Apple details headphone jack improvements on new MacBook Pro

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro and revised 16-inch MacBook Pro feature an improved headphone jack, which Apple says adapts to low- and high-impedance headphones without external amps.

During the launch of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple referred to how the improved audio features included a revised headphone jack. Now the company has detailed what those revisions are, and how they benefit users.

"Use high-impedance headphones with new MacBook Pro models," is a new support document about the improvements.

"When you connect headphones with an impedance of less than 150 ohms, the headphone jack provides up to 1.25 volts RMS," it says. "For headphones with an impedance of 150 to 1k ohms, the headphone jack delivers 3 volts RMS. This may remove the need for an external headphone amplifier."

As well as this impedance detection and adaptive voltage output, the new 3.5mm headphone jack features "a built-in digital-to-analog converter." Apple says this supports up to 96kHz, and means users "can enjoy high-fidelity, full-resolution audio."

17 Comments

rundhvid 126 comments · 10 Years

About 3 years ago

Apple says this supports up to 96kHz, and means users "can enjoy high-fidelity, full-resolution audio."

—except ’s own Hi-Res Lossless in 192 kHz 👀🤭

mike1 3437 comments · 10 Years

rundhvid said:

Apple says this supports up to 96kHz, and means users "can enjoy high-fidelity, full-resolution audio."

—except ’s own Hi-Res Lossless in 192 kHz 👀🤭

Soooo???? You're saying they therefore shouldn't have improved it all then?

B_T 4 comments · 8 Years

The 3.5mm headphone jack on my ageing MacBook Pro 13 includes an audio line-in.
I assume that is not the case here?

Thank you in advance.

sirdir 197 comments · 18 Years

mike1 said:

rundhvid said:

Apple says this supports up to 96kHz, and means users "can enjoy high-fidelity, full-resolution audio."

—except ’s own Hi-Res Lossless in 192 kHz 👀🤭

Soooo???? You're saying they therefore shouldn't have improved it all then?

Probably that you can't call something 'full resolution' if you yourself deliver a much higher resolution.

randominternetperson 3101 comments · 8 Years

sirdir said:

mike1 said:

rundhvid said:

Apple says this supports up to 96kHz, and means users "can enjoy high-fidelity, full-resolution audio."

—except ’s own Hi-Res Lossless in 192 kHz 👀🤭

Soooo???? You're saying they therefore shouldn't have improved it all then?

Probably that you can't call something 'full resolution' if you yourself deliver a much higher resolution.
The average human can detect sound in the 20Hz to 20 kHZ. 96kHz is way outside the range of human hearing.