I think it’s important to note that, AFAIAA, this is speculation, not an announcement by apple. Allowing lightning-audio is not the same as removing headphone jacks. Regardless, sure, it may happen.
Second, I will be tremendously surprised if there is no lightning-to-analog interface, should this in fact come to pass.
The only “lockdown” here, IMHO, will be in peripheral sales, since made-for-iphone will be required to make a lightning-compatible product, so you’ll either be buying new headphones or an adaptor, but either way Apple will get a cut.
Doesn’t really bother me, that’s true today of every possible ipod-iphone compatible audio product anyway. But I don’t personally believe this is about “DRM”, versus being about apple controlling the user experience, just like they do in every other aspect of the iphone, as well as freeing up quite a bit of depth inside the phone itself (for more battery, lets hope!)
All other questions aside I have no trouble believing this because it seems like Apple gets stupider every year.
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I dunno. In some ways, it seems that they’re smarter than four years ago.
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They lost the captain. Now it’s Microsoft. All over again. It’s probably game of thrones in Apple right now.
Even my CEO has wanna-be-the-next-Steve-Jobs itis and he can barely operate a computer.
So I imagine it’s a lot of people trying to backstabbing and bedazzle one another with new and exciting variations of the exact same formula over and over.
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Cheaper does not count for much if they are cutting what I prefer to be paying for. For example, my music player I chose because it had a 3.5mm input jack as well as output. It only increases their real profit margin if I am still willing to buy whatever wasn’t stripped away.
But what are they saving the space for? It is not as if they are forced to make devices paper thin, and so must as a consequence remove hardware and features. These acts are part of the same design decision.
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Two things to point out:
1 --The main benefit to a theoretical Lightning-port driven pair of headphones isn’t cutting thickness; at most, it may save a millimeter. The benefit would be increased fidelity, support for in-line charging (very helpful for headphones that have active noise reduction), and support for audio codecs that allow for 3D audio and other nice features.
2 – When this subject has come up in the recent past, Apple has said they would provide free adaptors for 3.5 jacks. So calling it “DRM for audio” is really ridiculous. Nobody’s being prevented from using any headphones they want with their device.
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Well, HTC ditched the headphone jack in 2009 with their ExtUSB port. It was a market failure; no guarantee that anyone doing the same today won’t face the same consequences. I guess we’ll know in a couple years.
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It wouldn’t improve fidelity. You can fit and power a DAC-amp more efficiently and safely on the phone’s mainboard than in a pair of fiddly earphones. At some point the digital signal must be turned into analogue to power the earphone diaphragms. You either make the conversion in the phone, or send power and data for the converter through the cables to the earphones.
Additionally, this means that every pair of earphones needs its own DAC-amp, which is wasteful.
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Also lets not forget BlueTooth…wires are becoming more and more quaint.
a lot of great bluetooth headphones which recharge over micro-usb, recharging through usb-c instead and getting audio over usb-c at the same time is pretty cool.
Apple shouldn’t lose the headphone jack though, just like the macbook should have a regular usb 3 port on the other side. just makes sense and makes it a better product.
I gave up on apple phones after several overpriced problem riddled iphones. I currently have an unlocked 70gb adoptive storage android that only cost $100 and I love it. I can’t imagine going back.
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This is why I never used most of my non-Apple phones for music, as they went with earbuds that hooked up to their proprietary charging port. I listen to music when working on my phone (and before that, my iPod), and like to leave it charging when at work and listen at the same time. And I know that a lot of people do the same.
The headphone jack is comfortingly mature, based on standards set down in the 19th century. It’s the most universal input interface we have, and can be used to hook my iPhone up to any old stereo system, headphones, whatever. It does its job,
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Many people disagree.
Comparisons between Lightning-based pure digital signal headphones and the 3.5 jack have been very very promising and have shown much better sound across the board.
I’m okay with technology getting better and moving forward.
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So where’s the double blind test? It’s the only comparison worth anything in this case.
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Very much agreed. I’m sure that if this rumor actually comes to pass (which I’m not 100% convinced of, to be honest) we’ll see a bevy of them, pro and con.
My beloved old, weird G4 Cube had no 3.5 jack; Apple (or Steve Jobs) decided to replace it with USB audio. It came with USB speakers, but USB-audio alternatives were slim to none back then. Apple loves to evolve old tech. Sounds like options are a lot richer now if they do so.
You misunderstand me. There is literally no electronic signal chain difference between a digital headphone and an analogue headphone except the placement of the DAC and amp. The only difference is the respective length of the digital and analogue connecting cables.
You could argue that that there’s more attentuation in a longer analogue cable, but that’s usually on the order of a few decibels over 10 metres or so, whereasa little damage to a digital cable results in total failure, and I would guess that there will be the usual handshake issues you get in modern digital AV connectors now.
You can compare good with bad headphones of either type and get the result you want.
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OMG REVOLUTIONARY APPLE IS SO FORWARD THINKING
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VGA could handle videos up to 1080p. So did component video. Both were analog interfaces.
I don’t think there was any particular upper limit on VGA, actually. I’ve used it for 2560x1440.
Your drawing omits the power cable between the CPU and the DAC in the lower diagram.
Not sure how this makes things more efficient, as you need more copper to get the power and the signals to the headphone lump than you’d need to get the speaker signals out of the phone and to the headphone lump. But they would get to sell more DACs and amplifiers, which I guess is the advantage to the seller.
Too bad customers come last in this equation.
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Yeah, I mentioned the power cable further up the thread.
Always fascinating to see diagrams and dismissal of theoretical products that literally don’t exist yet. But every analysis I’ve seen of the possible Lightning jack (which, as noted, would come with a 3.5 adaptor) is that it’s to improve sound quality, size, and water resistance. Those all seem like things specifically meant to help consumers, not hurt them.
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