Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

3.5mm to lightning adapter for new EarPods

Nbnewcar

Nbnewcar

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 1, 2015
14
3
Hey all,
Just got my new 15" MacBook Pro in space grey and love it! The one thing that does annoy me is that I primarily use the iPhone 7 lightning earpods now and my new MacBook is incompatible with them with the obvious lack of a lightning port... anyone know of an adapter that will allow me to use my lightning EarPods with my MacBook without having to carry around 2 pairs for my Mac and my phone?
 
sunapple

sunapple

macrumors 68030
Jul 16, 2013
2,836
5,419
The Netherlands
Nbnewcar said:
Hey all,
Just got my new 15" MacBook Pro in space grey and love it! The one thing that does annoy me is that I primarily use the iPhone 7 lightning earpods now and my new MacBook is incompatible with them with the obvious lack of a lightning port... anyone know of an adapter that will allow me to use my lightning EarPods with my MacBook without having to carry around 2 pairs for my Mac and my phone?
Click to expand...

Either get a pair of 3.5mm headphones and carry the Lightning dongle or carry a second pair of headphones for your MacBook or get Bluetooth headphones (what Apple wants).
 
TheBacklash

TheBacklash

Suspended
Oct 23, 2013
387
147
mrkramer said:
I think he was talking about an adapter going the other way so you can use your lightning headphones with your mac. I had the same question before, and haven't been able to find any adapter that will work.
Click to expand...
yeah i wasn't thinking.. The apple headphones are garbage so i don't use them, was thinking the other way around.

And I thought there was an article when Apple announced them that said it wasn't possible..
 
M

Mildredop

macrumors 68020
Oct 14, 2013
2,478
1,510
Nbnewcar said:
Hey all,
Just got my new 15" MacBook Pro in space grey and love it! The one thing that does annoy me is that I primarily use the iPhone 7 lightning earpods now and my new MacBook is incompatible with them with the obvious lack of a lightning port... anyone know of an adapter that will allow me to use my lightning EarPods with my MacBook without having to carry around 2 pairs for my Mac and my phone?
Click to expand...

Such a ridiculous situation. But this argument has been had ad infinitum.

Just to say, this is the main reason I sold my iPhone 7 and really hope other phone manufacturers don't follow.
 
V

viljamip

macrumors regular
Jan 22, 2016
118
79
I don't see how that little Lightning female-female thingy could work but I guess you could try if you really wanted to.

It would make no sense at all to make such an adapter. It would mean that your MBP converts your audio from digital to analog, then the adapter takes in the analog signal and converts it to digital for your headphones. Then the chip inside the Lightning headphones converts the digital audio back to analog and outputs it to an amplifier that drives the headphones. Every digital->analog and analog->digital conversion degrades the audio. Luckily the headphones Apple gives you with the iPhone 7 are so mediocre/bad that you would have no reason to plug them in to your "Pro laptop".
Just to recap: D->A->D->A is a lot worse than D->A.
 
TheBacklash

TheBacklash

Suspended
Oct 23, 2013
387
147
^ I think this is why there is no such adapter, someone would make an adapter and people would complain about how horrible it sounds... and blame the company making it.
 
X

xmonkey

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2016
687
932
CA
viljamip said:
I don't see how that little Lightning female-female thingy could work but I guess you could try if you really wanted to.

It would make no sense at all to make such an adapter. It would mean that your MBP converts your audio from digital to analog, then the adapter takes in the analog signal and converts it to digital for your headphones. Then the chip inside the Lightning headphones converts the digital audio back to analog and outputs it to an amplifier that drives the headphones. Every digital->analog and analog->digital conversion degrades the audio. Luckily the headphones Apple gives you with the iPhone 7 are so mediocre/bad that you would have no reason to plug them in to your "Pro laptop".
Just to recap: D->A->D->A is a lot worse than D->A.
Click to expand...
That adapter only comes with the Pencil and it's for charging it with an iPad or iPhone charger in case you can't use the iPad itself. It's not even sold separately, iirc.

I'm merely curious what happens if I use it with the Lightning to USB-C cable I have for my phone along with Lightning headphones. I don't expect it to work, but it is essentially the only way to even physically connect Lightning headphones to the MBP.
 
R

Rigby

macrumors 603
Aug 5, 2008
6,257
10,215
San Jose, CA
viljamip said:
It would make no sense at all to make such an adapter. It would mean that your MBP converts your audio from digital to analog, then the adapter takes in the analog signal and converts it to digital for your headphones. Then the chip inside the Lightning headphones converts the digital audio back to analog and outputs it to an amplifier that drives the headphones.
Click to expand...
Correct. All of this would also require a power source, which a headphone jack cannot provide.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BorderingOn
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom