Teardown Confirms Digital-to-Analog Converter in Lightning EarPods and 3.5mm Adapter

[dylin]

Lightning connector is digital, there's no quality to test. It's sending 0's and 1's, and the device receiving them either gets them or doesn't. It's then up to the headphone manufacturer to choose a DAC that matches well with the drivers they are using. There will then also be a very short analog path from the DAC to the drivers, which is better for noise and quality. Lightning headphones are going to be the best way to get high quality sound.

Thanks for clearing that up.
The more you know, right?

So you said that the short the path that the signal has to travel from the DAC to the actual drivers in the headphones will be much better than what we typically find right? Makes me want to get some just for my 5s if possible, but at the same time, I'm not a huge audiophile

I bit excited to see what new headphones to come out will be like.

 

[cruggles]

There is actually no evidence in that video that the 6s is better.

 

[Analog Kid]

Truth.

Which part based on what evidence?

 

[alleggerita]

This is really OOT here, but my FiiO E07k portable DAC is getting old and I'm out and about trying to find a replacement in the same price range if I'm unable to get the battery replaced. Any ideas from the audiophiles here? Thanks in advance.

 

[44267547]

The quality of the DAC makes a huge difference.

Very true. I was wondering when someone would say this.

 

[trifid]

Which part based on what evidence?

Everything, evidence is partly the measurements taken and shown in the video.

 

[kgtenacious]

Hopefully this will create an aftermarket for high quality DACs and remove the bitrate limit from iTunes, so my HD Tracks and Pono music will now work on an iPhone.

That would finally persuade me to upgrade from my iphone 6.

 

[flat five]

How has the term "Audiophile" sunk so low these days?

Enjoy the "Good-Fi".

lol.
"audiophile" isn't some prestigious word..
an audiophile is an enthusiast.. a hobbyist.

the word is pretty low to begin with and if it's sinking any, it's certainly due to people getting all pretentious and talking like "well, i'm an audiophile and such&such corporation isn't catering to me so they're amateur hour" ..no, you're the amateur.. and one that generally doesn't even like music well enough in order to actually listen to it and are instead, just getting all nerdy about the equipment.

wanna know who isn't an audiophile? musicians.. or sound engineers.. or just about anybody who is into music for reasons other than geeking out their home stereo system.

 

[Queen6]

Very clever to give away the lightning equipped headphones with every purchase and a free adapter as well selling them for $9.00 so you can use any legacy equipment. Oh wait. ??? I guess they need to work more on their evil plotting.

Guess you missed the bit where I stated aftermarket Lightening earphones/headphones, this means that Apple will benefit on each and every sale, evil no, highly manipulative yes. Only reason for Apple not to move to an open standard such as USB C is $$$$.

Had Apple not included an adaptor with the phone, the negative feedback from the press would have been all consuming. If Apple could have avoided the adapter same as the Retina MacBook I am certain they would have done. As for being free Apple always gets paid

Q-6

 

[sleepydinosaur]

This is really OOT here, but my FiiO E07k portable DAC is getting old and I'm out and about trying to find a replacement in the same price range if I'm unable to get the battery replaced. Any ideas from the audiophiles here? Thanks in advance.

I have no experience with it personally, but I hear good things about the Schiit Mani DAC.
[doublepost=1474433000][/doublepost]

lol.
wanna know who isn't an audiophile? musicians.. or sound engineers.. or just about anybody who is into music for reasons other than geeking out their home stereo system.

You really shouldn't post. You sound ignorant at best.

 

[roncron]

This is really OOT here, but my FiiO E07k portable DAC is getting old and I'm out and about trying to find a replacement in the same price range if I'm unable to get the battery replaced. Any ideas from the audiophiles here? Thanks in advance.

Consider the Oppo HA-2 (about $300) or the Dragonfly Black ($100) or Dragonfly Red ($200). All are very highly reviewed. The Oppo is roughly the size and weight of a smart phone, while the Dragonflies are roughly the size and weight of a USB thumb drive, in case portability is an important consideration. I'm sure there are other good options, but these are the ones I'm most familiar with. I think each of them sounds better than the FiiO E17 that I previously owned.

Good luck!

 

[flat five]

You really shouldn't post. You sound ignorant at best.

well enlighten me then..


in the meantime, here's some more ignorant writing for other's pleasure : )

"audiophiles are people who are really into top-end audio equipment. In itself, that's fine. But there's a very active and vocal subset of the audiophile community that's built up their self-image around the idea that they're special. They don't just have better audio equipment than you do, but they have better appreciation of sound quality than you do. In fact, their hearing is better than yours. They can hear nuances in sound quality that you can't, because they're so very, very special. They've developed this ability, you see, because they care more about music than you do.

It's a very human thing. We all really want to be special. And when there's something that's really important to us - like music is for many people - there's a very natural desire to want to be able to appreciate it on a deep level, a special level reserved only for people who really value it. But what happens when you take that desire, and convince yourself that it's not just a desire? You wind up turning into a sucker who's easy to fleece for huge quantities of money on useless equipment that can't possibly work.

I first learned about these people from my old friend [...] who was a reformed audiophile, and used to love talking about the crazy stuff he used to do. [...]

Audiophiles get really nutty about things like cables. For example, my friend used to have the cables linking his speakers to his amp suspended from the ceiling using non-conductive cord. The idea behind that is that electrical signals are carried, primarily, on the outer surface of the wire. If the cable was sitting on the ground, it would deform slighly, and that would degrade the signal. Now, of course, there's no perceptible difference, but a dedicated audiophile can convince themselves that they can hear it. In fact, this is what convinced [...] that it was all craziness: he was trained as an electrical engineer, and he sat down and worked out how much the signal should change as a result of the deformation of the copper wire-core, and seeing the real numbers, realized that there was no way in hell that he was actually hearing that tiny difference. Right there, that's an example of the math aspect of this silliness: when you actually do the math, and see what's going on, even when there's a plausible explanation, the real magnitude of the supposed effect is so small that there's absolutely no way that it's perceptible. In the case of wire deformation, the magnitude of the effect on the sound produced by the signal carried by the wire is so small that it's essentially zero - we're talking about something smaller than the deformation of the sound waves caused by the motion of a mosquito's wings somewhere in the room."​

 

[Analog Kid]

Everything, evidence is partly the measurements taken and shown in the video.

*sigh*
Just to avoid repeating myself:
What he says has little to no technical support.

I'll grant him that the phono plug being invented in 1870's isn't a reason to obsolete it in and of itself. While practical wireless wasn't really invented for another 20 years, we at least understood radio in the 1860s.

 

[Gav2k]

These are not amplifiers. These are digital-to-analog converters. Differing digital streams may be enough to warrant another DAC. Two speakers, but one of those has two uses. ( telephone earpiece , 2nd of stereo speaker). May want different performance and transformations in those two modes. One DAC is optimized for one (encoded voice) and the other is optimized for the other.
A more general purpose DAC could span both, but maybe can get smaller, lower power DAC that is just good at narrow range of conversion.

100% agree with this. 2x for stereo sound 1x for the earpiece (hd audio setup)

 

[Larry-K]

lol.
"audiophile" isn't some prestigious word..
an audiophile is an enthusiast.. a hobbyist.

the word is pretty low to begin with and if it's sinking any, it's certainly due to people getting all pretentious and talking like "well, i'm an audiophile and such&such corporation isn't catering to me so they're amateur hour" ..no, you're the amateur.. and one that generally doesn't even like music well enough in order to actually listen to it and are instead, just getting all nerdy about the equipment.

wanna know who isn't an audiophile? musicians.. or sound engineers.. or just about anybody who is into music for reasons other than geeking out their home stereo system.

Geez Flat Five,

You sound even crankier than normal.

Attacking people for being "Nerdy", on MacRumors? Come on, are you having a slow day?

What's wrong with a little high end audio gear? You can actually listen to music on it, and it can sound pretty good. You sound like a scorned audiophile yourself. Still pining for those $50K speakers, or that 300LB turntable? Maybe you miss the warm glow of Vacuum Tubes on a High-End Amp. Maybe "Sound Engineers", don't like that sort of thing, but there's somebody still making those things, and they seem to know what they're doing, maybe they only listen professionally to their creations, so they won't be accused of being self-indulgent.

Oh, I know, if you're listening to something better than an MP3 on Bluetooth, you're being "Elitist", I suppose. That must be the reason Apple ditched the 3.5mm jack... too "audiophile", and definitely for the "Hobbyist", since, unlike the Lightning connector, you can't make money off of it.

Like Apple owners can't be a pretentious lot, or a bunch of Amateurs for that matter, anyone getting paid for listening to music on their iPhones?

We should all just be happy with Earpods and Phone Cameras, that's all anybody really needs, Apple says so, must be true.

 

[macs4nw]

The way that guy is butchering those lightning connectors is doing the word 'teardown' total justice.

 

[Unami]

Yes, and Yes - you can pay upwards of £1,000 for a top-end DAC! The question really is whether this DAC is at least as good as the one that's built in to the iPhone and I'd guess it will be but time will tell

time already told. it's worse. (less dynamic range, amplifies some noise. but you will only hear the difference with good headphones)

(german articles)
https://www.heise.de/ct/artikel/iPh...apter-liefert-schlechteren-Sound-3325932.html

https://www.heise.de/meldung/iPhone-7-Hoertest-Audio-Adapter-kann-Rauschen-verstaerken-3327892.html

 

[G-News]

Not surprised. If the dongle costs $9.90 the DAC being only part of the material cost probably costs less than 50c. If you think you're going to get top sound quality from a 50 cent DAC, think again.
Lightning may open the door for higher sound quality in theory, but unless you're willing to shell out bigger bucks for a very high quality headphone&DAC setup, you will NOT get better sound than from the old internal DAC solution.

 

[shahin90]

The only thing significant about this is that the DAC is moved from inside the phone to the cable. We all know you need DAC to be able to listen to music lol. This means potentially more battery life or a better home button. Good move IMO.

 

[Soylent Yellow]

This just shows what a bargain the $9 Lightning to 3.5MM adapter is.

It also shows what a major rip-off a €29 Lightning-USB cable is.

 

[Loge]

Not hearing any difference with Shure SE535s. I'm not saying that there is no difference, but for practical purposes, it's not material.

Good that the adapter is small, but it may be a bit too flimsy for long term use.

 

[ollie87]

It also shows what a major rip-off a €29 Lightning-USB cable is.

What? Where? They're £19.00 (which at the time of posting is about €22) where I live and that includes VAT

 

[soanis]

You'd be amazed - I've seen quite a few posts suggesting that Apple had somehow changed the lightning port to output analog sound as it was "impossible" to include a DAC in the plug as there wasn't enough room!

it's not impossible when the thing looks so bulky and so ugly for an apple adapter end. It seemed appalling through the leaks and I was hoping it to be a 3rd party mockup, but no....

 

[Phil A.]

it's not impossible when the thing looks so bulky and so ugly for an apple adapter end. It seemed appalling through the leaks and I was hoping it to be a 3rd party mockup, but no....

How small do you want it??

 

[InuNacho]

How is creating millions of throwaway earbuds each with a DAC and lead solder good for the environment? I thought Apple was the self proclaimed tech champion of caring for the Earth, not the leader paving the way for tons of new e-waste.