Would no headphone jack force you to move away from the iphone?

[OllyW]

I'm kind of curious as to the duality of the comments from some. I see people saying they want this or that feature in the next phone, but then state they will have an issue if technology created in 1878 (6.35mm jack) would be removed. The 3.5mm is mostly 1960/1970's and people still want to use it?
I would think that if they drop the port, which I'm all in favor of, they'd include a pair of lightning connector headphones.
I would prefer a digital set over analog.

Yes, they'll be cheap but you'll still have options of using adapters.
But why the flat refusal to switch to modern tech? Still using 5.25" floppy discs?

My main gripe is it's replacing an open standard with a proprietary connector.

 

[GalFieri]

I happen to be thinking about getting Bluetooth headphones, so I guess not.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I'm kind of curious as to the duality of the comments from some. I see people saying they want this or that feature in the next phone, but then state they will have an issue if technology created in 1878 (6.35mm jack) would be removed. The 3.5mm is mostly 1960/1970's and people still want to use it?
I would think that if they drop the port, which I'm all in favor of, they'd include a pair of lightning connector headphones.
I would prefer a digital set over analog.

Yes, they'll be cheap but you'll still have options of using adapters.
But why the flat refusal to switch to modern tech? Still using 5.25" floppy discs?

I get the impression you haven't read all the reasoning here. You can listen using lightning port headphones now on the current iPhones, but removing the 3mm Jack means either standard headphones are redundant or you have to use a clumsy adapter which defeats the purpose.

This is less about bringing something new and a lot about getting rid of something that perhaps could still be included as its still in demand. I suppose though if this is a real deal breaker then at least there are phones out there that still offer it.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

My main gripe is it's replacing an open standard with a proprietary connector.

That is my problem with it. If the whole industry was changing to a new connector then at least it would be a product that could be used across devices. This almost seems a way for Apple to pigeon people into just buying their style headphones or a clumsy adapter.

 

[iceterminal]

I get the impression you haven't read all the reasoning here. You can listen using lightning port headphones now on the current iPhones, but removing the 3mm Jack means either standard headphones are redundant or you have to use a clumsy adapter which defeats the purpose.

This is less about bringing something new and a lot about getting rid of something that perhaps could still be included as its still in demand. I suppose though if this is a real deal breaker then at least there are phones out there that still offer it.

You are correct in which I have not read all of the messages. But my main point is that I have seen the same people demand newest features in the new phone, yet still want 19th century technology as well. Its the duality of it. I'm only curious is all. But we all should remember when Apple dropped the floppy drive, then the optical.
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My main gripe is it's replacing an open standard with a proprietary connector.

Yes, I can see that. Unless they use the "Bluetooth is an open standard" line. Which I see them using. That or saying that all vendors are open to develop using the lightning connector, we just get to approve them.

 

[OllyW]

Yes, I can see that. Unless they use the "Bluetooth is an open standard" line. Which I see them using. That or saying that all vendors are open to develop using the lightning connector, we just get to approve them.

Do you think Apple will let Samsung use the Lightning port in their phones?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

You are correct in which I have not read all of the messages. But my main point is that I have seen the same people demand newest features in the new phone, yet still want 19th century technology as well. Its the duality of it. I'm only curious is all. But we all should remember when Apple dropped the floppy drive, then the optical.

I can't comment on Macs as that is my wife's domain. I do know she had to buy an external optical drive which meant not having it on the computer was more aesthetic than for function in her case. She still needed it and still does. I use PC's due to my job not being able to be done on a Mac.

If the dropping of the Lightning port can be done without forcing you to buy Apple only, expensive earphones then perhaps it's not a bad thing. An adapter for existing earphones seems like more of a workaround than improving it to me though.

 

[Yaboze]

If they include lightning ear buds and offer an adapter for 3.5-to-lightning, I'm in.

 

[Kiddiqp]

My main gripe is replacing a tried and true connector with something that isn't.

In anticipation for a no-3.5mm jack future I decided to try out a few Bluetooth earphones. Found a couple I liked as well! They sound good and had "decent" battery life; although I have my doubts about earphones not lasting me my full commute and work day without needing to be charged.

My big surprise however has consistently been that every time I step outside with my normal setup, ie phone in my front trouser pocket and my earphones in my ears where they belong, the earphones cut out. Like they're barely holding the connection between steps. This has happened to me with multiple earphones on multiple devices.

As it turns out this is a known issue with stereo Bluetooth devices, yet very few seem to be talking about it? The water in our bodies is apparently blocking the signal which causes it to cut out.

I honesty don't care what the solution is; but any advancement in technology must be an improvement and as it stands my wireless earphones are losing on 2 fronts.

They need to be charged separately (as if my phone and watch aren't enough).
They're providing me with worse overall experience listening to my music when I'm out and about.

Are you people who are hoping for a Bluetooth only future not using your phones outside at all, thus never encountering this issue, or is it just me and my bad luck?

 

[silversin]

It really depends on what Sennheiser will do. If they have day 1 in-ear versions of the CX-175 available, it wouldn't bother me.

 

[nj-morris]

The thing is that by doing this, Apple isn't creating a new standard. The 3.5mm jack is a standard on pretty much all smart devices, Lightning isn't. It's not futuristic at all.

 

[wolfboy]

The only annoying thing about it is that I can't use AUX in my car anymore. I got the car right before bluetooth became a standard feature and I'm in no rush to upgrade cars...so will probably have to get some sort of bluetooth adapter.

Other than that, I'll manage. I already use bluetooth headphones and have been waiting for good bluetooth earphones to go down in price too, which this will speed up.

 

[kupkakez]

Nope. I don't own Bluetooth headphones at the moment but I'd buy some if I need to. I'm okay with change and if that's the direction we are moving I'll move right along with it.

 

[mantan]

My main gripe is replacing a tried and true connector with something that isn't.

In anticipation for a no-3.5mm jack future I decided to try out a few Bluetooth earphones. Found a couple I liked as well! They sound good and had "decent" battery life; although I have my doubts about earphones not lasting me my full commute and work day without needing to be charged.

My big surprise however has consistently been that every time I step outside with my normal setup, ie phone in my front trouser pocket and my earphones in my ears where they belong, the earphones cut out. Like they're barely holding the connection between steps. This has happened to me with multiple earphones on multiple devices.

As it turns out this is a known issue with stereo Bluetooth devices, yet very few seem to be talking about it? The water in our bodies is apparently blocking the signal which causes it to cut out.

I honesty don't care what the solution is; but any advancement in technology must be an improvement and as it stands my wireless earphones are losing on 2 fronts.

They need to be charged separately (as if my phone and watch aren't enough).
They're providing me with worse overall experience listening to my music when I'm out and about.

Are you people who are hoping for a Bluetooth only future not using your phones outside at all, thus never encountering this issue, or is it just me and my bad luck?

I'm surprised at the number of people who are just happy to go along with whatever Apple tells them to do. (see post above.)

I'm all for advancing technology and making things more simple. I fail to see where this does either. Bluetooth headphones require charging and can be temperamental. If you're on a long flight or forget to charge them, you're SOL.

And it's not like Apple is pushing a universal standard (USB) that can be used in multiple devices. Lightning connected headphones limits your wired options to Apple products or products they get a licensing fee for.

It's not about 'progress' or the future....it's about maximizing profit. That's totally fine for them...that's their primary objective as a company. But I'm not gonna wave my pom poms over it or try to rationalize it by saying they are 'advancing technology'.

 

[HEK]

Do you think Apple will let Samsung use the Lightning port in their phones?

Once Apple goes to lightening port only. Samsung will criticize it till they copy it for their next phone release. Then Apple will sue Samsung. And four years later everyone will be using lightening port. Lawyers will make another killing.

 

[Shamgar]

I would think that if they drop the port, which I'm all in favor of, they'd include a pair of lightning connector headphones.
I would prefer a digital set over analog.

At some point, the audio has to be converted from digital to analog. You can't hear 1s and 0s, only waves. Lightning headphones just move the digital analog conversion and amplification out of the phone and to the headphones. There's no improvement in audio quality (assuming the headphone DAC manages to at least equal to the iPhone and didn't skimp out) unless you are a) running a cable longer than say 20 ft or b) using high impedance headphones that needs more amplification than normal. For that, you're giving up interoperability with basically everything except other iOS devices.

Newer is not automatically better. If Apple drops the Lightning port for USB C, I can see an argument from a "one connector to rule them all" perspective, but I haven't heard much suggesting that's the play. Eliminating a ubiquitous industry standard in favour of a proprietary standard with an unknown shelf life, limited implementation (what mac has a lightning port?), and no user benefit is not progress.

 

[bingeciren]

After reading many of the comments here and seeing the result of the poll I concluded that 1) Most people are happy with mediocre sound and somewhat tone deaf so that they still consider listening to music through BT is okay. 2) Therefore, Apple has made the right decision to remove the audio jack.

As for me, I'll wait to see the proven benefit of eliminating the audio jack. So far I'm not convinced that it is just to reduce the thickness of the phone alone. The existing lightning to 30 pin adapter already has a DAC chip in it and this chip could be used in the new lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter. So, this gives us an idea about the size and the price of this adapter.

Since I don't intend to upgrade my 6 before the 7S is released, I'll have lots of time to see how happy the early adopters will be.

 

[mantan]

After reading many of the comments here and seeing the result of the poll I concluded that 1) Most people are happy with mediocre sound and somewhat tone deaf so that they still consider listening to music through BT is okay. 2) Therefore, Apple has made the right decision to remove the audio jack.

As for me, I'll wait to see the proven benefit of eliminating the audio jack. So far I'm not convinced that it is just to reduce the thickness of the phone alone. The existing lightning to 30 pin adapter already has a DAC chip in it and this chip could be used in the new lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter. So, this gives us an idea about the size and the price of this adapter.

Since I don't intend to upgrade my 6 before the 7S is released, I'll have lots of time to see how happy the early adopters will be.

The 'right' decision will be reflected by sales. The new iPhone will sell tens of millions of unit not matter what. But as the cash cow that drives the Apple engine, there is enormous pressure for sales to continue to grow. Wall Street expectations are almost unrealistic. If iPhone sales don't meet expectations or this turns into the 'gate' for this model, it'll be interesting to see if the stock price is impacted.

 

[1Zach1]

I don't know the last time I used the headphone jack, but I likely won't be upgrading my 6 unless there is a significant change in the 7 (significant device size change without smaller screen, wireless at a distance charging etc), headphone jack or not.

 

[jmgregory1]

That is my problem with it. If the whole industry was changing to a new connector then at least it would be a product that could be used across devices. This almost seems a way for Apple to pigeon people into just buying their style headphones or a clumsy adapter.

The thing is, the rest of the industry has remained stagnant with regards to changing the headphone connector and it takes one company willing to buck the trend and have enough volume to force a shift to something new. And an open standard usually starts out as a proprietary piece, so it's not like Apple can go around and get consensus from every phone, stereo, headphone manufacturer. They're likely working with key companies who will likely see any change as positive as it gives them something new to sell.

Sure, people who are heavily invested in the current or old tech will always complain about change, but it's going to happen. You can not like it, sign some worthless petition hoping to stop forward progress, but just be prepared to spend more money or live with what you have for as long as you can, cause things will keep changing.

 

[lchlch]

At some point, the audio has to be converted from digital to analog. You can't hear 1s and 0s, only waves. Lightning headphones just move the digital analog conversion and amplification out of the phone and to the headphones. There's no improvement in audio quality (assuming the headphone DAC manages to at least equal to the iPhone and didn't skimp out) unless you are a) running a cable longer than say 20 ft or b) using high impedance headphones that needs more amplification than normal. For that, you're giving up interoperability with basically everything except other iOS devices.

Newer is not automatically better. If Apple drops the Lightning port for USB C, I can see an argument from a "one connector to rule them all" perspective, but I haven't heard much suggesting that's the play. Eliminating a ubiquitous industry standard in favour of a proprietary standard with an unknown shelf life, limited implementation (what mac has a lightning port?), and no user benefit is not progress.

The audio would almost always be better. A dac and amp cannot be just be better. They need to be paired with drivers with the correct impedance to perform at its best.

You can't expect a single amp or dac to be suitable or enable all headphones to perform at their best.

And I think you'll get less interference.

 

[jmgregory1]

After reading many of the comments here and seeing the result of the poll I concluded that 1) Most people are happy with mediocre sound and somewhat tone deaf so that they still consider listening to music through BT is okay. 2) Therefore, Apple has made the right decision to remove the audio jack.

As for me, I'll wait to see the proven benefit of eliminating the audio jack. So far I'm not convinced that it is just to reduce the thickness of the phone alone. The existing lightning to 30 pin adapter already has a DAC chip in it and this chip could be used in the new lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter. So, this gives us an idea about the size and the price of this adapter.

Since I don't intend to upgrade my 6 before the 7S is released, I'll have lots of time to see how happy the early adopters will be.

I am guessing you have not listened to any of the newer BT headphones on the market? Those with class 1 BT and AptX codec are really quite great. BT, like many technologies, has continued to improve. I use Plantronics BackBeat Pro's that not only offer great sound, and more than 30' coverage, they last 24 hours between charges and have active noise cancellation. I got them primarily for long haul flights, but enjoy the sound so much that I use them almost every day both for phone calls and to listen to music.

 

[kingtj]

This is actually what I'm the most interested in .... knowing which BT stereo headphones out there have the best sound quality (and which of those don't cost a small fortune!).

I find most of the reviews out there have to be taken with several BIG grains of salt, because audio is such a subjective thing. What one person says sounds "Amazing!" may be a disappointment to the next person. (And honestly, I think this is mostly because the average person has only experienced poor to so-so audio from most consumer products, so they don't have very high expectations.)

I'm not one of these audiophiles who will spend thousands on exotic equipment, but I do expect more out of a pair of earbuds than I'd say 90% of them off the store shelf deliver. For example? I'm currently using an LG HBS-900 bluetooth headset with the Harmon Kardon audio. (I got this as an Xmas gift from my wife, who already used a pair and thought they were great.) Personally, I find they lack bass (even though you can configure several different sound profiles on them, and I'm using the one with the most bass), and they really reproduce certain types of music FAR better than others. In fact, I can't remember a pair of speakers or headphones I've ever owned where it differs this drastically? (They really sound quite good when you listen to music like Dave Matthews or vocal-heavy music from a female singer like Adele. If you listen to something like heavy metal or hard rock though, they tend to sound a little shallow or tinny.)

I have a $39 pair of Sennheiser wired earbuds that have far better bass response, while performing well over a much broader selection of music genres.

So that's what I'm wondering .... Can I buy a pair of stereo BT earbuds that sounds as good as or better than what Sennheiser does with wired earbuds in the $40-60 price range? And if so, what do I have to pay to get them?

I am guessing you have not listened to any of the newer BT headphones on the market? Those with class 1 BT and AptX codec are really quite great. BT, like many technologies, has continued to improve. I use Plantronics BackBeat Pro's that not only offer great sound, and more than 30' coverage, they last 24 hours between charges and have active noise cancellation. I got them primarily for long haul flights, but enjoy the sound so much that I use them almost every day both for phone calls and to listen to music.

 

[nfl46]

No, I'll just adapt whatever solution they come up with.

 

[jmgregory1]

This is actually what I'm the most interested in .... knowing which BT stereo headphones out there have the best sound quality (and which of those don't cost a small fortune!).

I find most of the reviews out there have to be taken with several BIG grains of salt, because audio is such a subjective thing. What one person says sounds "Amazing!" may be a disappointment to the next person. (And honestly, I think this is mostly because the average person has only experienced poor to so-so audio from most consumer products, so they don't have very high expectations.)

I'm not one of these audiophiles who will spend thousands on exotic equipment, but I do expect more out of a pair of earbuds than I'd say 90% of them off the store shelf deliver. For example? I'm currently using an LG HBS-900 bluetooth headset with the Harmon Kardon audio. (I got this as an Xmas gift from my wife, who already used a pair and thought they were great.) Personally, I find they lack bass (even though you can configure several different sound profiles on them, and I'm using the one with the most bass), and they really reproduce certain types of music FAR better than others. In fact, I can't remember a pair of speakers or headphones I've ever owned where it differs this drastically? (They really sound quite good when you listen to music like Dave Matthews or vocal-heavy music from a female singer like Adele. If you listen to something like heavy metal or hard rock though, they tend to sound a little shallow or tinny.)

I have a $39 pair of Sennheiser wired earbuds that have far better bass response, while performing well over a much broader selection of music genres.

So that's what I'm wondering .... Can I buy a pair of stereo BT earbuds that sounds as good as or better than what Sennheiser does with wired earbuds in the $40-60 price range? And if so, what do I have to pay to get them?

I can't say what BT buds would be considered good, as I've just not tried enough of them and those that I have tried were mainly sports-based. And I'm picky, as I hate in-ear buds. The Plantronics over the ear headphones are big and bulky but for working or sitting on a plane, that doesn't really bother me. They offer tight bass, not over boosted like most of the Beats are, and they have really good mid's and highs too. They're not great for phone calls, I find myself wearing them towards the end of the day, listening to music while I finish up emails and other work. They actually sound so good that I got back into listening to music more to the point where I decided to join Apple Music (family plan) and I've significantly expanded my music collection - all over the past ~6 months.