[ropans808]

What I really don't get is why we want to move the DAC into the headphone. It just makes sense to have a single DAC in the phone, that anything can plug into. Now every set of headphones needs its own DAC to convert that digital bluetooth/USB signal into something you can actually hear.

[CaptSpify]

My unsubstantiated guess: It's phase 1 for some new DRM scheme

[plussed_reader]

DRM audio(or worse, DAC) authentication over a USB-C connection.

Your storage device has to handshake with the playback device. Maybe HDCP over USB?