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If you haven’t updated your iPhone in a while, you may be faced with a new challenge: connecting a pair of wired headphones.
Reading: Does iphone 13 pro have headphone jack
apple removed the headphone jack from the iphone design five years ago and it’s not coming back. This design decision coincided with the rise of bluetooth headphones and earphones, which make listening to music easier when you travel, commute, or move around the house.
Bluetooth headphones have come a long way and some of them sound great, but you still get a compromised listening experience compared to using wired headphones. That’s because your music is compressed when it’s sent wirelessly from your device (phone, tablet, etc.) to your headphones. wired headphones don’t have to add compression to your songs.
If you’re an iPhone user who wants to use wired headphones to listen to music, here are the two ways you can do it.
1. get a pair of lightning headphones
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the iphone doesn’t have a headphone jack, but it does have a lightning port. this port is primarily used for charging, but can carry data as well as power. Some companies have developed headphones that plug directly into an iPhone’s Lightning port, the best of which are Pioneer’s Rayz headphones.
The buttons have many of the practical features you’d expect from wireless headphones: noise cancellation, auto-pause when you remove a button, and the ability to customize their equalization to suit your sound preferences. a smart mute call feature will mute the headset mic when you’re not on a call, which is also great.
using lightning earphones, be it rayz or options from apple, beats or belkin, is the most direct way to use wired earphones with iphone, if you’re interested in buying a new pair.
buy: pioneer rayz at $49.99
2. use an adapter to plug in your current headphones
If you’re already happy with the wired headphones you have, you can connect them to your iPhone using Apple’s Lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter, which costs less than $8 on Amazon.
This adapter plugs into your iPhone’s Lightning port and terminates in a standard 3.5mm headphone jack (exactly the same type previously built into the iPhone). This adapter will allow you to connect most pairs of wired headphones directly to your iPhone. If your headphones end in a 1/4-inch jack, you’ll need an additional adapter to convert it to the 1/8-inch jack size.
See also: 13 Best Heaphone Brands In The World For Every Audiophile – Top 2021 List
If you’re listening to music at a desk all day, you can also choose the Belkin Rockstar, an adapter that has a Lightning and 3.5mm audio output. the rockstar lets you use wired headphones and charge your iphone at the same time.
buy: apple lightning for 3.5 mm headphones… at $7.99
3. use an adapter to connect a usb dac
If you want the best possible listening experience when using wired headphones with your iPhone, you’ll want to choose Apple’s Lightning Camera Adapter. This dongle plugs into your iPhone’s Lightning port and contains a standard USB-A port (for connecting accessories) and an additional Lightning port (for charging).
Using this adapter, it is possible to connect the Audioquest Dragonfly Cobalt USB DAC (Digital Analog Converter) to your iPhone. The Cobalt is a flash drive-sized DAC that dramatically improves the audio quality of your digital music by presenting it in the purest form possible.
the cobalt has a built in 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can plug your headphones directly into the dac. While this method has the most pieces, it’s absolutely worth it if you listen to lossless music from streaming services like Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music Unlimited.
buy: audioquest dragonfly cobalt for $329.95
See also: Best Bluetooth Headphone Adapters 2022 – Top 10 Rated Reviews
