iPhone 7 audio-adapter delivers lower quality sound

Link to the actual article: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/iPhone-7-gemessen-Aud...

Here is a google translated version: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...

I'm curious if this applies to the bundled lightning EarPods as well, or is exclusive to 3.5mm jack headphones using the adapter. This may be a case of a poorly made adapter.

I struggled a bit with the auto-translated version, especially since the article seems to assume some more knowledge in the terminology than I have.

How has the quality been lowered? Is it that the added resistance of the adapter (the article doesn't mention its capacitance/inductance, so I'd guess that's less significant) interacts with the inductive load of a speaker to create a filter, so now the frequency response is less flat?

That's why you need to buy their $160 wireless earbuds.

Well, this is unsurprising + disappointing.

The article is a bit hard to follow through Google Translate. Do these numbers mean the loss in quality is actually audible? Audiophiles can be very zealous about things that don't make much of a practical difference.