By scrapping antiquated headphones, Apple is doing something extraordinary for music (link)

Quartz | September 9, 2016 | BY Amy X. Wang

[Swordmaker]

Link Only due to Copyright issue:

By scrapping antiquated headphones, Apple is doing something extraordinary for music (Link Only )

[HamiltonJay]

Dropping the jack has nothing to do with old or new technology.. The simple face was as long as it had the 3.5MM plug they could not make the phone any thinner.

Look at the iPhone 6, what is the largest opening in the case? It’s that jack and the part inside is slightly larger than the opening.. So, to make the phone thinner the jack had to go.. Nothing more complicated than that.

[Hodar]

Well, that PC you love - uses the same processor as the Apple Macs use. In fact, if you opt to get a Gigabyte motherboard, odds are that it will very easily boot into either Windows, or Mac OSX with very little twiddling.

For reasons known only to Gigabyte, some of their motherboard designs are nearly identical to those designs used by Apple. I’m sure that’s an “accident” < /sarcasm> There is a group of people who do this, and these are called “HackIntosh” machines. They boot and act identically to a Mac.

The “Apple” incompatibilities are almost non-existant anymore. I’m a design engineer, I’ve done R&D work for Intel, AMD, I was a Global Failure Analysis engineer for a very large industrial company (alas, my departmetn went to India); now I work with rockets.

When Win10 dropped and yanked the Start button - I bought my first Mac. It’s the bottom of the line, Mac Mini. I’m using it now. It’s an Intel i5 chip, and I can simultaneously run OSX, WinXP, Win7 Pro and Win10. Yup - I said SIMULTANEOUSLY. I only run2-3 at a time, as all of them bring it down dead slow - but it can do it. That’s the power of UNIX, which is the heart and soul of OSX.

[ReignOfError]

Who cares! Some Company will make a headphone adapter for it then you can use your original headphones again

Some company called Apple, and it's in the box with the phone.

[Swordmaker]

They’re dropping the ‘more waterproof’ argument? Somebody didn’t think this out. When people are listening to music, they want stereo sound - meaning two ear buds. Are Apple buds $159 apiece? Has Apple upgraded their sound board to match? A lot of time, too, when people are listening to music they are involved in some activity and the wires on the buds keep the buds from falling into the manure pile or shattering into a billion bits if they hit the pavement. Wired buds are also lighter and they’re not battery dependent. (Global warming oh no!!) Maybe Apple should have let a few working people play with this before they went with the final geek cubicle-centric product? I can’t see buying it.

• No, Apple has not dropped the "waterproof (sic) argument". It's "water and dust resistant". . . and that is only one of several reasons for dropping the jack.
• No, they are NOT $159 apiece. That's the price for the pair plus a charging case which will charge them five times before the case itself needs to be charged.
• Apple's iOS device sound has always been AAC, the same sound that the MPEG-4 — Moving Picture Experts Group standard 4 which they use for BlueRays, digital music, and other high quality sound reproduction. The Apple Airbuds have a new W1 Sound processor chip built into them to handle that. EACH ONE.
• Will some of these Airbuds fall out? Probably. I've used the Apple wired buds and they have not fallen out very often, but usually because they were pulled out by the wires. I suspect not many will fall. I had an in ear bluetooth that was held in only by the pressure of being in the ear. Never fell out. So we shall see.
• I would be willing to bet that Apple did indeed test them out the kazoo. Apple does that kind of thing before sending the product out into the wild. However, my experience has been that no amount of testing will find all the ways that idiots can find to destroy things.

[proxy_user]

They would be better off integrating MQA into their audio system. That would provide a real improvement at bit rates that will fit onto their devices.

[Swordmaker]

Sorry, I meant AIFF..

True it is "lossless" but not if what's being saved as a file is a "sampled" audio. You can't improve the source. It will be essentially an analog file in a digital format. However, it is irrelevant when speaking of iOS and iPhones/iPads. It's not used. The files are too big. A 1 min AIFF file is 10MB. So a normal 3.5 minute pop song would by 35 megabytes of storage while a AAC file would be more like 4MBs. . . and I'd defy the average listener to hear the difference.

[roadcat]

I also do not want to carry $150 headphones around.

I bet you're lying about all your statements. It's a deal killer for you, because of no headphone jack? There is an adapter, provided free in the box. So you can continue to use your Bose noise cancelling headphones. No deal killer. But you were never planning to buy an iPhone 7, ever, were you? And you don't need to carry $150 headphones around. Apple provides a wired headphone set in the iPhone 7 box, for free. You don't need to use bluetooth headphones so don't have to worry about batteries for bluetooth. You guys lie about all your statements "a deal killer" because you want to prevent others from buying it. If you don't want it, say so, but don't play games.

[Swordmaker]

If one of the priorities of your phone is music, Apple is a shitty choice to begin with - I-Tunes is the most locked-down, unmanageable un-intuitive pieces of garbage ever invented.

Did you ever really bother to learn how to use it? I doubt it.

[roadcat]

Motorolla already did it, I don’t remember anyone saying it was a good idea then.

Motorola did what? Who is Motorola? Oh yeah, I had a Motorola phone with an antenna. I upgraded it with a laser antenna that glowed different colors and cast an image on the wall every time I got a call. Man, was I pissed when they did away with the external antenna, saying it was old technology and I couldn't use the laser antenna on the newer models. What a stupid mistake. I never bought another Motorola phone. No wonder the company is on it's death throes.

[Swordmaker]

I’m still hoping Apple will come out with a round mouse.

I still see some nice hockey puke (deliberate) single button mouses for sale in all kinds of translucent colors for sale on eBay. They'll pay YOU to take them . . . LOL!

Classic Apple Meeses

[FourtySeven]

I don’t understand excuse my ignorance please: isn’t Bluetooth “Bluetooth”? Won’t any third-party Bluetooth headset work with the new iPhone?

If so, why all this talk about how it’s a dumb move on Apple’s part to introduce Bluetooth headphones? They can charge what they want for their own proprietary headphones. A Bluetooth headphone can be picked up on Amazon for less than $50. (Maybe small earbud type Bluetooth headphones aren’t easily found cheap?)

[Swordmaker]

Gee, does this mean my Koss ESP-950’s are obsolete ? NOT !

No, of course not. Just plug it in to the FREE, INCLUDED Lightning port to 3.5mm Adaptor.

[higgmeister]

When Win10 dropped and yanked the Start button - I bought my first Mac.

To funny!   I suspect I'm an old dinosaur compared to you.   My first computer was a TI-99/4a. Apple II was an expensive boat anchor compared to my TI back then.

If you are a design engineer that worked for Intel and AMD, I suspect you don't go back 40 years.

[WeatherGuy]

Did you ever really bother to learn how to use it? I doubt it.

Learn it?? I guess I have a different understanding of intuitive than you do. Any gadgetry/software that you have to "learn" - outside of being given a paycheck to do so - is a waste of time.

[Swordmaker]

Before they yanked it out it already had an adapter, lol. Did you look at the pic accompanying this article? What kind of idiot would want to walk around looking like Lt.Uhura (x2)?

It's better to have two white wires running down the sides of your face? Say what? How is that better than having the AirPods?

[steve86]

What I can’t figure out is how the Airbuds figure out which is the right ear and which is the left, with no user input and placed in the ears randomly.

[Swordmaker]

If you want to join in but don't have an iPhone 7:
Apple Plug

Really good satire. Well done site.

[Swordmaker]

I also do not want to carry $150 headphones around. If I use bluetooth headphones, it will require batteries or cut down on battery life in the case of noise cancelling headphones. I was going to get an I phone in part to work with my Bose noise cancelling headphones. This is a deal killer. No I phone for me.

And it will STILL work with your Bose noise cancelling headphones. There is no difference except you plug your Bose headphones into the FREE, INCLUDED, Lightning Port to 3.55mm jack adaptor. Done. Added benefit, your headphone cable is two inches longer than it was before.

[Swordmaker]

I don’t want to buy adapters and I don’t want anything else to keep up with.

You don't need to buy adaptors. It comes with the iPhone 7, Free.

[Swordmaker]

I'm still not sure why Apple's detractors always feel compelled to misstate the facts whenever Apple changes something.

It's because they really can't criticize the actual things Apple did. They have to build a straw house occupied by straw men on a straw foundation. They then can really scream and shout and run around in a panic about something they don't own, will never buy, and have never used.

See? It makes perfect nonsense, once you understand their irrationality.

My girlfriend Kathy (A registered nurse and Certified Case Manager for Worker's Compensation) and I came up with a new diagnosis for this problem we are going to submit for the next revision of the IDC-10, the International Diagnostic Codes, revision 10.

90210 iOS Munchausen's Apple-Plexy Syndrome (MAPS), The overwhelming compulsion to post negative, judgmental, aggressive, and false commentary on any website thread related to Apple products wherever found, including phobic reaction to projected Apple user euphoria. First and subsequent encounters.