[franzdom]

I posted a question on Apple's website about the adapter and whether it had a dac or not, but as far as I know I haven't gotten a response. The phone still has a dac somewhere in there because it has speakers so there is no way it just doesn't have a dac. The big question is whether the Lightning port outputs digital or nailing audio. Perhaps we should spam Apple with emails until we get an answer.

 
Yes it seems like every cell phone must have a DAC even if it doesn't play music. Aren't cell voice signals digital?

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

The CEO of T-Mobile just said the 7 was the biggest pre sale unit yet. 4x the 6.
We might not be 100% behind it here but the future is wireless.

:O wow. I can accept Bluetooth as the future of audio, but I never thought the 7 would be that big. I'm actually a bit excited at the possibilities of future iPhones. the 3.5mm jack may be the only thing that I don't like about the 7. Hopefully we can give them some feedback somehow and the voice of the audiophile will finally reach Apple.

 

[simonpickard]

:O wow. I can accept Bluetooth as the future of audio, but I never thought the 7 would be that big. I'm actually a bit excited at the possibilities of future iPhones. the 3.5mm jack may be the only thing that I don't like about the 7. Hopefully we can give them some feedback somehow and the voice of the audiophile will finally reach Apple.

Or... We go with the flow and look back in 2-3 years why we ever bothered with tangled wires plugged into a 100 year old analog port as we fire up our hi-def wireless headphones.
Apple's done this time and again in it history. It won't be going back to wires. The next one to go (I'd guess within the next 2-3 years) will be lighting once they get an elegant solution to wireless charging.

Not all of us know it yet but we ALL want wireless headphones. The tech at our level just isn't there yet but you watch a massive push now Apple's ditching 3.5mm ports for 3rd party bluetooth cables, high quality lighting cables with solid DACs, etc.

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

Or... We go with the flow and look back in 2-3 years why we ever bothered with tangled wires plugged into a 100 year old analog port as we fire up our hi-def wireless headphones.
Apple's done this time and again in it history. It won't be going back to wires. The next one to go (I'd guess within the next 2-3 years) will be lighting once they get an elegant solution to wireless charging.


Not all of us know it yet but we ALL want wireless headphones. The tech at our level just isn't there yet but you watch a massive push now Apple's ditching 3.5mm ports for 3rd party bluetooth cables, high quality lighting cables with solid DACs, etc.

Trust me, I want Bluetooth headphones. I have the beats studio wireless and if I had more space on my phone I would use them so much more. Having no wires just makes things more, free.

 

[simonpickard]

I hear you on the space thing. I moved to Apple Music about 3 months ago and haven't looked back. I can't tell any difference with 256acc and now just stream anything I want at any time.

Haven't enjoyed music so much in years. Listen to amazing new artists every day now. Just need to get rid of the wires and I'm set!

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

I hear you on the space thing. I moved to Apple Music about 3 months ago and haven't looked back. I can't tell any difference with 256acc and now just stream anything I want at any time.

Haven't enjoyed music so much in years. Listen to amazing new artists every day now. Just need to get rid of the wires and I'm set!

If you are looking for good Bluetooth headphones then I've heard lots of good things about the definitive technology symphony 1. Might even be the best sound you can get from a wireless active ANC headphone.

 

[msknight]

Linus Tech Tips did a review on the Audeze Sine and also talked about the iPhone 7 - it was recorded before the official announcement, so he was speculating - but he did go in to the DAC on the phone not being a very high spec, and that the Sine has another DAC in the line. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPdJX_PJro0&feature=youtu.be&t=4m14s

 

[phase0]

 
Or... We go with the flow and look back in 2-3 years why we ever bothered with tangled wires plugged into a 100 year old analog port as we fire up our hi-def wireless headphones.
Apple's done this time and again in it history. It won't be going back to wires. The next one to go (I'd guess within the next 2-3 years) will be lighting once they get an elegant solution to wireless charging.

Not all of us know it yet but we ALL want wireless headphones. The tech at our level just isn't there yet but you watch a massive push now Apple's ditching 3.5mm ports for 3rd party bluetooth cables, high quality lighting cables with solid DACs, etc.

 
You're right in a sense. But the Focal Utopia I just purchased are not wireless and cost probably over 4 times what the phone cost. If I can get that performance wireless then yes I think I'd prefer that to wires (then gone is the need for an extra amp/dac?). Up to this point I don't think bluetooth headphones have this performance level. I didn't buy Utopia for mobile listening but it still bothers me that I can't or I need an adapter. I wanted to get a 3.5mm cable for it for my DAP. Oh well. It will probably be the adapter and dongle route for the future. I also saw something on a tech site about a blue tooth network sniffer and it indicates that a lot of details can be leaked about a person by their wireless. IMO people should be worried about that but it's probably the last thing on people's minds. I see that as increasing the attack surface area at least theoretically.

 

[msknight]

I still believe the iPhone is down to a bling thing. I've been walking around London this last two weeks, and people are holding their phones in front of them, as if it says something about them and makes them appear rich and successful. I look at their eyes, which are staring down at the screens, and I see tired people, almost lost, looking for some shred of meaning and definition for their lives. Perhaps that's what big cities does to people.
 
Factually and technically, Apple are not leading and not inventing. As I posted before, even the NFC pairing is a six year old spec invented by the Bluetooth and NFC bodies. They're behind everyone. Bluetooth isn't there and is a very, very crowded space; and I id try and walk around with a portable player and headphones last week... it was a bad experience. Couldn't hear traffic properly, couldn't hear the music properly, wasn't engaged with my surroundings... and wasn't able to engage with the music either...
 
Which is why people on the move probably don't give a crap about the poor quality.
 
I mean, when will I be concerned about a waterproof, ultra-slim phone with a crisp screen? I won't. The only time it will matter is when I accidentally drop it down the loo... (happened once in my life so far, and insurance took care of it)... get caught in a downpour... (happened once also, got caught in a hill region when it opened up to the degree that it soaked through my backpack and one phone in my pocket died when I slipped and fell on it, and the emergency phone was in a plastic bag)... the hotels have flat screen TV on the wall and... I could go on, but...
 
Ultimately, the iPhone isn't about technical excellence... it's about ego. People think that owning Apple says that they've got money and are successful... in actual fact, it says the reverse... that they, "had," money and make their technical choices based on emotion rather than actually knowing about the tech they're buying. If the pre-sales orders are really true, then it just cements the sad reality of society, as with the 10th anniversary of the iPhone just one year away... they've still got to have another piece of incremental bling today, rather than cake tomorrow... (or is the cake still a lie?)
 
As for wireless audio... various technologies have failed over the decades... and even bluetooth at home hasn't taken off... and I do find myself pondering that, if there was a good wireless technology... the big guys would have already done it... but they haven't embraced it yet. Why don't we have a wireless Senn, Beyer, etc., etc...?

 

[msknight]

This... says it all to me... about people that want iPhones for no rational or technical reason other than the bling factor and social pressure...
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81Dz-KzpqmQ
 
"I WANT THE IPHONE 5 SO BAD.... ALL MY FRIENDS ARE GETTING THE IPHONE 5 AND IM SICK OF NOT HAVING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE IS GETTING..
HOW AM I GONNA SUPPOSED TO SEE MY FRIENDS IF I DONT HAVE FACETIME?"
 
Sickening to see humanity like this.
 
And I do hold Apple responsible (and all the rest of the corporates that do this... it isn't only phones) for pushing those buttons in people... purely to sell more kit.

 

[phase0]

@msknight that goes a lot deeper and broader than just Apple. Reasons why can go on for a long time. Edward Bernays was the nephew of Sigmund Freud and considered the father of marketing, public relations and propaganda. This could totally go off the rails of iPhone topic but that is one particularly interesting guy. I'd like to believe in the inherent goodness and intelligence in people, glass is half full perspective. That a lot of the deplorable social conditions today are artificial and externally imposed and not a true expression of human nature.
 
Anyways another reason for someone to buy an iDevice is vendor/ecosystem lock in. I bought my first Mac when Apple switched to Intel. There's a lot of things I still like about it. Then there's the terrifying alternative of Windows (and linux which I did 100% for a while). So I would say outside of bling/ego factors there is that you don't want to retool, relearn, and start over. Apple usually makes things fairly seemless as long as you color inside the lines of their coloring book. Then there's people with various reasons trying to avoid dealing with another company and looking at who is left after they eliminated other options.

 

[dazzerfong]

To be fair, if I had to buy a Samsung S-series or an iPhone, I'd probably buy an iPhone. Luckily for me, I'm no fan of either, and I stick with the most deplorable brand of them all: Sony.
 
Besides the headphone jack thing, I still think iPhone's are some of the best phones you can buy. Sure, they're status symbols, but one thing I noticed with my friends: the majority of them are holding onto their 5s', rather than the newer 6 or 6s. Those things just work.

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

msknight, don't you think it may be a tad judgemental to say that all iPhone users get it to fit in socially? I mean, I got my iPhone 6s because it has awesome hardware, and I prefer iOS to any mobile software. Really I could care less if people looked at my phone. I don't hold it out in front of me so everyone can see it, I hold it out in front of me because I am scrolling through head-fi. you act like iPhones aren't in fact good phones when in truth they are.

 

[incubusfc]

Wow. I only read the first two pages in this thread but I can't believe the hate in it. But then again, I can.
 
 
Isn't the lightning port supposed to give you much better audio quality than the old OLD 3.5mm jack? Shouldn't that be the main thing that we're concerned with, since, you know, this is an audiophile forum and not an apple hate forum?

 

[PL4Y3R 0N3]

Wow. I only read the first two pages in this thread but I can't believe the hate in it. But then again, I can.


Isn't the lightning port supposed to give you much better audio quality than the old OLD 3.5mm jack? Shouldn't that be the main thing that we're concerned with, since, you know, this is an audiophile forum and not an apple hate forum?

I hear you about the apple hate, but trust me, I've seen worse.
And the problem with the lightning port is that it isn't a universal plug. 3.5mm is, and until now has been the standard for headphones. And even after Apple removed the 3.5mm it will continue to be the standard as all but the iPhone 7 accept it.it may be old, but that doesn't make it outdated.