Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Here's What a Headphone Jack to Lightning Adapter Looks Like
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Or, just don't buy the phone. Remember the old ipod shuffle that had proprietary headphones with no controls on the unit? That didn't last long!
Dear friends
I have been using SONY SBH52 waterproof Bluetooth headset for 2 years now. I never needed a headphone jack for my iPhone. I put my iPhone in the glove box of my bike and enjoy music and calls even when it's raining.
I hope u guys would consider this rather than Apple asking you to buy another accessory. I may look forward for Apple if the earphone and the accessory is waterproof...
I have been using SONY SBH52 waterproof Bluetooth headset for 2 years now. I never needed a headphone jack for my iPhone. I put my iPhone in the glove box of my bike and enjoy music and calls even when it's raining.
I hope u guys would consider this rather than Apple asking you to buy another accessory. I may look forward for Apple if the earphone and the accessory is waterproof...
cool might increase the delivery speed for mine
[doublepost=1466759288][/doublepost]
like those ridiculous nerds that still put the Apple stuff they own into their signature?
Don’t want to go name calling but I say again, he writes for iMore.
[doublepost=1466764642][/doublepost]
You don’t have to read the posts, or come back with your own whine for that matter.
You’ll find that the next biggest issue is leaving only that crappy lightning connector. You know, one that means you’re limited to Apple devices. Profiteering at its finest.
As far as I am aware, lighting port is not Apple but Intel. (Correct?) I think Apple helped developing it but its essentially intel and therefore can be universal.
Right?
[doublepost=1466766486][/doublepost]
I'm sorry, but that analog port has to die. Its about time to move on. Regardless of how bound people are to it its time.
(And I also have £300 heahphones that will need new cable or adapter).
If people hold on old stuff then we wouldn't get where we are now and I'm sure if there was less resistance there would be even better things already.
Look at HD/DVD or Bluray - that technology was DOA.
We can make this thread bigger and talk Tesla and EV in general. If there wasn't so much lobby from oil etc. we would probably have most cars electric by now.
The thing that bothers me the most about only having a lightning connector is that it is the weakest part of the phone. After i had my iphone 5 for a year and a half the only way I could get it to charge was to stack books on my phone and on the charger connector. If I didnt do that it wouldnt charge. Now my 6 plus is starting to do the same thing. I have to jiggle the connector and put it in and out 10 times before it starts to charge. The same charger works fine on my ipad that I rarely use so it is definitely the port on the phone. I think if I have to use the lightning port for headphones as well, it will break down much sooner.
Someone has probably already said it... Just like you had to for the original iPhone, buy and adapter. Have people forgotten that their headphones wouldn't fit into the first iPhone? So its not without precedent that Apple has messed with the headphone jack.
I'd prefer they had a headphone jack, but ... progress ... y'know?!
I'd prefer they had a headphone jack, but ... progress ... y'know?!
That's the entire point of the many recent articles that have been written against this change. This isn't progress. This is change for change's sake. If you are going to change something so simple and universal, change it for the better. A proprietary port that requires a rather large and expensive dongle for support with the billions of audio devices already present in the world, with no improvement to sound quality or convenience, is not a change worth making.
I know I do. With how flimsy the Lightning connector is (male and female), how prone it is to rusting. I mean have you seen the Lightning cable reviews on the Apple store? "Does anyone still regret that move?" Yeah many people do.
If all manufacturers (including Apple) switch to USB-C for audio for all devices then I could see ditching the 3.5mm jack. A new universal jack to replace an old universal jack. Fair enough. Lightning ain't universal. Bad move. I'll pass.
I don't use the headphones a lot. I have 3 pairs of earbuds. One at my desk, one in my gym bag and one in my travel bag. They're cheap, it allows me to always have a pair available without havinh to remember to take them with me. I also travel a decent amount. I'm not going wireless because a) cost, b) having to remember to take them with me and c), I don't want to have to carry yet another charging adapter and cable.
There is a place for wired. I've also forgotten/lost/misplaced my travel buds. And did not realize it until I was on the plane. I was able to take the free earbuds the airline passes around. Yeah, quality is not great, but it's better than nothing. Try that with no 3.5mm jack.
[doublepost=1466775516][/doublepost]
Yet it is still ubiquitous in all audio gear. From cheap consumer to high end professional. It is not holding back how sound is delivered to the ears. The ears have not changed. They perceive sound from air vibration. The end of the chain has a membrane that vibrates. right before that, the digital signal needs to be converted to analog to activate that membrane. All you are doing is moving where that conversion ocurs. If the DAC is inside the headphone, you are moving it about 2 feet. If it's an adapter, you are moving it about 2 inches.
Sure, people back then did say that. But don't lump me in with them. I did not object to any of the above.
I welcomed the removal of the floppy disk, and in fact had stopped installing floppy disks in my Windows PCs that same year. Indeed, the only thing I had used floppy disks for the few years leading up to that was booting the Windows installer, they were useless for everything else. By then, CD-drive booting was possible anyway, so getting rid of floppy was no issue. I cautiously embraced the removal of the CD/DVD drive. You can look up my posts in this forum from back then. I agreed with the decision, but was upset the external superdrive cost so much. I said I would set aside $50 (figuratively, in my mind) to buy a generic USB DVD drive at Microcenter or Best Buy, so when I need it I can immediately go get one. Never needed one. I welcomed the lightning cable fully, and again you look this up, defending it and applauded the move a lot on this forum.
None of those things are similar. First, a good amount of people have anywhere from $50-$500 or more in perfectly good audio gear that relies on the 3.5mm jack. Nobody had that much money invested in floppy disks, cd-roms, or 30-pin cables. Second, as I said before, all of those standards were pretty clearly obsolete by the point Apple removed them. There is nothing obsolete about the 3.5mm audio standard; age alone does not lead to being obsolete, a competing better alternative that is being adopted does, which there is none.
Third, in response to your comment about audio quality, that is nonsense. There is no inherent good or bad audio quality in the 3.5mm jack. It is just a jack, just a way to physically connect wires, and it is for analog audio. The sound quality is determined by the headphones, and by the DAC. If Apple wants to, they can put in a better DAC into the iPhone. If a user wants to, they can buy better headphones. By making lightning headphones, Apple is forcing headphones to have a built-in DAC of their own (so now you are essentially carrying 2 DACs, one built-in to the iPhone, and one built-in to your headphones), and that second DAC is powered by the iPhone's battery. The "quality" of the analog connection between the second DAC and the actual speakers in the headphones will be no better or worse than the 3.5mm connectors we have today.
1. They are welcome to try to profit from this. I agree with the crowd that says it is hostile. They are cashing out some of their brand loyalty and goodwill though. I think the brand loyalty and goodwill is worth more than the increased headphones profit they get. It's a bad deal.
2. No, this will hurt their brand. It is indisputably hostile to users. They are essentially saying: "those headphones we sold you last week, they're no good anymore. Those headphones you use on both your mac and iphone, they won't work on your iphone anymore."
I also don't think you understand what the 3.5mm jack is. It is literally just a physical connection between wires for analog audio. For that, it has been fantastic. For all audio, eventually it has to be converted to to analog because speakers are analog. Whatever new system Apple comes up with will not have better sound quality than 3.5mm because 3.5mm has nothing to do with sound quality.
I like it when Apple tries new things and makes bold moves. I don't like when those new things are actually less things, and the bold moves require me to repurchase a lot of expensive stuff.
[doublepost=1466775691][/doublepost]
You really have no idea what the 3.5mm jack is. See above.
I still use an optical drive - how else would I rip my music?
[doublepost=1466777514][/doublepost]
Possibly. You are correct, that was around iPhone 5S time or so I believe.
Didn't you intend to render the flip side of this? 1/8 into Lightening?
[doublepost=1466778232][/doublepost]
In my mind this is first valid complaint about Apple moving to Lightening headphone connectors exclusively (other than wireless). Very good point.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
No, Lightning is Apple's proprietary, patent-protected jack. Anyone wanting to put Lightning in anything else (any of the places where 3.5mm is now) must cut a licensing deal with Apple and thus pay Apple... not about the same cost to put in a 3.5mm jack or even USB, but whatever Apple demands for licensing a proprietary jack Apple completely controls.
And Intel has taken a side on this matter. It was recently announced that they would support a move to USB3 in future chipsets. That means that pretty much everything that leverages Intel chipsets in the future will embrace the cheaper, more standardized USB3 vs. Lightning. Here's a bit of info about this move: http://www.anandtech.com/show/10273...-cables-to-connect-headsets-to-mobile-devices
Among other ramifications of Intel's decision, since Apple uses Intel chipsets, it seems likely that Apple's own (future) Macs will at least have this same capability and throws into question whether Apple would otherwise waste an additional port space on a Lightning port for headphone use. USB3 would cover headphone use and deliver all other uses of USB. A Lightning port on a Mac would be pretty much for headphone use. Which seems the more consumer-beneficial use of (port) space? Lightning would also have some engineering and part cost to it while USB3 will ALREADY be usable within the chips Apple will ALREADY be using in those Macs anyway. So from a business standpoint, it will likely cost Apple more to embrace using Lightning on Macs than using the equivalent that will already be there anyway.
So I smell adapters: at least Lightning to/from 3.5mm but probably also Lightning to/from USB3 too. Or I smell 1 set of earbuds or headphones added to the (bag) load for use with iDevices and another set to be used with everything else (including Apple's own Macs)... and even there, you might still need 2 of 3 adapters (Lightning, 3.5mm and/or USB3) to cover all common bases.
In short, what we're seeing here is a choice to fragment a "just works" thoroughly ubiquitous option on which patent protections for exploitive licensing fees has long since expired and trying to replace it with not one but two alternative jacks. Due to it's proprietary and more costly (licensing) nature, one jack will pretty much be solely associated with Apple iDevices (and possibly future Apple Macs). The other alternative will be appearing pretty much everywhere else that leverages Intel chipsets... and likely everywhere else where anyone wanting to embrace one or the other chooses to license the cheaper, "the future" option.
For us Apple people, we are signing up to pretty much HAVE to carry adapters to approximate the audio connection cross compatibility we already enjoy with the 3.5mm jack as is. For those so passionately arguing for Bluetooth or Lightning headphones, those people ALREADY have that option with iDevices, so their arguments against 3.5mm is just towing the company line, as they can already get what they apparently want by embracing either option NOW... or even in 2015.
It keeps getting asked in every one of these threads: what's really in this change that benefits us consumers? And why does 3.5mm have to be jettisoned to deliver whatever someone might answer?
When one cuts through all of the spin and even outright lies being slung to try to rationalize this change, the answer to those 2 questions- IMO- seems to be more profit or maybe "lock in" for Apple and maybe "thinner." The former benefits us consumers who also hold AAPL shares. The latter benefits all of us consumers so often whining about the onerous, unbearable thickness of the iPhones we already own.
Last edited:
This is a good review from Anandtech of past and present storage performance. You can see the jump from the 5S to 6S is huge, but even the 6 to 6S is rather massive.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9662/iphone-6s-and-iphone-6s-plus-preliminary-results
I've never had a problem with any lightning connector ever. I plug my phone in 20-30 times a day, and not once has there ever been an issue with durability or performance. It's hands down the best connector I've ever used in any mobile device.