Next iPhone could benefit from Lightning audio


One of the reoccurring rumors is that the next iPhone will drop the old 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead, users will need to either go wireless with Bluetooth or link via a Lighting adapter or actual Lightning headphones.

One advantage of a Lightning solution is vendors can install higher end digital audio converter, which may surpass what can be stuffed into an iPhone. Particularly with Lightning headphones there's potential for some decent audio components. Of course, this will shift costs from the iPhone to the headphones, however.

Mac Rumors has an interesting look at three different Lightning solution ranging from $45 to $800. Reportedly even the lowest end option offered noticeable gains in quality.

Juli Clover for Mac Rumors:

In our tests, all of the Lightning-connected headphones, from the $45 pair to the $800 pair, sounded better than comparable headphones connected to an iPhone using the 3.5mm jack, so while many of us may be disappointed with the inconvenience of no headphone jack, at least there's the silver lining of better quality audio when using Lightning-connected headphones.