[estreeter]

Quote:

>drop the ball that fast
 
Really? this is what you say to the march of progress. They couldnt continue to make the phone smaller and thinner, like everyone wants, without making a new dock connector, one that was considerably smaller than the old version. So its fine for you to say that for you, this is a negative, and that you might not buy one. But to say that they dropped the ball is a bit ridiculous.

 
I don't want to start a flame war, but does anyone know how hard it would have been - technically - for Apple to include analog line-out capability as part of the new port (they seem to have acknowledged that its no long a 'dock connector' in moving to the new term). My el-cheapo Teclast T51 has a dedicated analog line-out : granted, its hardly 'slim', but what price aesthetics over retaining functionality that allowed others to profit from the iDevice ? 

 

[googleli]

Which DAC chip is inside the iPhone 5?

 

[seeteeyou]

.

 

[bixby]

Quote:

Not just the Classic - Apple have ensured that any runout stock of older iPods in reseller stores will disappear quickly, although I'm basing that on the ASSUMPTION that Joe Public will grasp what the change means for his nephew's spanking new iPod dock. I'm of the opinion that Apple and companies like Samsung (cruel, but I cant help myself) will be dealing with some irate folk in the coming months. 
 
Sadly, iPod docks aren't restricted to K-Mart specials from Sony etc - I know several of the audiophile docks have migrated to the digital stream (Peachtree, for one), but older docks will sit idle from the moment you insert one of the new iDevices into their cradle. 
 

I  wish Joe Public had a clue but unfortunately the Joe's I know that are not part of this community have no clue.  They will buy the latest and greatest without regard to what old accessory they may have purchased for the last kid.  When Christmas comes around and the kids put their list together, it will be the latest iphone or ipod regardless of what works with it or not.  As for the Audiophiles who have spent a lot on an accessory for the home for an ipod..............come on.............. this is not high end audio.
Quote:

Unfortunately it seems that on September 12th 2012 Apple ditched the line out from their idevices.
 
That's a very bad day for users who liked to amp their idevices and for those of us who believe that it's better a good internal dac than a usb dac (which has reclocking shortcomings). Not to mention for users that own a few speakerd docks.
 
Thus on September 13th i have a strong feeling that my days as an idevice user are coming to an end and when i think that one of the stronger selling point for iphones (that was the ubiquitous line out port) is gone i get goosebumps.
 
When Steve Jobs passed away i was sure that Apple could not keep up but i didn't think that they were dropping the ball that fast.
 
Sad
 

I am not sure what you mean by a USB dac that has reclocking shortcomings?  A well designed USB async dac that can control the timing of the music from the source can be much better sounding than one which relies on the (usually) inferior clock and transmission method of the source.  Yes I have heard a few dacs which can connect to an ipod and they sounded pretty crappy, but then again, I have heard some that sounded very good indeed.
 
As for you giving up idevices, so be it.  As for the ubiquitous line out for the iphone, come on, do you really think 95% of iphone owners even know what a line out is?  We are the 1% club if ever there was one.  And for dropping the ball, do you really think Jobs was that on top of it in his day as far as audiophiles interests were concerned?  Perhaps Tomlinson Holman will influence some new Apple designs and have a bigger effect on us audiophiles, but as much as I respect him, I will not hold my breath.

 

[alpha10]

Are you sure about the line-out ?
What about digital out, is that still supported?

 

[Timmyw]

This from David at Cypher Labs:
 
"DIY'ers will be out of luck for making their own cables since only authorised makers can get the Lightning hardware."
 
Well, I can't say I am surprised at all and I certainly hope this isn't true in the long run. It still makes me pretty angry though.

 

[rikardoliepa]

Apple should have included this "inovative" dock connector on 2007, not now.

 

[seeteeyou]

.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

I  wish Joe Public had a clue but unfortunately the Joe's I know that are not part of this community have no clue.  They will buy the latest and greatest without regard to what old accessory they may have purchased for the last kid.  When Christmas comes around and the kids put their list together, it will be the latest iphone or ipod regardless of what works with it or not.  As for the Audiophiles who have spent a lot on an accessory for the home for an ipod..............come on.............. this is not high end audio.
I am not sure what you mean by a USB dac that has reclocking shortcomings?  A well designed USB async dac that can control the timing of the music from the source can be much better sounding than one which relies on the (usually) inferior clock and transmission method of the source.  Yes I have heard a few dacs which can connect to an ipod and they sounded pretty crappy, but then again, I have heard some that sounded very good indeed.
 
As for you giving up idevices, so be it.  As for the ubiquitous line out for the iphone, come on, do you really think 95% of iphone owners even know what a line out is?  We are the 1% club if ever there was one.  And for dropping the ball, do you really think Jobs was that on top of it in his day as far as audiophiles interests were concerned?  Perhaps Tomlinson Holman will influence some new Apple designs and have a bigger effect on us audiophiles, but as much as I respect him, I will not hold my breath.

 
Everything that plays music doesn't have to be 'audiophile' - the dock concept was handy for the kitchen or out on the verandah. Tyll Herstens is a big fan of his table radio but readily admits that its nothing special. How many of us listen to FM radio in our cars without the need for it to be 'audiophile' quality. Time to come down from on high, Your Majesty.  

 

[googleli]

So, no more iPhone for audiophiles, until someone makes some audiophile grade Lightning to USB cable?

 

[seeteeyou]

.

 

[estreeter]

Quote:

So, no more iPhone for audiophiles, until someone makes some audiophile grade Lightning to USB cable?

 
Did you read the post from David at Cypher Labs ? This is the interesting part of his blog entry, IMO - 
 
 
Cypher Labs USB Audio line in capable AlgoRhythm Solo is ready for you when you finally get your hands on a new iPod or iPhone. 
 

They announced it, you want it, we’ve got it covered. It took a lot of reading through the Apple technical specs today (what else did I have to do?). Until I have an actual iPhone 5 in my hands, I won't be entirely comfortable and may have to eat my words

 

[Achmedisdead]

Quote:

I'm confused please elaborate on what you mean about the classic???????????????????????????

The Classic still uses the old 30-pin connector, so all the existing LOD setups will still work....unlike the newer iPods.

 

[miceblue]

Thanks for that, David - I raised the issue of the lightning connector with ALO's Ken Ball in the Sponsors forum and his suggestion mirrors yours - no surprises, I guess, but I cant blame Ken and many other manufacturers for feeling ticked off with Apple's approach to this change. Hardcore audiophiles aside, I cant believe they have obsoleted so many docks - bizarre behaviour from the company which once prided itself on its user community. Shades of their decision to stop dropping optical drives from various Mac computers. 

Wait maybe i'm confused, but I thought one can just use the Lightning-30 pin dock adaptor to connect to legacy devices.

I'm using an iTouch since I'm out of town so I may have missed some details. What's going to happen with older DAC/amps such as the FiiO E17 when the new iPhone/Touch/Nano comes out? Can i use the adaptor and all will be good? What about older dock speakers such as the iHome?

 

[estreeter]

1. If you are using an older Touch, you dont have to worry about a thing. Just continue hooking up to your current devices
 
2. If you intend buying the new iPhone 5 / Touch / Nano, you will get a USB connecting cable for the new port in the box with your iDevice, and this can be hooked up to something like the CLAS. 
 
3. The aforementioned adapter is purely to enable you to use the older cables for charging and data transfer - you will not be able to play music on an older dock via the Lightning port-equipped iDevices. gottamobile.com has the price for the new adapter starting at 29 USD. The adapters dont ship till October anyway, and gottamobile dont seem to grasp that those 'speaker docks' simply wont work anyway. 
 
As I said earlier in this thread,. this is all based on the assumption that we haven't somehow misread the black-and-white English on the Apple site, but both Ken Ball and David from Cypher Labs are working on exactly the same assumption. If we are wrong, then its just a few people on a forum freaking out over nothing - if we are right, there will be some seriously confused people trying to get music out of legacy docks using one of the adapters.