Lower-Cost AirPods and New AirPods Max Said to Launch Later This Year

[Jetson]

No. Buy some Bluetooth cans and go wired with a dongle.

I have been categorically against the idea of "dongles", seeing them only as clumsy appendages to my device. But I have reconsidered that based on the tips given here in this thread. I didn't know what dongles are really all about.

Also, I already have some great wired headphones and want to keep enjoying those rather than buy new Bluetooth headphones. The AirPods Max costs $500 !!! Maybe one day...

Who has determined that they fail within days of purchasing them? I have never had one pair go out, even through kids and bags and everything. Some are a decade+ old now.

3.5mm is not coming back. The water and dust proofing are held back by it. Regardless of preference (i personally wouldn’t mind having it at all), it’s not going to come back because of design.

Yes you're right. The 3.5 mm jack seems unlikely to make a comeback especially in view of the fact that the industry, not just Apple, seem to be trying to get consumers to "cut the cord" and go completely wireless.

The first pair of earbuds I owned went bad over 1 week's time. They are quality buds too, but my experience has been markedly different from your good fortune. Also, if you read the reviews for various brands of earbuds - including AirPods - many customers have sad tales to tell, so it's not me "making up stuff". I see customer reviews as actual data to be researched, especially the 1 & 2 star reviews.

If you want the superior sound of wired phones there are a bunch of great dongles out there to try. Bluetooth dongles for wired headphones are very common and many sound much better than Apple’s 3.5mm dongle. The iFi Go Blu for example. With it (or similar) you can run 3.5 single ended or 4.4 balanced. You can connect via Bluetooth or by a USB cable if you want a completely wired signal path. You can even spend a few dollars more and get an AptX HD transmitter for your iPhone or iPad and get even better wireless resolution and reception. Throw in some decent IEMs or buds and you have a hifi setup that puts Apple’s AirPods Pro to shame for about the same cost.

Bingo!

I spent a few days shopping and checking online articles and customer reviews for several products based on your very helpful suggestions. I had a lot to learn as it turns out I knew nothing about this DAC market.

I'm needing a device that would power my wired headphones using Bluetooth more than I needed a dongle. I was using my now defunct Toshiba earbuds to listen to music and watch movies, YouTube, etc. through my Apple TV. Having a wireless connection was very convenient despite: discomfort wearing earbuds, earbuds sometimes falling out of my ears and landing between the seat cushions, occasional brittleness in the sound quality, and annoying Bluetooth audio syncing / latency problems.

I considered the following top 4 candidate products listed at Amazon:

• iFi GO blu – Portable Bluetooth 5.1 Headphone Amplifier with 4.4mm & 3.5mm Headphone outputs $199.00
• Qudelix-5K Bluetooth USB DAC AMP with LDAC, aptX Adaptive, aptX HD, AAC (Dual ES9219 3.5mm Unbalanced & 2.5mm Balanced Output) $109.98
• FiiO BTR15 Headphone Amps Bluetooth 5.1 Receiver High Resolution 384K/32Bit Native DSD256 USB DAC Supports LDAC/aptX HD/MQA for Smartphones/PC/Car/Home Audio (Blue) $109.99
• SHANLING UP4 2022 Bluetooth Balanced Headphone Amplifier USB DAC 2 x ES9219C CSR8675 BT Chip 2.5mm Balanced 3.5mm Single-Ended Jack High Low Gain NFC HD $77.35

AND THE WINNER IS --> Shanling UP4 2022 !!!​

This USB DAC had the best combination of features, great reviews and outstanding sound quality with a reasonable price to boot. So I ordered this and am quite pleased with the elegant appearance, simplicity of operation, numerous Bluetooth codecs, dual amps while designed to be used with a balanced 2.5 mm jack can both be used in "boost mode" with an unbalanced 3.5 mm jack.

This amp is about 20% larger than a 9-volt battery and is packed with so much goodness. Using Sennheiser HD 600 cans I am re-experiencing my music because so much more detail is being revealed over Bluetooth when compared to the 3.5 mm jacks on my iPad or Sony TV.

Shanling UP4 Review

The Shanling UP4 isn't perfect though. The app that is supposed to be used to update firmware only runs on Android and is not very good. In fact the latest firmware update is only available when downloading from a Windows computer. How 1980s. So far it runs perfectly as far as I can tell.

By the way, I canceled my order of the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation). The Shanling UP4 is the solution for me right now - portable use of my proven headphones without the problems associated with earbuds.

And they sound marvelous!

When I buy that new iPad one day, I will be ready to wirelessly connect for audio or as a USB-C dongle 😀