I adore these weekend editorial articles. It's what makes AppleInsider stand out from the crowd. Been reading the Verge this week and all their bleating on about the loss of the bloody headphone jack. Any audiophile knows that thing is best gone. Am I the only bugger whose headphones died regularly because the wires become disconnected. Am I the only bugger who hates the crackle and the lack of audio fidelity from that little cable. The fact that Walt Mossberg has an issue with it is just incredible. Anyway. Thanks for punching through the reality of the situation with great reasoning and facts. A joy to read.
Nope, nope nope.
Any audiophile would rather people have a choice. iPhone DACs are (were) already good, so anyone can plug in any headphone into iPhone's headphone jack and you know they're getting clean audio quality.
All Apple has done is encourage a market where the headphone maker is going to be making their own DAC with their headphone. This increases the prices of the headphones because not only do they need to make more hardware, they'll need to pay a licensing fee to Apple for the lightning port.
Not only this, but DACs will not be made the same. Someone who buys a cheap iPhone lightning headphone from skullcandy might have a god awful DAC integrated into the buds, reducing their audio quality from a headphone jack solution.
It's just an inelegant mess. It's not "courageous" at all.
I must admit, it's refreshing to hear a tech journalist call out the Apple doom and gloom tech journalists. I've been one of the 5s and 5c holdouts and the iPhone 7 is the tipping point for me.
The Macalope has been doing this for years, and humorously.
i just wonder if this is actually an editorial, that is, it reflects the beliefs of the management, officially, or is really an opinion piece, reflecting just the belief of the author.
as far as I know, Daniel isn't a member of the managing board of the site.
this site has an editorial board? are you serious?
Always look forward to Daniel's antidote to the relentless negativity of the press.
Some corrections I noticed:
"or who are done with waiting for apps that never it to their platform" - ... never make it to
"ask yourself why that soft of doom and gloom reporting" - ... why that sort
"the Taptic Engine shared by both iPhone 7 and Apple Watch to provide hepatic feedback" - ... haptic
"and well as wasted hours contemplating Phil Schiller's' use" - ... as well as
Another little correction:
"… despite the former being unable to launch a desirable watch or upsell its band users very far above $88 and the later merely shipping …" Latter not later.
Anyone else bothered by the fact that you can't change the AirPod's volume without Siri which requires a connection to the internet to interpret "lower the volume"? How about the fact that Apple will not sell iPhone 7s to new customers? You have to already have an active account with a major carrier to buy one. Funny that was never mentioned during the rollout or in the splashy Apple web pages. You had to get up at 3:00 AM to find out.
I adore these weekend editorial articles. It's what makes AppleInsider stand out from the crowd. Been reading the Verge this week and all their bleating on about the loss of the bloody headphone jack. Any audiophile knows that thing is best gone. Am I the only bugger whose headphones died regularly because the wires become disconnected. Am I the only bugger who hates the crackle and the lack of audio fidelity from that little cable. The fact that Walt Mossberg has an issue with it is just incredible. Anyway. Thanks for punching through the reality of the situation with great reasoning and facts. A joy to read.
Nope, nope nope.
Any audiophile would rather people have a choice. iPhone DACs are (were) already good, so anyone can plug in any headphone into iPhone's headphone jack and you know they're getting clean audio quality.
All Apple has done is encourage a market where the headphone maker is going to be making their own DAC with their headphone. This increases the prices of the headphones because not only do they need to make more hardware, they'll need to pay a licensing fee to Apple for the lightning port.
Not only this, but DACs will not be made the same. Someone who buys a cheap iPhone lightning headphone from skullcandy might have a god awful DAC integrated into the buds, reducing their audio quality from a headphone jack solution.
It's just an inelegant mess. It's not "courageous" at all.
Apple opened up a new market, for themselves, for Android OS, and for audio device manufacturers. It will be a mess, it will take a while to sort out the brilliant audio from the background noise, but it also opens up the arena to a lot of new participants and new innovation. A year from now, no one but deadeners pining for the past will give a shit, and Android OS premium smartphones will be testing the waters, again, with models devoid of the audio port.
The bulk of tech "journalists" have been whining in harmony about Apple's every move for what seems like an eternity. The longer it lasts the easier it becomes to avoid clickbait headlines and find the few writers that balance fact and opinion. They are those that never gloss over the temporary growing pains of cutting edge technology, and often provide insight to the advantages and opportunities it provides going forward.
That is what I look for at AppleInsider, TidBITS, The Mac Observer, iMore, Daring Fireball, The Loop, and sixcolors. I patronize them as encouragement to continue their pursuit of quality analysis and reporting.
Personally I am very excited by all the newly announced products, but I've been involved in 2 conversations with people who focused almost entirely on one fact: "no 3.5mm audio jack." Personally I'm fine with that change, but I don't think Apple has sufficiently controlled the message that is affecting public perspective (for some people).
Had you pointed out the headphone port is actually still there? Just now its called the Ligjtning Port?
It's simple: those publications are a beneficiary of Samsung's 12-15Bn annual advertising spend. They'll never write anything of substance against Samsung (but certainly heap it on their competitors) for one reason only: they risk losing advertising dollars.
Personally I am very excited by all the newly announced products, but I've been involved in 2 conversations with people who focused almost entirely on one fact: "no 3.5mm audio jack." Personally I'm fine with that change, but I don't think Apple has sufficiently controlled the message that is affecting public perspective (for some people).
Had you pointed out the headphone port is actually still there? Just now its called the Ligjtning Port?
Good point.
Yes, and I explained that Apple was including a converter dongle with the iPhone. And that's exactly my point: there ARE good responses to people who are upset about the missing audio jack, but I don't think Apple presented this transition in a way that left the right impression on many casual observers of the news. I want a broad set of people to be excited about iPhone 7 -- as I am -- but I see a few early indicators that some people came away with a disproportionate focus on the one thing they view as a negative.
And neither of those has any sort of tether either.
The Samsung ones are currently only for those with certain Samsung phones, from what I read.
I'd be curious to know about the sound quality (which includes a phone call when there's wind noise), and actual battery life of these various BT headphones, as well as the comfort, stay-in-ability, and ease of use.
Regarding ease of use, I'm guessing Apple wins with setup when connected to an iOS 10, watchOS 3, or macOS 12 device, but how do they fare with normal BT setup with other devices, and, most importantly, how well does the tapping functions work. I know with my Aftershockz Bluez (1st gen), wind noise is an issuer and tapping 3x to go back a track seemed impossible.
There are probably millions of iphone users who are like me. I have owned many iphones since the original was released. I will ALWAYS own one. So, now that my 5s is a bit long in the tooth, I am giving it to my daughter and now I'm getting the newest one. I don't really care about all the specs and whether it has this or doesn't have that. It is time for a new one and the 7 is the newest, so Apple got my hard earned money for an amazing, high quality, and reliable product, that I pre-ordered and will be getting Friday!
Personally I am very excited by all the newly announced products, but I've been involved in 2 conversations with people who focused almost entirely on one fact: "no 3.5mm audio jack." Personally I'm fine with that change, but I don't think Apple has sufficiently controlled the message that is affecting public perspective (for some people).
Had you pointed out the headphone port is actually still there? Just now its called the Ligjtning Port?
Yes, and I explained that Apple was including a converter dongle with the iPhone. And that's exactly my point: there ARE good responses to people who are upset about the missing audio jack, but I don't think Apple presented this transition in a way that left the right impression on many casual observers of the news. I want a broad set of people to be excited about iPhone 7 -- as I am -- but I see a few early indicators that some people came away with a disproportionate focus on the one thing they view as a negative.
1) I'm honestly not sure how it could have been misinterpreted by anyone that watched the event or read Apple's website. More than a few people thought/think Apple will be including AirPods with every iPhone. My guess is this is a combination of lazy readers, fairly unintelligent people, and lazy journalism as their primary source for information.
2) One thing I haven't been able to discern is whether the "digital audio" that was included in the original Lightning connector design, which Schiller mentioned, means that the DAC and other analog audio components are still within the iPhone so that a Lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter can be a dumb device, or last dumb enough that it only needs a very simple chip to relate to the device that the connection will be used for analog audio. Schiller also detailed some nice Lightning headphones that are intelligent, which wouldn't be possible without having an advanced connector like Lightning, so I'm guessing those have the DAC in the headphone, but that isn't necessarily the case, as I believe that even at 8-pins there is enough for power and ground, data, analog stereo audio, and a mic.
I adore these weekend editorial articles. It's what makes AppleInsider stand out from the crowd. Been reading the Verge this week and all their bleating on about the loss of the bloody headphone jack. Any audiophile knows that thing is best gone. Am I the only bugger whose headphones died regularly because the wires become disconnected. Am I the only bugger who hates the crackle and the lack of audio fidelity from that little cable. The fact that Walt Mossberg has an issue with it is just incredible. Anyway. Thanks for punching through the reality of the situation with great reasoning and facts. A joy to read.
Nope, nope nope.
Any audiophile would rather people have a choice. iPhone DACs are (were) already good, so anyone can plug in any headphone into iPhone's headphone jack and you know they're getting clean audio quality.
All Apple has done is encourage a market where the headphone maker is going to be making their own DAC with their headphone. This increases the prices of the headphones because not only do they need to make more hardware, they'll need to pay a licensing fee to Apple for the lightning port.
Not only this, but DACs will not be made the same. Someone who buys a cheap iPhone lightning headphone from skullcandy might have a god awful DAC integrated into the buds, reducing their audio quality from a headphone jack solution.
It's just an inelegant mess. It's not "courageous" at all.
You're looking at this from a glass-half-empty perspective. Won't this help the DAC technology evolve so that new levels of quality emerge? It's not like manufacturers are going to be using 2016 DACs for the next 5 years. Apple *had* to deliver great DAC tech in the iPhone. Now headphone makers will *have* to. Simply a transference of responsibility. Yes, this may cause an initial increase in prices, but over time, the tech will become cheaper, so prices will balance out.
I adore these weekend editorial articles. It's what makes AppleInsider stand out from the crowd. Been reading the Verge this week and all their bleating on about the loss of the bloody headphone jack. Any audiophile knows that thing is best gone. Am I the only bugger whose headphones died regularly because the wires become disconnected. Am I the only bugger who hates the crackle and the lack of audio fidelity from that little cable. The fact that Walt Mossberg has an issue with it is just incredible. Anyway. Thanks for punching through the reality of the situation with great reasoning and facts. A joy to read.
Nope, nope nope.
Any audiophile would rather people have a choice. iPhone DACs are (were) already good, so anyone can plug in any headphone into iPhone's headphone jack and you know they're getting clean audio quality.
All Apple has done is encourage a market where the headphone maker is going to be making their own DAC with their headphone. This increases the prices of the headphones because not only do they need to make more hardware, they'll need to pay a licensing fee to Apple for the lightning port.
Not only this, but DACs will not be made the same. Someone who buys a cheap iPhone lightning headphone from skullcandy might have a god awful DAC integrated into the buds, reducing their audio quality from a headphone jack solution.
It's just an inelegant mess. It's not "courageous" at all.
You're looking at this from a glass-half-empty perspective. Won't this help the DAC technology evolve so that new levels of quality emerge? It's not like manufacturers are going to be using 2016 DACs for the next 5 years. Apple *had* to deliver great DAC tech in the iPhone. Now headphone makers will *have* to. Simply a transference of responsibility. Yes, this may cause an initial increase in prices, but over time, the tech will become cheaper, so prices will balance out.
Why are we saying the DAC for headphones has absolutely been removed from the device? As previously stated, a couple interesting things stand out: 1) great stereo sound from the iPhone, 2) a statement about Lightning being designed with audio out, and 3) a really thin Lightning-to-analog-headphone adapter that Apple only charges $9.
Personally I am very excited by all the newly announced products, but I've been involved in 2 conversations with people who focused almost entirely on one fact: "no 3.5mm audio jack." Personally I'm fine with that change, but I don't think Apple has sufficiently controlled the message that is affecting public perspective (for some people).
Had you pointed out the headphone port is actually still there? Just now its called the Ligjtning Port?
Good point.
Yes, and I explained that Apple was including a converter dongle with the iPhone. And that's exactly my point: there ARE good responses to people who are upset about the missing audio jack, but I don't think Apple presented this transition in a way that left the right impression on many casual observers of the news. I want a broad set of people to be excited about iPhone 7 -- as I am -- but I see a few early indicators that some people came away with a disproportionate focus on the one thing they view as a negative.
Or the tech media purposely obfuscated these facts just to stay relevant.
Not everyone watches the presentation. A truly reliable and objective media would report the facts instead of FUD.
Comments
Nope, nope nope.
Any audiophile would rather people have a choice. iPhone DACs are (were) already good, so anyone can plug in any headphone into iPhone's headphone jack and you know they're getting clean audio quality.
All Apple has done is encourage a market where the headphone maker is going to be making their own DAC with their headphone. This increases the prices of the headphones because not only do they need to make more hardware, they'll need to pay a licensing fee to Apple for the lightning port.
Not only this, but DACs will not be made the same. Someone who buys a cheap iPhone lightning headphone from skullcandy might have a god awful DAC integrated into the buds, reducing their audio quality from a headphone jack solution.
It's just an inelegant mess. It's not "courageous" at all.
How about the fact that Apple will not sell iPhone 7s to new customers? You have to already have an active account with a major carrier to buy one. Funny that was never mentioned during the rollout or in the splashy Apple web pages. You had to get up at 3:00 AM to find out.
It's just dead; move on.
That is what I look for at AppleInsider, TidBITS, The Mac Observer, iMore, Daring Fireball, The Loop, and sixcolors. I patronize them as encouragement to continue their pursuit of quality analysis and reporting.
Apple going for the bargain buyer. Who knew?
And neither of those has any sort of tether either.
Had you pointed out the headphone port is actually still there? Just now its called the Ligjtning Port?
Yes, and I explained that Apple was including a converter dongle with the iPhone. And that's exactly my point: there ARE good responses to people who are upset about the missing audio jack, but I don't think Apple presented this transition in a way that left the right impression on many casual observers of the news. I want a broad set of people to be excited about iPhone 7 -- as I am -- but I see a few early indicators that some people came away with a disproportionate focus on the one thing they view as a negative.
I'd be curious to know about the sound quality (which includes a phone call when there's wind noise), and actual battery life of these various BT headphones, as well as the comfort, stay-in-ability, and ease of use.
Regarding ease of use, I'm guessing Apple wins with setup when connected to an iOS 10, watchOS 3, or macOS 12 device, but how do they fare with normal BT setup with other devices, and, most importantly, how well does the tapping functions work. I know with my Aftershockz Bluez (1st gen), wind noise is an issuer and tapping 3x to go back a track seemed impossible.
2) One thing I haven't been able to discern is whether the "digital audio" that was included in the original Lightning connector design, which Schiller mentioned, means that the DAC and other analog audio components are still within the iPhone so that a Lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter can be a dumb device, or last dumb enough that it only needs a very simple chip to relate to the device that the connection will be used for analog audio. Schiller also detailed some nice Lightning headphones that are intelligent, which wouldn't be possible without having an advanced connector like Lightning, so I'm guessing those have the DAC in the headphone, but that isn't necessarily the case, as I believe that even at 8-pins there is enough for power and ground, data, analog stereo audio, and a mic.
Not everyone watches the presentation. A truly reliable and objective media would report the facts instead of FUD.
All I'm aware of since the first iPhone, the keyboard was part of the display.
The original iPod Touch that I have uses the display keyboard. It's based from the first iPhone.