For the past six months, Apple has consistently supplied us with various information about the headphones, starting with the purchase of Beats and ending with the very unexpected news that in the future, manufacturers will be able to produce headphones that connect to the Lightning port. Despite the seeming oddity, the latest news turned out to be true, and the first headphones for Lightning were announced. Surprisingly, it is not the Beats / Apple tandem that produces them, but Philips.
The new headphone model, announced by Philips, has the Fidelio M2L index and belongs to the company's top line of headphones. I reviewed the Fidelio X1, Fidelio S2 and Fidelio L1 and was surprised by their quality, design and good sound. This model, obviously, is the development of overhead Fidelio M1 headphones, but with a completely new connection option. What does this give?
Apple has recently greatly simplified the accessory certification procedure for the Made-For-iPhone / iPad / iPod (MFi) program for accessories developers. This allows Apple's partner companies to access some of the hardware capabilities of iDevices. In the case of headphones, it is an opportunity to receive a sound signal in digital form, and not in analog, as it happens when connected to the headphone jack. What is it for?
The fact is that the microcircuit responsible for converting digital to analog audio in iPhone / iPad produces a very mediocre sound. Apple's logic is simple: most users are satisfied with this “average” sound, so why increase the cost of the device for unnecessary features? Because of this, external devices that convert a digital signal into music with a quality better than the iPhone itself are becoming increasingly popular among connoisseurs of good sound. It is not surprising that they began to be combined with headphones, and the first “swallow” was just a product from Philips (or already WOOX).
In the past, Philips already had an unsuccessful attempt to make an accessory exclusively for the iPod / iPhone: the SHN6000 headphones connected to the device and offered additional control buttons, but the lack of a microphone and a simple plastic look played a cruel joke with the product and it did not take off. The company took into account past problems, and M2L is clearly a premium design product.
Headphones are made in the same “expensive” design as the rest of Fidelio products, so we are waiting for metal, leather, comfortable ear cushions with memory effect and, I hope, good sound, thanks to 40 mm neodymium radiators.
A digital-to-analog converter and an amplifier are built into the headphones; they will probably receive power from the phone (this is my guess), which will allow them to play music with a higher resolution than the standard 44.1 KHz / 16 bit (also guess). Sales will begin in December, at a price of 250 euros.
The most surprising thing about this story is that Beats did not become the first in this business, although it had all the trump cards for this, from direct access to Apple engineers to the experience of creating headphones with an active amplifier in the past.
The article is based on materials .
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