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

[agsystems]

Uh - at first blush the adapter looks very fragile but it is nicely reinforce which is good for whoever buys it or get it the box.

 

[Zirel]

DAC includes "protection" so you only can play iTunes purchased music?

That would be the most ridiculous thing ever, I tought only Nilay Patel could come with such a conspiracy theory, but I was wrong.

what's the point of DRM, if in the other side, comes a an unecnrypted analog signal?

Do you think people wouldn't be able to record that signal and digitize it again?

 

[magicschoolbus]

wow! I better rush out and get a new iPhone. This news makes me want to upgrade even more!!!!!

 

[GoodWheaties]

This still seems crazy that the cheapest of earbuds will now require their own DAC and amp

 

[citysnaps]

DAC includes "protection" so you only can play iTunes purchased music?

Of course not. Why would you think that would be the case?

 

[cicalinarrot]

If there wasn't a DAC....how else would make sound?

Courage.

 

[citysnaps]

So how about quality of sound? In heated exchanges in thread after thread prior to the rollout, arguments flew hot & heavy that shifting the DAC & AMP outside of the phone meant better quality DACs & AMPs and thus better quality sound. In fact, this was one of the most common rationalizations in support of jettisoning the headphone jack. The adapter retails (RETAILS) for $9. So is THIS a better quality DAC & AMP than what has always been argued as "a good one" inside the iPhone?

Sure, why not?

 

[Chicane-UK]

Courageous times we live in.

Seriously - the 'courage' thing has been done to death already. Make it stop.

 

[smorrissey]

wow! I better rush out and get a new iPhone. This news makes me want to upgrade even more!!!!!

wee!!

 

[citysnaps]

The DAC in the EarPods most likely worse than the iPhone's internal DAC on an absolute design basis. However, because the EarPod's DAC is external it likely can get by with a simpler/cheaper design because it doesn't have to contend with the noise issues of being inside a densely-packed device with lots of different PCB frequencies/power planes. On balance that probably means the quality is about the same.

There's no reason that's necessarily the case.

 

[Rigby]

I bought a spare one for the car but haven't received my iPhone 7 yet but I can confirm it works on the 6 Plus and newer (I haven't tried a 5 yet). It would be interesting to compare the audio from the 3.5 and this adapter with an oscilloscope and see if the quality is any different.

German computer magazine c't has measured them. According to that the adapter provides worse audio quality than the headphone jack on the 6S. I posted a link to their article here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/23474556/

 

[vmachiel]

DAC includes "protection" so you only can play iTunes purchased music?

No, it's a digital to analog converter. It just converts the signal to a analog one, it doesn't alter the "content" of the data. (I say "content" because a digital to analog conversion is by definition an alteration of data).

 

[tylersdad]

This is a rather silly article. Of course there's a DAC in the ear pods and adapter. Did anybody really expect a different result?

 

[iKen1]

DAC includes "protection" so you only can play iTunes purchased music?

No, it turns digital signals into analog ones so it can drive the headphone speakers backwards and forwards to make a noise. iTunes purchased music does not contain any protection and so can be played on anything you want.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

This is a rather silly article. Of course there's a DAC in the ear pods and adapter. Did anybody really expect a different result?

Not everyone realizes the Lightning port can't do analog out like the old 30 pin.

 

[AlanShutko]

This is a rather silly article. Of course there's a DAC in the ear pods and adapter. Did anybody really expect a different result?

Yes. As mentioned upthread, Chipworks found three amps in the iPhone teardown. Two speakers would use two amps, but why the third? There was a hypothesis that Apple had a scheme that would send analog audio through the pins on the lightning port.

This proves that hypothesis is wrong, but we're still wondering why that extra amp?

 

[BootsWalking]

There's no reason that's necessarily the case.

The reason would be cost - why would Apple incur the expense of a DAC that has extra logic to isolate internal, high-frequency noise if it serves no benefit in an external configuration?

 

[konqerror]

Yes. As mentioned upthread, Chipworks found three amps in the iPhone teardown. Two speakers would use two amps, but why the third? There was a hypothesis that Apple had a scheme that would send analog audio through the pins on the lightning port.

This proves that hypothesis is wrong, but we're still wondering why that extra amp?

Probably earpiece low range (for handset use) and earpiece high range (speaker use). This minimizes the hiss you hear when it's up to your ear by using a lower gain amplifier. Adding gain, by the laws of physics, always adds noise. It may also add safety by ensuring that when it's up to your ear, a software bug can't blow your eardrums out.

 

[BMcCoy]

No, it's a digital to analog converter. It just converts the signal to a analog one, it doesn't alter the "content" of the data. (I say "content" because a digital to analog conversion is by definition an alteration of data).

Au contraire - the d-to-a conversion is probably the one part of the signal journey that IS important for the quality of the final sound. In the world of hi-fi, the spec and quality of the DAC has been a key ingredient in the resultant sound quality of a system, and many enthusiasts actually separated out the DAC from the transport for CD listening.

Factors of sample frequency, bit depth, jitter, etc. all play a part in how the music will sound.

Of course, the quality of any music system is limited to the weakest part of the chain, or the 'rate-limiting step' to borrow a phrase from chemistry. So a quality DAC in hi-fi separates will really only shine if the rest of the system is of equal standing, such as the loudspeakers. So the DAC in this adapter may be absolutely appropriate for the quality of many consumer headphones.. I don't know.

 

[kingofwale]

Seriously - the 'courage' thing has been done to death already. Make it stop.

or maybe Apple should stop making those claims.

no different than "Cannot innovate anymore, my ass"

 

[Iconoclysm]

What?!! There's a DAC in there? These people must know nothing about audio. /s
[doublepost=1474384687][/doublepost]

or maybe Apple should stop making those claims.

no different than "Cannot innovate anymore, my ass"

You only prove the courage statement every time you talk smack about it - you do realize this, right?

 

[cube]

Next year Apple will sell you a better iDac.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

The internal speakers.

I guess Apple also killed the low end (<30$) wired headphone market for the iPhone with this move. Headphone manufacturers will have to pay the lightning licence fees and need to include a dac that matches at least the earpods. Without Apple scale i doubt this is possible.

The phone ships with the adapter for using old 3.5 mm based headphones. So that market should do alright, at least for this generation.

 

[OllyW]

we know that the phone already ha a DAC and amplifier because it has speakers, why can't this be used for the headphones?

Because the new iPhone hasn't got an analogue audio output now they have removed the 3.5mm jack. The Lightning socket only outputs digital audio signals.

 

[arielp.1404]

According to pocketnow testing this adapter cuts everything to only 16bit, seems 6s is better