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Comment by rufius | Hacker News Reader

And yet I've got three pair of $300 headphones in my house between my wife and I, two of which are 6+ years old. If you take care of high quality headphones they will last quite along time. Wire wears out? Replace it. Ear pads lost their shape? Replace them.

So yaaaay dongles? Which that's even more fun because if I'm listening music for any length of time, there's a portable amp in between the phone and my headphones.

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>Ear pads lost their shape? Replace them.

The only problem I have with your comment is this line. It sounds great in theory, but in practice I've found that getting replacement earpads for my Sennheisers is not that easy: new earpads are almost as expensive as the headphones themselves! Or I can get cheap Chinese ones, and they aren't even that cheap, and have simply terrible fit and thickness.

Seriously, I think there's a great market opportunity here for someone who wants to make OEM-quality high-end headphone earpads. The Chinese ones I've tried actually seem to have decent enough feel quality, it's the size and fit that are all wrong (they don't really fit the headphones, and the pads are too thin, and many don't have the mesh inside).

If you care enough about sound fidelity to buy 3x $300 headphones and have a separate amp, it's surprising you don't have a separate DAC too. Not that I'm suggesting you should be 'forced' to buy one, but a decent DAC is a cheap component of such a setup.

I have a DAC actually and didn't find it to considerably improve the sound for me over the P2AV2 (my amp). This is on the iPhone 6s. At least not enough to warrant carrying it and the amp between work and home. I do use it at home at my computer. If I wanted to drop the money I could get one for work as well but I don't think it's worth it.

I don't claim to be able to hear all of the amazing details in songs that many people with HiFi gear can but I do know what the music should sound like and what sound I want out of my headphones. That's why I have the nice headphones and part of why they're 6+ years old... I'm a creature of habit and I like the way those headphones sound :).

EDIT: Now that I'm thinking about it. A DAC/amp with a Lightning/USB-C input and analog output would be tolerable. It's something I have to pay more for and I'd always have to use the DAC/amp.

I don't like it but I can see a workaround.

Well at least it'd extend the life of your headphones. I have an FiiO E10k, which I like because it means I can plug into anything with USB and get guaranteed decent audio. If I'm carrying my large headphones around, the DAC fits nicely in their case, so it's no hassle.

>Wire wears out? Replace it.

Is there any reason why a replacement wire with a lightning connection on one end wouldn't be possible?

That's not what he's saying. The original quote was that people replace head phones all the time, he doesn't. Higher end headphones allow you to not replace headphones all the time when a small piece wears out or breaks. So that quote is false for him.

It is, but the equivalent is "people with high end headphones replace their headphone cable all the time".

And if the rumours are true that Apple will release a lightning -> 3.5 mm female for standard earphones, there's nothing stopping them (or someone else) releasing a lightning -> 3.5 mm male to replace that cable.

You'd need the electronics somewhere in the headphone to convert the digital signal to an analog one. The pair of headphones I use the most (B&W p5) is actually exceedingly easy to replace the wire on. B&W also happens to have a very close relationship with Apple... I wouldn't be surprised to see them make wore with the integrated conversion from digital to analog.

That said, the other two pair in the house are studio monitor headphones and replacing the wire is non-trivial but supported.

Why? There's plenty of rumours that Apple will launch a lightning -> 3.5 mm female for existing headphones to plug into. If they're doing that, there's nothing to stop them creating a lightning -> 3.5 mm male to plug into these kinds of headphone.

> Is there any reason why a replacement wire with a lightning connection on one end wouldn't be possible?

Good luck getting "piece of replacement wire" approved by the MFi program. Apple will only let you sell a complete device (because otherwise someone could just buy lots of these replacement wires and bypass their licensing program)

For your phone? Nice to be you. Most of us use the $2 ones we buy at the checkout counter for our phones.

If that's the case, then you should be even more worried because I can guarantee no one will make lightning-compatible headphones that cost $2.

What's your point? Of course most people will use bundled headphones. However a significant share of customers will use premium ones and expect to run them for years and with multiple devices.

Basically all high-end headphones are now made with 3.5mm plugs, bundled with a 1/4" adapter. So why wouldn't you use them with your phone when you're listening to music?

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