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Apple Is Reportedly Making Its Own High-End Noise-Cancelling Headphones (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the audio-ambitions dept.

Apple is planning to push into the high-end audio market with the launch of noise-cancelling, over-ear headphones. The cans are expected to launch at the end of this year and will rival headsets from market leaders like Bose and even the company's own Beats by Dre brand. Bloomberg reports: Work on the Apple headset has been on-and-off over the past year. The company encountered similar problems with the HomePod during its development, including multiple redesigns, according to the people. It's possible Apple will redesign the headphones again before launch, or scrap the project altogether, they warned, asking not to be identified discussing private development work.

37 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Nice by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    That will be nice. I know I will be getting one! Hopefully they will be white.

    1. Re:Nice by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      That will be nice. I know I will be getting one! Hopefully they will be white.

      We're talking about headphones here, not your selections on match.com.

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    2. Re:Nice by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      and they'll all have jack connectors

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  2. locked by bugs2squash · · Score: 1

    I wonder if they will only be usable to listen to music from other apple devices - or somehow enhanced when used that way.

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    1. Re:locked by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      I don't understand. What devices other than Apple devices produce music?

    2. Re:locked by budsetr · · Score: 1

      wooosh

    3. Re:locked by Proudrooster · · Score: 1

      The base model of the noise cancelling headphones will only filter some noise.
      If you want premium noise filtration with Apple lossless silence encoding TM, you have to buy the Pro model.

    4. Re:locked by StormReaver · · Score: 1

      The base model of the noise cancelling headphones will only filter some noise.

      I think the base model will induce migraine-level headaches, as noise-canceling headphones are want to do. The Pro model will do the same, but for $300 more, and with an interface that is incompatible with anything you currently own. For an additional $800, Apple will sell you an adapter that will work with exactly one other Apple device -- until the next wave of models is introduced.

      So for $1200, you can rent an Apple Experience that does the same thing as the generic device that Walmart sells for $35.

  3. Basic. by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The cans are expected to launch at the end of this year and will rival headsets from market leaders like Bose and even the company's own Beats by Dre brand.

    Other words they'll sound like crap, carry a high price tag, and people will buy them (especially high school age girls) as more of a status symbol.

    1. Re:Basic. by TranquilVoid · · Score: 1

      That was pretty much my first thought. Bose and Beats do not sound bad, but they're more a triumph of marketing, and generally scoffed at by hi-fi enthusiasts.

    2. Re:Basic. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Bose don't sound bad, but Beats do. Even the top of the line Beats can only be described as utter garbage suitable for only techno, rap, drum and bass, and any other music genre where it is preferential to drown out the sound with duff duff sounds.

      Bose at least has best in class noise reduction. They have a purpose along side some nicer sounding headphones. I greatly prefer my Bose headphones to my Sennheiser Hd800s when in a noisy environment, just as an example.

    3. Re:Basic. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The might not sound crap. The HomePod sounds okay, their earpods sound okay for what they are.

      I just don't see the point of noise cancelling cans any more. I have a pair of AKG Y50BT that sit on the ear and cut external noise as much as Bose Quiet Comfort do simply by forming a good seal. They are more comfortable, lighter weight, work without being charged and don't have that annoying sense of pressure you get from noise cancelling.

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    4. Re:Basic. by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Bose don't sound bad, but Beats do. Even the top of the line Beats can only be described as utter garbage suitable for only techno, rap, drum and bass, and any other music genre where it is preferential to drown out the sound with duff duff sounds.

      Bose at least has best in class noise reduction. They have a purpose along side some nicer sounding headphones. I greatly prefer my Bose headphones to my Sennheiser Hd800s when in a noisy environment, just as an example.

      Bose for sound quality is middle of the road. Same with Sennheiser. With Bose and Senn you generally get good low end headphones but the quality plataus at the more expensive ones. A £300 set of Senn headphones isn't usually much better than a £150 set.

      However a £200 pair of Beats is noticeably worse than a £50 pair of Senns. Most of the money you pay for Beats is for the branding, these Apple headphones will be the same, in fact probably just rebranded Beats considering Apple already own them.

      True high quality headphones will be from companies like Beyerdynamic or Grado Labs that produce professional equipment almost exclusively. You'll never find a pair of Beats in a recording studio unless they're worn by some tone deaf rapper/electronica play button presser. You'd be hard pressed to find a pair of Sennheiser HD800's.

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    5. Re:Basic. by b0bby · · Score: 1

      Don't overlook the noise-cancelling part; while Bose may not have the best sound, it seems pretty universally agreed that they have the best noise cancelling. If Apple can match them on that front then they'd probably sell a lot on that basis alone.

    6. Re:Basic. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      True high quality headphones will be from companies like Beyerdynamic or Grado Labs that produce professional equipment almost exclusively.

      That's nothing more than elitist. I own Grado RS1s and Sennheiser HD650s, and HD800s, and used to have some BD DT880s which died a long time ago. The RS1s and the 650s each shine for a different genre, and I prefer the latter. The 800s sound better than both of them in pretty much every case, and all of them sound better than the DT880s, but then they were in a different price class too.

      You'd be hard pressed to find a pair of Sennheiser HD800's

      You won't find any of the Grado reference headphones or DT990s which are quite different from the 990 Pros as well. There are different design goals for a set of headphones used in a recording studio than in the home.

    7. Re:Basic. by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      Don't mix audiophile equipment and pro equipment.
      Audiophile gear (the good kind, not the snake oil) is meant to produce the best experience for the listener.
      Pro gear is designed for work, it is meant to be accurate and unforgiving.
      In one case, you are trying to listen to everything that is right, on the other you are trying to listen to everything that is wrong (so that it can be fixed).

      Just because it is expensive and good quality doesn't mean it is professional. In fact, I constantly battle against misapplied "pro" labels. If your "pro" stuff isn't designed to help customers make money, it isn't "pro".

    8. Re:Basic. by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      I own both the Bose Quiet Comfort 20 (ear bud) and 25 (wired cans). The noise cancellation is great, it eliminates road noise when I'm out walking and the noise of the tracks when I'm on the train. My office can get noisy and I can't hear the person next to me talking when I have them on.

      The ear buds block external noise a little better since they seal against your ear. The cans are okay, but they're bulky; not something you want to be carrying around with you. The cans have a removable/replaceable cord and run for hours off a single AAA battery. The ear buds unfortunately use a non-replaceable battery and the cord is attached so don't let your dog get ahold of them.

  4. Already DOA by jrnvk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They killed this product when they released the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack. There's a reason why people buy high-end headphones... they want to be able to plug them into whatever device plays music and get the best experience possible. They may win over a few Apple fans, but they won't succeed how they could have with these.

    1. Re:Already DOA by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Digital audio on the Lightning port is limited to 24 bit / 48 kHz at best; it does not support most HD formats out there from Tidal, HDTracks, etc.No DSD support either. Nor, most likely, LDAC or AptX HD support. So good general consumer stuff - but decidedly NOT high-end headphone audio quality.

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    2. Re:Already DOA by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      They killed this product when they released the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack.

      That's probably why Apple wants to make their own headphones, that truly compete with jack connected devices, and to be plugged via the lightning connector (or BT).

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    3. Re:Already DOA by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      They killed this product when they released the iPhone 7 without a headphone jack. There's a reason why people buy high-end headphones... they want to be able to plug them into whatever device plays music and get the best experience possible. They may win over a few Apple fans, but they won't succeed how they could have with these.

      Yet the high end noise cancelling headphones - Bose QC35s, etc. all support wireless. You can wire them optionally, but they almost always are used wirelessly.

      And even so, digital connections are generally preferred so you get as good quality as possible.

      Digital audio on the Lightning port is limited to 24 bit / 48 kHz at best; it does not support most HD formats out there from Tidal, HDTracks, etc.No DSD support either. Nor, most likely, LDAC or AptX HD support. So good general consumer stuff - but decidedly NOT high-end headphone audio quality.

      Digital audio on Lightning can do 24/96 using a DAC (iOS supports this natively). If you're getting 24/48 your Lightning audio converter is limiting you. People have used it to get 24/96 very easily.

      Tidal and HDtracks are nice, but are selling inflated crap with no provenance. This has been true even before with Pono and others. You want high quality, there are people who sell real high-res tracks like iTrax. HDTracks and Tidal have been known to sell you upcaled CD quality tracks for inflated prices. (Hell, most places sell DSD tracks for even more inflated prices, which is laughable because DSD quality is awful. It's a buzzword you'd best avoid - while DSD does not have all the marketing wank and audiophoolery as say MQA, it's still provably worse than PCM).

      aptX support is never coming. Because Qualcomm is not going to license it to Apple ever anymore. LDAC might, purely because Sony gives away the codec for free (they smartly license the decoder).

      So basically, a set of headphones with no marketing wank. That's not a bad idea.

    4. Re:Already DOA by Freischutz · · Score: 1

      Apple can easily add any format they want to the lightning jack. In fact, it would be pretty typical of Apple to add an "Apple Super HD" format that only worked on Apple devices and a regular lower end format for non-Apple devices. They aren't limited to standardized device classes like USB, they can do what they want because they own the standard from end to end.

      So if Apple does this all the time perhaps you'd like to provide us with a list of the last 20 times they did this? ... because you should not encounter any shortage of examples if your statement is correct. I've used Apple gadgets for years and even when they introduced Tunderbolt they still provided USB ports. In fact pretty much the only interoperabilty problems I have encountered have been connecting my macOS and iOS gadgets to Microsoft products as well as problems with opening files produced with Microsoft products with the programs from 3rd party vendors that are available on other OS'es than Windows. These are incidentally the same major problems I've had on Linux and Android with SMB servers, Exchange and Microsoft VPN servers leading the list and this is usually because Microsoft has a tendency to drop support for legacy protocols and file formats while the Microsoft product using world seems to be very slow to update their software. Finally, since you mentioned USB, here is a fun fact from the Wikipedia page on USB: Apple Inc.'s iMac was the first mainstream product with USB and the iMac's success popularized USB itself. so try not to feel too violated by the Apple cooties you pick up the next time you use a USB port, they are not life threatening, they'll just make you crave latte and avocado toast and induce an intense fondness for flip-flops and objects with rounded corners but it wears off after about a minute.

  5. You gotta hand it to Apple by erp_consultant · · Score: 1

    They make good products and slap on about a 25% markup and people just eat it up. Their fans at least, and judging my their revenues they have a hell of a lot of fans.

    People that say Apple products are overpriced are right. They are. But the people that love their stuff don't seem to think so. I bet these headphones retail for $500 a pair and they will fly off the shelves. I have given up trying to figure out why. Sometimes you just have to tip you hat and say well done.

    1. Re: You gotta hand it to Apple by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      This is why I buy Apple shares even though I don't buy Apple stuff: I like profiting off of hipsters who love to give Apple money and then complain that their rent is too high.

  6. Save yourself some trouble by DeplorableCodeMonkey · · Score: 2

    And just buy something like this from a brand like Audio-Technica. It'll probably be half the price Apple charges and just as luxurious with great sound.

    1. Re:Save yourself some trouble by kamapuaa · · Score: 1

      No noise cancellation, bigger than a Nomad. Lame.

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    2. Re:Save yourself some trouble by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      Any *noise cancellation* device recommendation?

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  7. Looking forward! by EzInKy · · Score: 1

    I can't wait to plug one into my headphone jack.

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    1. Re:Looking forward! by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      I can't wait to plug one into my headphone jack.

      You need a hammer for that.

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  8. What about Dre? by ThePhish · · Score: 1

    I thought that's why they bought out Beats by.... oh wait, high end...mea culpa.

  9. Re: Could be good by Brockmire · · Score: 1

    No, they'll rip the designs and hard work from Monster instead.

  10. You know what works for me? Gunfire Head Muffs. by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 2

    Seriously. I had Bose and another brand I can't remember. Nothing worked or works on an airplane like a set of gunfire ear protection muffs combined with earbuds.

    I've loosened mine up thru use and recently wore them for 6 hours on a flight back from the west coast while watching movies and shows on my devices. They don't use batteries. They are very effective against airplane noise.

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  11. Will the rubber peel off? by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

    Like it does on their standard iPhone earphones?

  12. Re: Somebody invent some hype-cancelling headphone by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

    What is this nonsense about Apple Music DRM? That's gone for at leat ten years, and was only there because the recording industry insisted.

  13. don't put them on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They include a gay inducing brain electromagnetic stimulation device.

  14. Technically very possible by DrYak · · Score: 1

    Will probably use the "LE" (Low Energy) Bluetooth protocol (it's also under the Bluetooth umbrella name, but has nothing to do with classical Bluetooth, it'ss more some kind of ZigBee-like low power protocol that got phagocyted by Bluetooth).

    Which is completely stupid in this context(*), but helps Apple add a bullet point on the marketing speech ("Low Power !") and helps them use a protocol (LEA) which isn't widely used by anyone else.

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    (*): Audio is continuous streaming which is not something LE excels at.
    LE is good for quick short burst message that only happen every now and then (like a health device giving a status : think heart beat monitors).

    We already had this discussion back when Apple was spinning some marketing about having made LEA available to auditory aid equipment and thus being better than Android for people with hearing deffects.

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  15. Re:You know what works for me? Gunfire Head Muffs. by Mr3vil · · Score: 1

    Did you have the Bose active noise-canceling headset? I have a 3M Peltor passive set of muffs for the range, but they don't completely eliminate the airplane noise like my QC25's do. Plus I can still hear safety announcements on the plane. The $300 price tag for them is $10 for the audio playback and $290 for the active noise cancellation. I've also found the noise cancellation to be rather good when working in a server room. Really saves me from hearing the white-noise of fans for the rest of the day.