New AirPods Max Firmware Unavailable Due to iOS 18.4 Bug, Apple Says Update 'Coming Soon'

[mactracker]

Hoping someone clarify, if my APM (USB C) are wired to my MacBook Pro via the Apple USB C to 3.5mm adapter, and Apple music shows I'm streaming lossless 24-bit/96 kHz ALAC, will the upcoming APM firmware result in even higher resolution?

Because there’s an analog to digital conversion, Apple notes that the audio you get with the 3.5mm cable is not “truly” Lossless. Your device might be outputting Lossless signal, but what reaches your ears isn’t. You do get the very low latency feature though.

Can I listen to lossless audio using the AirPods Max Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable or USB-C to 3.5 mm Audio Cable?​

The Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable and USB-C to 3.5 mm Audio Cable are designed to allow AirPods Max to connect to analog sources. AirPods Max can be connected to devices playing Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless recordings with exceptional audio quality. However, given the analog-to-digital conversion in the cable, the playback will not be completely lossless.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/118295

 

[mactracker]

Update: The unpublished files that iOS and macOS were trying to reach seem to be finally populated with details that should allow the update to go through. Will test soon and send an update. Let us know if it works for you!

 

[cbcasas]

Appears to now be called 7E101 instead of 7E99 according to apple and no longer coming soon: https://support.apple.com/en-us/106340

 

[mactracker]

Yep, these updates are also not gated by OS version (iOS 18.4+, macOS 15.4+). Seems like the whole OS-specific update channel strategy backfired.

 

[zedsdead]

If they put the H2 in these and they had Adaptive Audio, I would have upgraded most likely. I really like the originals, but these are way too similar and uncompressed audio for 99.9% of people is not useful. Glad the feature exists, but the most impactful thing here is the USB C port working for audio out.

 

[svish]

Wonder why such issues happen with software updates from Apple. Better to wait for a few days before updating the devices.

 

[Dark-Signature]

I can confirm the update from Europe to 7E101, even after the night of Liberation Day in America