Tomas Chlebek The first iPhone was (among other things) unique in that it had a 3,5mm audio jack. Although it was embedded a little deeper in the device and in many cases it was necessary to use an adapter, it was still one of the pioneers of listening to music from mobile phones. The iPhone 7 goes in almost the opposite direction. What does that actually mean?
The standardized, 6,35mm audio input/output connector as we know it today dates back to around 1878. Its smaller 2,5mm and 3,5mm versions became widely used in transistor radios in the 50s and 60s. years and the 3,5 mm jack began to dominate the audio market after the arrival of the Walkman in 1979.
Since then, it has become one of the most widely used technology standards. It exists in several modifications, but the stereo version with three contacts appears most often. In addition to the two outputs, the three and a half millimeter sockets also contain an input, thanks to which a microphone can also be connected (e.g. EarPods with a microphone for calls) and which provides power to the connected devices. It is a very simple principle, which is also where its strength and reliability lie. Although Jack was not the highest quality audio connector available when it was profiled, as a whole it proved to be the most effective, which remains to this day.
The compatibility of the jack can hardly be overestimated. However, its presence in practically all consumer and countless professional products with audio output does not make work easier only for manufacturers of headphones, speakers and smaller microphones. In essence, it can be considered a kind of democratizing element in the technological world, at least for mobile devices.
There are many startups and small tech companies making all sorts of accessories that plug into the 3,5mm jack. From magnetic card readers to thermometers and electric field meters to oscilloscopes and 3D scanners, all such devices might not have existed if there was not a readily available manufacturer- or platform-independent standard. Which can't be said about, for example, charging cables, etc.
Facing the future with courage?
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So Apple decided not only to go "towards the future" in terms of headphones, but also for many other devices (whose future may not exist at all). On stage, Phil Schiller primarily called this decision a yes daringly. No doubt he was referring to what Steve Jobs once said about Flash: “We're trying to make great products for people, and at least we have the courage of our convictions that this isn't something that makes a product great, we're not going to put it in it.
“Some people won't like it and will insult us […] but we'll absorb that and instead focus our energy on those technologies that we think are on the rise and will be right for our customers. And you know what? They pay us to make those decisions, to make the best possible products. If we succeed, they will buy them, and if we fail, then they will not buy them, and everything will be settled.'
It seems that the exact same words could be said by someone (Steve Jobs?) in the current context. However, as he argues John Gruber, Flash was a significantly different case than the 3,5mm jack. It does not cause any problems, on the contrary. Flash was an unreliable technology with noticeably poor characteristics in terms of power consumption, performance and security.
Jack is technologically somewhat outdated, but, at least in the eyes of the general public, he has no direct negative qualities. The only thing that can be criticized about it is its susceptibility to mechanical damage caused by its design, possible problems with signal transmission in older sockets and jacks, and occasional unpleasant noises when connecting. So the reason for abandoning the jack should be the advantages of the alternatives, rather than its disadvantages.
Can something better replace the 3,5mm jack?
The jack is analog and is only capable of supplying a small amount of power. The signal that passes through the connector can no longer be significantly changed, and the listener is dependent on the player's hardware for audio quality, especially the amplifier and the digital-to-analog converter (DAC). A digital connector such as Lightning allows these devices to be retrofitted and provide a higher quality output. For this, of course, it is not necessary to get rid of the jack, but its elimination motivates the manufacturer more to develop new technologies.
For example, Audeze recently introduced headphones that have both an amplifier and a converter built into the controls and are able to provide much better sound than the same headphones with a 3,5mm analog jack. The quality is further improved by the ability to adapt amplifiers and converters directly to specific headphone models. In addition to Audeza, other brands have already come up with Lightning headphones, so there is no need to worry that there will be nothing to choose from in the future.
Conversely, the disadvantage of using the Lightning connector is its incompatibility, which is quite typical for Apple connectors. On the one hand, he switched to the future USB-C standard for the new MacBooks (in the development of which he himself participated), but for iPhones he still leaves his own version, which he licenses and often makes free development impossible.
This is probably the biggest problem with Apple's decision to remove the 3,5mm jack - it didn't offer any strong enough alternative. It is highly unlikely that other manufacturers will switch to Lightning, and the audio market will therefore fragment. Even if we're to consider Bluetooth as the future, it's more likely to be on smartphones that already have it - many other audio devices would only use it to connect headphones, so it might not be worth implementing it - and once again there's a drop in compatibility. In this regard, it seems that the situation in the headphone market will return to the way it was before the advent of modern smartphones.
Also, when it comes to connecting wireless headphones to smartphones, Bluetooth is still not good enough to replace the cable. The latest versions of this technology should no longer have problems with sound quality, but they are nowhere near satisfying listeners of lossless formats. However, it should be able to offer satisfactory sound of at least MP3 format with a bitrate of 256KB/s.
Bluetooth headphones will also be the most compatible in the smartphone world, but connectivity issues will arise elsewhere. Since Bluetooth operates on the same frequency as many other technologies (and there are often multiple Bluetooth-connected devices in close proximity), signal drops can occur, and in worst cases, signal loss and the need to re-pair.
Apple u new AirPods promises to be reliable in this regard, but it will be difficult to overcome some of the technological limits of Bluetooth. On the contrary, the strongest point of AirPods and the greatest potential of wireless headphones are the sensors that can be built into them. Accelerometers can not only be used to indicate whether the handset has been removed from the ear, but can also measure steps, pulse, etc. The once unsightly and unreliable Bluetooth hands-free could now be replaced by much more intelligent headphones, which, similar to the Apple Watch, make it more efficient and pleasant interaction with technology.
So the 3,5mm headphone jack is really rather outdated, and Apple's arguments that removing the jack for it from the iPhone will make room for other sensors (especially for the Taptic Engine due to the new Home button) and allow for more reliable water resistance are relevant. There are also technologies that have the potential to effectively replace it and bring additional benefits. But each of them has its own problems, whether it's the impossibility of listening and charging at the same time, or losing wireless headphones. The removal of the 3,5mm jack from the new iPhones seems to be one of those moves by Apple that is indeed forward-looking in principle, but not done very skillfully.
Only further developments, which won't come overnight, will show whether Apple was right again. However, we will definitely not see that it should start an avalanche and the 3,5mm jack should prepare for its retreat from fame. It's too firmly entrenched in tens of millions of products around the world for that.
Great article. Personally, I don't want to give up wired headphones for the sake of comfort. They don't want to charge me all the time to pay attention to where they are and pay much more for them. On the other hand, it is a bright future, at least as far as ordinary users are concerned. For an audiophile demanding the highest possible quality, it will probably be best to go with reduction or lightning headphones, which, of course, do not connect elsewhere :/ i.e. Mac etc.
Thanks to Back to School, I got Beats 2 generation headphones. I have to say that the battery lasts several days and I use it several hours a day. Surely new beats will come and who knows what spatial 3d sound will bring, Active noise cancellation? That will be a blast, it doesn't bother me that someone has old headphones and would like to use them on a new iPhone. It seems to me as if someone wanted to put a DVD or VHS into Bluray.
If someone has custom-made headphones with a 3,5 mm jack for thirty thousand, I think such an analogy will seem rather strange to him :-) It is true that such a person most likely uses an external converter and amplifier, which are connected to the iPhone anyway Lightning, but if he doesn't, he's out of luck.
So the person with that DVD will definitely not have just one. I know a number of collectors whose DVD library is worth over 30 thousand. In short, such people are and will be, however, the minority of them must therefore expect that they will be at a disadvantage compared to the majority, for example in the fact that the desired port will simply be missing. The market will clearly also have players and devices aimed directly at them.
why should he have a smile when the iphone 7 adapter is right in the box ;-)
Paying for wireless has its pitfalls once you find out about its quality and price. 3,5 jack is the standard not because it is brilliant, it is the standard because it brings the best price/performance ratio. However, Apple is quite unmistakably targeting one type of people - those who have enough money but quality is just a word for them - they care more about the brand.
This is probably the case for wireless headphones, but I think/hopefully the situation is/will be different with Lightning.
I doubt that there will ever be lightning headphones that you can buy for 150 CZK. Not that I'm a fan of those, but when they sent me the Klipsch X4i, I bought one for about 200 CZK for the duration of the claim. But the cheapest BT will be for 800,- and I don't even dare to speculate about lightning because every manufacturer will still have to buy a license from Apple. And I think that is one of their motivations. They are so ugly.
Mainly, I think the jack disappeared from the iPhone because they wanted the mobile phone market and could not move anywhere. So apple again had to hit the wall with its head and come up with a "new innovation"
With SIMKAMA, people also cursed..
I don't understand why they didn't give people no choice. They could have left the jack and brought the possibility to connect headphones via lightning, but probably everyone would hate that :D
Please correct the typo about the year the audio jack was introduced...I assume it wasn't in 1878. ;)
According to available information, the larger, quarter-inch jack was actually used for the first time in 1878.
It's true, it was originally developed for the switching field of telephone exchanges, the strictly manual ones, where endless rows of ladies sat and connected each call manually :-)
You also forgot two quite important things:
1, DRM – the digital output is much better controlled and Apple can license lightning beautifully, whereas with analog you can connect whatever you want. The problem with bluetooth is that there are always new standards and it develops quickly. You can buy quality headphones with good drivers for a few thousand, but after a few years you will find that something is much better. If you have a high-quality analog output, your own headphones won't get old that much.
2. The advantage of the jack compared to lightning, for example, is that it is omnidirectional. Apple bragged that lightning was bi-directional when it was launched, which of course was great compared to microUSB or the old connector, but the jack is actually even better at this.
Overall, it seems to me that the removal of the jack can bring some advantages, but I think that all things could somehow be stacked in the iPhone even with the jack being preserved. I think Apple's attempt at another proprietary solution won out here, and that it's nothing the user should be excited about.
I switched from Windows to OS X mainly because of Logic Pro X, and it seems to me that most producers (certainly in the US) also use Macs. That's why I don't understand the idea of removing the 3,5 mm jack at all. Or maybe you've ever seen someone with wireless in the studio. headphones?
Nice article Thank you. I have to highly commend the comments as well. Gentlemen, a high culture of discussion. thank you
If people are given a choice, NOTHING will NEVER go ANYWHERE: "If I asked people what they wanted, they would want a faster horse!" H. Ford. Sometimes it takes courage and strength and it doesn't always work out. Then courage and strength are doubly needed. Apple is such a strong brand, it has such a huge image, customer support and its products are at such a level that it can simply afford such attempts. I don't know of any other company that can handle this. There is always a wait for what Apple will come up with, then the world debates for a long time, and in the meantime others quietly copy. Sometimes I also shake my head, but I accept and trust them.
Personally, I am quite annoyed by the classic 3,5 audio jack, which is on the iPhone 6s, for example, I have had the 6s for 5 months, I use headphones very little and the body of the iPhone is scratched around the jack. This doesn't happen to people who have 7, the Lightning port is protected around by some kind of iron or something.. Does anyone have the same experience with the port on the 6s? :-(