Customer Ratings & Reviews

The audio on the lightning connector provides a line out level input in order to use a headphone amplifier which provides a higher quality audio experience.

---PROS--- +Easy to set up. +Apple Certified. +3.5mm jack is thin enough that it won't interfere with other nearby plugs. ---CONS--- +Can't charge phone while in use. +Cable could have been longer for more comfort and ease of use. This cable is a good way to use your iPhone 7+ or higher on vehicles or speakers that don't have a Bluetooth option. First, we tried it on my wife's Mini Cooper, which is a model that only supports Bluetooth for dialing but not for music. We were able to hear her phone's music with this cable perfectly clear. Next, my vehicle, which does support Bluetooth, has an annoying issue where when my wife plugs in her iPhone using USB lightning cable, my vehicles radio automatically switches to her phones audio and cuts off my phone's Bluetooth. Using this cable, my wife can now charge her phone while I use the Belkin cable to continue listening to my audio. In my vehicle, I have the following connected: A cigarette lighter USB charger with two cables that run from it, one for my dashcam and one to charge my wife's phone, and a second USB cable to charge my phone. Things can get cluttered quickly, but the 3.5mm jack of the Belkin cable is thin enough that it doesn't have trouble connecting to the auxiliary port due to thickness, like other cables might. Overall, very satisfied with this product.

Ever since Apple released phones without the headphone jack I have been trying to supplement my cable collection with accessories that make up for the missing aux port on the phone. While Bluetooth and other wireless methods have done a good job of keeping my phone connected, I do find that wired connections are missing at times. For one thing, while I use wireless headphones frequently, at times it’s nice to have the option to connect to them through a headphone cable because when they lose their charge, I can continue listening to music. Even though Apple includes a Lightning to Headphone jack adapter with iPhone 7 and later, it can be difficult to keep up with said adapter and it’s much easier to have a full cable available. Belkin, a company known for their premium accessories, has created a Lightning to 3.5mm audio cable that allows you to enjoy your music anywhere. The cable comes packaged in a Belkin branded box and is labeled for use with the iPhone X, 8 Plus, 8, 7 Plus, and 7. It’s 3 feet in length and the box has the “Made for iPhone” logo stamped on the front. Aside from that, there is little information included on the box about the cable. There is one phrase on the box that states: “Enjoy music from your iPhone in the car or at home with a Lightning to 3.5 mm audio cable.” Even though there isn’t much about the cable, there is a lot of writing on the box about regulations and the warranty information in multiple languages. The cable itself seems to be built well. One of the things I appreciate about Belkin cables is that they mimic the size and shape of Apple cables. This means that most Belkin MFi cables work very well with other Apple accessories seamlessly. This audio cable is really meant for car connectivity but can be used for any aux jack port. This cable is designed for audio output from and iOS devices only. I tested out this cable in two ways — with a set of wireless headphones and in my truck. My truck’s aux port is located on the dash just above my stereo. It’s very easy to connect to and I found that when the 3.5 mm stereo plug was pushed in all the way (I had to push fairly hard), audio plays quite easily through the car’s speakers. Just like other aux port connections, I had to turn the volume up on my phone and then use the car’s speaker’s amplifier for additional volume. The cable connected snapped into place in the Lightning port of the phone easily and when connected to the aux port on headphones, I was able to use them easily without any issues. The Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable from Belkin is a really nice option for enhancing connections for late model iPhones. I like having this as an alternative to the adapter that Apple offers. It’s nice having a direct connection to 3.5 mm ports without having to have an extra cable.

The Belkin - 3' Lightning-to-3.5mm Audio Cable does exactly what it says it will do: connect your Lightning-powered iPhone or other iOS device to a 3.5mm audio jack. I'm using mine to connect my iPhone 7 Plus to my car's 3.5mm AUX input. At 3 feet long, it's the perfect length for use in the car but it would also be useful for a stereo connection when Bluetooth isn't an option. I'm not a die-hard audiophile, so Bluetooth is usually fine for me, but I have friends who swear they can hear the difference and prefer a wired connection and lossless audio formats. This cable would also suit that purpose. That brings me to the only issue I found using this cable: The sound volume. My iPhone treats the connection as a headphone connection and the volume is somewhat limited (no fault of the cable - but limited by my iPhone). I checked my "Volume Limit" setting on my phone and it was off. Still, I had to turn up the volume on my iPhone and my car stereo quite high. Switching back to headphones on my phone or XM on my car stereo was a bit of a shock... so be careful with your volume settings after using this cable. I also connected my phone to a speaker my daughter uses. Again, the audio quality was great, if a little quiet. I turned up the volume and we listened pleasantly without issue but had to make sure I turned the volume back down on both devices when I was done. The cable itself has a nice feel; it's sturdy without being too thick. A little extra research shows that Belkin also makes lightning connector splitters if you want to be able to charge your device while you use this cable to play your music. Overall, I'd recommend it if you want to be able to wire your Apple gadget's output to anything with a 3.5mm audio input.

Belkin is typically great for providing accessories that give you just what you need for just the right situation. And that's exactly what we have here and nothing more--a cable that solves a VERY specific problem but does nothing else in the meantime. CONSTRUCTION We'll get the physical specifics out of the way. The cable itself features the Belkin Man logo on both sides of the lightning connector's shell--cute, but whatever--at least it's black! The lightning connector's head is roughly 1mm wider and 1.5mm taller than Apple's OEM cable/connector; it still fit just fine in our Otterbox Defender and I can't imagine too many out there would ever have problem with side clearance in a case opening, but if you do happen to have a skin-tight case on your iPhone/iPad that has a lightning port cutout the EXACT size of the OEM connector's dimensions and no bigger, this might be a tight squeeze. The cable itself feels...a bit underwhelming...not cheap-feeling mind you; but it's definitely got thinner cladding than even the OEM cable. While it hasn't broken on me, I'm not sure how much long-term abuse this cable would take if it was constantly coiled, uncoiled, tugged, folded, and packed. There's a bit of strain relief at each end of the cable but given that the DAC chip is also housed at the lightning connector's end, I would have liked to have seen a bit more strain relief at least down there. USABILITY So what is this cable good for? This cable is (in my opinion) only going to be really useful for those rare cases where your playback device (car, home stereo, portable speakers, beach BBQ karaoke machine, etc.) doesn't have Bluetooth OR a USB port capable of decoding the iPhone/iPad's digital output. Is there a time and place for something like that--sure. For instance, I might have an older portable or novelty speaker system shaped like an owl, unicorn, or the Starship Enterprise. If there's no USB port that's MFi certified or Bluetooth radio to receive wireless signals from my iPhone, this will give you great sound...okay...it will give you sound, from the AUX input. What about in a car? I have sometimes rented a car with a stereo system that only has a 3.5mm AUX connection. Normally, I'd be resigned to either use a headphone jack to AUX connector or an FM transmitter to play iPhone audio through the radio itself. Will the Belkin cable sound better than either of those options--ABSOLUTELY IT WILL--so if that's what you're looking for because you fall in this use case bucket, I can definitely recommend this cable! What about using this at home? The description says this cable is ideal for connection to "home speakers"...but most home speakers are run from a receiver of some kind--and typically those receivers lack a 3.5mm input (though they are becoming more common on modern soundbars or all-in-one systems). But if you're in that boat where you only have the classic red and white analog connections to work with, you're going to need a female 3.5mm stereo to L/R RCA male patch cable to get the analog sound from the Belkin pumping over your stereo system in the first place. Still, it's a small price to pay if you carry all your music on your phone or tablet and about the only way you're going to get that stuff off the device if you can't do it digitally via USB or Bluetooth. But no matter where you use this cable, the lightning port will be occupied by the Belkin and it does not provide charging in addition to analog output--so the only way you're going to be able to charge your device while using it for playback is if you have a wireless charging solution of some kind. Is that a big deal...well, it would be for me when I'm driving that old rental across country but still streaming iHeartRadio through the AUX connector, but obviously how long you intend to pump your jams through the Belkin will inform how much losing the charge-while-playing feature is to you. I tried both MP3s and Apple lossless files and the Belkin handled everything with aplomb...I did not have any FLAC or other higher res files for testing; but then again, if you routinely traffic in high res files on your iPhone, you're likely using gear with more sophisticated input/signal handling options than a single 3.5mm line-in port anyway! SOUND This is an odd duck to talk about. Typically people wax poetic about how an audio accessory sounds by comparing it to something else; i.e., how does the tiny DAC (digital to analog converter) in the Belkin's lightning connector's head sound relative to me connecting my iPhone directly to my receiver's USB input, or via Bluetooth to my car? But that's the rub--the whole point of this cable is that you DON'T have any other options to connect your device. So long as that's true, does this cable sound good--yeah, I guess so. Now, because it's an analog signal, you're likely going to have to turn up the volume a bit on your device before the sound level matches something that is produced/decoded internally, but it does provide you access to your tunes in that situation, and they're perfectly listenable. However, if you're looking for the Belkin to be a superior-sounding solution to going digital-out or Bluetooth from your iPhone to your playback device, I have a feeling you're going to prefer the latter unless you know going in that your playback device has an absolutely terrible DAC of its own (or maybe the USB port is crushed or the Bluetooth radio is broken--I suppose that's always a possibility, too). Somewhat unfairly, I did go ahead and compare the sound from this cable to that of plugging my phone directly into my car's stereo system via USB and going wireless via Bluetooth. I also tested out this cable using my Oppo HA-2 headphone amp's line-in port vs a digital connection directly from the iPhone to the HA-2 via lightning cable. In my car, unsurprisingly, the Belkin produced a sound that felt just a bit "thinner" than that produced by going USB-direct or even via Bluetooth. Though I didn't have a sound-level meter to be completely accurate, I tried to balance volume/loudness by ear. Once so, the sound between the two came close, sure--but again, we're also talking about listening to music in a CAR...would I have noticed or even cared about some minute differences if I didn't do an A/B comparison--probably not. As for my headphone amp...that was DEFINITELY unfair. I don't know what micro-sized DAC Belkin used in the head of its cable, but it certainly didn't seem to hold a candle to the performance/resolution provided by one of ESS' last-gen top performing chipsets. The differences were more noticeable and pronounced as I moved up from my Sennheiser Momentums to the Oppo PM-1 to my Focal Utopias (again, a totally unfair listening test using some good mid-fi to top-of-the-line gear). Still, with some quality amplification behind the analog signal, the Belkin's sound was--just fine. It won't drown you in oceans of sonic sumptuousness the way a good outboard DAC and quality amp will, but then that's really not the point of this cable in the first place, is it? I don't have a home speaker system with a 3.5mm input to run a comparison at that level, but I do have a Sound Blaster Katana X soundbar/sub system at my main PC. I ran the analog out from my iPhone using the Belkin to the Katana's 3.5mm input; again, it sounded just fine, ultimately limited only by how loud the Katana would amplify the signal before distorting. That's not really a indictment of the Belkin's sound so much as the limitations of using an analog output/input in the first place relative to the amplification headroom it feels like you get when going digital from the iPhone to the Katana and letting its own DAC create the analog signal before amplification. Again, if I didn't know what I was missing by not running a direct comparison and I wasn't interested in CRITICAL listening of the results, I would have been content just letting the Belkin do the work and enjoying the results. CONCLUSION I will probably keep the Belkin to add to my "travel kit" of power/signal adapters, an Anker 6-port charging hub, and various and sundry plugs, patch cords and cables for that one or two times a year when traveling/at someone's house and I want to share something from my phone using an older/limited sound system that can't handle USB or Bluetooth wireless audio...I'll just need to remember to charge the phone back up when I'm done!

Belkin Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable has lots of uses around my house: ** Headphones - My wife prefers to connect her headphones with this Belkin cable instead of Bluetooth. She says it is much more reliable and interference-free. ** Auxiliary Speaker In Car - I found that my Grand kids love it when we take an auxiliary speaker along in the car so they can play their own choice of kids' music through Pandora from my I-Phone. That frees up my car radio / CD player so I can enjoy listening to my CDs using my ear buds BT paired to the radio / CD player. ** Auxiliary Speaker Outside - Additionally, when I take the kids to a playground, or, they come over to Grandma and Grandpa's to play we connect an auxiliary speaker (non-BT) with this Belkin cable. They can continue enjoying their kids' music outside while on the swings, or other playtime-activities. Great! ** I-Pad – This Belkin Audio Cable now permits me to connect my I-Pad directly to my car's radio / speaker system through an audio port and enjoy my stored music on trips without using a BT connection. Of course, I can also connect my I-Phone the very same way. WooHoo! It is interesting to note that I connect my I-Phone SE without any issues, whatsoever. The SE is not specifically listed by Belkin, but it certainly is a compatible phone (IOS 11.4.1). I think the Belkin folks scored a hit with this Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable. Obviously, it allows any Apple devices, that have a Lightning Connection, to connect to any other device that has a 3.5 mm audio port. And on top of that the Belkin audio cable has MFi Certification, which future-proofs it for upcoming IOS upgrades. I highly recommend the purchase of this Belkin audio cable. It comes in so handy, I wonder how I went this long without one.

Pros: eliminates the need to carry around a dongle to plug into my car aux input; tangle resistant cable. Cons: 3 ft may be a bit short for some depending on placement, but is adequate for my use (see photo). In this day and age of wireless devices and smart streaming devices why bother with a hardwired connection? Well, if you're like me and drive a car that doesn't have a bluetooth connection, this is a lifesaver. I've already lost one Lightning to 3.5mm adapter. I can't stand dongles for that exact reason. The cable is tangle resistant with a a decent amount of springiness to it without it being too firm like I've experienced with other products making it difficult to roll up and put away. Outside of using the lightning to 3.5mm cable in my car, I've also used it in a live audio situation to connect my iPhone to a 1/4" input on a mixer with a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter. Sound quality was great! I've been using the cable for a month and has held up well.

Belkin makes overall high-quality accessories for iPhone, and this is no exception. The expectation here is that you are in a scenario where you are either working with an analog speaker set that does not accept an advanced casting protocol OR that for whatever reason you need to have a hardwired connection to your Apple device at all times. Those two very big stipulations taken into account, Belkin's lightning to 3.5 mm (male) audio output adapter does a perfectly fine job. Sound quality carries across well and, in an advantage over Bluetooth, without significant delay. I didn't feel the connection was tenuous and felt comfortable manipulating the cable while in use. My only notable concern about this cable is that it's very flexible and somewhat thinner than what I would normally expect - about 1.5x the width of a typical headphone wire - and the connector itself does not seem particularly heavy-duty, so I'd be careful with handling it. I don't think it needs babying, but I also don't think it would be ideal for someone who is frequently rough with their tech.

Works perfectly. Great little cable to connect your phone or ipad with lightning connect to 3.5mm audio port on your car or a speaker. Sounds crystal clear.

I like Belkin as company makes high and reliable qulaity. This cable is simple and gives one more option to get your Apple devices hooked up to analog speakers.

This cable makes life easier if you have a newer iPhone without a headphone jack. It combines the adapter that came with the iPhone with a short aux cable so it is easier to keep up with and lets you leave your adapter connected to your favorite pair of headphones instead. My old car does not have Bluetooth audio and this worked well plugged into the aux jack, but did require turning the volume up a bit. I also tested this with a portable speaker and it worked well, but once again required turning up the speaker volume a bit. I did wish it was a little longer at times and the cable is thinner than I expected, but it does coil up nicely for storing in the car’s small console (so it is a trade off).

This is a must have item if you have an iPhone 7 or later and your car doesn’t have Bluetooth, but does have an auxiliary port to listen to music or for navigation. It is pricey though but it’s the only cable as far as I know that’s MFi (Made for iPhone) meaning it’s authorized by Apple. I can finally listen to my music saved on my phone and from other apps like Pandora, Spotify, or Apple Music. You can’t skip songs using your controls on your steering wheel or on the dash control like Bluetooth but it sure sounds better because it’s wired.

I use my phone for navigation, and can’t stand the pause/delay when using Bluetooth. This cable lets me output directly to the sound system. No more missed turns, because Bluetooth had too much of a delay.

It works great in the car. The cord not too long to be in the way.

Connects to my iphone X perfectly and has necessary length.

Was just the right length for what i needed. Very good quality

For iPhone users this is the go to aux cord for your car

I needed a cord to connect my iPhone to a car aux on the radio harder to find then i thought but went to Best Buy and they know what I was talking about and led me right to the correct item it works great now can play Spotify off my phone through the radio of my car

iphones are trash because they are proprietary. You need this cable in order to listen to audio (either calls or music) through your car speakers. I bought this for my lady Palmira levasseur because her bum husband cannot buy her anything. LQ.

This cable did exactly what is was supposed to do. Last cable I purchased had connection issues and a bit of crackling in the audio so I purchased this cable. Very happy with the purchase.