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EarPods With USB-C Said to Be in Mass Production Ahead of iPhone 15 Launch

Um, so how do these work?

Just because it has a wire doesn’t mean it’s the same as 3.5 jack. Presumably there’s a built in amplifier and associated bit rate feeding it. Maybe I’m missing something.
 
Realityck said:
Why wired still, when most iPhone owners use bluetooth now?

Please note this is just a preference question, to establish current thoughts.

I use both wired and bluetooth.
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Lots of people still have wired headphones/earphones. The Apple adapter is ~$9.
No need to waste still perfectly useful headphones/earphones when they still work. That goes esp. for those still using IEMs (In Ear Monitors) which [can] cost hundreds of dollars (i.e. Shure, Westone).
Not everyone wants to keep spending, or has the money to spend, every time Apple changes things.
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Feel whatever you wish. Planes with jet engines offer MANY very tangible benefits for passengers vs. planes without them.

In exchange for no wires, many very tangible benefits are sacrificed. I completely agree that "no wires" offers a very tangible, big benefit for people. It's too bad that we are now what- about 5+ years into embracing "the future" and the many weaknesses & sacrifices are still the same ones from when this decision was first made. When do we arrive at "the future" where the technology mitigates all of the tangible advantages of wired buds/headphones? Is that this year? Next? 2030?

I'm glad that you can so appreciate wireless buds. I can too. However, I wish they would "catch up" with the many superior benefits of "the antiquated" too instead of still pretty much revolving around the ONE benefit of "no wire."
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Continuing with the jet engine analogy, having a battery also offers tangible benefits like being able to have ANC and automatic device switching that aren't offered on wired units. Even switching my AirPods between Mac/Windows/Raspberry Pi is one or two clicks.

I think we simply put more value in different aspects of listening to audio on earbuds. I agree with most of your points for cans while working at the desk and editing media, but when I'm out and about I value the freedom of not being tethered and ANC a lot more over the drawbacks.

Newer TWS has also been making progress in addressing a lot of issues of older BT headphones. For example, the latency of older BT headphones got significantly better with W1 and now with H2 it's very close to being indistinguishable from wired sound. Audio quality is also improving with aptX and the like, although I don't know how much improvement we can hear anyways given the small driver sizes on ear buds.
 
Motawa said:
nobody wants this junk
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Well, just because you and I don’t use them doesn’t mean there’s not other people out there who don’t appreciate the cheaper cost and in some ways more reliable EarPods. They still have their place and Apple is more than happy charging 20 bucks for them for those who see them as a more economical alternative to AirPods/AirPods Pro.
 
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szw-mapple fan said:
Continuing with the jet engine analogy, having a battery also offers tangible benefits like being able to have ANC and automatic device switching that aren't offered on wired units. Even switching my AirPods between Mac/Windows/Raspberry Pi is one or two clicks.

I think we simply put more value in different aspects of listening to audio on earbuds. I agree with most of your points for cans while working at the desk and editing media, but when I'm out and about I value the freedom of not being tethered and ANC a lot more over the drawbacks.

Newer TWS has also been making progress in addressing a lot of issues of older BT headphones. For example, the latency of older BT headphones got significantly better with W1 and now with H2 it's very close to being indistinguishable from wired sound. Audio quality is also improving with aptX and the like, although I don't know how much improvement we can hear anyways given the small driver sizes on ear buds.
Click to expand...

There are and have been since LONG before Airpods ANC wired phones. I THINK I bought my first set around 2002 or so which... by the way... still work perfectly fine (not requiring a re-purchase every few years because a crucial internal part wore out). I used them with my first generation iPod and PowerPC-based PowerMac G4. The first patent for ANC was granted in 1933. See: https://www.headphonesty.com/2020/10/history-of-noise-cancelling-headphones/ for history.

To switch, instead of "one or two" clicks, I simply pull out and push in (which also involves a click). Bonus: there is sooooooooooo many more ports in the world for plugging in wired phones vs. using bluetooth. For example, is there a single major airline that is supporting "the future" yet? They all pretty much still have the jack for "the antiquated." Want to watch the big game live as you fly and HEAR it too? Better have a way to plug in because bluetooth won't serve you at all unless you can stream that game to an iDevice in flight.

Apple themselves clearly believe in the wired option too. They just invested time, money & energy to UPGRADE the port on M-series MBpros. How did Apple themselves describe it:

"best audio system in a notebook," according to Apple, thanks to upgrades to both the headphone jack and the speaker system.
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Does Apple's "most powerful Mac ever" have a 3.5mm port? Yes it does...

MacStudioPorts.jpg

Why would Apple bother with that extra cost if they thought the bluetooth option was superior in all ways?

Is bluetooth improving? Yes. And that's great. But "very close" is still not there. And "significantly better" is not quite there either. When it is fully there- when there are NO benefits to wired vs. wireless- I'm first to passionately argue for wireless. Until then, there's clearly room for both and there are certainly superior benefits to wired over wireless if one can stand to put up with "the wire." Even Apple themselves obviously thinks so.
 
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The interesting thing is that audio can work a little bit differently on USB-C than it did on Lightning - it is possible to pass analog audio over the USB-C pins, using a DAC and amp built into the phone. Similar to what the 3.5mm port used to do, just the connector is in a different form now. Lightning was never capable of this, but this is a standard use of the USB-C pinout.

There have been USB-C phones that did it this way, and there also have been USB-C devices that simply provided a digital output similar to how Lightning behaved - the conversion and amplification takes place in a dongle or the electronics are in the earphones themselves.

It will be interesting to see which approach Apple takes here
 
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Kebabselector said:
Should be something similar to the electronics found the in the Lightning version of the EarPods

18350-16932-3873859_mo_tai_nghe_lightning_Tinhte_02-l.jpg
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Yes, that is where I should have been looking. In case you’re interested, you might want to give this a read:

www.audioreviews.org

Apple Audio Adapter Review - The One To Beat • Music For The Masses

A thorough review of the Apple audio adapter (both Lightning and USB-C versions) by Jürgen Kraus.
www.audioreviews.org www.audioreviews.org

The review has a lot of praise for Apple’s implementation.
 
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Newest generation Apple hardware with the Lightning port:
  1. AirPods 3
  2. AirPods Max
  3. AirPods Pro 2
  4. Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
  5. Magic Keyboard with Touch ID Numeric Keypad
  6. Magic Mouse
  7. Magic Trackpad
  8. MagSafe Duo Charger
  9. MagSafe Battery Pack
  10. iPhone 14
  11. iPhone 14 Plus
  12. iPhone 14 Pro
  13. iPhone 14 Pro Max
  14. iPhone SE 3
 
I still see lots of people using wired headphones, especially from Apple. At $19 a pop it’s easy to see why. You could have multiple pairs to keep in different places. I’ve considered buying a couple of pairs to keep in my car and bag just in case I forget my AirPods.
 
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segfaultdotorg said:
It's so sad that EU government tyranny led to this. Apple has no freedom to innovate anymore.
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Maybe apple would have had a better case against this regulation if they ever made any “innovation” on lightening and didn’t just abandon it for ten years since inception, leaving it at just USB 2 speed and unable to carry the same power as the latest USB C standard.
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Why would Apple bother with that extra cost if they thought the bluetooth option was superior in all ways?
Click to expand...
Because Bluetooth is NOT superior to wires. Wires have a much broader frequency range well beyond what Bluetooth will provide. Many people use wire studio monitor headphones that cost hundreds of dollars. There is a reason studio monitor headphones don't use Bluetooth, quality of sound, range of sound, and dynamic range of sound. For a desktop system that will be used for quality video rendering and quality audio mixing, the quality of wired headphones is required.
 
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slplss said:
They had a lot of freedom to innovate their Lighting ports since 2012. Even today, Lighting speed is limited to USB 2.0 speeds. That came in year 2000!
Click to expand...

It remains to be seen what speed Apple chooses for USB-C.
gotluck said:
I love these wired earbuds

wired is most reliable, always works
Click to expand...

They also work in airplane entertainment systems as well.
slplss said:
Apparently, Apple has their own definition for speed of light. It’s 480 Mbit/s (60MB/s). When travelling, I backup/transfer my videos to T7 SSDs at the end of the day. It is a pain. Waiting and waiting. It’s much less than 480 Mbit/s, I believe. And they sell 1 TB iPhones. It’s ridiculous.
Click to expand...

I hope Apple ups USB-C, at least on the pro iPhones.

orev said:
but Apple should be including by default a design that actually works and is what most people want, instead of trying to "think different" with a product that simply does not work (falls out of ears) for many people.
Click to expand...

Considering the design of the AirPods and how well they sell I’d say a lot of people are happy going silicon free.

HobeSoundDarryl said:
I doubt the legislators would look favorably on the solution being adjusted to be proprietary so that the ONLY option would again involve buying from the same company- and only that company- that drove them to make the law in the first place.
Click to expand...

Considering the EU reg allows for proprietary implementations along the mandate ones it’ll be interesting to see what happens.
 
I said it before, I really wish Apple headphones would support both Spatial Audio and full, high resolution (24-bit 192KHz) audio. I get that Bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth to support lossless audio, but I've seen some other companies' wireless headphones come with wifi.

I also find it a bit ridiculous that none of Apple's devices could even play the high resolution audio without buying a USB DAC. I know many people have 3rd party DACs that support it, but not having their on their own equipment is a bit embarrassing.
 
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I don’t see why the EU doesn’t just regulate that all wired audio input/output must be transmitted using 3.5mm connectors…

In all seriousness though, I use a pair of EarPods with a 3.5mm jack for work, because they provide the least amount of friction during calls. Between the poor headphone and microphone quality on Bluetooth devices with Windows, random high-pitched screeching coming from my AirPods Pro during calls, and time wasted with half the team fidgeting with wireless connectivity issues at the beginning of calls, it just wasn’t worth the effort.

However, I always grab my AirPods when I’m commuting, working out, or taking a personal call. There’s benefits to both, depending upon what context you’re using either in. For the foreseeable future, I’ll probably just get a 3.5mm to USB-C adapter as opposed to a dedicated pair of USB-C EarPods.
 
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