[AirForceTeacher]

So, for those of us who won't / can't leave the Apple ecosystem, any recommendations on :
 
Lightning based headphones
Lightning compatible DACs/Headphone amps (portable)
Bluetooth headphones
 
Haven't seen yet if the iPhone 7 will support AptX, I dearly hope so if I can't plug in anymore.  I have a pair of JBL Bluetooth cans that sound pretty good over bluetooth without AptX, but it would be nice for something even better.

 

[simonpickard]

Can't see them using AptX, they are using a custom bluetooth chip. Also I don't think the audio quality of the Air Pods would need it.

 

[simonpickard]

"Can't see them using AptX, they are using a custom bluetooth chip. Also I don't think the audio quality of the Air Pods would need

 
Can't see them using AptX, they are using a custom bluetooth chip. Also I don't think the audio quality of the Air Pods would need it.

Maybe not their AirPods but some Beats already have W1 chips in. I'm not a lover of them either but they are marketed as "high-end". Hopefully Apple have either added AptX / Aptx HD, or there's something going on with the W1 chip to increase quality.
 
AirPods can also be used without an Apple device, using straight Bluetooth. Hopefully we'll find out soon what it is!

 

[pieman3141]

Or just use the dongle. I'm satisfied with the iPhone's headphone-out, and from all accounts, the dongle is pretty much identical or puts out more volume when the "steps" are matched. I haven't heard back on battery tests yet, so I hope power consumption is identical as well.

 

[AxelCloris]

There are only a few Lightning headphones that I know of on the market currently. The Audeze Sine and EL-8 both have the optional Cipher cable, Philips has their M2L, Apple just released new EarPods and then there are a small handful of cheap IEMs available on sites like Amazon and eBay. There are a few brands like Audeze and FiiO that recently announced Lightning terminated headphones but they're not expected to hit the market until later this year. We have RMAF coming up in 2 weeks and it's possible that we may see some announcements that weekend as well.
 
As for Lightning compatible DACs you can use pretty much anything that doesn't require specialized drivers and doesn't draw too much power with the Apple CCK Lightning adapter. I have a Chord Mojo and a LH Labs GO V2+ that works well with the Lightning port and there are others like Oppo's HA-2, Audioquest's Dragonfly Black and Onkyo's DAC-HA200 to name a few.
 
For wireless you have a bevy of available options. If you want a pair with Apple's native W1 chip you're limited to Beats or Apple's AirPods. If you want normal Bluetooth there are countless offerings. There are completely independent models and adapters if you want to use your existing headphones wirelessly. Noble has the BTS and Astell & Kern just announced their AK XB10. There are many others as well but those are the two that came to mind first.
 
Then there's always the dongle. Buy one for each pair of headphones if you want simplicity or stick with the one that comes with the phone and interchange the headphones.