rogifan_new said: I use this setup at work. Sometimes when I’m listening to music and I don’t want to burn up a ton of battery life on my wireless headphones or my iPhone. Also, with the wireless headphones I do have (JBL) there’s a slight delay when watching video so the audio and video are never 100% in sync. That is incredibly annoying.
Yeah, while wireless is convenient sometimes, it isn't an adequate replacement for wired. And, while wireless technologies will keep improving, so will wired. A physical connection is superior for a number of reasons (as is wireless for another set of reasons). This whole... the future, and legacy... is just baloney.
mac_128 said: The Lightning connector has 17 connection points. So no, it’s not likely as robust as a 3.5mm jack with at most 4, over a significantly larger connector. That said, I’ve had plenty of headphone jacks go bad. The 3.5mm jack is certainly not bullet-proof, and is prone to failure as much as any connector which relies on a physical contact with third party device’s plugs. In contrast, I’ve never had a Lightning port fail. Nor have I ever had a lightning cable fail. I’ve only had one fray at the wire/plug assembly, something which afflicts 3.5mm cables and plugs too, but even that cable has yet to fail. Altogether, my real world experience has been much better with Lightning than 3.5mm.
Yeah, usually the weak-point for 3.5mm is the socket soldered to the board connection, or the cable breaks beyond the stress relief. I've never seen a 3.5mm go bad at the interface point, though I suppose it's possible for a cheap one. You could also get corrosion and such, I guess like any kind of metal connection. With Lightning, you have extremely small contact points where precise alignment is crucial. It is also a pretty small/thin object with a big amount of lever force that can be exerted on it (I worry about USB-C in that regard, too, especially given the length of some of the 'handles').
Lightning is OK in comparison to similar other connectors, but it isn't nearly as robust as 3.5mm. Also, Apple's implementations of 3.5mm have been really good in comparisons to some products. Yes, I've also had 3.5mm or 1/4" analog jacks go bad, but never on Apple stuff. But, I've also had various sorts of USB and such go bad too on other products.
mac_128 said: Re: headphone cords — you clearly don’t multitrack record anything on your keyboard where you have to play along with a previous pass. Moreover, the latency between the attack of the keys to the time you hear the sound in BT headphones is not acceptable to any musician, much less professional ones. Singing is worse. Cords are not desirable, but they are still a necessary evil until the latency issue is solved, something which Apple appears to be doing nothing about with their own products, nor do they support aptx LL devices natively. Two cords are important for anyone spending any time with an iOS device, for something like playing and recording music. A charger needs to be plugged into the iPhone, simultaneously with a midi device, or guitar, mic, etc., as well as headphones.
Yeah, that is another area. I suppose the response we'd get is that those aren't Apple's core customers anymore. If it works for the teenie-bopper to hear their music and send emojis, then it's good enough for the new Apple?
I haven't been doing music much these days, but the latency is a huge issue. But, as I mentioned, doing screen-recording, tutorials and such also requires wired connection. I suppose that could go wireless one day, but will need a huge jump in bandwidth, and as you say, reduction in latency.
There is also the inconsistency. I've been finding my laptop Internet connection seems sluggish lately, and find it has dropped down to just a few Mbps up/down for some reason (maybe interference?). After a restart or disconnecting/reconnecting WiFi, it's back to faster speeds. But, if I'm on Ethernet, no worries about that kind of crud. In theory, ac WiFi should be just fine. But, there is 'in theory' and then there is the real world. In the real world, WiFi just isn't nearly as good as Ethernet.
A LOT of professional level stuff needs wired. That is one aspect that scares me about the MBP with USB-C dock/dongle, in that sometimes those external Ethernet ports are flaky. Pro level stuff shouldn't tolerate flaky, unreliable, etc.
it's 2018 I cannot believe people are still using wired buds. I have't used wired buds in 5 years
Some of us like the better sound quality? 1More Triple-drivers only come wired....
Yeah, for special equipment for sure. But, even the Lightning adapter to 3.5mm is a degradation over the previous built-in 3.5mm in terms of audio quality (only slight... but kind of ironic, no?).
. Or, during a longer drive, my son plugs his iPad into a USB port to charge, while he has headphones on (for his games or movie) and we listen to a podcast or something.
My goodness that sounds like a PAIN. When he upgrades to Bluetooth he's gonna wonder how he ever got around without it.
I completely agree. I haven’t used the headphone jack since I began widely using Bluetooth back when I got my iPhone 6. Now that I’m using my X, the removal of the jack has not affected me one iota.
What is ironic is that my 4 year-old son now uses my old 6 and I was constantly frustrated trying to plug his kid-friendly headphones into that stupid analog jack. The case we put the phone in didn’t have a large enough hole in it to fit the headphones plug through it, so we just started using the adapter dongle that came with my X to plug them in. Recently he’s just been borrowing my Bluetooth headphones, lol. Do they make kid-friendly ones, I wonder?
In any case, a completely anecdotal scenario on my part that I just thought I’d share. Not sure if anyone else has had a similar experience.
Comments
Yeah, usually the weak-point for 3.5mm is the socket soldered to the board connection, or the cable breaks beyond the stress relief. I've never seen a 3.5mm go bad at the interface point, though I suppose it's possible for a cheap one. You could also get corrosion and such, I guess like any kind of metal connection. With Lightning, you have extremely small contact points where precise alignment is crucial. It is also a pretty small/thin object with a big amount of lever force that can be exerted on it (I worry about USB-C in that regard, too, especially given the length of some of the 'handles').
Lightning is OK in comparison to similar other connectors, but it isn't nearly as robust as 3.5mm. Also, Apple's implementations of 3.5mm have been really good in comparisons to some products. Yes, I've also had 3.5mm or 1/4" analog jacks go bad, but never on Apple stuff. But, I've also had various sorts of USB and such go bad too on other products.
Yeah, that is another area. I suppose the response we'd get is that those aren't Apple's core customers anymore. If it works for the teenie-bopper to hear their music and send emojis, then it's good enough for the new Apple?
I haven't been doing music much these days, but the latency is a huge issue. But, as I mentioned, doing screen-recording, tutorials and such also requires wired connection. I suppose that could go wireless one day, but will need a huge jump in bandwidth, and as you say, reduction in latency.
There is also the inconsistency. I've been finding my laptop Internet connection seems sluggish lately, and find it has dropped down to just a few Mbps up/down for some reason (maybe interference?). After a restart or disconnecting/reconnecting WiFi, it's back to faster speeds. But, if I'm on Ethernet, no worries about that kind of crud. In theory, ac WiFi should be just fine. But, there is 'in theory' and then there is the real world. In the real world, WiFi just isn't nearly as good as Ethernet.
A LOT of professional level stuff needs wired. That is one aspect that scares me about the MBP with USB-C dock/dongle, in that sometimes those external Ethernet ports are flaky. Pro level stuff shouldn't tolerate flaky, unreliable, etc.
I'm glad that works for you (health discussion aside). Some people do more with their devices.
Who could have possibly guessed?
What is ironic is that my 4 year-old son now uses my old 6 and I was constantly frustrated trying to plug his kid-friendly headphones into that stupid analog jack. The case we put the phone in didn’t have a large enough hole in it to fit the headphones plug through it, so we just started using the adapter dongle that came with my X to plug them in. Recently he’s just been borrowing my Bluetooth headphones, lol. Do they make kid-friendly ones, I wonder?
In any case, a completely anecdotal scenario on my part that I just thought I’d share. Not sure if anyone else has had a similar experience.