The new iPhone models have lost the usual 3.5mm audio jack, which was replaced by Lightning headphones. What are the features of such accessories and which models are the best?
Headphone principle
Save and transfer music to your smartphone whenThe use of streaming music services is done digitally. To convert a digital dataset to an analog electrical signal, a transducer is required, which will generate sound by oscillating the emitters. Actually, it bears such a name - a digital-to-analog converter or a DAC.
The DAC is inside any gadget and is responsible forfunctioning of the integrated dynamics. If the device has a 3.5mm jack, the action of the DAC is to convert the signal for transmission to speakers or wired headphones.
Converters differ in price and quality:some of them convert the data to a signal better, some - worse. The quality of a DAC directly affects its cost: the better the converter, the more expensive it is.
In smartphones and gadgets that focus on sound, advanced DACs are installed. Equipping such converters significantly affects the cost of the gadget, significantly increasing it.
New iPhone models not equipped3.5 mm connectors are also equipped with a DAC, but they are designed for built-in speakers. Digital data is fed to the Lightning headphones, not the converted signal. The difference between these headphones is that the DAC is in them, and not in the gadget or smartphone.
Benefits of Apple Lightning Headphones
Each manufacturer selects and adjusts the DAC so that it is suitable for the characteristics of a particular model of headphones.
Older iPhone models were equipped with mediocretransducers whose power was not enough to unlock the potential of high-quality and expensive brand headphones. However, the problem was the opposite: the simplest headphones connected to the iPhone also worked poorly, since the converter did not cope with its task.
In the case of Lightning headphones, the DAC is selected by the manufacturer in such a way that the accessory works at full capacity.
Sound quality in headphones with a Lightning connector
Sound quality depends not only on the correctselected and tuned DAC, but also from the correctly designed and assembled speaker system of the headphones. Not every manufacturer can perform such a task, since all testing, research, materials and production affect the final cost of the accessory. Accordingly, the higher the quality, the greater the price of headphones.
Apple brand gadgets are not cheap, that's whyadditions to them will cost a lot. The niche of budget accessories is filled with budget versions of headphones with a Lightning connector, but in their quality they are much inferior to the original accessories.
However, manufacturers that produce headphones formiddle and higher price segments, create high-quality devices that are not limited by the capabilities and technical characteristics of the built-in gadgets DAC. For listening to music, it is enough for the user to have an iPhone and Lightning headphones on hand.
What does the quality of music depend on?
The storage and transfer of music is carried out indigital: musical compositions are digital copies of the original recording. A copy can be either exact or simplified, that is, compressed to a certain size. Such copies are more practical, since they take up less space in the gadget's memory, download faster and do not spend Internet traffic, which is especially important when using streaming music services.
Such ease of composition is negativeaffects their quality: compression causes the loss of data, which can not be restored later. The distortion of the sound is the more noticeable, the stronger the file compression was, so even in the best Lightning-headphones, a 128-bit MP3, for example, is not worth listening.
Today, many music services offer songs in high quality, which is enough for most users. It is almost impossible to distinguish compositions in different formats by ear.
Which headphones to choose?
The iPhone 7 includes Lightning headphones.EarPods. Despite the fact that their manufacturer is Apple, users do not respond very well to them, noting the poor sound quality, unreliability, poor ergonomics. Their only advantage is perhaps that availability and low cost. However, in the market of acoustic accessories you can pick up their worthy replacement.
Sharkk Lightning Headphones
At cost, this acoustic modelaccessories only, able to compete with headphones EarPods with Lightning connector. As users say, by paying 2300 rubles, you can get a high-quality in-channel accessory without unnecessary frills with a tangle-resistant wire. Sharkk Lightning is equipped with a music control panel without a microphone.
Brightech Pure Lightning Earphones
The brightech headset is one of the mostavailable among similar accessories on the market: its cost is the same 2300 rubles. In comparison with the cheaper original EarPods, this model is equipped with silicone liners, which, as noted in the reviews, provides a better fit and additional sound insulation.
There is no built-in microphone, but there is a control panel with keys, which is not the case with Apple's original accessory.
Libratone q adapt
Elegant acoustic accessory with originalsophisticated design, equipped with an ambient noise suppression system with four available intensity levels. Of the minuses, buyers distinguish the lack of protection from moisture and a very high cost: more than 9 thousand rubles. Ideal for listening to music in noisy city streets.
JBL by Harman Reflect Aware
An interesting offer from the brand JBL - headphonesReflect Aware with noise reduction system. This feature is far from new in gadgets of this type, but requires the use of a battery, which, due to the form factor of the liners themselves, is unrealistic to install.
In the case of overhead headphones to use the battery is real, because their design has enough space to accommodate it.
The developers of some models of headphones found the optimal solution by combining in one gadget noise reduction system and a battery - the latter is taken out of the accessory itself.
However, in the device from JBL used friend technology: the gadget draws energy from the Lightning connector, respectively, its operation does not depend on the use of batteries and batteries.
The distinctive features of headphones can be called high-quality sound and good performance, coupled with powerful bass, which is especially noted by many music fans in the reviews.
Although the noise canceling function is notcan compete with a similar system in traditional acoustic accessories, its actions are quite enough to block out background noise, and the elastic bands, tight to the auricle, reinforce this effect.
For everyday wear, these headphones are unlikely to fit, but they can be taken on long journeys.
You can buy Reflect Aware from JBL in specialized stores for 12,990 rubles.
Audeze iSINE 20
For those who care about cleanliness, credibility andthe detail of the sound and at the same time the price does not matter, the best option would be the planar headphones, the representative of which is the gadget Audeze iSINE 20. In such models, conventional dynamic emitters are replaced by a thin membrane membrane, on which conductive metal paths are applied. The membrane oscillates in a lattice of bar magnets. In such headphones, the minimum non-linear distortion factor is about 0.1%. Audeze iSINE 20 is worth a lot - about 35 thousand rubles.
Philips Fidelio M2L
Philips Fidelio M2L headphones are another traditional model of the acoustic accessory of the surface type.
The model can not boast of wide functionality and is equipped with a fixed cable. There is no built-in microphone in the headphones, which, for example, can be found in Audeze iSINE.
All the flaws are fully compensated by high build quality and great sound. The cost of Fidelio M2L is 14 699 rubles.
