Anyone who thinks Apple is no longer innovating should check out a new video revealing the amazing amount of technology — including a tiny digital-to-analog converter, or DAC — that the company managed to squeeze into its deceptively simple 3.5mm-to-Lightning headphone adapter.
Produced by Vietnamese website Tinhte, the video may not exhibit the finesse of an iFixit teardown, but it’s certainly an impressive demo of how much Apple is able to do with even the most basic-looking of dongles.
There’s no name on the DAC chip, which is labeled 338S00140/A0MU1621/TW, but it could quite possibly be made by Cirrus Logic. Apple sources a lot of its audio tech from Cirrus, which produces DAC converters.
Apple found itself in hot water from some users because of its controversial decision to eliminate the 3.5mm headphone jack. However, evidence like this shows the effort Apple made when it comes to continuing support for users who would like to cling to their existing headphones for a while longer.
