DAC

We’ve already seen teardowns of the iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2, but a rather brutal teardown by Vietnamese site Tinhte has given us our first look at the rather astonishing amount of technology packed inside Apple’s deceptively simple-looking 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter.

There had been some speculation about whether Apple had managed to squeeze a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) into it or whether the company would instead find a way to do simple pass-through audio. I was certain it had to have a DAC, and this has now been confirmed …

Expand
Expanding
Close

We’ve learned Apple has quietly introduced a new specification for manufacturers in its Made-For-iPhone/iPad/iPod (MFi) program that allows them to create headphones that connect to iOS devices using a Lightning connector instead of the usual 3.5mm headphone jack. Apple has not flipped the switch on the audio input support for Lightning cables and existing iOS devices, but it will release a software update in the future that will enable support in devices running iOS 7.1 or later.
Expand
Expanding
Close