- Hey guys, Andru Edwards here,
editor-in-chief of gearlive.com.
Word on the street is that Apple's
getting prepared to
remove the 3.5 millimeter
headphone jack from the future iPhone,
the next iPhone that's dropping
in September, the iPhone 7.
So, how will you get your
audio if that happens?
Basically, you have to plug in right here
to the lightening port, but obviously
your typical headphone doesn't fit into
the lightening port.
It's a totally different type of port.
A totally different shape.
So, what do you need?
You need a pair of
headphones that can plug into
your headphone jack or you need a dongle.
Dongle's not elegant.
This is.
These are the Audeze EL-8 headphones.
We're going to open them
up right now and I'm gonna
tell you all about
lightening cable headphones.
Stay tuned.
(light upbeat music)
Rumors of the 3.5
millimeter headphone jack
demise on the iPhone may be premature,
but the expanding use of that phone's
lightening connector for audio purposes
is definitely growing into a trend.
The lightening headphone trend started
with Phillips and it's Fidelio series,
but today I'm looking
at a pair of lightening
headphones that are more
for the audiophile crowd.
These are the $799 Audeze EL-8 Titanium.
This is a closed-back
variant of the $699 EL-8
launched at CES earlier this year,
but these have a digital signal processor,
digital-to-analog
converter, and an amplifier
all built into what they
call their CIPHER cable.
Now listen, I know this sounds expensive,
but for Audeze, they're
a boutique audiophile
manufacturer whose headphones are usually
priced in the four-figure
range, so the EL-8 lineup
actually represents its
most affordable products.
Now, you get two types of cables
and you can easily interchange them right
there from the bottom of the headphones.
The first one is your standard
3.5 millimeter headphone jack.
It'll plug into anything that takes
the standard headphone jack,
the headphone jack that you've known
and loved for the past,
what is it, 80 or 90 years.
That'll still work, but the magic
is really in the lightening wire.
Those are the two cables that'll plug into
the headphones, one left and one right,
and then that's the lightening cable.
But, it's all about this right here.
That's where the magic happens.
Everything gets stored on there so
you can store your sound profiles,
you can change the EQ of the headphones,
tune them exactly how
you want them to sound.
You have two presets you can save
and they save right here so you unplug it
and plug it into another IOS device,
and your presets are there.
This is also the module that has the
24-bit DAC and the amp built in.
So this is gonna be able to drive the
Audeze EL-8 way better than the standard
headphone jack unless
you plug the standard
headphone jack into something that has
a 24-bit DAC and an amp like the HTC 10.
The CIPHER cable does
jack up the price by $100,
but it adds a meaningful
benefit to the user in
ensuring that the headphones
are properly powered.
The EL-8 Titanium headphones have an
inline microphone and remote control,
and their processing is also used when
conducting phone calls or even
sending voice commands to Siri.
They're a peculiar hybrid beast,
combining the huge price and dimensions of
high-end headphones with the basic
conveniences of a portable set.
Plus, for an extra $49, you can buy an
additional balance cable for high-end
audio flavor from Astell & Kern or Pono.
As for the sound, the headphones
are simply incredible.
You can hear the difference
when using a DAC plus amp combo,
as planar magnetic
headphones typically sound
great when you drive
them with something more
powerful than your typical mobile device.
Also, when listening to
uncompressed or lossless music,
you can actually hear a difference,
where typically I can't really tell if I'm
listening to compressed mp3s or
uncompressed tracks from title.
Base is great without being
overbearing or overpowering,
and since the drivers are larger,
at 100 millimeters as opposed
to the typical 40 millimeters,
you get a much more full, rich sound.
All right, downsides.
First of all, the price.
These headphones are $800, $799 plus tax.
It's not something that
the average person's gonna
run out and get just
because it's so expensive.
You can get, you know, headphones for $10,
$20, $30 if you're on a budget.
$800 is kind of out of the
price range for a lot of people.
If you are an audiophile
though, an extreme audiophile,
it's probably something you'll consider.
But, my main complaint is actually
with the lightening cable itself.
When you spent $800 on these headphones,
you're not buying it
for the 3.5 millimeter
jack cable that it comes with.
You're really buying it
because they're lightening,
and for all the things that it can do
with that 24-bit DAC and amp built in.
The problem is that this wire,
I hate to say it, is super flimsy.
This is actually the
second wire they sent me.
One wire came in the box,
and within a couple of weeks,
that wire was not reliable.
I'd have the lightening
cable plugged into an
iPhone or an iPad and the
music would just cut out.
It would tell me there was no headphone
plugged in when obviously
it was plugged in.
So, I contacted the company.
They sent me a second one.
That's this one.
After a couple of weeks, this
one's doing the same thing.
They sell these for $75.
They're not just going
to send you a new one.
They're going to expect
you to buy one for $75.
The only reason they sent me another one
is because I'm reviewing the product.
It would be pretty
frustrating to have paid $800,
plus tax, to get something
that keeps breaking.
I'll leave a link below to
the Audeze EL-8 Titanium.
If you want to pick them
up, you can find them
in Apple's online store
as well as in-store at
a bunch of US and Canadian
retail Apple stores.
And there you have it guys.
If you like this one,
please do leave a thumbs up
on this video, and if you haven't yet,
go ahead and hit the
subscribe button right up
top there to stay on top of
all my new video releases.
But, I want to know what you think.
Are you ready for Apple to drop
the headphone port in order
to hasten the arrival of
better sounding digital music?
We'll be seeing more and more of these
lightening headphones as
the iPhone 7 draws near,
which will be dropping in September.
But it's not just Apple doing this.
The latest phones from Motorola also lose
the headphone port, opting instead to use
the USB-C jack for headphone listening.
Sound off in the comments
below with your thoughts.
Thanks a lot for watching.
As always guys, your
support is appreciated
and we're almost at 50,000 subscribers.
Once we reach that goal, I have
something really special for you.
Until next time, I'm Andru Edwards,
and I'll catch you in the next video.
(upbeat music)
