Earlier this year Apple added a spec to its MFi program for third-party accessory makers that described using the proprietary Lightning cable to connect a pair of headphones. On Wednesday, the first pair of Lightning-equipped headphones was announced, and they’re not from Apple subsidiary Beats, they’re made by Woox Innovations under the Philips brand.

The headphones are called the [company]Philips[/company] Fidelio M2L and they will cost €250 ($323) when they go on sale in Europe this December. The headphones emphasize audio fidelity, using the Lightning cable to bypass the iPhone’s built-in digital-to-analog converter in favor of a 24-bit DAC included in the headphones themselves.

This theoretically promises higher quality sound, but I suspect it will appeal to only a small percentage of audiophiles, especially considering the [company]Apple[/company] iOS Music app does not support high-definition music. In order to get the most out of these headphones, users will have to install a music app…