It would not be able to support the highest tier since they only have a digital lightning input and the DAC's inside the headphones only support 16bit/48khz.
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AirPods, AirPods Max and AirPods Pro Don't Support Apple Music Lossless Audio
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Why?. It was to be expected, since no Apple bluetooth headphones support a "lossless" or high resolution audio codec for bluetooth. Its literally impossible to playback ALAC as is on Airpods via Bluetooth (standard, pro, or Max). They only support the AAC codec, and the AAC codec is lossy.
What they will do over bluetooth is play Dolby Atmos (in its lossy flavor).
Two different things.
I didn’t say you couldn’t listen to lossless over iPhone. I just said it’s frustrating a 550 buck pair of headphones can’t do lossless over a wired connection
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So Apple currently sells no hardware on which you can play lossless audio 100% through Apple devices. That’s nuts. I really don’t understand Apple’s decisions sometimes.
From the article "AirPods Max will also not support lossless audio over the Lightning cable, Apple told Micah Singleton."
Wondering about Airplay, and this... I swear I read fifteen years ago that Airplay could play lossless audio with the Airport Express. Hopefully a nice addition to Sonos speakers since they can tie in to Apple Music.
In terms of bluetooth, and limited bandwidth, no surprise. As is today, if I'm jogging on a treadmill, playing a song, and using a bluetooth sugar sensor, chances have it that there isn't enough bandwidth for all five devices... treadmill, watch, airpods, sensor, phone.
In terms of bluetooth, and limited bandwidth, no surprise. As is today, if I'm jogging on a treadmill, playing a song, and using a bluetooth sugar sensor, chances have it that there isn't enough bandwidth for all five devices... treadmill, watch, airpods, sensor, phone.
I never said I care about lossless audio, because I don't. I just think it's a joke that a $600 pair of headphones can't make use of that same company's high-fidelity audio service. It's not like they didn't know this was coming.
My px7s will run wired USBc to usbc - now I’m excited to see if they’ll support lossless from my MacBook Pro in a few weeks (which would make them an even more compelling choice over the AirPod max than they already are).
Make that $899 here in Australia 🤦♂️ Glad I didn't buy Air Pods Max
I just want to point out the irony here that Apple has now come full circle on the headphone jack.
the new features they're adding will now require a physically plugged in Analogue headphones, which you will likely require now an adapter to return the 3.5mm jack back to our iOS devices just to take advantage of the new features.
and people thought I was nuts when I still call out the stupidity of removing the analogue audio port.
the new features they're adding will now require a physically plugged in Analogue headphones, which you will likely require now an adapter to return the 3.5mm jack back to our iOS devices just to take advantage of the new features.
and people thought I was nuts when I still call out the stupidity of removing the analogue audio port.
$20 says that many of the people here complaining about Apple’s $550 headphones “not playing lossless” (which they do, specifically wired though) wouldn’t be able to tell the difference anyway.
My boy’s mother says can’t tell the difference between her wireless gaming headset and my HD6xx’s. To me the wireless headset is disgusting. Hell, the working one used to be mine before I got my Sennies.
Most people are happy with dirtybuds or basic AirPods.
My boy’s mother says can’t tell the difference between her wireless gaming headset and my HD6xx’s. To me the wireless headset is disgusting. Hell, the working one used to be mine before I got my Sennies.
Most people are happy with dirtybuds or basic AirPods.
LDAC only supports lossless in very specific scenarios and it cannot combine the use of additional bit depth and higher sampling rate and lossless transmission.
You can get 16-bit, 44.1kHz lossless in ideal conditions.
LDAC (codec) - Wikipedia
When the codec is set to 16 bits/44.1kHz at 909 kbps (or 16 bits/48kHz at 990 kbps) LDAC can stream lossless audio that is identical in quality to (or slightly higher than) Audio CD or standard resolution uncompressed audio.
303/606/909 kbps at 88.2/44.1 kHz with depth of 32, 24 or 16 bits. So it will vary between 303-909 kbps depending on the connection. You will only be able to get lossless transmission using the higher bitrate which will only be achieved in ideal scenarios close to the device.
Soundguys did a test of LDAC:
The ultimate guide to Bluetooth headphones: LDAC isn't Hi-res
Sony’s LDAC has risen to popularity as the audiophile-grade Bluetooth codec. Can LDAC match the quality of wired 24-bit/96kHz Hi-Res audio?
www.soundguys.com
Actually using LDAC’s highest quality settings can be tough depending on your setup and listening environment. Most smartphones I tested default to 660kbps or lower in good conditions, but that’s not a guarantee. The only way for consumers to change this is to dive into Android’s Developer Settings, hidden away in the operating system’s menus. Furthermore, the codec pushes Bluetooth’s data speeds to such limits that reliable connections for “Hi-Res” are far from guaranteed. Even 660kbps will struggle in less than ideal environments.
Ultimately, LDAC users are likely to spend a fair bit of time listening to the 330kbps version. Unfortunately, the available resolution and 18kHz cut-off frequency are objectively inferior to CD quality, Qualcomm’s aptX, and SBC.
They actually concluded that it was inferior to aptX and even SBC in real-world use.
aptX LL does not support lossless. LL is their low-latency codec. Focusing on lowering latency so it's usable when combined with video. It only provides 352 kbps.
aptX HD is the high-quality one but does not support lossless either:
This involves the dynamic application of "near lossless" coding for those sections of audio where completely lossless coding is impossible due to bandwidth constraints. "Near lossless" coding maintains a high-definition audio quality, retaining audio frequencies up to 20 kHz and a dynamic range of at least 120 dB.
"AirPods Max will also not support lossless audio over the Lightning cable, Apple told Micah Singleton."
"AirPods Max will also not support lossless audio over the Lightning cable, Apple told Micah Singleton."
"AirPods Max will also not support lossless audio over the Lightning cable, Apple told Micah Singleton."
But this is nothing new or anything that comes with this announcement. That has always been the case.
I'm just baffled by the comments in this thread.
I'll happily enjoy this on my iMac with my external audio device and wired headphones.
Do your $549 headphones no longer do something that they did when you paid for them? Or did you buy them with the hopes that one day Apple (maybe, possibly) would announce a feature that your headphones could support?