This $70 USB-C iPhone dongle makes my wireless headphones sound amazing — and I don't think I could live without it anymore

Noble Sceptre — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Your iPhone (and by extension my iPhone) sounds bad when you listen to your music on wireless headphones. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it's time we all sat back and admitted that, despite a more user-friendly UI and nicer hardware, iOS and AAC just don't cut the sound quality mustard.

So how do we fix it? How do we let the best headphones breathe when connected to an iPhone, so that we can get fancy codecs like those lucky Android users? Thankfully, it doesn't take buying a whole new phone, and handing all the data we've already handed to Apple going to Google instead — you buy a Noble Sceptre.

How does it work?

Your iPhone only supports a couple of different Bluetooth standards — AAC being the most commonly used by everything that's not AirPods and Apple Music. That means you're not getting the higher quality audio that LDAC and AptX pump out for Android users — ergo, sadly, your googlian robot-using brethren get better sound than you.

The Scepter is very simple. You plug it in, and instead of connecting your headphones to the normal Bluetooth menu in your phone, you connect them to the dongle through the simple Noble app.

That means if you've used your headphones with your phone before, you need to "forget" them in the Bluetooth menu. From there, open up the Noble app and connect your headphones to that instead. Now you can choose a codec, depending on what your headphones support.

LDAC for sound, aptX Adaptive if you want some extra battery life out of your phone and headphones. Now you just go and listen to your music through your streaming app of choice — it'll automatically play through the Noble Sceptre, if you've done everything right.

Does it work?

It works spectacularly well. There's a night-and-day difference between using your headphones with or without the dongle — as long as they support the correct codecs. If they don't, the Sceptre isn't really going to be able to do much of anything. The extra information being transferred from your phone to your headphones is going to allow for more detail, greater bass representation, and a wider soundstage.

Add all those together, and you're in for a sonic treat that's well worth the $70 you'll spend.

It definitely can make headphones feel more premium, that's for sure. I found more detail in my favorite jazz tracks, and more articulation in classical music. Music sounds bigger and more involving, with only a small sacrifice to battery life.

Finally, you can enjoy those same Bluetooth sound quality bonuses that owners of some Android handsets have been using for years.

Chock-full of excellent features

Your phone isn't the only potential beneficiary of this upgraded sound: Because you connect your headphones to the Bluetooth chip inside the dongle, you can transfer those connections to anything you deign to connect the Sceptre too while still enjoying those same sound quality gains.

If you connect it to the USB-C port of your laptop, for example, you won't need to reconnect your headphones to the dongle for them to work. You just plug it in, turn on your headphones, and enjoy aptX or LDAC audio from your computer. That's pretty cool indeed — and easily changed around when you plug it into your phone again and use the Noble app to change the settings.

There's one last excellent feature — a pass through charging port. Because there are other devices out there that connect similarly, but all of them use up the USB-C port, leaving you no way to charge during longer listening sessions. Pass-through charging? Game changer.

My favorite audio accessory... ever?

I've had dinners out that are more expensive than the Scepter. Hell, I've bought video games for the same price, and none of those boast high codec support or a tight, compact design that even manages to fit over bulky cases. Like mine.

While most things Noble makes are very expensive, like boutique earbuds and headphones, the Sceptre might just be its most impressive offering.

It does one thing, yes, but it does that one thing spectacular well and without breaking the bank.

If you own an iPhone and wield headphones that have high quality codec support, you owe it to yourself to pick up a Noble Sceptre. You can thank me later.

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Tammy and her generous collection of headphones have found a new home — Tom's Guide! After a two-and-a-half-year stint as iMore's resident audiophile, Tammy's reviews and buying guide expertise have more focus than ever on Tom's Guide, helping buyers find the audio gear that works best for them. Tammy has worked with some of the most desirable audio brands on the planet in her time writing about headphones, speakers, and more, bringing a consumer focussed approach to critique and buying advice. Away from her desk, you'll probably find her in the countryside writing (extremely bad) poetry, or putting her screenwriting Masters to good use creating screenplays that'll never see the light of day.

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