iPhone 7 Will Revolutionize Portable Audio for the First Time in a Decade

[CoryGillmore]

  Finally, my iP7 Plus arrived yesterday morning and here are some impressions with the dongle and without it:
 
Equipment used: 
 
iPhone 7 Plus Jet Black 256GB variant
Included dongle
Included Lightning to USB cable
Oppo HA-2 Headphone DAC/Amp
B&W P7 Headhones
Westone UM Pro 50 IEMs
Tidal HiFi - Erik Frielander (OSCALYSO), AZYMUTH (Before e Forget), Sam Smith (In The Lonely Hour), Melanie De Blasio (No Deal - Remixed)
 
The mood for music today was Jazz with a straight up acoustic flavor and Brazilian flavor, electronic and some R&B.  With the dongle the phone was paired with the P7 headphones / UM Pro 50 and to be honest I found the sound to be good but something was missing as the music seemed constricted in a way using the dongle.  Some may feel otherwise.  However, for non-serious portable listening I wouldn't have a problem using the dongle.  
 
Things changed for the better when the HA-2 was inserted into the chain which allowed the music to open up with more clarity, breadth and air.  You could distinguish where instruments and voices were placed within the mix.  This is probably due to a separate and better solution for critical listening when outboard DACs and amps are used instead of just  a phone.  
 
Because of the storage capacity of the 7 and it's partnering with the Apple eco-system, the iPhone is the perfect companion for music and consumption. Some good sounding bits are coming out of that lightning port! 

 

Excellent to hear brother. What cell carrier are you with?

 

[mykeldg]

 
I felt using the dongle on the 7 Plus sounded better than the headphone jack on the 6S Plus.

Whoa that's great news for non iphone 7 users getting SQ upgrade for 9$. Hope I can find one here in the Philippines since IP7 is not yet launched here.

 

[elfary]

  Noway! Now im really getting one for my 5s. Just couldn't seem to find them on any stores here in Asia yet.
 
Just curious -- is it also better than the one on the 6s?

 
By using the dongle with my Shure SE846 i'd say the answer it's an outright hell, yeah!
 
After all by switching from the 6s hpo to the dongle you are getting rid of the EMI noises and cutting down the output impedance by more than 3 ohms.
 
Pitched against an iPhone 6 it might be a closer call. Someday i will find out if i take the plunge and upgrade my iPhone 6 to iOS 10.

 

[dbaker1981]

You guys see now apple filed a patent to get rid of the lighting jack?

 

[arftech]

  Excellent to hear brother. What cell carrier are you with?

Sorry, I did not disclose...Verizon

 

[arftech]

You guys see now apple filed a patent to get rid of the lighting jack?

To replace it with what?  A wireless solution for everything?   Any of you think wireless technology is ready for primetime HiFi reproduction?

 

[shotgunshane]

Replace it with an optical solution:
https://www.google.com/amp/www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2016/09/27/apple-removes-iphone-lightning-port/amp/?client=safari

 

[dbaker1981]

Replace it with an optical solution:
https://www.google.com/amp/www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2016/09/27/apple-removes-iphone-lightning-port/amp/?client=safari

Yea basically the holes for the optics to pass through would be so small you couldn't see them with the naked eye.

 

[BlinkST]

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2016/09/apple-granted-48-patents-today-covering-optical-connectors-cellular-connectivity-for-apple-watch-more.html
 
I don't see how they plan to use that for audio. You're going to replace the lightning port for yet another connector for music? Schiller already said that it makes no sense for us to be tethered to our mobile devices. It looks more to me like they are going to go all-in on wireless audio. 
 
I agree that it's going to suck if they eliminate the lightning port... 

 

[west0ne]

Once you've convinced everyone to buy lightning port devices and you can't sell any more you have to have another revenue stream to turn to.

 

[BlinkST]

Can't sell anymore? That would be weird, considering they have around one billion customers to work with. Airpods are supposedly highly anticipated, which is good news for the company looking to eliminate wires. We'll see how it all plays out.

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/09/29/airpod-survey

 

[shotgunshane]

I saw Larry Ho (LH Labs) weighed in on the headphone adapter:
https://www.facebook.com/larry.ho.heyuan/posts/10157409342390532

 

[elfary]

I saw Larry Ho (LH Labs) weighed in on the headphone adapter:
https://www.facebook.com/larry.ho.heyuan/posts/10157409342390532

Good to hear different views, i can not hear any artifact with my SE846s.

Is there a way to get a full size graph where one could actually check the actual figures?

In Yuriv graph there was a hint of jitter but well below the ear threshold.

What does the company of this guy sell?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[shotgunshane]

Good to hear different views, i can not hear any artifact with my SE846s.

Is there a way to get a full size graph where one could actually check the actual figures?

In Yuriv graph there was a hint of jitter but well below the ear threshold.

What does the company of this guy sell?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've only seen it on FB, so not sure if there is a larger size graph.

LH sells DACs. From desktop to portable and everything in between. They even have a DAP in the works (DAP is a few years in the making).

 

[CoryGillmore]

Good news good news! Turns out with all that estimated ship date being pushed back BS, my jet black 256gb 7+ shipped today anyway!!! Should have it Monday. Rejoice rejoice!