joelh

When they announced that the future is wireless, I really hoped they would solve the bluetooth audio issues, but they didn't mention that at all. For that reason, I see no reason to assume that the AirPods would support AAC encoding (which would be optimal for music purchased from iTunes). But even if it does, they would be virtually the only bluetooth headphones that does. Even high end bluetooth headphones don't mention support for anything but APT-x, which isn't ideal for mp3 or AAC-encoded sources anyway. Even APT-x lossless isn't in fact lossless. I'd say all bluetooth music experiences involves an intermediary decoding and re-encoding before transfer (I guess you could store wav on your iPhone, but who does that?). Even so, wired is superior to wireless as far as audio quality is concerned (what's the quality of the SBC encoding compared to e.g. AAC anyway?).

For now, I'll stick with wired.

I like the lightning port, but if Apple is serious about replacing the 3.5" port with lightning, they should put it in the public domain. But I don't think they are, because lightning is really an alternative to USB and not to the 3.5" port (and a damn good one too). I am fine with using an external DAC, it might even be a reason to invest in a higher quality one, but I doubt I'd buy a headset/headphones with a lightning connector that isn't detachable... Although in the active noise cancellation scenario it makes a lot of sense. Still, the 3.5" port will live on (at least in my house)!