Apple specs out Lightning headphone output

[HiWire]

Well, they killed the headphone jack (an act of courage)... and nobody is surprised. That Beats acquisition makes a lot of sense in retrospect.

It won't affect me for a while, since I'm going to be using the iPhone 5S for the next few years.

Edited September 7, 2016 by HiWire

[swt61]

#JackOff

[Dusty Chalk]

How the fuck are you supposed to be able to listen to phone calls without headphones?!?!?

Aye keed, aye keed, obviously hipsters need to take 12 megapixel selfies more'n they need to hear the other person speaking.

Aye steel keeding!

[HiWire]

Apple is including Lightning port earpods (headphones) with the new iPhone and they are also including a Lightning-3.5mm jack adapter. It's still going to be a pain in the ass, though. I can foresee the elimination of the headphone jack in the rest of their products in the near future as well – a lot of money will be made on adapters and new Lightning headphone/mic products.

I'm curious about the technical details of their wireless solution – no doubt they are charging 3rd parties to develop new products for wireless audio.

Regarding Lightning – I wonder if they will formally step up to USB 3.0/3.1 speeds on this interface, if they're going to bank so heavily on it.

[Dusty Chalk]

Actually, I was noticing that the headphone jack was becoming a encumbrance against making it thinner, so it makes sense that they'd eschew it entirely, and just have a "breakout" cable/box.

Big opportunity for Justin to make an iOS compatible DAC/amp.

[grawk]

with a huge investment in MFI chips

[Dusty Chalk]

IIRC, Justin's problem with not having done this already was the Apple licensing deal, IE the logo, not the actual technology.  But feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, that was several years ago...

[HiWire]

The new USB Audio Class 3.0: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10719/usbif-publishes-audio-over-usb-typec-specifications

My issue with this is the fact that they are rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic (in audiophile terms)... you're simply pushing the DAC outside your device to the external gizmo. At some point, you're still going to need a proper analog stage in an even smaller external package (e.g., your headphones), or a big box thing to do what was inside the other box thing to begin with.

For mainstream consumers, it's fine, just fine. One less thing to require adapters once they've switched all their headphones to USB Type-C connectors, Lightning connectors, Bluetooth... and let's not forget charging the batteries for all these devices.

Adding new digital formats doesn't magically make things sound better, for all the hype MQA is garnering.

Edited September 30, 2016 by HiWire

[grawk]

so you're saying increasing the market for external dacs is a bad thing?

[Grand Enigma]

How did it increase the market?  The lightning jack was always there for those that cared to use it.  It just forced the market.

[grawk]

Forcing the market increases it,  because people have to get something.

[Grand Enigma]

Dongles are super awesome.