Belkin’s handy Lightning to Aux 3.5mm cable solves audio-out for iOS

Belkin has released a simple Lightning to Aux 3.5mm cable for iOS devices. It can take audio out and connect with an amplified speaker.

iOS devices like iPhone and iPad use a Lighting connector. That can sometimes be a nuisance if you want to connect it to a non-Apple device. In fact, GadgetGuy (not an Apple user) did not realise how much of an issue until the Gadgeteers started bickering over who could take it home to review.

So, if you have an iPhone 7 or later this cable can plug into your cars or speaker’s AUX in. It is MFi-certified to guarantee compatibility with your iPhone and sustained functionality after iOS updates.

How does the Lightning to Aux 3.5mm cable work?

The Lightning signal output is digital. The cable includes an inline digital to analogue converter (DAC) to convert it to what headphones need.

The quality of the output to an amplifier revealed good flat response from 35Hz to 16kHz. More than enough to get decent audio out.

Regrettably, it is one-way only. It will not convert Analogue to Digital and pass it up to the iOS device. So you cannot use it to connect external music sources or microphones. There Blue Mickey mic connects directly to a Lightning port.

This new cable joins the Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar and the 3.5mm Audio + Charge RockStar to grow Belkin’s portfolio of digital audio Apple compatible products.