Is the back a solid piece, or is the circular part in the center glued onto the back too as it was in the series 3?

I have to wonder if the wiring is the same for the 3.5mm EarPods as it is with the Lightning pair.

Link to: 3.5mm Apple EarPods Teardown

In other words, do both have 7 wires, connecting in the same configuration, and if so, are the remote controls a simple analogue ground short variety like the 3.5mm pair, or are they actual digital controls, as featured with the Audeze Sine Lightning headphones remote?

I couldn't edit this after 5 minutes, but I see a typo ... 4 out of the 7 discrete wires are common ground in the adapter.

This also makes me think the amp in the Lightning adapter is compromised to provide headphone and line level output, while the Earbuds probably have a custom amp for providing optimal headphone output. That may be why there are two different chips.

It seems like the EarPods maintain discrete ground wires for all 3 signal lines out of the amp, as well as the common ground, but combines them for any headphones plugged into the adapter jack. Does this mean the Lightning EarPods are providing balanced lines throughout? Whereas the adaptor is an unbalanced converter?

These 7 wires still have to be resolved onto four conductors of the TRRS jack of the adapter. So that means that of the four conductors, L, R, Mic, & Ground, only the L, R & Mic are discreet. The ground sleeve is where the L-, R-, & Mic-, must converge. So essentially 4 out of 7 wires are common ground in this adapter.

So what would happen if I cut off the EarPods, and took the 4 wires and connected them to a TRS jack for attaching a pair of basic stereo headphones with TRS plug? I'd combine both negative L & R wires to the common ground. Basically converting a basic headphone into one with a remote and Mic. Would this result in any loss of quality?

@oldturkey03 -- thanks for the link. That does help explain what's happening. But they still have to be resolved onto four conductors of the TRRS jack of the adapter. So that means that of the four conductors, L, R, Mic, & Ground, only the L, R & Mic are discreet. The ground sleeve is where the L-, R-, & Mic-, must converge. So essentially 3 out of 7 wires are common ground in this adapter?

It seems like the EarPods maintain discreet ground wires for all 3 signal lines out of the amp, as well as the common ground, but combines them for any headphones plugged into the adapter jack. Does this mean the Lightning EarPods are providing balanced lines throughout? Whereas the adaptor is an unbalanced converter?

There seem to be a lot more wires than necessary going to the 3.5mm connector. By my count there appear to be 7 or 8 discrete wires?

At most there should be 4, TRRS, and maybe a shield ground. How are the other wires used here?

I'd love to see a review of this. I can't imagine how they are going to make two different speakers sound the same, much less where one faces the listener, and the other points of to the side.

Yes, that third amp is a significant discovery implying a major change to Apple's MFi specs. In which case its a huge reversal of position, and will lead to a flood of cheap analogue audio products previously not possible, not to mention significant confusion as to just exactly what a "Lightning" equipped product means. My adapter didn't work on my SE until I updated to iOS 10. That shouldn't have been necessary as Apple already has published Lightning audio specs -- unless they changed something significant. So suddenly its not an inexpensive digital adapter with a DAC and amp, its a very expensive port connector changer.

I've had one of these adapters since Thursday -- if I had know it was going to take this long, I would have just torn mine down and published the results on my own blog! The reveal of the third amp is a serious indicator Apple has modified its MFi specs, and now allows analogue output from Lightning. That's a HUGE deal.