You'd need the electronics somewhere in the headphone to convert the digital signal to an analog one. The pair of headphones I use the most (B&W p5) is actually exceedingly easy to replace the wire on. B&W also happens to have a very close relationship with Apple... I wouldn't be surprised to see them make wore with the integrated conversion from digital to analog.
That said, the other two pair in the house are studio monitor headphones and replacing the wire is non-trivial but supported.
Why? There's plenty of rumours that Apple will launch a lightning -> 3.5 mm female for existing headphones to plug into. If they're doing that, there's nothing to stop them creating a lightning -> 3.5 mm male to plug into these kinds of headphone.
> Is there any reason why a replacement wire with a lightning connection on one end wouldn't be possible?
Good luck getting "piece of replacement wire" approved by the MFi program. Apple will only let you sell a complete device (because otherwise someone could just buy lots of these replacement wires and bypass their licensing program)
That's not what he's saying. The original quote was that people replace head phones all the time, he doesn't. Higher end headphones allow you to not replace headphones all the time when a small piece wears out or breaks. So that quote is false for him.
It is, but the equivalent is "people with high end headphones replace their headphone cable all the time".
And if the rumours are true that Apple will release a lightning -> 3.5 mm female for standard earphones, there's nothing stopping them (or someone else) releasing a lightning -> 3.5 mm male to replace that cable.
That said, the other two pair in the house are studio monitor headphones and replacing the wire is non-trivial but supported.