Just upgraded to the iPhone 7. I've been staunchly against the removal of the headphone jack since it was only a rumor. But the lightning jack on my 2 year old 6 is now so loose that I'd often wake up in the morning to find the phone had not even charged. So I could either pay to fix it, upgrade to an out of date phone to keep the headphone jack (the 6s) or accept the adapter life I'll eventually have to accept.
A few observations from someone who has mixed the audio for a few indie films. I know a bit about audio, but I'm not nearly as obsessive as some audiophiles. I was quite happy with the sound signature, power, and quality of previous iPhones. They've always had a great sound for casual listening. Not high resolution or perfectly accurate but very pleasing. In other words, good enough for me when paired with my Sony MDR-1 headphones, which are also really great for casual listening. My particular Sony MDR-1 cans actually have an interchangeable Lightning cable, but they require separate charging via micro USB to use the onboard electronics, and don't sound particularly better that way. They're a little more airy and accurate that way, but the highs can get fatiguing when listening for long periods. Lots of sibilants especially.
So I just plugged in Apple's headphone adapter on the new iPhone 7. The sound is different than my iPhone 6. Don't know about the 6S. I wouldn't say it is worse, just a little different. Seems like the highs are slightly sharper at higher volumes. This is likely closer to accurate, but it can also tire your ears out. Not the same but not worse, so cool.
However, there's a whole lot of clicks going on as the adapter's amp is likely turning off and back on any time a new song loads or you switch apps or pause. Not the end of the world, but a sloppier implementation than I'd expect. I'm just confused as to why these clicks weren't there when things were internal, yet exist with the adapter.
Then on a purely aesthetic side, that white adapter looks pretty stupid at the end of my black headphone cable, going into my black iPhone. Seeing as Lightning EarPods come in the box, I'd say 99% of those adapters are attaching to black (non-Apple) headphone cables.
There was a very non-techie guy getting help with a MacBook at the Apple Store as I was there. Then he started asking about the iPhone "7S" as he called it. He must have meant "7 Plus". It took the employee 10 minutes to explain the missing headphone jack to this guy and I still don't think he ever wrapped his head around it. One thing I wasn't too happy with, was that the employee would pretty much only tell the guy about wireless headphones. I don't know if this is a policy, but the customer was specifically asking how to plug any headphones in, then went down a long and confusing path that went over this guy's head and without ever mentioning the adapter. I could've handled his question in very easily, "You can connect wireless headphones via Bluetooth which is the new big thing. The headphones that come free in the box now connect HERE to the Lightning port. If you have your own favorite pair of headphones, we also include a small adapter, free in the box, to plug those into that same port." Done. Question answered. Not 10 minutes of trying to convince a confused older guy that he doesn't need wires at all, and not when Apple doesn't even sell the Airpods yet!
but I really don't mind that they didn't go USB-C. In fact I'm sort of glad in one way and that's because it won't hold Apple back in future developments.
