Posted on 09/09/2016 4:43:54 PM PDT by Swordmaker
Link Only due to Copyright issue:
By scrapping antiquated headphones, Apple is doing something extraordinary for music (Link Only )
Who cares! Some Company will make a headphone adapter for it then you can use your original headphones again
‘I wouldn’t be surprised that the pushback from consumers ends up being so strong that they can’t figure why the iPhone SE and the iPhone 6S/6S Plus models (which will continue in production at a lower rate) are outselling the iPhone 7 models.”
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Apple’s “Windows 8” moment. But still you’ll find people who are wild for Win8, so go figure.
Note to self. Don't lose them.
I want the IPhone 7, but I think I will wait to see how it pans out. My IPhone 6 is still working well. In fact, so is my Iphone 5. We shall see. I know Viber works well on it. But then again, Viber works well on my wife's Globe Cloudphone too. 😀
I get it, you hate Apple. And your blind hatred makes you impervious to learning anything about what is being discussed. Why, what is more fun than stupidly babbling "Apple sux"? It's quite Avant Giarde these days
Of course, there are the more educated folk who look back and say Bluetooth 4.2 specs allowed for subchannels to carry additional audio codec information to allow for better audio sound via Bluetooth; but few if any Bluetooth receiver chip manufacturers supported this standard.
Most didn't know that Apple purchased a silicon development company that specializes in developing ultra low power Bluetooth receivers and made the Apple W1 chip that allows the iPhone to transmit MP3 and AAC files directly to the headset, thus bypassing any Bluetooth audio limitations. The music is decoded in the headset, on the W1 chip, just the channel information that left or right headset needs. What's more, by doing so digitally; Apple can add in equalization and active noise cancelling data- making their W1 equipped headsets noise cancelling by design.
But, hey; that's not nearly as much fun as saying "Apple sux", now is it, Boy Genius?
I don't know if I can agree with that. Any digital audio system is exactly that, digital. It's made up of offs and ons. Anything between the off and the on is lost. However, earbuds are analog, but the device sending the signal is inherently digital. We cannot create what is missing from the digital recorded media in the first place. The advantage of AAC is that it is very high bandwidth digital and does not compress the existing data by throwing away what is considered by many programers as being outside the range of normal human hearing which all other sound storage and transmission systems routinely throw out to save file space and network bandwidth.
The problem with that is such frequencies that are thrown away as "useless" and "unbearable," do actually create beat frequencies when the higher frequencies are included which ARE within the range of human hearing and add to the quality of the sound when played back in a room or even a high quality headphone. Remove the higher frequencies and those beat frequencies will be missing in the playback. These beat frequencies are very difficult to record because they are dependent on the venue on the performance, the listening area, walls, absorption, and/or microphone placement.
Sorry, but well designed analog equipment will blow the doors off of digital stuff.
No contest.
As an EE with doctorate in DSP who has taught this stuff at the grad level for years, dats the twuth.
Yes, I use digital for my iprimary source, because I am lazy.
But, when I sit and relax for great music,it’s analogue.
Oh, am also a not bad pianist that knows classical and rock. Been there, got the T shirt in both.
We have a local website (KSL.com) that has a free classified section. Every year, my wife and I alternate selling our iPhone and upgrade. We are each on the 2 year renew cycle through Verizon.
Each time, we get ~$250 for our 2 year old iPhone. So we put that towards the $199 upgrade, usually we buy the max memory option and this year I am going for the iPhone 7 Plus. Which means I sell my old iPhone and have to pony up only $150 to get the top of the line iPhone 7 plus.
I don’t know why you keep your old iPhones? I mean, do what you will, they are yours to do with as you will. But they have significant although diminished value over time.
Forgot to add that Apple includes a plug adapter that allows one to use their present phones. Swetteth not.
Interesting. Might just be time to get the Objective2 headphone amp with built-in ODAC and dedicate the old one I built from kit to a turntable.
Motorolla already did it, I don’t remember anyone saying it was a good idea then.
You just hit the heart of the matter, that many audiophiles call “high frequency harmonics”. Think of someone striking a cymbal with a stick. Was that stick wood, metal, fiberglass or plastic? Each will create a slightly different impact and initial sound. Was the metal brass, or steel? When we are live and in a room; the difference is apparent and profound. But upon recording, this difference quickly is lost.
Or, imagine being in the woods on a cool summer morning. A bird chirps close by. Without looking, your brain automatically targets that birds position as behind you, over your left shoulder, approximately 20 feet away and about 10 feet off the ground. You slowly turn around and your eyes know exactly where to look. How did this happen? Timing, phase data of the sound waves, attenuation of sound in the air at the time, temperature and altitude you are familiar with. The brain and our ears are remarkable instruments.
Yet, a child can tell the difference between a live performance and a recording.
My problem with Apple is that they have put tremendous technical effort into the aesthetic and engineering of the earbuds - but the quality of the sound lags behind competitors products that are much cheaper. Wish they used higher quality drivers.
Gotta agree, my problem is that most of the source material I hear today is so badly recorded that many people have no clue as to what “real” instruments actually sound like anymore.
That was one of the things I liked about the “good old days”.
Damn, I am old.
Where I live, they don't do trade ins. We just keep using them. When I got the 6, I gave my wife the 5. Since she got her Globe Cloudphone, she will give the 5 to her brother. Here, the IPhones, as well as Samsung, are too expensive. Of course, it's not worth flying 8,000 miles just to save a hundred bucks, but when I go back to California, I might get one, or I might not. It's possible I may wait for the 8. Who knows, but I buy it outright, and obviously, do not do a plan. Then, I just put a Globe SIM in it, and it works fine here.
When Motorola did it, they didn't offer anything to compensate for doing it. It was "ok, we removed the headphone jack, before Apple did" and then waited while crickets chirped.
Apple did it, and then went on to describe the "why" - and I will be the first one to comment that the "100 year old port" excuse was pure, unadulterated BS.
But, if you want water resistance and dust resistance, getting rid of a 3.5 mm hole is a good start, right? Now, if you will just bear with me, let me add on to some of the technical prowess that Apple brough to bear.
Apple purchased a silicion design company that specialized in ultra-low power designs. With this, they created the W1 chip (Wireless 1). This chip, is obviously ultra low power, which is important for battery powered devices. But, here's where it's quite revolutionary. Common Bluetooth reciever chips used in headsets did NOT support beyond the Bluetooth 2.x spec; which means that the music frequency was limited. Music sounded less than great. The current spec is Bluetooth 4.2, which added subchannels that allow for music to include codecs; so you can get the better sounding music. Now, that is all fine and good. Apple took it a step beyond. The W1 chip allows the iPhone to send the actual music file to the headset. The WHOLE FILE. Now, each headset only cares about the part of the file it's designed to play (why would the left earpod care about the right earpod's music?). So, the W1 decodes the whole music file, and the music is played WITHOUT LOSS. See the difference? Is this not a good thing?
Now, let's add some other cool stuff. How about the automatic and very fast pairing beetween the iPhone and the earpod? How about if 1 earpod falls out, the music stops. So, if you are listening to music, and one of those earpods (bear in mind, we are talking about $159 for a set, so they aren't cheap) falls out - you know it; because the music stops until you put it back in your ear.
My first question is this - Why didn't someone else do this? Rest assured, that after all - Wireless earphones and earpods have been on the market for years. Now that Apple has done this - it will only be a matter of months before someone rips off this Apple idea. That's just the way the world works, (right Samsung?)
I don’t use mine for music - often.
But, when it’s yardwork time, I picked up a pair of RBH earpods on Amazon, which fit into my ears very tightly, and are like wearing earplugs. I then either throw on Pandora, TuneIn Radio (world-wide radio), Apple Radio or just a mix of my songs - and use that to keep my mind off the dull roar of the lawnmower or trimmer.
At my job, I can listen to music - but I find myself not being able to concentrate; or turning the music down so I can focus on my job. I’m an engineering supervisor; so it’s conference calls, mentoring, training junior engineers, reviews etc etc.
But the techno-geek in me is liking the technical direction they are going. Just do with the quality of the components in their headsets kept up with the chip and ergonomic design.
No, of course they are not going to transmit 24/192 PCM. That is not even something that most tech people would try with a desktop computer unless it was setup specifically for that purpose.
The iPhone, iPad, and all Android systems are using Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) which is at the system level. These are NOT devices on which anyone should expect to listen to 24/192 perfect sound files, which are NOT what you get from CD level quality which is 16/44.1, which 99% of most music listeners are perfectly satisfied with.
Wikipedia says that AAC is part of the MPEG-4 Audio standard and is capable of carrying 48 full-bandwidth (up to 96 kHz) audio channels in one stream. The quality for stereo is satisfactory to modest requirements at 96 kbit/s in joint stereo mode; however, hi-fi transparency demands data rates of at least 128 kbit/s (VBR). The MPEG-2 audio tests showed that AAC meets the requirements referred to as "transparent" for the ITU at 128 kbit/s for stereo, and 320 kbit/s for 5.1 audio. . . and this is MPEG-4, the higher standard. Apple has designed a new processor dependent wireless system where each of the earbuds has an independent Apple W1 System on a Chip computer IN the earbud.
The new wireless system that Apple has created will be a huge increase in sound quality over what people have been used to before, yet everyone, without even hearing what the new FREE earbuds are capable of doing, much less the $159 Airbuds, which are 20% LESS EXPENSIVE than the lowest priced competitors' earbuds, can do are piling on with bad mouthing something the know nothing about based on hearing from other people who know nothing about it as well!
>>>I HATE ear buds...they don’t fit in my ears<<<
I have the same problem, but the different sizes supplied by some manufacturers, helps. The light weight ear muff types don’t supply very good sound, while the bigger ones do..but tend to be heavy. It’s hard to lay down and sleep with those lol!
The corded earbuds are a PITA because the cord gets caught on stuff and damages them unless you string it up thru your clothes, there are times when that’s just not practical. Yet without the cord, the buds would get lost. I rarely ever find my buds but easily find the cord they are attached to. I just totally ruined a really nice and expensive pair of buds with microphone and volume controls...a gift...I’m so upset about that. They got caught on a kitchen drawer and I nearly got whiplash trying to save them. But one side of the buds are fine and I can at least lay down and listen to a movie without disturbing others.
I’ve known people with blue tooth devices, but to try to hear them speak to you when you’re on the phone with them is terrible! They sound like they’re on the moon talking thru a paper cup and string lol! Even head sets with microphones can be persnickety unless you pay through the nose for a really good pair.
How does one have a conversation with the new apple 7 with the proposed wireless buds? Are they designed for phone calls? Do you have to remove your buds to answer your phone? How is the sound quality for the person on the other end of the line?
I love new technology, but sometimes they come up with stuff that is really dumb.
Don't really fit the Boy Genius moniker but the chance to chuckle at your response, yes, your meandering techno geek info, not nearly as much fun.
It was the closed proprietary code versus the open code that did it for me all those many years ago.
More recently, my wife just had to get an iPad and iPhone6 like my daughter. Of course my daughter was totally brainwashed by the profusion of Apple products in education and the fad culture of youth.
Over the past few years I have heard endless complaints about Apples. I cannot even help them resolve their compatibility issues. When they try to investigate, it appears nobody is able to help them. The only reason for the incompatibility is, it's an Apple. Apple's tact is to sell a new product.
Through 40 years in telecommunications I have installed digiboards, modem and other bus cards, added memory, changed processors, etc. on hundreds of PC's, but I have never cracked open one Apple product. My daughter has an IS degree and my S-in-L has a PhD in Instructional Technology. I'll stick with my PC's or droids. I have never had the need to complain about them at all.
Woz has not been involved in Apple for thirty years, nor has he really been involved in a successful company in the time he's been away from Apple. When he was at Apple, he was not involved with marketing at all. That was Steve Jobs. Steve Wozniak had to be dragged kicking and screaming into selling what he made.
Apple has provided an umbilical cord for those who want/need to be connected to their ears. It is still there for them. . . and Apple has increased audio listening time extraordinarily, you can listen to audio for 40 hours on the iPhone 7 and 60 hours on the iPhone 7 plus before recharging. With battery times like those, I just don't see why anyone NEEDS to have the iPhone charging at the same time as listening to their earphones! Don't they ever sleep?
Time from no power to a full charge is about an hour. Sheesh.
I’ll go on record as saying that I think removing the headphone jack is a bad move. I generally dont use my phone for music, as I prefer a device I can load stuff onto as a removable drive for that. (Microsd cards are cheaper than dirt these days, and having cards for different , mixes works for me)
That said, if you are with someone and would like to both be using phones with the same device, this would be good for that use case. (If it allows that)
Portable headphones tend to be pretty fragile devices in my experiance. I realize they have a connector/covverter for it, but I mostly see that as another point of failure.
I’m sure people will adapt, because they mostly do over minor annoyances, but I don’t have to like it :-) it will be a few years before I am ready for a new phone in any case, so I won’t have to worry about how to deal with it for a while.
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