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[rezuth]

With so much response from consumers I figured it would be interesting to see what the actual companies making headphones are thinking about the whole ordeal.


http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/9/12859858/no-headphone-jack-iphone-7-reaction
This week Apple launched a new iPhone without a headphone jack and stirred up an understandable furor of discontent. But you won’t hear any headphone companies complaining about the move, even though it takes away their familiar entry point into the Apple ecosystem. Most of them have already been preparing for this change for months, and those who haven’t don’t particularly care about plugging into an iPhone in the first place. I spoke with a few of the major headphone manufacturers in the wake of Apple’s announcement to gauge their reaction to the news.

Sennheiser

"Sennheiser has seen many different connection standards come and go in the audio world over the years. Audio connections have always been continuously evolving. Digital outputs, such as Apple's Lightning connector, will offer new opportunities to take a step forward and to further enhance the sound experience for the customer. For example, 3D audio technology using digital signals is just one possibility."

Jaybird

"Apple has confirmed what we’ve all known all along: the world is going wireless. And even though you might not know it now, you’ll love your digital audio experience without all the wires. Apple’s new design, coupled with advancements in wireless headphones and Bluetooth technology, will dramatically improve the audio experience for all and lead to a freer listening & interaction experience."

Audio-Technica¨

"The fact that Apple are providing the adapter with new iPhone 7 means that, although people have something else now to lose, no one will miss out and can still enjoy their own choice of quality wired headphones. We will continue to offer some of our headphone range with Bluetooth options such as the new SR5BT with a 38 hour battery life (and a cable in the box).
"Pushing the edge of wireless headphone technology has been and remains an important pillar of our headphone development and you can expect to see exciting developments from Audio-Technica."

AudioQuest

"The Lightning-to-3.5mm adaptor does in fact seem like more of a temporary solution. In a few years time, we can all suppose that the Lightning headphone and DAC categories will be ubiquitous."

Grado

"To be honest, we don’t care much one way or another. We really just care that we can keep a sound that we’re proud of. We just want whatever connection is used to keep the sound that our family’s worked 63 years for. There aren’t any major changes to Grado because of this, and we’ll continue doing what’s kept us around for so long."

 

[Anth0ny]

Apple does something, the world follows. This is not surprising at all.

 

[Killer Queen]

I've got enough shit to charge as it is but thanks anyway.

 

[Yado]

They don't really have a choice but to make compatible headphones tbh

 

[GoldenEye 007]

Headphone manufactures excited about the prospect of pushing/selling new products? Shocked.

Lightning ubiquitous? Like FireWire, I'm sure?

 

[Draft]

A billion people are going to need new headphones, so yeah, no fucking problem lol.

 

[Servbot24]

It's in their best interest to keep people optimistic about audio and to have increased interest in new wireless products.

 

[Purkake4]

I wouldn't mind the extra revenue either. Everyone but the customer wins.

 

[EatinOlives]

What are they gonna do? Say fuck you to Apple and protest?

It still doesn't mean people are going to our souls ignore it.

 

[seat]

Companies like the idea of getting a chance to sell you more of their shit. Surprising?

 

[Guevara]

Gonna be wild in 3 years when lightning is discontinued in favor of the next connector (USB-C or whatever).

 

[Ratrat]

A billion people are going to need new headphones, so yeah, no fucking problem lol.

It comes with an adaptor. This isn't the first phone thats done this.

 

[RibMan]

"We're going to have millions and millions of new customers... and you're asking us what we think about that?" - Headphone Companies

 

[Jeffrey]

NPD’s latest data, covering the first half of this year, showed that Bluetooth cans commanded 54 percent of US dollar sales, in spite of accounting for only 17 percent of unit sales. That means people are much more willing to spend a higher price for wireless convenience than the less defined benefits of, say, better audio quality or high-grade materials and construction. What’s more, Bluetooth headphone sales are growing at six times the rate of the entire headphones category in the US, indicating that Apple is indeed jumping on (and amplifying) a rising tide.

So Apple is pushing people to buy the much higher margin bluetooth headphones, why would headphone companies that all already sell bluetooth headphones be scared

 

[Fuchsdh]

They don't really have a choice but to make compatible headphones tbh

That, and they're perfectly happy to offer a new product for people to buy if they don't want to use an adapter.

People getting all upset about this forget that audiophiles with even $200 headphones are a pretty distinct minority. So many people just use the bundled or free EarPods. And in east New York, it seems like wireless Beats are already what everyone's using.

Gonna be wild in 3 years when lightning is discontinued in favor of the next connector (USB-C or whatever).

I dunno how much thinner they're going to make phones (or where we are in the continuum of "metal or plastic rectangle" to "flexible screen the thickness of a credit card" for phone tech) but Lightning is still thinner than USB type C, and it puts the breakable pins in the cable, not the device. That and the MFi licensing program make me think that Apple's unlikely to transition to USB for their phones, even as the computers (and the other end of the Lightning cables) will probably go USB-C happily.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

It comes with an adaptor. This isn't the first phone thats done this.

True. I do remember all of those feature phones in the past from cell companies that required adapters in order to use headphones. That worked out swell.

 

[borghe]

Lightning ubiquitous? Like FireWire, I'm sure?

is lightning in the majority of phones out there? No, of course not.

Is lightning in 100s of millions of active phones and tablets? Of course.

so yeah, not exactly a correct word (ubiquitous), but it's not like there are only a handful of users with lightning devices.. I am pretty sure we have to be closing in on half a billion by now.

True. I do remember all of those feature phones in the past from cell companies that required adapters in order to use headphones. That worked out swell.

I mean you see the difference, right? Old phones required an adapter to listen to ANY audio. This phone requires an adapter if you want to listen to audio using one sort of plug, and also allows you to listen to them over another plug and wireless.

night and day difference.

 

[Ptaaty]

True. I do remember all of those feature phones in the past from cell companies that required adapters in order to use headphones. That worked out swell.

I hated the mini ports back before full smartphones became the norm. NEVER used it.

 

[Mohonky]

Won't somebody think of all the companies already working on those high end silver, cryogenically aligned cable adapters?

 

[Trojita]

This literally only screws over consumers. Why wouldn't headphone companies also be happy?

 

[RuGalz]

Of course there's no problem because now they could sell you another set made just for iPhone. More money for everyone except consumers.

 

[ZeroX03]

Removable cables!

 

[GoldenEye 007]

is lightning in the majority of phones out there? No, of course not.

Is lightning in 100s of millions of active phones and tablets? Of course.

so yeah, not exactly a correct word (ubiquitous), but it's not like there are only a handful of users with lightning devices.. I am pretty sure we have to be closing in on half a billion by now.

I'm sure they will be popular. But popular isn't ubiquitous, which is what I was addressing. USB is ubiquitous or 3.5mm. Lightning will never be. Like FireWire.

 

[Ratrat]

True. I do remember all of those feature phones in the past from cell companies that required adapters in order to use headphones. That worked out swell.

Its shit, I had to use blutooth a lot, which doesnt work with some cars audio system. Doesnt change the fact you can still use your old headphones.

edit: it was a smartphone too.

 

[bedlamite]

Why on earth would Grado care about iPhones? Who goes out with Grados in public?

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Wow, headphones companies being excited that they'll be able to push their more expensive wireless headphones over the cheaper wired ones? NO WAY

 

[shadow2810]

It's not like their products will stop working with the new iphone.

 

[SodiumBenzoate]

If lightning wasn't an apple-exclusive port I would feel much better about this

 

[borghe]

This literally only screws over consumers. Why wouldn't headphone companies also be happy?

because consumers are unable to use the included adapter? Or shell out a whopping $9 if they lose the free included one?

If lightning wasn't an apple-exclusive port I would feel much better about this

It's coming for USB-C also. Mark my words, next year you will see multiple phones announced with audio over USB-C and an included adapter.

 

[Brandson]

Of course device-specific headphones connecting through proprietary ports sounds good to the headphone makers. It means you have to buy more headphones. It also means you have to put a dac and amp in every pair of lightning headphones, which means higher prices, and possibly also worse battery life, because you're now powering more stuff through the cable, which would probably be less battery-optimized than whatever would otherwise have made it into the phone.

If digital cables transition to home desktop headphones, it will be a sad day for anyone who appreciates sound quality. A good desktop dac/amp is about the size of a large dictionary. It's just not possible to cram all of that that into a headphones' housing and expect similar performance.

 

[Slurpy2k20]

And yet again, Apple moves the industry forward. And yet again, the same tired, predictable outrage from the same intellectually lazy and short-sighted people. Yes, headphone companies will ALL support the lightning jack, and be more motivated to make quality wireless headphones. They show more foresight and maturity than anyone in the OMG APPLE IS SO TERRIBLE headphone jack thread. Within a year every single reputable brand will have lightning versions, and every single old headphone you own will STILL work with the iPhone 7 with the adapter.

 

[Alebrije]

Headphones companies are happy because they will sell more

 

[borghe]

Of course device-specific headphones connecting through proprietary ports sounds good to the headphone makers. It means you have to buy more headphones. It also means you have to put a dac and amp in every pair of lightning headphones, which means higher prices, and possibly also worse battery life, because you're now powering more stuff through the cable, which would probably be less battery-optimized than whatever would otherwise have made it into the phone.

If digital cables transition to home desktop headphones, it will be a sad day for anyone who appreciates sound quality. A good desktop dac/amp is about the size of a large dictionary. It's just not possible to cram all of that that into a headphones' housing and expect similar performance.

while your point about DAC quality is spot on..... presumably DACs will start including these newer digital inputs, the same way they've included optical, RF, coaxial, etc forever, and recently started including HDMI.

 

[GoldenEye 007]

And yet again, Apple moves the industry forward. And yet again, the same tired, predictable outrage from the same intellectually lazy and short-sighted people. Yes, headphone companies will ALL support the lightning jack, and be more motivated to make quality wireless headphones. They show more foresight and maturity than anyone in the OMG APPLE IS SO TERRIBLE headphone jack thread. Within a year every single reputable brand will have lightning versions, and every single old headphone you own will STILL work with the iPhone 7 with the adapter.

You're unhinged.

 

[shamanick]

You're unhinged.

Criticizing a design decision of a company is blasphemy!

 

[The Faceless Master]

as expected;

they're not the ones paying for it.

consumers on the other hand... hahahahahahahahhahahahaha

 

[Fliesen]

This literally only screws over consumers. Why wouldn't headphone companies also be happy?

because some would take this as the perfect opportunity to buy a new set of headphones? either because they don't want to be using an adapter, or because new, lightning equipped, heaphones might offer some extra features, like programmable EQ settings via an app, and better sound due to lightning providing more power to the headphones.

edit: read "would" instead of "wouldn't" ... my bad

 

[borghe]

consumers on the other hand...

get an included adapter with every phone purchase. yes?

 

[Awful Falafel]

Gonna be wild in 3 years when lightning is discontinued in favor of the next connector (USB-C or whatever).

What makes you think they'd get rid of Lightning so soon? The old 30-pin dock connector Apple had lasted 9 years before Lightning came out and was around for an extra 2 years before they stopped selling the iPhone 4S.

 

[Trojita]

because consumers are unable to use the included adapter? Or shell out a whopping $9 if they lose the free included one?



It's coming for USB-C also. Mark my words, next year you will see multiple phones announced with audio over USB-C and an included adapter.

It's just clumsy, like their adapters for the Macbooks.

And yet again, Apple moves the industry forward. And yet again, the same tired, predictable outrage from the same intellectually lazy and short-sighted people. Yes, headphone companies will ALL support the lightning jack, and be more motivated to make quality wireless headphones. They show more foresight and maturity than anyone in the OMG APPLE IS SO TERRIBLE headphone jack thread. Within a year every single reputable brand will have lightning versions, and every single old headphone you own will STILL work with the iPhone 7 with the adapter.

You've outed yourself as a crazy apple fan in the other threads

Nope, Apple is the only tech company out there that does give a shit about consumers, and about progress. Every other company is too fucking cowardly to move forward- they wait for Apple to make the change, use the opportunity to attack them for a while, then just go ahead and implement the change themselves when its nice and "safe", cause they're too terrified to lose sales. Apple, on the other hand, is willing to lose some sales to move their products, and the entire industry forward. What's "clear" is that you don't get it, and it's laughable that you think that companies include the headphone jack, for example, cause they "care". If it was up to them, we'd still have optical drives, serial ports, flash as a standard, bulky as fuck devices, etc- cause they don't have the guts to remove anything and risk a single annoyed customer.

 

[borghe]

What makes you think they'd get rid of Lightning so soon? The old 30-pin dock connector Apple had lasted 9 years before Lightning came out and was around for an extra 2 years before they stopped selling the iPhone 4S.

nah. I am a huge apple fan and even I am guessing they'll go with USB-C for the 10th anniversary. The entire reason for Lightning was because USB-C was (at the time) still years away. Lightning was always a stop gap until USB-C launched and became ubiquitous.

 

[shamanick]

Nope, Apple is the only tech company out there that does give a shit about consumers, and about progress. Every other company is too fucking cowardly to move forward- they wait for Apple to make the change, use the opportunity to attack them for a while, then just go ahead and implement the change themselves when its nice and "safe", cause they're too terrified to lose sales. Apple, on the other hand, is willing to lose some sales to move their products, and the entire industry forward. What's "clear" is that you don't get it, and it's laughable that you think that companies include the headphone jack, for example, cause they "care". If it was up to them, we'd still have optical drives, serial ports, flash as a standard, bulky as fuck devices, etc- cause they don't have the guts to remove anything and risk a single annoyed customer.

Jesus Christ

 

[GoldenEye 007]

get an included adapter with every phone purchase. yes?

Adapters are dumb.

 

[marrec]

Who had the bright idea to call Grado of all people about the new iPhone? :lol

Of course they don't give a shit.

 

[ClosingADoor]

And yet again, Apple moves the industry forward. And yet again, the same tired, predictable outrage from the same intellectually lazy and short-sighted people. Yes, headphone companies will ALL support the lightning jack, and be more motivated to make quality wireless headphones. They show more foresight and maturity than anyone in the OMG APPLE IS SO TERRIBLE headphone jack thread. Within a year every single reputable brand will have lightning versions, and every single old headphone you own will STILL work with the iPhone 7 with the adapter.

Is this a joke? Headphone companies can do that either way. Apple can give the option to either use a headphone jack or lightning, depending on what the user wants.

And what does this do for compatibility. Are my other devices magically going to support lightning for the headsets? Don't think so. Only Apple uses this.

I also don't get how Apple still gets away with this when everyone else uses compatible chargers. "Can I borrow your charger for my iPhone?" "No, I have the charger that works on the other 99,9999% of device types."

 

[old manatee]

They are obviously thrilled that everyone is going to be replacing perfectly working headphones.

 

[Trojita]

Jesus Christ

Here's another

I could tell from the title this would be an ignorant, troll-infested Apple shit-fest, and boy, I wasn't wrong.

Yes, Apple removed the headphone jack, as has been rumored and basically known for MONTHS. I love how people are still trying so hard to work themselves into a rage about it, even thought they've had so much fucking time to get used to the idea. Don't like it? Deal-breaker? Don't buy the damn phone. Meanwhile, this is no different than all the other transitions that Apple has pushed in the past and which in retrospect were absolutely the right course of action to take, and which enabled better, sleeker, and more reliable and robust products. Is using an adapter 100% ideal? No, but you can never have a perfect transition. Does that mean you should NEVER make changes? That's what I get from this thread. The hatred and viciousness towards Apple is really pathetic.

Phil offered what could be a useful solution to those wanting to charge the phone while using the 3.5mm jack. Apple hasn't gone on a fucking marketing campaign advertising the dock for this purpose. It was a sincere email to a questioner, and it could have very well solved their problem. Apple is not pushing anyone to buy anything. The adapter is included in the fucking box. The dock has been around a long time. Nobody is putting a gun to your heads and forcing you to smash you current iPhones and run out to buy the 7. The 6S is still a beast, and an excellent phone. And for those of you who DO get the 7, all your headphones will ALSO work on it, right out of the box. It's a product positioned for the future, just like Apple has done countless of times in the past. And each time, we hear the same angry whining from the same kinds of entitled people who are unwilling to look 2 feet beyond their own noses. In a year almost all headphones will have lightning versions and this will be a complete non-issue.

But feel free to spend your energy in the meantime pretending that Apple has taken infringed on your human rights, just like every other fucking time Apple has made a change for the better, and were followed by the rest of the industry in short order. Whether it's optical drives, or Flash, or removal batteries, it's the same predictable, short-sighted shit each time. And, given time, Apple has been proven right in pretty much every single instance. Not that anyone here would actually admit that, as obvious as it is.

 

[AstroNut325]

I wouldn't mind the extra revenue either. Everyone but the customer wins.

Eh... Going wireless is pretty darn nice.

 

[LQX]

See, Apple was looking out for us as consumers.

I wonder if headphones with lighting jacks will cost more...because that would be great.

 

[bedlamite]

aaaaand this thread's just gone off the rails