Shure intros $99 MacBook-compatible USB-C headphone cable
Audiophiles connecting high-end headphones to a MacBook now have the option of a $99 USB-C replacement cable, which can also be used with other USB-C equipped devices.
The cable is built to be thick and tough, and hooks into headphones through an MMCX connector with separate ends for each earpiece. Also included is an inline remote, and a Cirrus Logic digital-to-analog converter.
The connector is designed for Shure headsets that generally start at $80 and up. While made with Shure's products in mind, the cable should work with any headphones that support MMCX.
Apple and some other electronics makers have gradually veered away from 3.5-millimeter jacks, despite the technology still being standard in many quarters. MacBooks, iMacs, and iPads still have those ports, but newer iPhones don't, and many Beats headphones are now primarily wireless.
Some of the most popular Apple accessories are AirPods, despite their $159 pricetag.
The cable is built to be thick and tough, and hooks into headphones through an MMCX connector with separate ends for each earpiece. Also included is an inline remote, and a Cirrus Logic digital-to-analog converter.
The connector is designed for Shure headsets that generally start at $80 and up. While made with Shure's products in mind, the cable should work with any headphones that support MMCX.
Apple and some other electronics makers have gradually veered away from 3.5-millimeter jacks, despite the technology still being standard in many quarters. MacBooks, iMacs, and iPads still have those ports, but newer iPhones don't, and many Beats headphones are now primarily wireless.
Some of the most popular Apple accessories are AirPods, despite their $159 pricetag.
Comments
I just spent 20 minutes on the Shure site and I didn't find any $800+ headsets. They sell headphones priced from $39 to $499 and earbuds in roughly the same price range.
What am I missing? I'm curious about this high end product line.
I'm not demeaning it, it's a good idea, just like inexpensive USB mics and other devices designed to be better than built-in but still convenient to use. I just think it's a stretch and a misuse of the terminology to refer to things like this and the HomePod as "high-end" and/or "audiophile" because it diminishes the value of genuinely high-end audio products that deliver the real goods.
or get a 3.5mm EarPods from Apple.
i use the 3.5 mm headphone with the lightning adapter & BeatsX.
So, two models after removing the headphone jack, there's still no native solution for using Lightning "audiophile" headphones between an iPhone and MacBook. The best solution is still to carry two different headphones, one for the iPhone and one for the Mac, or use old 3.5mm headphones with the respective adapters (so much for the benefits of Lightning over headphone jack).
Frustrating to say the least, and kind of pokes holes in part of Apple's original defense of removing the 3.5mm headphone jack. I got they want to push consumers towards Bluetooth wireless solutions, but that's still not a solution for "audiophiles", or a replacement for wired headphones in situations which require the . It also doesn't solve the ability to share the same source via two or more sets of headphones, unless a person is OK listening to one of two stereo channels, in one ear only, as depicted in the Winter AirPods commercial.
They never gave a defense... it was just marketing baloney. They wanted the internal space in the phone, end of story. The rest was song and dance.
As far as I can tell nobody has bothered with updating to USB-C. Even the higher end Babyface is USB-3 and works on USB 2 as well. In this case a USB-3 to USB-C cable would eliminate a dongle if dongles bother you.