[Sound Eq]

i really do not understand apple's bold move, at least to push such a drastic change they should have opted to offer a huge improvement in audio quality to justify this change

 

[elfary]

As flawed as GSMarena measuring procedure is, it confirms as well that objectively the dongle is rather impressive:
 
http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_7-review-1497p7.php

 

[elfary]

  i really do not understand apple's bold move, at least to push such a drastic change they should have opted to offer a huge improvement in audio quality to justify this change

 0.3 ohms Zout IS an important improvement. Trust me.

 

[BlinkST]

  i really do not understand apple's bold move, at least to push such a drastic change they should have opted to offer a huge improvement in audio quality to justify this change

Audio quality in regards to what? Lightning-based headphones, or bluetooth? 

 

[Sound Eq]

 
Audio quality in regards to what? Lightning-based headphones, or bluetooth? 

in regards to the added dongle, they at least should consider that a big percentage use the 3.5 mm plugs so at least add a dongle that out performs the 3.5 mm jack

 

[zhenya]

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't see anything great about Apple right about now. Everyone I know is sick and tired of expensive iPhones (no more contracts and they force you to buy phones outright; who wants to have phone notes, seriously) and the iPhone 7 hasn't really struck a chord with my circle of friends. In fact, they're excited because they can get iPhone 6s for cheap now, lol.

I don't see any momentum for Apple to increase iTunes to a higher format such as lossless or hi-res. I mean why should they? The average joe-shomo can't hear the difference and is perfectly fine to keep either downloading songs or streaming. I have never heard anyone complaining to me about how bad songs sound from Spotify or Apple Music or even a Tidal with non-premium subscription.

The lack of a headphone jack was some smart aleck CPA who convinced Cook that Apple could make literally millions more money from people who will buy anything made by Apple, i.e., new lightning headphones, adapters, etc. Apple didn't use the space left over from not having a headphone jack so it's telling.

Since I never used the headphone jack anyway, it doesn't bother me but I'm certainly not buying an iPhone or any $850 phone for that matter. - people are crazy.

Now, what's making me excited is the momentum for hi res BT audio; I'd like to see more hi res BT gear such as aptX HD or Sonys LDAC.

Cheers.

 
Yes, you do appear to be missing something. Butt I'll let you figure that one out.
 
Seriously though, getting rid of the subsidies for phones was a big step forward in transparency for phone companies that are historically anything but. It's not a bad deal to get an interest free payment plan to get a new phone - and this year they are effectively giving you $650 if you have an old iPhone to trade in. I think the audio jack removal was premature, and the vast majority of people will never understand why it was done or that the 3.5mm jack is still perfectly functional, but that's Apple. I can live with the adapter, and I'm glad to see it's a good one, in typical Apple fashion. 

 

[RamGuy]

  in regards to the added dongle, they at least should consider that a big percentage use the 3.5 mm plugs so at least add a dongle that out performs the 3.5 mm jack

 
 
Judging by the numbers over in the science forum and the reports by a few here it doesn't seem like the dongle is doing any worse than the headphone jack on the iPhone 6S?
 
What did you expect? There are physics involved. There is no way Apple could simply decide to outdo themselves and provide a high-end DAC and amplifier in the dongle. In order to do so the dongle would need to become massive in size and that would be much more annoying to 99% of the customers.
 
The numbers on the dongle seems to be quite stellar considering its size. The performance is much better than many of us believed when we got to see the size of the dongle. Many of us didn't really believe Apple was able to fit a DAC in it at all.
 
 
 
People seem to complain just because these days. There doesn't seem to be anything to complain about with the dongle, none at all. The major downside is the pure inconvenience of having to relay on a dongle, and the fact that you can't charge and use the dongle at the same time. And the push towards Lightning and digital output makes it much easier for manufactures to deliver great DAC and amplifiers within their headphones instead of relaying on whatever is inside the phone. That is undoubtedly a good thing for higher-end headphones in the long run.

 

[west0ne]

I know I've said it before but I'm convinced that Apple only included the adapter to appease the established user base who already own headphones with the 3.5mm plug. Rumours were rife that the headphone jack was going and Apple knew from that there would be a degree of backlash so they took measures to address it.

In the Keynote speech they said their vision was for the future was wireless audio so it's not like they were hiding it, possibly the main problem they have is that wireless, whilst good enough for many consumers isn't yet at the point where it can handle lossless hi-res streaming to satisfy the audiophile community so in that aspect Apple possibly jumped the gun slightly. Perhaps they would have been better waiting until the next incarnation of the Bluetooth standard.

Apple could, and perhaps should have made the sound quality from their adapter a noticeable step up from the jack on the iPhone 6S, if only to prove one of their other points from the Keynote speech about digital being so much better than the 'old fashioned' analogue. As it stands I think the adapter is on a par in terms of overall sound quality with devices that have gone before (subjective, I know), so the only problem for many users will be the added inconvenience of having to use the adapter. Many casual users may not even notice the loss of the jack in everyday use as they will simply use the bundled earbuds with the lightning port in the same way they used the analogue jack earbuds with previous iDevices.

Apple hasn't removed the ability to use external USB audio devices so more serious users who prefer this approach to audio are still well catered for.

I am not entirely convinced that high-end headphone manufacturers will rush to upgrade all their top line headphones to lightning but I'm sure some will make an inline adapter that can be used with their headphones that come with detachable cables. Likewise I can't see lightning or any other digital port becoming the universal standard for audio any time soon because not all audio devices are digital, for example how would you have a lightning port output from a tube amp, and why would a vinyl listener want to convert to digital just to convert back again.

 

[Bombarde]

 
 
There doesn't seem to be anything to complain about with the dongle, none at all. The major downside is the pure inconvenience of having to relay on a dongle, and the fact that you can't charge and use the dongle at the same time. 

For some of us, those two things are exactly what's wrong with it.
 

 
 And the push towards Lightning and digital output makes it much easier for manufactures to deliver great DAC and amplifiers within their headphones instead of relaying on whatever is inside the phone. That is undoubtedly a good thing for higher-end headphones in the long run.

The thing is, we've had that capability when the headphone jack was still there. My Oppo HA-2 works wonderfully with the lightning port. Removing the 3.5mm jack does nothing to improve that capability.
 
But it does mean that we either have to use lightning headphones, or carry around something else. Not to mention the charging issue.

 

[simonpickard]

Has anyone heard any word on what bluetooth the iPhone 7 is using? Have they moved to Aptx yet? Aptx HD?
 
I can't find any word on the webs.

 

[svk7]

But it does mean that we either have to use lightning headphones, or carry around something else. Not to mention the charging issue.

This.

However, if the dongle took the iPhon's audio quality back to how good it was on the iPhone 5 or even first shuffle (or hell, as good as some of Apple's smartphone competitors like HTC and others who have 32-bit, 88.2kHz/s DACs) I wouldn't be complaining about the removal of the 3.5mm jack.

 

[ThinWalls]

In the Keynote speech they said their vision was for the future was wireless audio so it's not like they were hiding it, possibly the main problem they have is that wireless, whilst good enough for many consumers isn't yet at the point where it can handle lossless hi-res streaming to satisfy the audiophile community so in that aspect Apple possibly jumped the gun slightly. Perhaps they would have been better waiting until the next incarnation of the Bluetooth standard.

 

 
I'm nowhere near as fussy as many about audio-quality, but for me a big issue with wireless is having yet another battery to have to keep charging.  The size of batteries in wireless earphones is always going to be on the small side, and that means both frequent recharging and (probably) relatively short charging-cycle lifespans.  Since the days of cassette walkmen, battery life has always been one of the most important attributes of a portable player for me, and with wireless headphones you now have two (technically, three) batteries in the chain, and one or other of them is going to be conking-out at inconvenient moments.
 
Also the dongle just looks inconvenient to me - I have a portable external amp for my old ipod, but I rarely use it because having it dangle off of that not-very-robust port is kind-of awkward.  The traditional 3.5mm plug/jack seems a much more robust design than all these USB-variant plugs, though it has less functionality its easier to plug in and less prone to damage.  (At least on the ipod its vastly easier to replace a broken 3.5mm jack than the 30-pin dock, don't know if the lightning port on the iphone is directly soldered to the logic board the way the 30-pin connector is on the ipod).

 

[raptor18]

Wireless audio is a even worse idea than a wireless mouse and keyboard. One more thing to charge and we need a DAC in all of our headphones.

 

[Vidal]

  Wireless audio is a even worse idea than a wireless mouse and keyboard. One more thing to charge and we need a DAC in all of our headphones.

 
If Apple had retained the analogue audio output found in the 10 pin in the lightning connector we wouldn't have needed all these DACs/dongles/batteries

 

[west0ne]

  Has anyone heard any word on what bluetooth the iPhone 7 is using? Have they moved to Aptx yet? Aptx HD?
 
I can't find any word on the webs.

Based on press reports they are using Bluetooth V4 with no Aptx support. Supposedly the new wireless earpods will even work with non-Apple devices but obviously the added features such as touch controls and siri etc won't be available outside of Apple devices.