How Can I Use My Lightning Headphones With My New MacBook?

I have eyes and the ability to think, I referenced nothing.

You bought headphones that will not connect to your MBP. Take them back or live with that, either way makes no difference to me, my headphones work.

Have you found a solution for this yet? I've been thinking the same thing since I bought the iPhone 7 a few days ago.

I just want to use one set of earbuds with all of my mac things, is that to much to ask? haha.

Maguidan wrote:

I just want to use one set of earbuds with all of my mac things, is that to much to ask? haha.

Not at all. Use standard headsets and the adapter that came with your phone when you need to use them on the phone. Or, use BT headsets.

I have Audeze iSine 20s with the lightning connector. Also, the 3.5 connector. I can tell you that the lightning connector sounds MUCH better than the earphone jack. So I support your questions and objection.

Does your MacBook not have a headphone port on the right side near the back? You have an included 3.5mm to Lightning adapter so you can continue to use one pair of headphones for both devices. Either way you're using an adapter and they're likely not going to put the lightning port on the MacBook.

The problem is to connect the iPhone7 earphones to The MacBook Retina 3.5 mm jack would take a female lightning to make headphone jack adapter. The included jack is a male lightning jack leading to a female 3.5 mm connection. Can't find adapter needed. Anyone know oif one below $20. Don't know what Apple had in mind to use included adapter for... Any thoughts on that?

Hi, I too have similar problem,

With the iphone 7 wired lightning EarPods, to connect to the new macbook pro one need the Female Lightning to USB-C or in my case (old macbook pro) a Female Lightning to 3.5mm male din or usb3.0, unfortunately I have tried sourcing around the internet but couldn't find any such adapters.Hopefully in the near future there would be such an adapter.

tex_tech_monk wrote:

totally Unhelpful. not rocket science but a significant cluttering of cables, technologies, and crap to carry and keep track of.

Buy a set of BT headphones. The will work with most modern devices. The only cable you'll need is one to charge the headset.

BT is certainly a reasonable option. it is like listening to a record player though. I likely will go all BT with an iPhone 7, but this whole controversy could have been avoided iPod nano all versions, as small as they are, found a way to have both connectors.

The real issue is that it isn't a simple adapter. The audio output of a female lightning connector is digital. The digital to analog converter is in the male connector on the earpods. So an adapter would have to convert analog to digital for the EarPods to convert back.

tex_tech_monk wrote:

BT is certainly a reasonable option. it is like listening to a record player though.

I have no idea what that means. There is a large group of people who think vinyl is superior to digital recording. For most people, listening to steaming music or standard digital files in the sorts of environments most people use cell phones, BT headsets are more that adequate. Better headsets would not, under those conditions, yield significantly better sound quality.

No one here can change what is. No one here is allowed to speculate on why Apple did what they did or on what they will do in the future. All we can do is make you aware of the options that are available. It's up to you to chose the one that makes the most sense to you.

Best of luck.

"For most people, listening to steaming music or standard digital files in the sorts of environments most people use cell phones, BT headsets are more that adequate." - is absolutely the operative phrase. they are not for me, in most cases.

I meant with records, you do have to worry about scratches pops, etc. no matter what. though indeed I enjoy an all analog experience. I also invest in expensive DACs and amps for my iOS devices. And you left out the part where I said, indeed, I will likely go BT -- but that does not mean I'd satisfied or like it. - it only makes the most sense, because of Apples poor choices (pushing the DAC into headphones is a terrible decision). luckily, one of my DAC's is bluetooth streamable, and has good 3.5mm and 1/4 Jacks.

I highly doubt this is true because I can take any old pair of headphones with a 3.5mm jack which needs an analog signal, plug them into apple's supplied adapter and then plug into the female lightning port on my phone and they work just fine. Or are you saying there is a digital to analog converter in the adapter? but a similar adapter going the other way could not have an analog to digital converter?

A google search answered half my question: there is indeed a DAC in the lightning adapter and the headphones.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/09/20/teardown-finds-dac-chips-in-apples-lig htning-earpods-lightning-to-35mm-adapter…

And I suppose that requires power through the lightning port, which a 3.5mm headphone jack doesn't provide, and so an adapter that seems so simple and yet missing, isn't so simple after all.

There are 3 microcircuits in every MFI lightning plug. One of them is a D to A converter. I'm sure it would be possible to create a Lightning jack with an A to D converter, but what is the incentive? How many would you sell, considering that most people already have dozens of 3.5 mm earpods and other types of earphones kicking around? And considering that most people have disdain for Apple's EarPods? I've never used one, and I had an original iPod, so I've been in the Apple audio world for a heck of a long time.