OK, I bought a pair of MDR-1ADAC. Overall, here is what I am finding:
- Using the Lightning cable to attach to an iPhone 7+, iPad Air 2 or iPhone 5S with iOS10.0.3, I can ONLY get 44.1kHz sent to the MDR-1ADAC. Even sources that are 48kHz (or multiples of 48kHz) are output at 44.1kHz only. Based on the Sony support list, I should be getting 48kHz when appropriate. [Apple's one Lightning Earpods, or using the Apple Lightning to 3.5mm adapter with analog headphones, the phone does output 44.1kHz or 48kHz to these devices, whichever is most appropriate given the source.] I was able to verify this with both NePLAYER and KORG's iAudioGate. Both of these apps state both the source and actual output frequency (but they won't show the output bitdepth).
- I have no luck getting the MDR-1ADAC working with an Apple Camera Connection Kit. Their newest USB 3.0 kit will recognize the device if I connect it via USB cable to the MDR-1ADAC's PC micro-USB cable. And then both NePLAYER and iAudioGate list all supported output frequencies. BUT, no digital audio ever makes it to the MDR-1ADAC.
I am suspecting that these bugs are due to iOS10. But I can't tell for sure as none of my devices are running iOS9 or earlier.
One other comment is that I do actually get iOS sound effects in the headphone. This implies that the iPhone is not sending native bitstream out, but instead is mixing in phone sound effects. This despite that fact that the iPhone's volume control does not impact the output.
- Using the Lightning cable to attach to an iPhone 7+, iPad Air 2 or iPhone 5S with iOS10.0.3, I can ONLY get 44.1kHz sent to the MDR-1ADAC. Even sources that are 48kHz (or multiples of 48kHz) are output at 44.1kHz only. Based on the Sony support list, I should be getting 48kHz when appropriate. [Apple's one Lightning Earpods, or using the Apple Lightning to 3.5mm adapter with analog headphones, the phone does output 44.1kHz or 48kHz to these devices, whichever is most appropriate given the source.] I was able to verify this with both NePLAYER and KORG's iAudioGate. Both of these apps state both the source and actual output frequency (but they won't show the output bitdepth).
- I have no luck getting the MDR-1ADAC working with an Apple Camera Connection Kit. Their newest USB 3.0 kit will recognize the device if I connect it via USB cable to the MDR-1ADAC's PC micro-USB cable. And then both NePLAYER and iAudioGate list all supported output frequencies. BUT, no digital audio ever makes it to the MDR-1ADAC.
I am suspecting that these bugs are due to iOS10. But I can't tell for sure as none of my devices are running iOS9 or earlier.
One other comment is that I do actually get iOS sound effects in the headphone. This implies that the iPhone is not sending native bitstream out, but instead is mixing in phone sound effects. This despite that fact that the iPhone's volume control does not impact the output.
I am a little confused on the maximum bitrates and frequencies that the iPhone supports outputting to the headphones (either with the lightning cable, or with the iPhone camera connection kit). Are you sure that the MDR-1ADAC are really receiving the higher quality streams that the JRemote is reporting? Or is the JRemote app simply reporting the stats on the source file and not on what is actually getting output from the iPhone?
Have you ever tried another iOS app, such as iAudioGate (or even NePLAYER), which displays both the source and also the output format simultaneously? These apps make it easy to see what is actually going out to the headphones.