Apple idiocy? No 3.5mm jack!

[tynopik]

I thought BT was still lossy?

From what I've read, A2DP uses SBC as the default codec and aptX support isn't that universal.

BT allows up to 512k in whatever codec you want.

Whether that codec is widely supported now is irrelevant as Apple has the power to make it happen

If you think you can distinguish between CD and 512k in a modern codec, you're just fooling yourself

 

[William Gaatjes]

So what happens when I want to charge it *AND* listen via headphones? Like almost every day at my desk.

Apple came up with a solution for that but you may not be able to use your current headphones.

http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/03/apple...phones-support-arriving-in-future-ios-update/

There are a few benefits of using the Lightning cable to send audio. Apple says the headphones will be able to draw power from an Apple device (even if the device is asleep), which for some products could eliminate cost associated with an internal battery. It could also work the other way around by providing power to an Apple device from an internal battery or external power source. That enables you to listen to music and also use a passthrough setup so you could charge the device simultaneously, much like you can with an audio dock that uses a Lightning connector. The headphones will also be capable of receiving firmware updates.

 

[Rakehellion]

Want a VGA port? $30 dongle.

You'll need an adapter to use VGA on every graphics card and laptop sold today. That's the price you pay for using outdated technology.

 

[dbk]

I hope apple drops it.. i just want to see what happens..prob nothing...new iphone will sell gazillion units and people will gladly fork over $30 for a plug since they have no other options

 

[Rakehellion]

Every company makes mistakes, even wildly successful ones.

In this case, that company is NPR.

 

[stlc8tr]

BT allows up to 512k in whatever codec you want.

Whether that codec is widely supported now is irrelevant as Apple has the power to make it happen

If you think you can distinguish between CD and 512k in a modern codec, you're just fooling yourself

So it's still lossy then.

And you'll be stuck with using the Apple certified BT headsets if you want the latest codec support.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Nowhere does it say they are dropping the 3.5mm jack...

Regardless of that, I'd be fine if they did. And for all you morons who are going to say "but I spent $500 on a pair of good headphones" I will respond with "who gives a crap? Oh, you can't use your audiophile headphones to listen to that shitty 96kbps mp3 file on your iPhone? The horror!"

It is not perfect sound quality but at least i have a 320kb MP3 music library.
My MP3 songs are on average 10MB in size. 🙂

 

[gevorg]

Apple can just claim that dropping the headphone jack helped them make iPhone 0.6299mm thinner. People would buy it and laugh off the headphone jack as obsolete.

 

[tynopik]

So it's still lossy then.

And?

Your premise is that BT is not an acceptable substitute for wires.

It's hard to credibly claim that sending an analog signal over a lossy, interference-prone cable results in a superior sound than a 512k stream to a high-quality DAC in your headphones.

 

[SlitheryDee]

I don't think people would take this as lightly as some here seem to think. Unless I can use my earbuds with it I won't buy it. There's only one kind of earbud I can tolerate, so I basically have to go where it goes. I suppose if JVC made a version of their marshmallows that would work through lightning I would be ok with it.

 

[Miramonti]

If true, this would be a corporate choke of epic scale. I don't think Steve Jobs is capable of this.

oh snap...

 

[ultimatebob]

You'll need an adapter to use VGA on every graphics card and laptop sold today. That's the price you pay for using outdated technology.

Believe it or not, Dell still has VGA ports on some of their business class laptops.

 

[smackababy]

Believe it or not, Dell still has VGA ports on some of their business class laptops.

And believe it or not, everyone that uses those Dell laptops, hates them.

 

[baydude]

WTG Apple! That'll show Samsung and Microsoft who's boss! 😉

 

[stlc8tr]

And?

Your premise is that BT is not an acceptable substitute for wires.

It's hard to credibly claim that sending an analog signal over a lossy, interference-prone cable results in a superior sound than a 512k stream to a high-quality DAC in your headphones.

How much loss does speaker wire induce? I'd be curious to see your citations on this.

If speaker wire was so prone to lossy interference, I would think that someone would have cashed in by replacing it with something better.

 

[JackBurton]

Yeah... as any new Macbook owner can tell you, Apple LOVES their $30 adapter dongles. Want an Ethernet port? $30 dongle. Want a VGA port? $30 dongle. Want a DVI connection? You get the idea. Don't like dongles? Pony up some big $$$ for some shiny new Apple branded accessories.

So, yeah, the idea of a $30 Lightning to 1/8" audio jack dongle for the iPhone 6 sounds pretty believable.

Yeah, right on! Apple and their evil ways make me get an adapter for my external 56K modem! And guess what, I also have to get an adapter for a parallel port. How the hell am I going to plug in my almost new dot matrix printer?! Fvcking Apple! There is no other reason than, they just want to make more money.

Fvck you Apple!

 

[tynopik]

How much loss does speaker wire induce? I'd be curious to see your citations on this.

I've never seen a study on this, I can only go on personal experience of it picking up noise from my computer

If speaker wire was so prone to lossy interference, I would think that someone would have cashed in by replacing it with something better.

like USB and BT headphones?

 

[JackBurton]

And?

Your premise is that BT is not an acceptable substitute for wires.

It's hard to credibly claim that sending an analog signal over a lossy, interference-prone cable results in a superior sound than a 512k stream to a high-quality DAC in your headphones.

Nothing hard about it. If you want evidence of that, there is plenty of literature on the net that supports wire over BT.

Article

Anyone that puts an emphasis on audio quality would not use BT. BT is for convenience, that's it. If you want a solid wireless protocol that's best suited for audio quality, that would be AirPlay. However it's not used for headphones.

 

[cronos]

So what happens when I want to charge it *AND* listen via headphones? Like almost every day at my desk.

Bluetooth?

 

[Ichinisan]

Mark my words:

An adapter will be included, or it will be available for $10-$15.

 

[tynopik]

Nothing hard about it. If you want evidence of that, there is plenty of literature on the net that supports wire over BT.

Article

The only 'literature' I see there is a link to avsforum, which is of course down

 

[JackBurton]

The only 'literature' I see there is a link to avsforum, which is of course down

Hmmm, I'll try again. It's the same link:

http://lifehacker.com/does-bluetooth-audio-still-suck-1505063323

 

[QueBert]

So the new phone will have both, and the Lighting one might provide better sound, but I could still plug in a regular set of headphones if I want. HOW DARE THEY GIVE ME OPTIONS.

1. it sounds like it will potentially lead to better sound
2. It's Apple so I bet all headphone manufactures will jump on board with offerings.
3. regular headphone jack will still be there for people who don't want to invest in new cans.

I'd love to hear some mid level Grado Lighting cans.

And to people harping on Apple loving to change connectors, my neighbor has one of the original iPod's, and it uses the same cable that my iPhone 4s does.

His iPod - 2003
my iPhone 4s - 2011

That's a good ass run for using the same cable.

what connector was my cell phone using in 2003? not the same one I used in 2011. Between '03 and '11 I think I went thru 4 different cell phone connectors. What's with Apple changing a connector one time and people going ape shit over how evil they are?

 

[tynopik]

Hmmm, I'll try again. It's the same link:

right, it's the same unsubstantiated article

It's mainly whining about the default (SBC) codec

The only remotely relevant that thing in that entire article is this:

That said, it's still not as good as wired audio, and some people say it's still unacceptable overall.

ok, so avsforum is down, but behold, the google cache

I have no experience with new specs, but I've auditioned a number of AptX capable bluetooth speakers, and while the codec provides improvement end-to-end over bluetooth alone it's still not an acceptable experience in my opinion. The problem is not exclusive to the transport or compression, the quality of earphones and speakers continues to be subpar.

That's a problem with the physical headphones he was using, not BT itself.

As stated above the limitation is the tiny speakers and poor boxes provided today. Quality of the stream, at higher bitrates, already exists.

More complaints about the quality of the devices rather than the protocol

 

[KeithP]

They're allowing 48kHz audio through the lightning port. Nowhere have they said they're dropping the headphone jack.

Of course they aren't. Pure link bait garbage and it works because idiots will believe it (not that most of them even read the article).

It would be like saying since Apple published specs for transferring files via bluetooth you will no longer be able to transfer files via wifi, USB, etc.

I little critical though would be nice.

-KeithP