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Apple Removed Headphone Jack From New iPhones Because It Owns Largest Bluetooth Headphone Company (theverge.com)
Apple's new iPhones -- the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus -- don't have the headphone jack. The company's SVP Phil Schiller said the move signifies "courage" from the company to put a 100-year-old audio standard to bed. But there could be one more reason for this transition to a Bluetooth/Wireless headphones future: it owns the largest Bluetooth headphones company -- Beats. The Verge reports: More likely is that the lack of a headphone jack on the iPhone -- and increasingly, on Android phones as well -- will lead to an uptick in sales of Bluetooth headphones. And it just so happens that Apple owns the number one Bluetooth headphone company, Beats. Beats brings in more revenue from Bluetooth headphones than LG, Bose, or Jaybird, according to NPD figures released in July. In terms of unit sales, it controls over a quarter of the Bluetooth headphone market. Bluetooth headphones are also disproportionately profitable among headphones. NPD has them accounting for 54 percent of all dollars spent in the market, despite representing only 17 percent of units sold in the U.S.. These headphones sell at high prices with high margins, and Apple's company is making the best of it so far. Sales of Bluetooth headphones are already growing, with units up 64 percent year over year according to NPD's US figures. And Apple's removal of the headphone jack is likely to give them another boost.
Gasp! It's like...everything they do is about making more money! I never realized!
Well, that is one very cynical view. Of course they might have reasons that benefit users. The fact that they offer an adapter rather dispels this theory. Get good Bluetooth headphones and you won't want to go back. Hint: x.
With one of these: http://appleplugs.com/
Apple: Oh you'll need some battery powered headphone to do that, we just happen to sell some.
Me: Screw you, I don't want to own some shitty Bluetooth headphones. Ever. I just don't like em.
First person who tells me I need to re-buy hundreds and hundreds of dollars in headphones I currently own just because of this one huge stupid flaw gets a kick in the ass. This is such a stupid reason for me to have to buy an Android phone instead of an iPhone.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Apple finally figured out how to energistically create market positioning benefits in order to monotonectally cultivate maintainable imperatives and progressively evolve synergistic methods of empowerment for credibly synergizing accurate strategic theme areas!
The iPhone "Jack off". Suits the product and it's customers perfectly.
Apple hasn't been at the forefront of phone development for a while. If their target market is willing to go along with "I prefer to be seen with my idevice + my beats accessory" they'll do well. If not, people will buy something else. I'll use my current iphone with headphone jack until it doesn't suit my needs anymore and then I'll just buy a product that does.
**shrug**
Headphones, and your ears, are analog. The signal gets converted from digital to analog before you can hear it, and is amplified. So, do you want to use the amplifier in the phone, which has a nice big battery and a powerful amplifier that can also drive the speaker, and that can easily dissipate any heat from the amplifier, or the amplifier in your headphone, which if it's an in-ear one is going to have limitations regarding the battery and the amplifier.
It is not even theoretically possible for a Bluetooth headphone to make better sound. At best, it's the same. The only benefit is that you lose the cord.
This was an astonishingly cynical move and I hope that Apple loses customers over it.
Bruce Perens.
The iPhone 8 will require special glasses to see the screen. Apple will congratulate itself for its bravery in leading the industry in such a move.
Bruce Perens.
Why'd they really do it? Beats me.
I think the largest bluetooth headset seller is some anonymous company in China. The cheap BT headsets you can see on Amazon or Alibaba mostly all look the same, so I suspect are just barely-rebadged versions of the same thing. And surely their volume collectively exceed the sum of Beats, Bose and (never heard of them) Jaybird. And by "volume" I don't just mean units, but as the unit number is so enormous, I also mean dollars.
As for their actual motivations etc...whatever.
They may have partly bought a headphone company knowing that Bluetooth headphones were going to be a hot commodity. But it certainly ridiculous to imply they are deliberately depriving people of headphone jacks to make more money. Firstly, no one is forcing anyone to buy iPhone rather than a Google phone with headphone jack. Secondly, every iPhone still comes with wired headphones anyway, for chrissake. Thirdly, it's not as if we didn't all already know that wireless was inevitable in the first place. Wired headphones have felt like a pain in ass anachronism that we'd like to get rid of for years. Anyway, the iPhone 7 come with wired headphones. They just use different jack. What's with you people?
I bet you just love the way Apple knows you're so cool and tech savvy you'll never need to choose between charging your phone and listening to music.
And the convenience of having a pair of headphones that work on just about any device anywhere in the world capable of producing sound kind of sucks, too.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
tly, looking for a good solution for my personal use case at work. I've found to be a gold mine of information.
I've never had any special love for Apple and especially not bluetooth anything. I read a bunch of posts there which I think this article from lifehacker mostly addresses.
tl;dr - audio compression, dead batteries, overlapping frequency ranges from other shit make bluetooth suck (although supposedly less so than in the past). I don't claim to be an expert just a reader.
Headphones do not come with 0% career financing like cell phones. Someone who owns one expensive wired pair to use at home and other for exercise may well be tempted to check out Android offerings rather than putting up with the hassle of two dongles to listen and charge at the same time.
Not surprised. Kill off all of the competition, make a "port" (lightning), patented, sell overpriced wired headphones, overpriced adapters (which initially come with the phone), or have people buy overpriced bluetooth headsets...which they own one of the best selling ones. For all of the liberal anti everything types that purchase Apple products, they forget they are a pure CAPITALIST company, cutting where they can, overcharging where they can, TO MAKE MORE MONEY.
Ditto. I have zero interest in recharging another device or carrying an easily lost and awkward dongle.
Like a lot of technologies, people cling to it because it's familiar, unchanged, simple.
Wired headphones never need to be recharged. That is vastly more important to me on a day-to-day basis than dealing with a cord, which has never really been a problem.
With their sales falling, profits starting to slow. This is their big move to right the ship or go under. Similar plan they had back in the day. Will history repeat itself?
Well, that is one very cynical view. Of course they might have reasons that benefit users. The fact that they offer an adapter rather dispels this theory. .
How so?
The fact they offer and adaptor for sale tends to confirm the theory rather than dispel it.
Beyond this you have two problems.
First and foremost is that people hate adaptors. They're a pain in the arse, they get lost, forgotten or stolen. They're difficult to replace at short notice (and cost a kings ransom when they can). They're also quite fragile, on a mobile device this is going to be a huge problem.
Secondly there is only one port, so this means you can charge OR use the adaptor. A lot of people only use the 3.5 mm jack for connecting to the aux in on their cars, its simpler and better quality when using nav and music applications, especially if you're using the one on the head unit and the other on the phone. This means that people wont be able to charge and use their device at the same time in the car, trust me, a lot of people will do this and rely on their commute to charge their phone. Also, they're another device you need to charge and keep charged.
Get good Bluetooth headphones and you won't want to go back. Hint: x.
Get a cheap pair of wired headphones and listen to the huge increase in quality.
I have a pair of $30 Senn HD201's which aren't particularly high end, they are far better than $300 bluetooth headphones I've used. When you're on a call I can instantly identify anyone using bluetooth as it introduces static, echos and other artefacts, the cheaper devices also introduce noticeable delays.
Bluetooth produces a noticeable drop in audio quality due to compression which is due to limited bandwidth.
I'm sorry that you've drunk the cool aid and need to defend everything that Apple does, but they've seriously screwed up here.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
If you really care about audio quality, you should be pretty excited about headphones that can draw power from the lightning connecter... that allows for better processing, better noise cancellation, and so on all for headphones that never need a battery.
I was pretty excited by the noise cancelling Bose I got a few years ago. I still use them every day at work and they have a battery that requires charging.
It can plug into my computer, my mixing desk and my phone.
I see nothing but inconvenience coming from this.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
If you really care about audio quality, you should be pretty excited about headphones that can draw power from the lightning connecter... that allows for better processing, better noise cancellation, and so on all for headphones that never need a battery.
That's something that couldn't happen if Apple stuck with audio jacks.
This doesn't make sense. The DAC is the most important component of digital audio quality. Moving it to the headphones does none of these things (digital processing is still in the phone) and takes the control of audio quality entirely out of Apple's hands. This seems counter to their general philosophy.
As for the wireless part, it seems like Apple is trying to make that as nice as possible, with as high a quality as possible. That too is better if you care about audio at all.
So why so down on such an obvious improvement that helps wired AND wireless users?
This also doesn't make sense. Bluetooth compression is known for reducing audio quality, even if you ignore the various reported connectivity issues.
Replacing an old standard without an improved solution (even if proprietary) is very unlike Apple. My only conclusion is this is a money grab. It shows them struggling to differentiate themselves in the market. I think they may have jumped the shark.
And the most impressive part is how completely, utterly terrible Beats headphones actually are!
Really, go and try some reasonable Sennheiser, Koss, AKG, Pioneer, hell even Sony...
Beats are just plain out terrible, especially for the money.
But then owners are not buying sound are they, ts all about a stylized 'b' on the ears...
The number of people I have donated older Sennheiser phones to who have then given away their
much more expensive Beats amazes me. PX200 for travel, HD280Pro for home. both cheap 2nd hand.
But, yes the move by apple is rather transparent.
#1, take attention off the lack of other improvements in the 7 by doing something controversial.
#2, improve Beats/Apple profit by gouging the fanbase even more.
It seems thats what passes for innovation these days - that and crying over un(fairly)paid tax being called in.
Sad, really.
Pity it violates the Apple standard for the Lightning connector..
Without supplying external power you are specifically NOT allowed to provide an additional lightning connector.
I am sure it works, but Apple may or may not end up allowing it.
My bet is they will just quietly demand their 'cut' behind the scenes, and they will have their own version soon.
Its a joke they didnt have enough consideration for their users to know this would be a requirement for a lot of people.
So, if I own an iPhone, Apple Watch, and now earbuds I have three things to charge everyday. This is wearisome. Could someone please make headphones and phones and watches that only need to be charged once a year? Not to mention, I have two things to keep up with now (two earbuds) vs. once set of tangled cords that doesn't need to be re-charged. Everything is a tradeoff, but for me, I am weary of charging.
If you really care about audio quality, you should be pretty excited about headphones that can draw power from the lightning connecter... that allows for better processing, better noise cancellation, and so on all for headphones that never need a battery.
Hi there! Having participated in the design (and continuing to do so) of more than a few VERY high-end powered headphones, I can tell you that a 1500-1800 mAhr battery is pretty standard these days. And that's needed for a 12-15 hour run time. That translates to about 125-150 mA draw from the battery. The Lightning connector only allows 100 mA. So something will have to give (hopefully it's the god-awful capsense and LED indicators people love to load up on their headphones). You only get so much power from that connector...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Once again Apple has changed the field with another innovation. They have now redefined the meaning of "courage".
And, forcing everyone to use bluetooth, so they can sell more Beats bluetooth headphones, is exactly why there's no way to plug regular headphones into the iPhone 7. This is why they don't even include a free adapter in the box with each and every single iPhone.
Oh, hang on a minute...
Specialist Mac support for creative pros, Melbourne
Apple may/will make money out of that move. Ok. But of course tons of competitors anticipated the jack removal and made other BT devices, cheaper than Beats. The jack is that long and old piece of equipment that had to be removed at some point. This is a logical evolution. Next will be the lightning port (replaced with induction). Whatever Apple does, a plethora of "critiboys" (the opposite of fanboys) has to open their mouth loudly. Nope, critiboys are no better than fanboys.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
But what are the margins?
Are these common problems for people? No offense, but perhaps you are just a klutz.
Your argument is the logical one of a future facing apple fanboi, however 3.5mm jacks are ubiquitous. If you brought your device to a friends house, or an entertainment venue (wedding, party, workplace), i am willing to bet they have an analog way to convert that sound to 1/4inch, XLR, RCA or any other connector going back 50 or more years of technology. Plus you can easily make and fix the cables yourself for pennies.
The counter point is that there is no good reason to remove them. If you find that headphones get in the way, well then you can buy bluetooth headphones as you have done and nothing changes for you. This is all about forcing design over function, and why I would never buy any apple product of any kind because that is all they have ever really cared about. That, and money. Sweet sweet $35 cable money. (or in this case, 100s of % more profit for lack there of)
-
Beats is also the worst value for your dollar. They're ridiculously overpriced, and not that good. The only people who buy this stuff are people with more money than sense.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
Er, but they could've done that already. Lightning audio output already works, doesn't it?
Yes, it does, since iOS 5.1.1: http://www.apogeedigital.com/p... (and many others)
Anyways, Apple's built-in DACs are widely known for being better than almost anyone else's. I'm not an audiophile, and I never had to worry about whether the random headphones or stereo system or speakers I had on hand had a quality DAC, but now I do - and it'll cost more to boot (especially for a mediocre one, let alone one as good as the one Apple used to have).
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
Let us be a bit pragmatic about this by analysing the electronics and the data stream.
I'm a fan of the jack because it allows me to choose the headphones. The only thing I don't have control over is the DAC in the phone.
For general listening Beats are a heavy headphone and after seeing a construction breakdown on /. some time ago found their specs to be average. A good set of senheiser headphones would be a better investment. Bose look and sound good however I had a hard time tracking down specs last time I was shopping. I'm pretty fussy and my headphones have a response range 16Hz - 28kHz and handle 200mw of power. I have to wear them alot for mixing so they have to be leightweight and they also have interesting features like auto muting when I take them off. I found AKGs to be perfect here.
Apple's decision means I can choose higher quality DACs for headphones however it also means the end of the era for lightweight quality headphones as it means these devices will have to carry a battery, receiver, DAC, amplifier *AND* audio membrane. More likely, significantly more functionality.
Considering iTunes accepts music at 96Khz for the masters it is likely this is the next phase of innovation Apple is suggesting where DAC converter in headphone technology improve as consumer grade headphones are able to process higher bitrates with better sound quality and still deliver an enjoyable power delivery and battery life. What it means for people like me is that my high quality gear exposes the limitations of the phone.
It also means all the associated DAC technology on the phone only has to match the bandwidth of the phone's speakers. I can see why this is a plus for manufacturers as I doubt the DAC in many phones now could deliver the dynamic range that my AKGs can handle and the only way to improve that is to have better DACs and amplifiers on the phone. By not having to have that shootout with other phone manufacturers all manufacturers reduce cost, complexity and, power consumption of their phones.
However it also means the end of private analogue connection to the phone as locally eavesdroping on unencrypted bluetooth connections becomes more probable.
This is a new type of market, that apple is creating because now they race is to produce phone headphones that are hyped or actually can deliver quality audio to consumers at a rate more frequent than the delivery of a new phone. Neither bad or good, but a change to the market for headphones.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
You can fumble with the adaptor if you are out of juice in your wireless headphones, of just buy two sets of wireless headphones and solve the problem. /s
If you care about audio quality you use a USB DAC+Headphone amp, and a real pair of wired headphones.
If you care about convenience, there were plenty of BT headphones before, this just removes the option for people who find wires more convenient than fiddling with headphone batteries.
Speaking of DACs, can anyone recommend a good USB => line level DAC, instead of a headphone amp? I want something to hook speakers to rather than headphones, and paying for a headphone amp just to get the DAC seems wasteful.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Courageously! They do all that courageously!
Apple has often brought 'Innovation' in form of new jakcs often even incompatible ones. Now they removed one perfect standard plug again. And some Android phones, especially from Samsung, will also skip the old jack. But they are not the only ones. In recent PC hardware the sound quality of the analog output is degrading . It is in fact an industry thing. USB and Bluetooth headsets bring in more money and computers can get cheaper, was they do not need a real audio device.
Actually, they're widely known for being less crappy than other devices in their price class; there's a difference. From what I remember, Apple stopped being known for good built-in audio quality when they stopped building their own audio chipsets at or around the time of the Intel transition. Everything since then has been a significant compromise to keep costs down.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I never used the headphone jack on my phone. While I go running, I use a BT headset and my car also has BT connectivity.
Besides, an adapter is included. It's not that big of a drama.
The biggest complainers fall in the category of either:
- "I will never buy an iPhone, but now it lost the headphone jack, I will certainly NEVER going to buy one!!", raging fists included.
- People who consider everyone who buys this as "dumb" or "sheeple". However, the missing audio-jack is not a deal-breaker for most current iPhone users. There are lots of other interesting upgrades that makes current iphone users consider upgrading.
- People who, for some reason, are offended that other people buy products that they personally don't like.
The only users who have real reasons to complain, are the ones who use both the audio-jack and the lightbolt adapter at the same time (like when your car doesn't have BT yet, and use the aux-in option). But that's like 1 or 2 percent of the current iPhone users.
Oh, and I'm not an Apple "fanboy" btw, so spare me the insults
...You are over-qualified and under-paid. If we give you a raise, we will break the cosmic balance of the universe.
The last time I bought in-ear headphones I had to choose if I wanted them for an iPhone or a Samsung phone, what standard are we talking about? And even then the remote is still very limited, this will change now.
It just fits.
Also, you can do data and power over the headphone jack, as well as an FM antenna. It's not rocket science, just an extension of the button controls we already have.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I think this one would be pretty good.
If you're complaining about Bluetooth headphones in 2016, it's because you've bought crappy ones.
If we're complaining about bluetooth in 2016 it's because the standard for bluetooth audio is a garbage mash of incompatibilities combined with the requirement to pay license fees to use codecs which many people don't and a fallback mode to a compression technology that makes 1994 era MP3s sound fantastic by comparison.
But I also don't get the hate and cynicism they've gotten for removing the headphone jack. It's a remnant of the ancient past.
No it's a tool for the present. I look around the office and I see hundreds of 3.5mm headphones. I go into any high end audio store and no top quality headphones has anything other than a 3.5mm jack. Most are sold with an adaptor for 1/4" TRS plugs which are far more a remnant of the ancient past but hey out of the box headphones still support it.
When you do something that's at odds with an entire industry you don't get to claim "remnant of the ancient past" style reality distortion bullshit.
What was once a great company making high quality computer hardware and software for creative professionals which just worked, most of the time, they have got off their face on dollars, have a mulltimillion-a-day consumer 'greenback crack' habit, and are basically scalping the consumer market for all they can get to keep feeding their dollar-addiction. It is horrifying to see an addictive substance like consumer-dollars reduce them to this.
John_Chalisque
So Apple release a new Phone. And they ditched the headphone jack. Both a big freakin' deal apparently. Chill out. Jesus HB Christ. It's new shiny nice and Apple, and just as obscenely expensive as the last one, if not more so. Big hairy surprise. Here's a secret tip: If you don't like the product, don't buy it.
I won't. I'm perfectly happy with my still new (barely a year old) 130 Euro Moto G2. Which actually has a higher resolution camera than that new iPhone btw. And, yes, I *do* use Apple products.
As for removing the jack:
It actually makes perfect sense if you want to make your phone reliably water-resistant and remove ancient analog technology that uses gobs of space. Phil Schillers reasoning for the move was as conclusive and sensible, as the sidewank about 'courage' was silly.
Their wireless headphone offering that comes with it looks impressive too. I wouldn't buy, because I've always considered wireless stuff (including WLAN) a flaky stopgap for surfing at the cafe at best and the entire wireless hype more trouble than it's worth (my next mouse will be wired again, that's how bad the newest logitech offerings suck), but as far as wireless earbuds go, those new ones from apple probably are the best you can get.
As for iPhone updates, I personally was way more impressed by them adding their taptic engine thingie to the iPhone and removing the physical home button. Also to reduce gaps in the case. Which leads actually to one of the biggest and notable updates to the iPhone: It now is water-resistant and probably will survive an accidental plunge into the sink. Actually a true selling point in my book. ... But again, I'm not buying, because I think spending 200+ Euros more on my phone than on my most powerful laptop is a little ridiculous. Especially with nigh similar offerings from the android camp that cost roughly a 6th of an iPhone.
Bottom line:
Could we now just move on and cut a little down on the free hype Apple is getting? They're the richest company already and they already sold a billion iPhones - so on that alone I guess they know what they are doing.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
http://en-uk.sennheiser.com/mo... isn't exactly low-end, 600mAH battery, up to 22 hours life (according to a cnet review).
So there's room to improve even on those without getting close to hitting the lightning connector cap.
"More likely is that the lack of a headphone jack on the iPhone -- and increasingly, on Android phones as well..." OK, what Android phones DON'T have an audio jack? Maybe some obscure brand/model nobody has ever heard of, but on every Android phone I see being sold by T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and everybody else, there is an audio jack. So why the "and increasingly, on Android phones as well"? As to BT headphones, I've yet to find one I'd use. I've bought many of them, from expensive Bose, Beats, Sennheiser, on down. Every one of them has the same problem: dropouts. Annoying frequent audio dropouts unless I hold my phone right up next to them, which defeats the purpose. And this is with several models of phones from various manufacturers. BT works great for car audio system, but for headphones, a big NOPE. Give me a good wired model.
Because this doesn't help wired users at all. It forces them into a bullshit dongle that they have to remember to bring with them everywhere. And if you lose it? Apple will gladly fleece you for another one, just to get back functionality that Johnny Ive deigned to remove, because he's got an ass-backwards sense of usability. And no, I'm not excited that Apple's taking away even more control from their users and putting even more power drain on the phone. Everyone that cared about good quality audio were already using external DACs to begin with, with their own power supply. And every last one of them connected over 3.5. So no, this is far from an obvious improvement. It's a sign that Apple has lost it's fucking mind or backbone, because they need to start telling Sir Scumbag Ive to fuck off.
The Amarri pray for god, the Caldari pray for profit. the Gallente pray for peace, but the Minmatar pray their ships hol
What we found when measuring those (and the Momentum 2.0 - got lucky, got them both before they were recalled) was that you could get about 18-19 hours of ANC on-time when wired (you turn the unit on, and ANC is always on). When paired with Bluetooth and streaming audio, it was closer to 8-10 hours.
IIRC, the Momentum uses a CSR8670 main module (Bluetooth, charging, control) that pulls around 22 mA when running (13 mA with no streaming or playing of audio, just on and connected). It uses a separate AMS 3435 for ANC purposes, but that's a really low power device, using about 8 mA not including what's needed to power the speakers. Audio was sourced from line-in or Bluetooth, through the 8670, then into the 3435 to use its amplifiers.
With everything running, you were pulling around 50 mA (LEDs, amplifier overhead, other functions consuming power) and it would shut down when you got down to 3.4V - which would take around 8-10 hours depending upon how loud you played it.
Add in things like cap sense, extra LEDs, remote control via BLE, discrete amplifiers, and the MFi/interface circuitry itself (which isn't minimal - the Lightning Audio Module typically pulls 10 mA for that processing alone) and you quickly ramp up to 100 mA - or more. And those kinds of features are found on things like the Parrot Zik, Samsung LevelOver, Beats Studio Wireless, etc.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
You have to work at a special place. Where I work no one has wireless headphones. All use wired. Some tried wireless but it sucked with bad audio and constant loss of connection due to interference.
Remember their first bashing -- for removing the command line interface in favor of a GUI and mouse. Remember when they removed the floppy drive. Remember when they removed the optical drive Remember when they removed the mechanical keyboard on phones Remember when they removed Flash from phones. Now, they're removing the headphone jack. They're going to do more things like this. It's what they do to build what they believe are better machines. Building what they believe are better machines is how they make money.
First they came for the CLI, and I did not speak out—
Because mouses were cute.
Then they came for the floppy drive, and I did not speak out—
Because I had already gone hard.
Then they came for the optical drive, and I did not speak out—
Because I got my movies from the Pirate Bay.
Then they came for the mechanical keyboard on my phone, and I did not speak out—
Because I have fat fingers.
Then they came for Flash, and I did not speak out—
Because I was busy dealing with a Flash ad virus.
Then they came for the headphone jack — and I can't really be bothered
Thank you for the interesting response... it seems like the numbers are close enough that like you say, they could drop a few LEDs, or simply use someone more efficient chips in the headphones to carry on without batteries. I figured it was not much but then most of the noise cancelling headphones I have had have run forever on a double (now single) AAA battery.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Who would possibly buy a computer without a floppy drive?
Absurd.
Change for the sake of change is not improvement. It's just ... change.
The only argument so far I heard about the headphone thing is indeed that the jack is old. So it needs to go. A feature-by-feature comparison shows however that this is not necessarily progress. Bluetooth means that you need to recharge your headphones, or that you need an adapter. These are net negatives. The positive is that the phone can be thinner. In my view that's an overall negative.
IMO Apple should have waited one more iteration, because Bluetooth 5 is just around the corner and will have HD audio as part of the spec and there would be less issues, better compatibility with other device.... Wait, nevermind. I see what they did there.
A dongle is not a port.
You don't need to remove a port to offer lightning headphones.
Next you'll be arguing 1-button mice are better.
There's really no upside to remove the port, is the sad thing. There are thinner phones with headphone jacks. There's always dead space to fit the port, so you're not getting battery life. Waterproof headphone jacks are old hat. This is just Apple being either malicious or stupid.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
this is just proof that people are stupid, because beats are terrible and overpriced
Amazingly, not everyone thinks like you. I like cords. I like power cords. I like earphone cords. I like keyboard cords and mouse cords to my desktop.
Apple was and remains wrong about batteries, and I don't understand why anyone would disagree.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
I'm pretty sure you won't find a high quality line-level USB DAC that doesn't also have a headphone amp. They pretty much all do. Even this one here, which is about the cheapest decent one you can get, has a headphone amp. However, what it doesn't have is a volume control that messes with the levels coming out of the RCA sockets - which I presume is what you wanted since you were asking for line-level outputs.
Whatever you do, don't buy one of those tiny USB DACs with just a couple of 3.5mm jacks on them. They are universally terrible.
Anything with an S/PDIF fibre optic or coax connector will do
If you use the digital out, you're not using the DAC, now are you?
Actually, that's not true at all. Most of the time, if I go round to someone's house, they don't have a 3.5mm jack that can be used to plug an iphone or whatever into their stereo. I certainly do, and my more tech-savvy friends do too, of course. But if you visit someone a little more, er, normal - for want of a better term - they won't. They will have either nothing at all - no audio leads of any sort - or they'll have a bluetooth something-or-other. Normally it'll be one of those bluetooth speaker gadgets, which can sound pretty good if you get a decent one, or they'll have a bluetooth-enabled amplifier.
In actual fact, I recently stopped dicking around with 3.5mm leads dangling out the front of my amplifier, and invested in a $60 Logitech bluetooth receiver instead. I find this option far more convenient for listening to music on my ipod than a lead - and if anything the sound quality seems to be somewhat better than the DAC built into the device itself. Possibly because the headphone output is designed to be a headphone output, not a line-level audio driver, and thus some design compromises have had to be made.
Having said all that, I do rather agree that, when you need one, a 3.5mm jack is a real nice simple way of getting audio out of the device. I'm personally never going to buy an iphone anyway, because the things are just too damn expensive, and a flip-phone is fine thanks, but I do worry what decisions like this will mean for the future utility of apple devices. I really don't want them to cock it up, because I've got lots of money invested in apple devices in my house. OSX is the only OS that doesn't make me furious every time I use it, and I don't want to stop buying apple laptops, but I don't like their new macbook pro line, so I'm starting to think I might be a bit screwed. I really don't want to go back to windows, and life is just too short to dick around with Linux.
1/4" TRS plugs which are far more a remnant of the ancient past
Not really. On any professional audio product you'll find 1/4" plugs because they are many times more robust and reliable. A 3.5mm jack is fragile, and often crackly, and it looks like they'll be on their way out.