Kuo: AirPods Pro 2 to Feature Lossless Support and Sound-Emitting Charging Case

[Shanghaichica]

Comments like these show how easy is for Apple to make money on a feature that is barely noticeable by the majority of people. It won't make a huge difference, but charge it $100 more and make a huge profit.

Well for me there a few factors. My AirPods Pro are 2 years old. I don’t have any real issues with performance or battery life but they are old enough for me to consider upgrading them. Better sound quality and a trackable case are reasons for me to upgrade. I don’t upgrade my devices blindly. There has to be a new feature or features that I know I would personally benefit from or enjoy.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I’m definitely planning on getting the new AirPods Pro 2

Lossless sound will be an awesome feature! I have Apple Music which includes lossless and use it all the time on my HomePod - Definitely makes a difference in the audio quality

ROLMAO!

If anyone REALLY thinks Apple will have lossless audio in the form and size of the AirPods Pro or even smaller - meaning a MUCH smaller battery - is going to happen then I've got a bridge to sell you.

New Form Factor = size of AirPods Max. That's the ONLY headphones in Apple's lineup BIG enough to have adequate battery capacity, efficiency and longevity to even make it worthwhile to make, market and build for shipping.

AirPods Pro right now only gives you 3.5hrs listening time + ANC over Bluetooth 5.0 data rates!
Curren AirPods Max still doesn't give you WiFi.

So unless a significantly better battery technology occurs, OR they've figured out something better than what Sony has with their "lossless" (960kbps bitrate over bluetooth) then I highly think this is going to be a HUGE and late April fools joke.

 

[DeepIn2U]

FLAC can be streamed over Bluetooth using aptx compression. It’s dollar store lossless. Remains to be seen what Apple will be doing.

FLAC over AptX is still NOT really lossless. It's bluetooth man.

• 576 Kbits (48 kHz sampling) for AptX HD,
• 24-bit, up to 48kHz sampling rate.

source: https://www.aptx.com/aptx-hd

Doesn't compare even to Sony's custom bluetooth bit-rates which is even unstable. Trust me I've tried and died over this argument on these boards.

Again not lossless - cannot happen over Bluetooth. not with 5.1/5.2 currently and there is nothing in the Bluetooth spec roadmap that says it can otherwise.

 

[yegon]

It’s pretty pointless to use a lossless codec in earbuds such as the AirPods Pro: the benefit is too small compared to the cost.

AAC 256 is pretty transparent and difficult to spot even when using high end speakers in a perfect listening environment (no background noise).

Lossless on AirPods will only achieve <1% better sound while consuming 20-50% more battery.

Never underestimate the lure of delicious, tasty placebos. I struggle to think of anywhere it is more apparent than with regard to high end audio.

(I'm in complete agreement with you re: AirPods specifically btw, heh)

 

[ChromeCloud]

Why is everyone so pressed about them possibly offering lossless? Like why does it matter that much if YOU cannot tell the difference.

I can’t speak for everybody, but I think most of the people here, like me, are just commenting for the sake of commenting.

Also it’s a good thing that people come to know that lossless on AirPods Pro doesn’t really matter, so that they can make a better purchase and maybe save some money if they find the old ones on sale.

Last but not least: I love AirPods and sooner or later I’m gonna upgrade to AirPods Pro 2nd gen whether I like it or not (AirPods will only last you 2-3 years at best considering you can’t repair them/swap the battery).

So this means that I actually care a bit about Apple’s design choices: if supporting a lossless codec only for the sake of marketing means worse battery life or bigger earbuds, then I’m ultimately gonna end up with a worse product when it’s time to upgrade.

 

[alissa914g]

It’s pretty pointless to use a lossless codec in earbuds such as the AirPods Pro: the benefit is too small compared to the cost.

AAC 256 is pretty transparent and difficult to spot even when using high end speakers in a perfect listening environment (no background noise).

Lossless on AirPods will only achieve <1% better sound while consuming 20-50% more battery.

AAC 256 is NOT transparent. Same people making this argument are the same people who used to say that 128kbps audio was good enough on iPods a decade or so ago.

I still remember playing Billy Joel's Stranger in 5.1 SACD. Now THAT sounded excellent. Not even on a high end system..... but it was definitely noticeable.

LDAC on my LG V60 trumped anything from AAC bluetooth anyday. They say AirPods can play lossless... and that's great, but if it can do 48kHz/24, then it would be very much needed. Until then, I'm keeping my LDAC devices around. That makes bluetooth sound decent.

 

[ChromeCloud]

AAC 256 is NOT transparent. Same people making this argument are the same people who used to say that 128kbps audio was good enough on iPods a decade or so ago.

I still remember playing Billy Joel's Stranger in 5.1 SACD. Now THAT sounded excellent. Not even on a high end system..... but it was definitely noticeable.

LDAC on my LG V60 trumped anything from AAC bluetooth anyday. They say it can play lossless... and that's great, but if it can do 48kHz/24, then it would be very much needed. Until then, I'm keeping my LDAC devices around. That makes bluetooth sound decent.

You are confusing codecs with products. That SACD you are talking about probably sounded excellent because it was a good remaster.
Also that “LG V60”, whatever it is, sounded good because it was a good product.

If you really want to evaluate the difference between AAC 256 and lossless, you have to do this:

1. Get a lossless file (from whatever source you like)
2. Compress the file with AAC 256
3. Play and compare the two versions side by side using the same equipment in a blind test.

You’ll be surprised with the results, guaranteed.

 

[JustSomebody12]

Epidemiologists have said for years that the jury is still out on the effects of cell phone radiation on humans. There have been research papers hinting at an increase of illness, so I, for one, wouldn't be comfortable having something like that on MY head...

UWB should solve that (if it works), and it would enable lower power consumption (which AirPods need).

Still cell phone radiation is bad when the phone is touching the head, but nowadays most use headphones.

 

[samlikesmac]

I can’t speak for everybody, but I think most of the people here, like me, are just commenting for the sake of commenting.

Also it’s a good thing that people come to know that lossless on AirPods Pro doesn’t really matter, so that they can make a better purchase and maybe save some money if they find the old ones on sale.

Last but not least: I love AirPods and sooner or later I’m gonna upgrade to AirPods Pro 2nd gen whether I like it or not (AirPods will only last you 2-3 years at best considering you can’t repair them/swap the battery).

So this means that I actually care a bit about Apple’s design choices: if supporting a lossless codec only for the sake of marketing means worse battery life or bigger earbuds, then I’m ultimately gonna end up with a worse product when it’s time to upgrade.

Firstly, like lossless in Apple Music, they will not have this feature enabled by default especially if it will significantly decrease battery so if that’s not something you’re looking for then simply don’t factor it into your purchase decision. Secondly, this feature will not be the only difference between the two generations. Like many have said here, most people don’t not know or care about lossless music anyway so I don’t see how simply adding support for it would impact an average person’s decision to purchase them.
I would encourage you to switch to AirPods Pro; the ANC alone is worth the price imo. But wait for this second generation.

For the people commenting on things they don’t “believe” people can hear the difference, it’s falling on deaf ears because, like I previously stated, audiophiles do not care and will continue to listen to lossless music regardless of these opinions.

 

[McScooby]

CD quality happens to hit the upper limit of a human ear’s ability to resolve audio content, with some margin. Anything above 16-bit, 44.1kHz is pure marketing bullcrap. Source: yours truly who was dumb enough to blow some serious dough on a Sony TA-ZH1ES and a pair of Meze Empyrean’s. Actually, the speakers and headphones DO matter, but the Sony sounds EXACTLY the same as the $9 Apple DAC dongle and there is NO difference between 256kbps AAC and Apple Lossless, not to mention the hi-res voodoo bs. Unless you’re a bat or a Stereophile magazine subscriber, that is.

Did I mention HiRes? Cd quality is lossless!?

 

[McScooby]

You think the difference between a good lossy format and a lossless format is the same as a cassette --> CD?

That says volumes about your knowledge of audio.

Cassette tops out at 17Khz. Cd is 44.1Khz, but whatever, I ain’t getting into any arguments with someone who obviously knows better than I, not!?

 

[xalea]

From someone whose first gen Airpods finally returned to the plastic Earth from whence they came, and who has been using his husband's in the interim, I wholly support this new lossless endeavor.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

UWB should solve that (if it works), and it would enable lower power consumption (which AirPods need).

Still cell phone radiation is bad when the phone is touching the head, but nowadays most use headphones.

But we are awash in so many frequencies, both naturally occurring, and man-made. From damn near everything in our houses, our cars, radar, lidar, Bluetooth, ANT+, 802.11X, cell phones, point-to-point communications, satellites, and natural sources like the sun, the universe, and all of it. More and more are being generated and rained down on us. Starlink, GPS, weather and surveillance satellites...

Adding a hand held cellphone isn't going to push someone off the ledge, but it is a concentrated source, and headphones and ear buds just add a small amount to it all. The cellphone industry isn't likely to allow the publication of damning research. But by now, it's far too late anyway...

I remember the Nextel phone I had, and if I carried it over my heart, it would occasionally appear to cause skipped heart beats. It would also cause the FM radio in my car to freak out on occasion. I'm so glad I didn't use that thing very long. Yikes...

But back to the proposed New Airpod Pro's. I hope they have a way to find them when they fall out. I could care about the case. They could include Air Tag tech in it and skip the speaker/transducer, but if the buds don't have 'Find My' in them, it's a deal killer...

 

[Lerenard3000]

Hm.. If real, I wonder if those are actual speaker holes or if they’re so the AirPods inside can play sound through them.

That’s very cleverly guessed my friend I think the case alone might have a little speaker but wouldn’t that be a little bit too much…

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

From someone whose first gen Airpods finally returned to the plastic Earth from whence they came, and who has been using his husband's in the interim, I wholly support this new lossless endeavor.

Hmm...

I was confronted by an agitated fellow traveler over my use of an iPod. 'OH!' He blurted, 'You are one of THOSE PEOPLE! Don't you have any value for 'real music'?' Huh? 'You are MISSING THE ESSENCE of the music! It's all homogenized, and flat!' Hmm, never thought of that (I had, but I was on a plane heading to Tampa Florida. Anyone heading to Orlando knows the secret of flying to Tampa and driving to Orlando to avoid the screaming kids on those flights going there. I gently told the person that I was on a plane, it's noisy, even with the Bose QC's on my noggin, and this flight DID have a few screaming kids. I KNEW that the music I was consuming wasn't 'full music', but in this environment, I was willing to compromise quality for quantity, as having full fidelity tracks on the iPod would mean carrying a half dozen songs rather than my entire CD collection. He thought about that for a moment, and nodded, and agreed. I was excused for the crime against music. So 'lossless' seems to be rather silly considering that the source of the content is lossy to begin with. EDIT: Unless I'm missing something here.

I'd rather not pay for a level of fidelity that the source is incapable of providing. Unless you are also calling for full fidelity content devices, and then I say who wants to carry that much storage to hold enough tracks to play during a transcon flight. I just want to drown out the noise in the silver cigar. I can't take full volume children's screams. *shrug*

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Hm.. If real, I wonder if those are actual speaker holes or if they’re so the AirPods inside can play sound through them.

So more deaf people. Having ridden my bike up to people walking on trails and heard their music before I'm even close to them, the last thing the world needs is a REALLY REALLY LOUD pair of ear buds. I hope sanity kicks in at some point...

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Cassette tops out at 17Khz. Cd is 44.1Khz, but whatever, I ain’t getting into any arguments with someone who obviously knows better than I, not!🙄

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Practically no one can tell the difference between a good lossy format and lossless without pricey equipment and perfect hearing. Everyone but the deaf can tell the difference between the best cassette playback and a CD on normal equipment. There's more to it than sampling rate or max frequencies. Remember tape hiss?

 

[ignatius345]

I personally could care less if my AirPods support some miniscule difference in the tippy top 1% of quality. I'd be very hard pressed to pick out the difference between a Lossless track and a 256 kbps AAC, though I supposed if you played two carefully selected tracks back to back I'd notice something, maybe? But I was really that much of an audiophile I wouldn't be messing around with Bluetooth headphones in the first place.

Meanwhile Spatial Audio is incredible and makes an enormous difference in my enjoyment of video and music -- and nobody's talking about that. I actually upgraded to a 4K Apple TV specifically for Spatial Audio (even though my projector is only 1080p) and I have not been disappointed one bit.

 

[mrat93]

That’s very cleverly guessed my friend I think the case alone might have a little speaker but wouldn’t that be a little bit too much…

But how funny would it be if the new AirPods Pro case is the same as the old, but with air holes and a keychain loop? It would not shock me at all, honestly.

 

[mrat93]

Does that case actually stick to the back of iPhones? I believe the polarity of the magnets is the same so they wouldn’t work together, it should only stick to MagSafe chargers, therefore reverse wireless charging wouldn’t work.

Dang… Good point.

 

[Xano]

Lossless audio not supported on AirPods Max. in Europe they cost around $800
???

 

[spartan1967]

There are third-party tips in various sizes.

I’ll keep that in mind if the APP ever go for under $100 new.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Practically no one can tell the difference between a good lossy format and lossless without pricey equipment and perfect hearing. Everyone but the deaf can tell the difference between the best cassette playback and a CD on normal equipment. There's more to it than sampling rate or max frequencies. Remember tape hiss?

What made the early days of CDs hard to swallow was the analog sources most CDs were pressed from. You could literally hear high fidelity tape hiss on a CD! What a mess...

 

[jon3543]

In a note to investors, seen by MacRumors, Kuo explained that the second-generation AirPods Pro will feature new selling points that will lead to strong demand, including support for Apple Lossless (ALAC) audio and a charging case that users can trigger a sound from to highlight its location.

There's literally nothing less important than those two features. Try improving battery life, adding volume controls, and ability to pair to multiple devices and easily switch between them, including non-Apple devices. These things would be reasons for me to buy a pair. While I have a huge library of ALAC files, I cannot adequately express how little I care about ALAC support in wireless headphones, and a beeping case? Give me a break.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

There's literally nothing less important than those two features. Try improving battery life, adding volume controls, and ability to pair to multiple devices and easily switch between them, including non-Apple devices. These things would be reasons for me to buy a pair. While I have a huge library of ALAC files, I cannot adequately express how little I care about ALAC support in wireless headphones, and a beeping case? Give me a break.

Have a Siri type system. Say 'Hey buds, lower the volume'. Fumbling for the volume keys on the iPhone is awkward when the volume of some content is much louder. First world problems?