Kanex DuraBraid Audio Cable Adapters REVIEW | Mac Sources10
Premium quality audio adapters made with durable flexibility.
As much as I love my wireless headphone options, I have to admit, there is something about using wired headphones that appeals to me. When I’m at work, I typically pop in my AirPods and listen to music or podcasts while I go about my daily activities. The only downside to it is that I have to control things like volume by either clicking the volume buttons on the phone itself or by activating Siri. In a work environment, it’s sometimes not possible to call out, “Hey Siri,” and give a command. So, using wireless earbuds can be a chore for me. With Apple moving away from headphone jacks on their iPhones, I use the Lightning-to-Headphone Jack adapter quite frequently. So, I was happy when Kanex, a technology accessory company, released their line of Lightning and USB-C audio adapters.
Kanex has a creative lineup of cables and adapters to suit mobile users of all kinds. This new product line includes a Lightning-to-3.5mm Headphone Jack adapter, an Audio Cable with Lightning Connector, a USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter and charger, and a USB-C to 3.5mm Audio Cable. All of these items feature the DuraBraid cable that is a nylon fiber cable designed to reduce tangles. It also features reinforced connectors and aluminum housing for increased durability and connectivity.
Kanex DuraBraid™ Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter (K157–1311-AUX)
This is the product I use the most. One of the reasons that I was really happy to find a third-party solution for Apple’s Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter. For starters, the Apple connection solution is built on the same weak cable that Apple uses for their wired EarPods and most of their basic Lightning cables. After time and many, many uses, that cable starts to breakdown. It gets frayed easily and before you know it, you are left without a way to connect your phone to external audio sources (besides Bluetooth). The Kanex DuraBraid adapter is much stronger than my Apple adapter and it works beautifully. To test it out, I plugged my EarPods into the 3.5mm audio port and inserted the Lightning end into the charging port on the iPhone. Audio sounded great. The biggest downside to this option over the Apple adapter is price. The Apple adapter is only $9 while this one is listed at $24.95.
For more information, visit https://www.kanex.com/lightning-headphone-jack-adapter
Kanex DuraBraid™ Audio Cable with Lightning Connector (K157–1311-BK3F)
I just got a new car and it’s fully equipped with wireless connectivity for mobile phones, but my previous car did not have that capability. So, I was forced to plug my phone directly into the audio jack. Even though not all cars have wireless connectivity built-in, most modern cars do have an audio jack available for external players like mobile phones. This cable can be used for that purpose. It’s only 3-feet in length so it’s designed to be used in close proximity to the device you are connected to. I plugged my iPhone into a set of speakers that are on my desk. This 3.5mm cable can be plugged into any audio jack including speakers and stereos. The iPhone was fully functional, but I did notice that when I unplugged the cable from the speakers that the iPhone didn’t recognize that it was disconnected from an output source and the music had to be paused manually. I compared this product to a similar cable from Belkin. Both cables are the same length and serve the same purpose. The Belkin cable is a standard cable casing while the Kanex version is the DuraBraid. They both are priced right at $30. I would choose the Kanex version simply because of the added durability of the nylon cable.
For more information visit, https://www.kanex.com/durabraid-audio-cable-Lightning
Kanex DuraBraid™ USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter and Charger (K169–1525-AUXPD)
This item along with the USB-C-to-Audio cable was introduced to be paired with the new iPad Pros that feature USB-C as its connectivity port. I like having this option for an adapter because you aren’t limited to just using the USB-C port for charging. To test out this adapter, I plugged my Sony Experia 10 phone in and then connected my Apple EarPods and a USB-C cable to it. At first, I plugged the EarPods in alone. The phone took a moment to recognize that headphones were plugged in using the USB-C port, but after unplugging and plugging the adapter back into the phone, it worked perfectly. I was also able to charge the phone using aformentioned external USB-C cable. At the time of publishing this review, this adapter is listed as $29.95 from Kanex. Belkin is set to release a similar product (according to their website), but it will be sold for $39.99.
For more information, visit https://www.kanex.com/usbc-headphone-jack-adapter-charging
Kanex DuraBraid™ USB-C to 3.5mm Audio Cable (K169–1525-BK3F)
Similar to the Audio Cable with Lightning Connector, this cable is designed to connect USB-C devices to external output devices like speakers and car stereos. I tested the functionality of this cable by connecting it to my Sony Experia 10 mobile phone and then to the same computer speakers I used for the Lightning/Audio cable. It worked just fine and music sounded very good using this cable. Belkin does have a similar cable, but it’s priced 25% higher than the Kanex version. Again, I feel that the Kanex cable is built better due to the DuraBraid materials used so I would recommend it over the Belkin version.
For more information, visit https://www.kanex.com/usbc-headphone-jack-adapter
CONCLUSION
The Kanex Lightning and USB-C audio adapters and cables are a great addition to their product line. I’m so glad that accessory designers are putting out quality items like these for these specific, special uses. Finding decent options for this type of use can be difficult sometimes, but I have really grown to love Kanex products and can eagerly recommend them to others.
For more information, visit kanex.com, Facebook and Twitter.
Originally published at https://macsources.com on July 3, 2019.
