[a_recording]

"The preservation of the unsent letter is its arresting feature. Neither the writing nor the sending is remarkable (we often make drafts of letters and discard them), but the gesture of keeping the message when we have no intention of sending it. By saving the letter, we are in some sense 'sending' it after all. We are not relinquishing out idea or dismissing it as foolish or unworthy (as we do when we tear up a latter); on the contrary, we are giving it an extra ote of confidence. We are, in effect, saying that our idea is too precious to be entrusted to the gaze of the actual addressee, who may not grasp its worth, so we 'send' it to his equivalent in fantasy, on whom we can absolutely count for an understanding and appreciative reading" --Janet Malcolm, The Silent Women

I've kept notes for myself, but I've never done what's described in this passage. I actually don't think I've ever really written a serious matter to anyone at all, at least not on paper. I don't have any emails sitting around in craft at the ready either. But I can understand the impulse.

 

[veyrongatti]

Quote:

Compare and contrast:
Audio cable maker opens a Lightning connector, sees an uknown chip, rumors site reports that it's for device authentication to serve some undefinable present or future purpose.
Computer scientist and chip engineer opens a Lightning connector and establishes that circuitry on the cable is for dynamic pin allocation and negotiating cable functionality. (I'm linking to the MacRumors page because it's a good summary, but Brinkerhoff's blog posts are highly readable and, if anything, even more fascinating.)
(Edit: Now that I'm over my ranting, in good conscience I must note that AppleInsider has linked to the Brinkerhoff blog entries too. But man, I wish those guys could dial back the sensationalizing by a few hundred degrees. I don't hold Peter at Double Helix particularly responsible for the story copy; for all I know, the conversation went like this:
"It's a chip. how weird."
"Could it be used for... authentication, say?"
"Dunno. Maybe. I was able to make a working USB cable with it, anyway, can you run a pic of it?" )

soooooo no LOD? 

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

soooooo no LOD? 

 
Nope.
 
The chip, in part, tells the iPhone or iPod what is being connected in order for the iPhone or iPod to send the appropriate signal (or wait for the appropriate signal/current).
 
Digital audio connectors are totally feasible, but it's up to some manufacturing facility to want to make them, and that itself might be infeasible if it's only going to be economically viable (even by audiophilic standards of "economical") to produce in quantities of ten thousands or greater.
 
Still, the iPod Classic continues to be produced and uses the classic connector, and there are hundreds of millions of iDevices still in use that depend on the classic connector, so while its days are numbered it's going to be around for quite a while yet.
 
(on that note: The SSD for my iPod Video modding project just arrived; hopefully the replacement battery and other parts are coming soon as well.)

 

[barleyguy]

Quote:

I've kept notes for myself, but I've never done what's described in this passage. I actually don't think I've ever really written a serious matter to anyone at all, at least not on paper. I don't have any emails sitting around in craft at the ready either. But I can understand the impulse.

I definitely have.  I tend to write over-analytic diatribes about life combined with likely unrequited deep emotions, and never send them.  It wouldn't be a good idea to send them, but writing them is a good release.

 

[billybob_jcv]

Nope.

The chip, in part, tells the iPhone or iPod what is being connected in order for the iPhone or iPod to send the appropriate signal (or wait for the appropriate signal/current).

Digital audio connectors are totally feasible, but it's up to some manufacturing facility to want to make them, and that itself might be infeasible if it's only going to be economically viable (even by audiophilic standards of "economical") to produce in quantities of ten thousands or greater.

Still, the iPod Classic continues to be produced and uses the classic connector, and there are hundreds of millions of iDevices still in use that depend on the classic connector, so while its days are numbered it's going to be around for quite a while yet.

(on that note: The SSD for my iPod Video modding project just arrived; hopefully the replacement battery and other parts are coming soon as well.)

I still think the new Apple connector is a solution without a problem. I had no idea cable pins were so valuable that they needed to be protected and rationed to customers by using a custom IC. I also didn't know that inserting a cable the right way up was a major customer complaint... :rolleyes:

Apple can say whatever they want - but unless they are giving those ICs away for free to anyone that wants to build compatible accessories, then this looks like another attempt to insert IP they own & control into the Apple accessory market.

 

[lee730]

.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

I think it's safe to say that the family of Stax flagships rank as my favorite and most respected headphones. They each have their own unique personality that comes through despite their being among the most direct headphones in terms of connecting to music. The SR-007 is the somewhat mousy sibling who requires some directness and prodding to come out of her shell. She's a dreamer, a naval gazer. Those who have the patience and take the time to get to know her however discover a fierce intelligence at work behind her gentle demeanor. If roused with enough current, she can be the life of the party.
 
The SR-Omega, the eldest sibling, is content to be perceived as somewhat eccentric and the most mysterious of the bunch. She's extremely analytical in nature, observing her surroundings with a keen awareness of everything going on around her. She's an overachiever and likes to stay on top of things, likes to be in control of the situation and to be able to account for any contingency. The youngest of the bunch, the SR-009, admires her older sister and wants to be just like her, and in these efforts she actually surpasses her. She is however more self absorbed, her attention turned inward more than outward, and she's also more competitive. Both are high strung and need a somewhat relaxed atmosphere to unwind and display the full extent of their charms. They'll let their hair down so to speak under the right circumstances.

 
Probably didn't mean anything by it, but why are all of your most respected (and arguably some of the world's best) headphones all female? 

 
Quote:

.

 
Oh darn, it's contagious. 

 

[MuppetFace]

Quote:

 
Probably didn't mean anything by it, but why are all of your most respected (and arguably some of the world's best) headphones all female? 

 

 
It's meant only half-seriously, because in the previous diary thread there was a rather long discussion about objectification and peoples' tendency to anthropomorphize things (assigning genders to ships, machines, gendered-nouns in language, etc.). What prompted the discussion was a thread about the "the world's sexiest headphones" where people were comparing headphones to women. The posts I make to that effect are sort of a self-conscious parody of that.
 
Pre-dating that however I enjoyed anthropomorphizing my headphones as archetypal women because of those anime illustrations of "headphone girls" that are so popular. This is by no means limited to the world's best, however. I've anthropomorphized plenty of terrible headphones as bratty or shallow girls, even homicidal or psychotic ones.

 

[warrenpchi]

Quote:

It's meant only half-seriously, because in the previous diary thread there was a rather long discussion about objectification and peoples' tendency to anthropomorphize things (assigning genders to ships, machines, gendered-nouns in language, etc.). What prompted the discussion was a thread about the "the world's sexiest headphones" where people were comparing headphones to women. The posts I make to that effect are sort of a self-conscious parody of that.

 
Most definitely before my time that was... 

  Though threads like that do tend to pop up in the regular forums now and again, so I'm pretty familiar with the general tone of such a conversation. 
 
Quote:

Pre-dating that however I enjoyed anthropomorphizing my headphones as archetypal women because of those anime illustrations of "headphone girls" that are so popular.

 
Of which your avatar is one I believe - though not of the additional scantily clad variety.
 
Somewhat related to that, bowei's avatar just cracks me up.  I don't know if he just happened to find that as-is somewhere... or he deftly inserted a panda into it... but just the fact that it exists is quite chuckle-worthy.  I mean c'mon, what are the odds of a girl in sexy gard that just happens to be next to a panda.  The only way it could have been better is if it had headphones in it.  It really is just that short of greatness.
 
Quote:

This is by no means limited to the world's best, however. I've anthropomorphized plenty of terrible headphones as bratty or shallow girls, even homicidal or psychotic ones.

 
LOL, well I didn't mean to suggest that there should be comparisons that denigrate or disparage women in any way... just that some headphones could also be male on occasion.  Good or bad, surely some headphones would be of the male variety? 

 

[ardgedee]

I still think the new Apple connector is a solution without a problem. I had no idea cable pins were so valuable that they needed to be protected and rationed to customers by using a custom IC. I also didn't know that inserting a cable the right way up was a major customer complaint... :rolleyes:
Apple can say whatever they want - but unless they are giving those ICs away for free to anyone that wants to build compatible accessories, then this looks like another attempt to insert IP they own & control into the Apple accessory market.

Sidedness and fragility are known problems with USB connectors.

The pin rationing has little to do with use cases, only with making devices smaller. Dynamic pin assignments hypothetically allow anything from RS-232 port connections to Firewire to S/PDIF without a breakout box, which is an improvement over what a raw USB port can provide. So just as iPod docks moved from Firewire to USB, Lightning can move from USB to Thunderbolt or back to Firewire or, I dunno, RS-232.

As for the rest of it, we don't know Apple's motivations or intentions: They've said very little beyond "Here's a new connector: We'll be working with people in the accessory market to bring product support." The rest comes the Brockerhoff blog posts, which are primarily technical descriptions. Anything else is people projecting their notion of the Apple company onto their products.

 

[lee730]

It seems like the adapter still works with devices designed to work with apple products (like the CLAS) so maybe apple isn't so much in the wrong here. I'm still curious though why they pulled this card though...
 

 

[ardgedee]

It's going to be a nuisance to Euro users if they have to carry a mini-USB->Lightning dongle along with a cable everywhere they go. Otherwise, shrug. The USB->Lightning cable is more compact than the old dock cable and otherwise works identically for what I use it with. That's all I really care about at the moment.

 

[lee730]

Yeah I could understand the hassle of carrying around extra adapters. I'm curious though would that alone have any affect on the sound quality (extra adapters)?
 

 

[Achmedisdead]

It was my understanding that the main point of the new connector was simply so they could make the devices even thinner.....of course, that's not to say there aren't other reasons as well. 

 

[ardgedee]

On the digital side, bits is bits. Fancy cables are nice to have but don't affect sound.

What you're able to connect the iPhone to is considerably more important. I'm with billybob in that if Apple is going to privilege access to the accessory manufacturers that can afford large volume production, our options are going to be limited or even nonexistent in the mobile market. And that will more or less put a tight cap on the potential for third-party handheld dac/amps.

What Apple says and what they do w/r/t their intellectual property are not always the same thing, though. They could be much more aggressive at enforcing licensing in the accessory market than they have been. However, they know the following two things: 1. They make more on device sales than accessory licenses; 2. Their device sales are reinforced by a public notion of universality; that any random device accessory is implicitly for an iDevice unless marked otherwise. So a lot gets through the cracks, fairly blatantly even. However, as long as the accessory doesn't run one of the trademarked "Made for iDevice" marqs on the packaging, Apple's been turning a blind eye. It's only going to become an issue if the accessory company wants to sell their product in an Apple Store.

In the short term, Lightning-compatible devices are going to be thin on the ground and only come from major manufacturers. So it's going to be the worst-case scenario for a while. Longer-term is harder to guess. You know people have been hard at work reverse-engineering the Lightning connector; some like Brockerhoff are doing it out of intellectual curiosity but others are certainly doing it for the purpose of entering the accessory market. What happens then will be interesting and be the real test.