Harman JBL Reflect Aware left, Philips Fidelio NC1L right
Noise-cancelling headphones are great, but they do have one big drawback: noise-cancellation requires power, giving you yet another device to charge. Harman and Philips have each removed that pain-point, announcing noise-cancelling devices with a Lightning connector instead of a 3.5mm headphone jack, drawing their power from the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
The Harman JBL Reflect Aware are earphones aimed at sports use, allowing you to choose the level of noise-cancellation – handy for times when you are on the street and want to retain some awareness of things like traffic noise. They come in at a reasonably wallet-friendly $149. Harman has them at CES, but no word yet on availability …
Philips, in the meantime, has announced the Fidelio NC1L headphones, with the same ability to mix in your desired degree of ambient sound, as well as a specific mode for phone calls, reports The Verge. Thanks to the Lightning connection, the headphones use an on-board 24-bit digital-to-analogue converter to process the sound rather than relying on the one built into the iPhone, and Philips says all the components are geared to delivering high-quality sound.
A full chain of audiophile-grade components – coupled with perfectly tuned high-bandwidth and high-precision neodymium drivers – ensures a truly exceptional sound experience on the go.
The Philips offering is twice the price at $299, with US availability “soon.”
Of course, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch: while you don’t have to charge your headphones, the power draw from the Lightning socket will reduce the battery-life of the iPhone, so we’ll need to wait and see how much impact that has.
Incidentally, what’s with the trend for referring to earphones as headphones? Harman isn’t the only company to do this. Very odd.
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Totally no need for noise cancelling.
Just get earphones that seal your ear with foam sleeves – like any Shures. Just as good, much better sound for your money, smaller, lighter, no power required, done, done, done, done.
Finally! I have been waiting for a pair of Lightning headphones with a 24 bit converter. For people that don’t know how you would use it….there are many apps but the best being FLAC Player, that you can transfer your 24-bit FLAC files to. The iPhone is capable of playing them back, but down samples them when using the onboard signal processor. Offloading that into a dedicated 24-bit converter, and using the line-level signal from the Lightning port, means true 24-bit audio playback from iPhone-to-Headphones when all is done right. Something I’ve been after for a good long time.
The Phillips Fidelio NC1L are now on my radar. I do hope soon is soon. And I’m glad I passed on Beats during the holidays.
End up getting a pair of these or similar?
Until they include a lightening port on macs it seems pointless, I only use my headphones when connected to these devices.
“the power draw from the Lightning socket will reduce the battery-life of the iPhone”
Which is why I’ll pass on this.
I really think Apple could remove the headphone jack from a smaller iPhone model to save space. Apple could ship it with lightning EarPods and then also offer a wireless solution in store – which would also be marketed as made for watch.
I think the wireless one is the most interesting with the new bluetooth standard and also Apple’s tight integration with it’s other hardware. They could get phenomenal battery life and I think they could smooth over switching use between devices with some airplay magic. I want to be able to walk into the office listening to my iPhone and then with a click, switch to my mac.
The sad thing would be losing use of headphone splitters. I really do like to listen to the same music with my gf on trips. It’s niche but the iPhone eventually needs to be able to airplay to multiple speakers in the home anyway. It doesn’t seem like it’d be that cumbersome to add the same menu in iTunes into control center. Wonder if it was technical limitations.
They’d need to have a 3.5mm to Lightning adapter to accommodate existing headphones/earphones, but Apple has a tonne of adapters already on the Mac side so doesn’t seem opposed to that approach.
Yea, that’s true and they probably would have one for people who already invested in quality headphones. But I also see this as not happening to the main iPhone line, much like the cd drive was not included in the air. I think people would have to see that compromise and decide if that iPhone was right for them. Do I want super portable and to use wireless or do I want a larger phone anyway and don’t care?
iPhone 6 only has bluetooth 4.0, right? Have there been any rumors on the watch having 4.2? It seems like It’d be possible and any energy and privacy improvements would be ideal for it.
The other question would be if Apple made bluetooth earbuds, could you use a loose lightning cable in your bag charge and listen at the same time when needed? If these headphones can power noise canceling, maybe that would work. I believe that’s currently a dilemma for a lot of existing BT headphones.
Headphones are very personal choices, and different people are willing to spend very different sums of money on them, so Apple will always need to be able to support all models.
Hmm, i wonder if it is an English/American thing, I have always referred to them as headphones and thought earphones was strange
I believe headphones are for over-the-ear use but the term is used generically for all models. I use earphones, short for “in-ear-headphones,” to specifically call out in-ear models though others might still use “ear buds.” I think ear buds sounds cheap. Reminds me of throw away airplane buds or $5 street vendor models.
Maybe this is the same logic for the two models above since the sport one is for in-ear use.
Thats great, but I only really use noise canceling on flights, I have to turn my phone off for takeoff/landing so how do I get power then
wha??? what airline do you use? On both American and Delta they only made people put away laptops. Phones just have to be in airplane mode.
Qatar, Virgin Australia, Tiger, QANTAS
Last I flew on these, they allowed phones and alike in Airplane mode whilst in the air, but had to be turned off for take-off and landing
Why would I want to drain battery power from my iPad/iphone etc? This is not great imo. I have bose noise cancelling ones, both in ear and over ear, i do like them and do what they say! the in ear ones i charge via usb when connected to laptop and plugged in and lasts enough time. These new devices not worth the money!
The biggest drawback I see will be that I won’t be able to use the headphones with a computer
Yes, indeed
I’m pretty sure it still requires a battery… specifically you iPhone battery.
Because the iPhone is sooooo well known for its extensive battery life /s. But on a serious note maybe this means Apple will stop being in pursuit of “The Thin” all the time and increase battery size, a boy can dream at least.