2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide.
3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time.
4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns.
5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is all. You all are now paying $$$ for headphones with batteries, etc. onboard, and they no longer had to implement an audio amp or jack. win for apple, not the consumer.
> 2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide.
Then use the dongle
> 3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time.
Then use the dongle
> 4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns.
Ok suuurrreee, then use the dongle
> 5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is all. You all are now paying $$$ for headphones with batteries, etc. onboard, and they no longer had to implement an audio amp or jack. win for apple, not the consumer.
Or you could, you know, use the dongle. Literally everyone I know that has AirPods loves them and wouldn't consider going back to wired.
That’s a joke. 7 years later I am still picking up headphones then remembering I can’t plug them in without going to find a dongle. If there was an iPhone with a headphone jack I would buy it.
I can’t imagine having to use a cord for a headset in 2022. My AirPods switch seamlessly between my Mac, iPad, Watch and MacBook. Cords her tangled, caught in things are horrible for running etc.
Not to mention that would I run and go to the gym with just my watch.
Cultural norms change. Everyone thought that the people were going to look silly and pretentious when the AirPods came out. Now it’s normal. The same with the Apple Watch.
What's funny is that I'm far from an Apple lover and I could be accused of being a shill for removing the headphone jack. I was initially skeptical, but it forced me onto bluetooth headsets which had come a long way up to that point. I listen to podcasts quite a lot, and I'd often snag the cord on door handles (it's amazing how catchy that cable could be), and audio quality isn't a huge factor. So overall it was a good change for me.
I feel the opposite about touchid if it matters. Honestly it seems forgotten, but I much prefer the intentionality of touching my phone in order to unlock it as well as having a physical home button.
Fine, consider the entire "cost" of manufacturing, shipping, etc. I'd wager my 1 pair of AirPods is hilariously tiny verses what some companies do in a hour if not a few minutes. Framing this as an environmental issue is just ridiculous. It's the same BS behind oil companies trying to convince people that not recycling is the big issue, not them.
Oh the humanity! I cannot take people like you seriously. I could by 100 pairs and still do considerably less damage than some companies do in the time it takes me to check out.
1) Your link only mentions the magnets, nothing else in relation to rare earth elements.
2) Plastic is not recyclable in a lot of jurisdictions. Seattle stopped collecting it all together.
3) Most people will not ecycle things. Most people will just throw them in the trash instead of driving to a big box store to drop of headphones for ecycling.
3a) Sure, this behavior is common across electronics (being lazy, throwing away) but when you design an electrical device to never be repaired you are just making things worse.
Bluetooth headphones are good != Apple was right to remove the jack
There is no reason to remove a feature that works perfectly and is invaluable in some situations. Bluetooth headphones will never be sufficient for music performance, audio production, and rhythm games, for example. And it's not like Apple shies away from features that affect only a tiny portion of their userbase, such as Lockdown Mode.
I’m holding on to my iPhone 6S until it dies irreparably, and would have probably bought a new iPhone by now otherwise, exclusively because all of my headphones are wired and I hate messing with bluetooth. But sure, great decision.
I understand it. I was annoyed by the removal of the headphone jack at first. I have a pair of Sennheiser headphones with 3.5mm and I previously used the adapter with them. I didn’t notice any lower fidelity audio with them and leaving the tiny adapter on the 3.5mm jack didn’t really feel like I was carrying anything more around. I’ve replaced the headphone cable on my senns twice and it was never through use of the adapter(usually because I’d get up and pull my computer to the floor and it fell on the jack), plus the Sennheiser cables are like $30 vs $9 so I’d rather have the adapter fail. I did a sound test with my wife’s Bose QCs and they sounded the same or better than my wired Senns. Now I have my own pair and I don’t miss fucking around with wires at all.
> Audio quality of Apple Lightning to 3.5mm adapter (A1749) is almost as good as in-built mobile audio solutions by Apple, though it has slightly worse df-measurements. Mostly due to the higher jitter. But if you listen music you will not hear the difference; it is too subtle to be perceived.
But in those cases you wouldn't want to use a 3.5 mm headphone jack even if your phone or computer had one. You'd want to use a digital interface such as Lightning or USB.
Music on a phone or computer is digital. To get analog output for the headphone jack the device includes a DAC to convert that digital audio to analog and probably analog amplifiers to get the analog signal to the right level. The quality of the DAC and the analog amplifiers chosen by the device maker place an upper limit on the quality of the audio.
To get the highest quality you want to be able to choose the DAC and amplifiers yourself.
And I'd argue the number of people who actually do have a "need" are stretching the definition of "need" to it's breaking point. Yes, if you need near-zero latency then AirPods might not be for you but that's a tiny segment of the population.
You know the vast majority of users don't care? No one is saying you should use AirPods as your monitors while you record but for listening to music/calls/podcasts/etc they work just fine.
Now argue to the risk of stepping outside your house.
Come on, the truth is almost none of us need to worry about this. To each their own and you get to pick what your balance of security and convenience but disabling bluetooth is a little too tin-foil-y for my tastes.
I'd bet that many (most?) people would plug their headphones into the adapter and leave it until the headphones or adapter failed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not for Apple or the adapter, but I'm not convinced by the adapter hate either. I do wish I could find Bluetooth devices that didn't suck, though.
Haha, I might be unreasonably amused by your rephrasing of the question.
The adapters (cheap, tiny copper cables) seem as sturdy or sturdier than many of the cables attached to headphones and ear buds (also cheap, tiny copper cables).
So maybe the question should have been "do they fail more frequently than the cables would themselves?"
I've seen more people with wireless than wired headphones for many years now, there's been a couple of instances since I got my fairphone when I miss the headset jack, mostly in cars with old stereo systems. If I had a car like that I'd buy a Bluetooth DAC probably.
If I use the same pair of headphones paired to my work computer and my phone, I cannot unlock and look at my phone without it taking over.
I have "solved" this by having three pairs of headphones. #1 paired to my phone. Used for my commute. #2 left at work, paired with the computer. #3 left at home, paired with the computer when I'm WFH.
It gets expensive/old pretty fast. Also a lot of charging needs to be done.
The culture of "Apple Knows Best" died years ago. People are realizing the lightening port and removing the Jack isn't innovation--it's just a cash grab.
At some point there needs to be some sympathy for consumer preferences. I'm an Apple customer due to the bloat/clunkiness of their competitors rather than an appreciation for Apple itself.
Apple charges more for less and their users line up to pay instead of walking away.
As long as this keeps happening, Apple will keep taking away and
gouging their users.
People are stupid and gullible so I think Apple is doing the right thing here - fleece the sheep while they keep coming.
The main downside is that other companies observe this behaviour and try to emulate it but that doesn't work because people who avoid Apple probably don't want to pay premium for substandard products so these companies die of and there is less and less competition and innovation in the market so we are left with Apple and Samsung $1200 phones/tablets instead of decent XYZ brand devices for more reasonable price - say $300-$500.
So, I guess there is no possibility that their hundreds of millions of customers recognize that they are paying more for more? I guess all of us are just idiots. Markets don't work that way. Over time unsatisfied customers change the market dynamic. That hasn't happened. Perhaps you should reevaluate your criteria for determining "more" and "less" in terms of product value to the consumer.
Markets work by way of hype. Among that artificially creating the impression of wanted hotness, by hiring student extras camping in front of the store, which opens the next day.
Wired headphones suck for 90%+ of the population. We can talk about the cost of AirPods but they are objectively better in most all situations.
I was a hold-out on the AirPods having using bluetooth headphones before and hated them but I got AirPods as a gift and almost immediately fell in love. Way easier to carry (no tangled wires, and yes, I knew how to wind them up but that wasn't always foolproof), super easy to pop in your ears for a few minutes or a few hours, and no cables to get in your way.
I lost my original AirPods (or they were stolen) and I decided to just use the wired headphones while I continued to hope they would turn up. WIthin 2 days I had an order placed for a new AirPods because wired headphones are a huge step backwards (wires get caught on things and tug at your ears when you extend too far).
I generally find audiophiles to be nearly completely full of shit when it comes to "audio quality" and while I know bluetooth doesn't allow for the highest quality possible it's well past "good enough".
Ahem. On headphones
Pros:
- Not bound to an insecure protocol.
- Compatible with jacks a century old.
- Decent headphones can cost as low as 5EUR on a convenience store and still sound better than most of BT headphones
Cons: You can't do jogging fine, but you have tiny and cheap media players with clips easily attached to the neck of your T-shirt.
I love having AirPods Pro. Super easy, seems to just work™. Where I have issues with connecting to vehicles.
I have a pickup truck that has bluetooth and a 3.5mm jack. The problem is that when I start the truck, it takes about a minute for it to connect to my iPhone. While it's connecting, it's playing FM radio extremely loud. It's gotten to the point now where I just gave up on bluetooth and use a permanent dongle to 3.5mm just so that I don't have to deal with bluetooth.
2: I have many headphones with higher quality sound than earbuds can provide.
3: Bluetooth still kinda sucks, even after all this time.
4: Bluetooth is subject to denial of service, security concerns.
5: Apple's purpose with the decision was to increase revenue, that is all. You all are now paying $$$ for headphones with batteries, etc. onboard, and they no longer had to implement an audio amp or jack. win for apple, not the consumer.