPhone release that disappointed me. The form factor is identical, the features added are not necessary, the feature removed is annoying. In the past, when the features really didn't slay me at least the phone got thinner and lighter or the screen got better or larger. The 7 is the 6, they've done nothing here. The last S release was more interesting than this number release.

To answer your question, I don't know what killer new feature should have been added. But that's Apple's biggest job, they are supreme innovators, and that's what they didn't do. Apple has always amazed us. Now they are acting like Sony. Big, bloated company, slow to market, trying to fool the simple-minded with slogans like "best ever" and "courageous", admitting they have nothing more they can do, so they quit on us.

BJ
 
Last edited:
If you enjoy being tethered to your phone by a wire, I just don't see how you could be so upset about a tiny little compatibility adapter that's included for free.

Anyone who is "pro-headphone" would actually be glad to embrace the Lightning port headphones, since the sound quality will be noticeably better.

Sound quality is something not even tested independently yet but we have claims like the above. What we know is better quality headphones will be poorer when used on the iPhone 7 V iPhone 6 due to the extra signal processing.
[doublepost=1473343114][/doublepost]
why is it so hard to keep your adapter connected to your precious $1000 headphones?

i'm with apple here... get rid of this technology from the 1800's.

i give it 2 years before the headphone jack is gone from all flagship phones.

Or it'll be back as Apple decide to be less courageous. The majority of people in the universe use the headphone jack. It's like breathing air. Now Apple takes that away and wants people to use a dongle if you use real headphones.
 
  • Like
Reactions: boltjames
The removal of the jack and the end of subsidies has killed my two-year cycle upgrade.

Not enough new features and my lack of "courage" I guess.

Same here.

Next week I'm going to buy a new case and I'm going to install iOS 10 and my 6 will feel identical to a 7 and I will have saved the $849 I was willing to spend had the new iPhone been special.

In fact, I may do this and then go around and tell all my family and friends I have a new iPhone 7 because the only way they'd know the difference is if they challenged me to drop it in a toilet and they'd never ask me to do that.

BJ
 
Sound quality is something not even tested independently yet but we have claims like the above. What we know is better quality headphones will be poorer when used on the iPhone 7 V iPhone 6 due to the extra signal processing.
[doublepost=1473343114][/doublepost]

Or it'll be back as Apple decide to be less courageous. The majority of people in the universe use the headphone jack. It's like breathing air. Now Apple takes that away and wants people to use a dongle if you use real headphones.

What exactly are you talking about? What "extra" processing is there?

The above claim about sound quality being better with lightning headphones is indeed BS. Moving the DAC around does not improve sound quality. Using a BETTER DAC might, but I highly doubt whatever is in the little adapter is better than what was previously inside of the phone.

The 3.5mm jack is NOT coming back. Lightning headphones ARE "real" headphones. There are some darn good ones out there too. The sooner you get over it, the sooner you'll be able to move on. For better or worse, the rest of the industry tends to follow Apple. Soon all phones will have dual cameras and no headphone jacks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: M. Gustave
I have a dongle to use my platonics headset with iPhone. To use it with an iPhone 7 I now need a second dongle. This is absurd and you do wonder what Apple were thinking of when somebody signed off on this design decision. Was it Tim Cook? Will he resign when the decision is reversed?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Craiguyver
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.