A bit of good news among the seeming rubble that is the iPhone 5 launch: the $30 adapter you have to buy to connect your Lightning iPhone 5 to your old and busted iPod dock should stream audio without problem. The folks at audio company Line 6 did some “preliminary tests” and found that:
Note the weasel words here (“Based on what’s been announced”). While we’re still in Schrodinger’s Cat territory with the adapter and dock combo, it seems that a reputable company is standing by the position that the new adapter will work with standard audio devices. However, the jury is still clearly out.
Core Audio is an Apple standard for playing sound on Macs and iPods/iPhones. Some docks may require special features that can’t be replicated through lightning, but the chances of that are slim. In the end, I guess we just have to wait and hope our devices survive the transition.