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

[arftech]

I just took order of the Audeze EL-8 Headphones to pair with my I7+ and I wonder how they'll sound with the phone and Oppo.  The B&W P7 is getting phased out of my portable setup.
 
Enjoy The Music!

 

[OMGLadyGaga]

Hi I can't read the thread atm, but what's the consensus on the dongle? Does it have a dac and is it good? I have a 6s right now NOT interested in the 7, but a $9 dongle to improve sound well why not

 

[west0ne]

Hi I can't read the thread atm, but what's the consensus on the dongle? Does it have a dac and is it good? I have a 6s right now NOT interested in the 7, but a $9 dongle to improve sound well why not

As with most things when it comes to sound quality you will get mixed opinions. General opinions from reading various comments here and elsewhere and from my own listening is that unless you have low impedance, sensitive headphones you probably wont find much audible benefit or difference from using the adapater over the headphone out on your existing 6S.

The adapter does have its own DAC and Amp, either pick one up to give it a try, at the price it's not a big deal or try to borrow one, there are going to be a lot around and you're bound to know someone who has one already.

 

[Jb1677]

Has anyone tried or reviewed or reported on the audio quality of the iPhone Lightning Dock?  Seems like a good accessory to enable charge plus headphone for desk use but I cant seem to find any reviews regarding audio quality

 

[shurealltheway]

Here's an interesting link which confirms what me and many on here have been saying about the dongle.

iFixit's iPhone 7 audio adapter teardown reveals mystery circuity - CNET
https://apple.news/AJ73Cc0OKRTWs6nKLfZQY_w

 

[west0ne]

More detailed teardowns show that the adapter and the bundled earbuds are using the same DAC/Amp chip (same design and part number), it appears to be an as yet unknown chip with an Apple part number so looks to have been made specifically for these devices.
 
Perhaps the use of the same chip in the adapter and the headphones explains the EU power limitations being enforced with the adapter despite the fact that it didn't actually need to be enforced.
 
Not all adapters are created equal, some of the 3rd party non-MFi devices available on eBay and Aliexpress state that they don't work with the Mic function suggesting they missed out the ADC bit; this further suggests that they may be using inferior components.

 

[club968]

More detailed teardowns show that the adapter and the bundled earbuds are using the same DAC/Amp chip (same design and part number), it appears to be an as yet unknown chip with an Apple part number so looks to have been made specifically for these devices.

Perhaps the use of the same chip in the adapter and the headphones explains the EU power limitations being enforced with the adapter despite the fact that it didn't actually need to be enforced.

Not all adapters are created equal, some of the 3rd party non-MFi devices available on eBay and Aliexpress state that they don't work with the Mic function suggesting they missed out the ADC bit; this further suggests that they may be using inferior components.

In my experience, anything not backed by/officially licensed for Apple products will produce a poor a poor experience with a limited lifespan. Things just don't work well....inferior components is an understatement, lol

 

[Vidal]

In my experience, anything not backed by/officially licensed for Apple products will produce a poor a poor experience with a limited lifespan. Things just don't work well....inferior components is an understatement, lol

 
I have a non MFI lightning cable that has outlived all my genuine Apple ones and has never failed to charge/sync once. MFI is about compatibility not build quality.

 

[Cheesedoodle]

  Here is a link re from Qobuz re the Lightning 3.5mm jack adapter compatibility with 24-bit/192KHz audio output.     http://qob.uz/minijacken 

I don't fully understand the point in this article about the dongle's 24-bit/192KHz audio output capability. Is it saying that the dongle can output 24-bit/192KHz audio (which I believe is incorrect), or that it does a good job down-converting 24-bit/192KHz audio output to 16-bit 44.1 (which neither surprising nor exciting)?

 

[west0ne]

I read that article from Qobuz and it did seem to conflict with other reports around the bit-depth and sample rates. They did come to their conclusion just from listening tests and the assumption that a certain part number that is capable of 24/192 is the one being used so the adapter must also support 24/192. I don't think that they actually did any scientific measurement.
 
I think that their assumptions around the part number and support for certain sample rates may be a bit of a leap, and their listening tests could just show that they actually can't tell the difference between the higher and lower rates.
 
As we know from other DAC/Amps on the market just because the chip can support certain bit-depths and sample rates doesn't mean that they have actually been implemented.

 

[nc8000]

Well the dongle outputs an analog signal to the headphones. What bit rates it can decode is as far as I know an unknown

 

[Cheesedoodle]

Well the dongle outputs an analog signal to the headphones. What bit rates it can decode is as far as I know an unknown

 
 
Right. My question is what bit rate(s) the dongle decodes. I believe the iPhone headphone out DAC was shown to decode at 16-bit (maybe 24-bit?)/48khz but not higher. If the dongle actually decodes at higher bit rates that would be awfully cool.
 
For what it's worth, my own subjective, unscientific listening impressions, A/B-ing the dongle with the iPhone 6-plus headphone out, is that the dongle connected to the iPhone 7-plus is on par with the headphone output of the iPhone 6-plus. I'll try some higher bit rate files and see if the dongle seems to reveal any difference listening to those as compared to lower bit rates files.

 

[originalsnuffy]

I have asked two Apple store employees about the dongle and they all have stated that it is equivalent to the output of the 6 and 6S
 
My understanding is that the iphone can handle 24bit and 48khz natively
 
With the CCK and appropriate SW and HW; you can go up to DSD let alone 24 - 192.

 

[west0ne]

  I have asked two Apple store employees about the dongle and they all have stated that it is equivalent to the output of the 6 and 6S
 
My understanding is that the iphone can handle 24bit and 48khz natively
 
With the CCK and appropriate SW and HW; you can go up to DSD let alone 24 - 192.

Not wanting to disparage Apple Store employees but I honestly wouldn't take much in the way of technical advice from them. When they say equivalent to the 6/6S they probably mean audible qualities not technical, and even that will be opinion; if they knew the actual technical specs then they could have just listed the tech specs.
 
You're right about external DAC/Amps through the CCK in that they'll do bit perfect but you will at least have the full spec sheet on whatever you've bought. The issue is that there doesn't appear to be a published spec sheet for the Apple adapter.

 

[425118]

I've been using the dongle since the release and the connection is already getting fuzzy when it is accidently bumped. Anyone else having this issue?