Pre-Ordering the Apple Vision Pro? Get AirPods Pro 2 With USB-C for $189 to Add Lossless Audio

[MacRumors]

Pre-orders for the Apple Vision Pro begin tomorrow, and if you're planning to use the headset's lossless audio feature you'll need to be sure you have the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C. Luckily, these earbuds are still at their lowest price of all time on Amazon at $189.00, down from $249.00.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

The headlining feature update on this version of the AirPods Pro is the addition of the USB-C port, replacing the Lightning port. Additionally, they feature improved dust resistance and, when paired with the Apple Vision Pro, they support 20-bit 48kHz lossless audio.

AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C for $189.00 ($60 OFF)​

Keep up with all of this week's best discounts on Apple products and related accessories in our dedicated Apple Deals roundup.

Article Link: Pre-Ordering the Apple Vision Pro? Get AirPods Pro 2 With USB-C for $189 to Add Lossless Audio

 

[G5isAlive]

Still strikes me as odd that this is essentially an updated AirPods Pro 2 , but they aren't called a 3 or a 2b. Anyway, great price, love mine (both the 2b and not 2b lol.. sorry could not resist.. 2b and 2. yes I have multiple AirPods).

 

[krspkbl]

lossless over bluetooth? lol. do people really think they're getting true lossless over pro 2's?

yes they support it but if you stream lossless audio codecs over bluetooth it isn't true lossless. until bluetooth improves you will need wired ear/headphones. remember not even the Airpod Max supports lossless and that has wired connection.

even when we can listen to lossless then most people won't even be able to tell the difference. it's all marketing crap.

 

[cateye]

even when we can listen to lossless then most people won't even be able to tell the difference. it's all marketing crap.

Now you've done it. You've poked the Perceived Audio Excellence Self-Anointed Cognoscenti™ crowd. Within minutes, they will descend upon this thread to present their it's-absolutely-not-placebo declarations that Lossless Audio clearly offers sound with greater "warmth," "tonality," "clarity," and "a sound stage featuring a far more unctuous and lubricated presence."

We are but rubes tucked away in the cold recess of some prehistoric cave, banging on the walls with a stick for our music.

 

[RodThePlod]

...and "a sound stage featuring a far more unctuous and lubricated presence."

We are but rubes tucked away in the cold recess of some prehistoric cave, banging on the walls with a stick for our music.

We need to use the word "unctuous" much more, IMHO.

 

[AstroKeith]

lossless over bluetooth? lol. do people really think they're getting true lossless over pro 2's?

yes they support it but if you stream lossless audio codecs over bluetooth it isn't true lossless. until bluetooth improves you will need wired ear/headphones. remember not even the Airpod Max supports lossless and that has wired connection.

even when we can listen to lossless then most people won't even be able to tell the difference. it's all marketing crap.

Its not a bluetooth connection between the Apple Vision Pro and the AirPods Pro2.

 

[6787872]

if you have the money for a vision pro, you certainly have money for this (or better)

 

[gaximus]

lossless over bluetooth? lol. do people really think they're getting true lossless over pro 2's?

yes they support it but if you stream lossless audio codecs over bluetooth it isn't true lossless. until bluetooth improves you will need wired ear/headphones. remember not even the Airpod Max supports lossless and that has wired connection.

even when we can listen to lossless then most people won't even be able to tell the difference. it's all marketing crap.

The new AirPod Pros 2 (Updated for Apple Vision Pro) don't use a blue tooth connection, they use a 5Ghz connection to communicate, that's why you need the new version of the AirPods Pro 2, and the originals won't give you lossless, and the new version probably won't give you lossless with anything else other than the AVP.

Apple’s USB-C AirPods Pro will support lossless audio with the Vision Pro

It’s because of a “groundbreaking wireless audio protocol.”

www.theverge.com

 

[Surf Monkey]

So Vision Pro can’t do lossless without AirPods Pro?

Funny.

 

[Surf Monkey]

The new AirPod Pros 2 (Updated for Apple Vision Pro) don't use a blue tooth connection, they use a 5Ghz connection to communicate, that's why you need the new version of the AirPods Pro 2, and the originals won't give you lossless, and the new version probably won't give you lossless with anything else other than the AVP.

Apple’s USB-C AirPods Pro will support lossless audio with the Vision Pro

It’s because of a “groundbreaking wireless audio protocol.”

www.theverge.com

Higher bit rate but the trade off is WiFi latency.

 

[Scarpad]

I'll probably just use the pro max for the maximum poundage on my noggin

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

The Vision Pro has speakers built in. I had to check - this "article" makes it sound like it doesn't.

I am as unimpressed with Vision Pro as anyone, but it's not so bad as to not have speakers included.

 

[AstroKeith]

Higher bit rate but the trade off is WiFi latency.

Its not wifi (or bluetooth), Specifically designed to transmit lossless audio without latency.

 

[cateye]

I'll probably just use the pro max for the maximum poundage on my noggin

Please, be safe when loading metal-festooned Apple gear on your head! There's a test your doctor can administer to determine the noggin load (MNPQ—Maximum Noggin Poundage Quotient) your individual noggin can support.

 

[Surf Monkey]

Its not wifi (or bluetooth), Specifically designed to transmit lossless audio without latency.

Then what is it?

 

[M1956]

even when we can listen to lossless then most people won't even be able to tell the difference. it's all marketing crap.

i actually did a blind test of it when apple added lossless to music using a pair of Shure se215 with ipad air 2. Quite a few people could feel the difference and correctly tell them apart. I am sure with better equipment the difference would be even more noticeable. Not sure how much airpods pros specifically are held back by lossy codec, but to claim that lossless makes no difference would entail that our current headphones reached the limit of human perception and we would not distinguish them from real instruments. This is obviously not true.

 

[AstroKeith]

Then what is it?

No doubt a unique solution developed by Apple. Not that difficult. Using 5GHz as the carrier so plenty of bandwidth. They have no need to include all the bluetooth protocols so have freedom to optimise for high bandwidth audio. I'd expect to see this used on their future products.

I have a wireless Bose cinema system that does something similar. Each receiving component (rear speakers, sub) needs to be in sync with the front speaker soundbar within about 1-5 microseconds to ensure relative phasing is maintained.

In this case, no doubt also that the audio channel would need to be delayed anyway to not get ahead of a lot of video processing.

 

[spaxxedout]

lossless over bluetooth? lol. do people really think they're getting true lossless over pro 2's?

yes they support it but if you stream lossless audio codecs over bluetooth it isn't true lossless. until bluetooth improves you will need wired ear/headphones. remember not even the Airpod Max supports lossless and that has wired connection.

even when we can listen to lossless then most people won't even be able to tell the difference. it's all marketing crap.

From what I’m gathering, it’s a sample for sample accurate bitstream of the source audio. It’s not even lossless compression. Someone on YouTube said that it’s an uncompressed bitstream. Packeting would add latency.

At any rate, we need more info on this protocol asap. To me it’s as big as the Vision Pro. I get that lossless vs compressed is moot for most listening purposes and applications, but a low latency lossless enables music production and mixing at the buffer level. Opens new realm of possibilities to produce for spatial. I get that it won’t be available for Mac, but hopefully soon or maybe it gets reverse engineered. I would think the only way to scramble an uncompressed bitstream would be to have a lookup table for each bit, but that’s all way over my head.

 

[Wizard_of_Woz]

There is no such thing as true lossless audio through bluetooth/Wi-Fi (not hardwired). 95% of people probably don't even know this.

 

[Christoffee]

AVP

This has been on my mind for a while. Is anyone else reading Alien vs Predator?

 

[Crow_Servo]

This has been on my mind for a while. Is anyone else reading Alien vs Predator?

Absolutely. I hope they make an AvP VR game for the AVP.

 

[Crow_Servo]

There is no such thing as true lossless audio through bluetooth. 95% of people probably don't even know this.

And something you possibly didn’t know is that it wouldn’t be delivering lossless audio via Bluetooth. Is your mind blown yet? To learn more, read this very thread you’ve posted in. And maybe do some additional research beyond that, if you’re interested.

 

[jimbobb24]

It's crazy that the day before the pre-orders no one has any idea what configurations will be available. Maybe...there is only 1 model....the 256 storage.

Headphones are tempting but I can live without true lossless.

 

[carrrrrlos]

While I’m not super surprised how far Apple has shifted from being focused on delivering 'magic' to simply 'products' it would be a nice throwback to have them deliver a complete 'AppleVision' experience that included truly immersive audio. With their limited run on these and the absurb price point (this is the same company that sold us ceramic and gold case watches with a 12 mo half-life), they are heavily relying on a fanbase that has or will also buy Apple headphones to complete the system. Sure the original iPhones came w/ wired headphones - a fantastic play to get us to eventually buy their AirPods, but why not simply integrate the AirPods Max into the Vision, seems like a miss for someone who is already going to spend $3.5k on a toy.

 

[Wizard_of_Woz]

And something you possibly didn’t know is that it wouldn’t be delivering lossless audio via Bluetooth. Is your mind blown yet? To learn more, read this very thread you’ve posted in. And maybe do some additional research beyond that, if you’re interested.

"Pre-orders for the Apple Vision Pro begin tomorrow, and if you're planning to use the headset's lossless audio feature you'll need to be sure you have the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C"

Please explain to me how you intend to hardwire AirPods Pro 2 to get lossless.