Don't Buy Into Apple's Hype About AirPods Max Gaining Lossless Audio

[Dr.Lee]

Does any of this make any difference considering that now most people listen to music on really cheap headphones or cheap bluetooth speakers.

Back when I was younger, we would spend a few thousand on speakers separate preamps and power amps were common among enthusiasts. A good sound system back in the late 70's early 80's could easily cost well over $5000, with high end equipment several times more.

It does make it all seem pointless doesnt it? I release my own recordings often. I literally check my mixes on my iphone speakers now.

Cheap wired headphones sound far less crapulant than folks remember if listening to actual 16bit 44.1khz audio. You need to compare to like physical design as a constraint eg. Not comparing over ears against ear buds, etc.

 

[Dr.Lee]

Can humans hear these high frequencies? I didn't think so.

Do some research into digital audio reproduction
Hint: 16 (Bit Depth)/ 44.1 (Sample Rate).

Google is your friend.

 

[vinegarshots]

Oh - I guess I didn't read it properly. Then what's the big deal here? I already have that with Lightning.

Well, the dumb thing is that you can’t currently use the newer USB C models wired at all 🤯

 

[Sami13496]

I have never watched Quinn Nelson’s content because his whiny voice and personality have always annoyed me. Reading his inappropriate and disrespectful comment about a legend makes me despise Snazzy Labs even more.

 

[vinegarshots]

I have never watched Quinn Nelson’s content because his whiny voice and personality have always annoyed me. Reading his inappropriate and disrespectful comment about a legend makes me despise Snazzy Labs even more.

Seriously, that guy really rubs me the wrong way. He’s always trying to work in some snarky comment somewhere, just for the engagement I guess 🤷

 

[Dr.Lee]

Seriously, that guy really rubs me the wrong way. He’s always trying to work in some snarky comment somewhere, just for the engagement I guess 🤷

I enjoy his vids. He is a tad arrogant, but that mind virus afflicts many techies.

 

[God of Biscuits]

This is not an Apple-domain issue, it's an audio domain issue and a human hearing issue. And I hate to break it to Quinn, but he's of an "advanced"-enough age that it's not going to be apparent to him, either.

 

[dazzysima]

I’m more cynical about the fact that Apple are now encouraging consumers to go back to wired headphones.

Wouldn’t be surprised if they already have wireless lossless in the back pocket for a future AirPods Max/Premium Tier on Apple Music.

 

[Dr.Lee]

This is not an Apple-domain issue, it's an audio domain issue and a human hearing issue. And I hate to break it to Quinn, but he's of an "advanced"-enough age that it's not going to be apparent to him, either.

I would tend to agree, but Apple yanking the analog audio headphone jack has created a quandary for Apple. They want to offer actual high quality audio and ultra low latency, but it turns out that isn't possible yet via wireless. The headphone jack removal was a ruse for profit. The more light on this, the better.

 

[Dr.Lee]

I’m more cynical about the fact that Apple are now encouraging consumers to go back to wired headphones.

Wouldn’t be surprised if they already have wireless lossless in the back pocket for a future AirPods Max/Premium Tier on Apple Music.

I am with you. I am still salty over Tim Apple profit by removing the headphone jack… I have been overjoyed at this admission. And it is an admission by Apple.

 

[Dr.Lee]

It takes a lot of “courage” to charge 550$ for regained function of ultra low latency audio, that could be literally had with 5 dollar wired headphones, purchased at Walmart prior to 2016. What a racket.

 

[Ivan X]

So, this means we’ll see either Apple Lossless or flac in the iTunes Store, right?

That's what Qobuz is for! Too bad that iTunes Music Library is still gonna lossy it, but I guess syncing to iPhone would keep all the bits intact.

 

[MichaelAdam]

What a strange article I have to say … personally I am looking forward to test it as this is a free upgrade that doesn’t hurt to have it … also it is mainly aim at the pro market to mix with Logic Pro which I do … I have to understand how we can calibrate this headset for it but this is a handy feature if it does work. As for AAC vs Loseless … Well with my beloved apogee duet Soundcard and pro headset we do hear some differences not much but still …

 

[G5isAlive]

Apple has always hyped their products, it’s just now that people are starting to see through their tactics.

I know! its almost as if they were a publicly traded for profit company!!!

 

[powerbook911]

I can hear lossless with good quality headphones or speakers, no question.

The AAC claims were always an attempt to justify lossy formats.

This is a strange MacRumors article.

 

[platinumaqua]

What matters most is the no secondary recompression of the audio. One pass into AAC is indistinguishable, but another pass into AAC from already compressed AAC would introduce compression artifacts that are audible.

(Hence the reason why I prefer wired or lossless wireless like AirPlay over lossy wireless that is Bluetooth audio)

 

[thebart]

Doesn't the max have a USB C port? Use it wired to send data, then you can have hires / Atmos / whatever else you want, all lossless

 

[blodyholy]

I have never watched Quinn Nelson’s content because his whiny voice and personality have always annoyed me. Reading his inappropriate and disrespectful comment about a legend makes me despise Snazzy Labs even more.

He certainly says some admittedly controversial things on Twitter. I’m personally on the fence, although he does some genuine reviews.

 

[JohnRckr]

Feels like MacRumors is turning into website dedicated to hate on Apple at all costs.

And I like it

 

[Zest28]

Lol at MacRumors loosing their **** over a free upgrade.

 

[latweek]

I refuse to blow a fuse.

They even had it on the news.

Best,

- Tim

 

[buzzman]

didn't searched the whole thread, but I'm wondering if connected with usb it could also use the mic as input.
In our company the usb-ports are deactivated, but with usb-c it would be great to have output but also input so I could use mit Max for online meetings.
Did they tell anything about that?

 

[kaseenz]

It’s kind of funny to see MacRumors staff trash talk Apple. At least we know they’re not being paid by Apple 😂

It's nothing new. They kind of "trash" talk new Apple things so they later can write articles how Apple changed their minds and its actually awesome and you just cannot live without it.

 

[novagamer]

What a strange article I have to say … personally I am looking forward to test it as this is a free upgrade that doesn’t hurt to have it … also it is mainly aim at the pro market to mix with Logic Pro which I do … I have to understand how we can calibrate this headset for it but this is a handy feature if it does work. As for AAC vs Loseless … Well with my beloved apogee duet Soundcard and pro headset we do hear some differences not much but still …

Calibration, such as it is, should be automatic once you scan your ears to set up the HRTF. Apogee Converters are pretty good but the Duet is a bit old now, it’ll be interesting to see if you hear an upgrade with USB-C.

I can hear a substantial difference monitoring between my Symphony Desktop and Apollo x8p (which is not as good).

That’s one other thing to keep in mind, any pro audio users running plugins in-line with onboard hardware DSP that outputs via analog won’t be able to easily use this and will have to listen to the rendered tracks which could get annoying. I wonder if Logic will add some dedicated monitoring channel for this but that still won’t work with other DAWs.

You’d need the 3.5mm cable for e.g. UAD’s hardware sonarworks corrected monitoring but would have to switch to USB once it was time to mix in Atmos / Apple Spatial with lossless. Weird and kludgy.

Apple could make an ADC that took a bunch of analog Atmos outputs and put them into their Spatial Audio function machine but I don’t see that happening, they’d probably sell a couple thousand total.

 

[LV426]

Macs dont have an audio latency problem. Wireless headphones do. Try any wired headphone set, even ones from the thrift store for a dollar. Plug it into the headphone jack on your mac and enjoy high quality latency free audio.

It’s not entirely latency free, as light travels about 1 foot in 1 nanosecond. But I’m sure some audiophile would claim to be able to pick up on it. I know a guy like that. He once told me that he adjusted all the screws in his house with the slots aligned vertically because it improved the sound of his hi-fi.