I guess I'll give Apple a call on Monday and let everyone who is interested know. I was thinking a direct cable connection to my iPad might come in handy. Though I doubt it overrides what Apple's built-in DAC/Amp (I assume the headphone has one).I was wondering if I could use my 2021 iPad Pro's USB-C port to drive the AirPods Max headphones via a cable. In other words would the Lightening to USB-C cable that came with the Airpods Max work for a cable connection form the iPad Pro to these headphones?
Thanks, no problem, I suspected as much.Save your time, it's not possible.
Given the limitation of Bluetooth or the double conversion via Apple's cable, this definitely should be an option - but it's not.
No digital data/audio connection to the Max via cable.
Not from an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
It only accepts "digital" data from the ADC in the Lightning plug of the audio cable.
When connected to my Mac via USB, they are recognized, but not for audio playback.
You can listen via cable by using the Apple usb c to 3.5mm adapter ($10), and then plug into the adapter with the Apple 3.5mm to lightning cable ($35). Not cheap but works well with no degradation in sound quality.
Don't hear it, at all. Could be, given that the Max is a "smart" or "computed audio" headphone, and that it is not passive in wired mode, that it is able to detect when the Apple converters are being used so that it does not do a conversion when the signal hits the lightning port on the phones. I suspect this because the only time I can hear a (slight) improvement in the sound of lossless is when I am using them in wired mode. However, I have found the bluetooth (or wired) sound to be so good with AAC files that I am gradually deleting my lossless downloads and re-downloading in AAC to save storage space.You're introducing three conversions. The USB-3.5 adapter, the 3.5 to lightning cable, and the internal DAC in the headphones. You're definitely losing something everytime a conversion happens.
It only accepts "digital" data from the ADC in the Lightning plug of the audio cable.
However , it is disappointing to me that over a year on since Apple Music lossless audio was released , wired lossless audio for the AirPods Max is nowhere in sight, which I believe should be do-able.
Ideally, you'd plug in a normal headphone cable and bypass the electronics in the headset entirely, like virtually every other headphone on the market. It is mind boggling that Apple designed the headphones this way.
In no way will "burning in" a cable with A/D or D/A accomplish anything, im sorry.-use the Apple cable , although it is not strictly lossless , it will sound way better than wireless AAC codec. But you have to run that cable in for about an hour before it starts to shine. In my opinion , it sounds excellent.
Yeah, I do have experience, I record for a living. Converters don't need to be broken in nor do cables. The difference between good and average converters is mostly too subtle to discern on a single source and only really becomes aparant when combining many converted sources together such as in the recording process. What you are hearing could be bias on your part or even simple things as listening louder after the first hour or having the headphones positioned differently on your head.and you have experience of this ?
I felt there was a significant improvement after 1 to 2 hrs of use of the cable, prior to that it was lacklustre. It may be related to the ADC break-in rather than the wire. It is a very high quality converter in my opinion. As is the DAC in the lightning to 3.5mm adapter. I have bought 3 other brands of adapter and the Apple one is the only one I will use.
I am not getting into comparison with outboard powered DACs, I have no experience with that.
The main complaint to Apple is, that it is actually:effectively making a lightning to lightning connection
I hear you but something doesn't make sense. You can use the 3.5mm cable to lightning to plug into an analog source and that cable will convert that analog audio to a digital signal that transmits to the AirPods Max over lightning. This implies to me that if I could just encode audio the same way as the ADC chip in the cable does before sending it to the AirPods Max, it would just play it.Save your time, it's not possible.
Given the limitation of Bluetooth or the double conversion via Apple's cable, this definitely should be an option - but it's not.
No digital data/audio connection to the Max via cable.
Not from an iPhone, iPad or Mac.
It only accepts "digital" data from the ADC in the Lightning plug of the audio cable.
When connected to my Mac via USB, they are recognized, but not for audio playback.
But the question goes deeper than this. I already have a lightning to USB A or C cable that could plug into my mac or iPad. Sure, the idea of lightning to lightning is interesting but not necessary today to allow for a direct digital to digital connection to these headphones. I'm just totally lost as to why it hasn't been enabled. Lots of people use higher end over the ear headphones with laptops, and desktops. Baffled!The iPhone will go USB-C as early as next year.
I think this makes the prospect of a lightning to lightning cable even more unlikely.
The sliver lining is that a lightning to USB-C cable already exists. Hopefully it will simply be a matter of enabling lossless wired digital support through software, as you implied.
I think the wording Apple used in regard to the APM was they do not support lossless audio “ currently”.
Also there may be a 2nd gen APM released next year and if so, it will certainly support Bluetooth 5.3 which has the potential benefit of higher bitrate support wirelessly with LE codec , if not lossless audio wirelessly.