Will there be support for lossless / ALAC music over BT?

[SmOgER]

Seems weird to me that you can go ahead and buy AirPods Max for 500EUR but you can't even play lossless audio on them. Isn't it?

 

[cmChimera]

The technology of wireless audio would need to improve. So will there be support ever? Probably. When? We don’t know.

 

[Absrnd]

There aren't any BT headphones that can play lossless.
current BT is not bandwith capable enough.

maybe next gen, BT has enough bandwith to send lossless, the next, next, next, next......next gen BT 🙂

 

[matrix07]

Seems weird to me that you can go ahead and buy AirPods Max for 500EUR but you can't even play lossless audio on them. Isn't it?

It just works 😉

 

[Kobra]

Bluetooth 5.2 supports 24/48, but Apple has so far only implemented BT 5.0

 

[eicca]

My LG Tone Pro wireless set from many years ago played CD quality from my 2011 MacBook via APTX codec.

I’m kind of astounded that none of the AirPods can match that all this time later.

 

[Project Alice]

I don't know why Apple didn't make (or use an existing one such as aptX HD) codec for it. They should have designed one before releasing it.

I'm happy I have it now, and I don't even own a pair of wireless earphones or headphones. But I would probably get a pair if I could use lossless or close to on them.

 

[Shirasaki]

Doubt it. Either Bluetooth can’t provide necessary bandwidth atm or apple doesn’t want to add a wifi chip for lossless audio playback.

Lossless audio requires lots of bandwidth, something a low energy chip usually could not deliver.

 

[SmOgER]

There aren't any BT headphones that can play lossless.
current BT is not bandwith capable enough.

maybe next gen, BT has enough bandwith to send lossless, the next, next, next, next......next gen BT 🙂

Actually aptX capable headphones have been around for years.
While Sony's LDAC compatible headphones support up to 990 kbps.

Meanwhile Apple is stuck with AAC 256kbps.

PS. We could debate whether 990kbps is truly lossless or rather 'near lossless' but would there be even any point in that considering how much more bandwidth that is than 256?

 

[zorinlynx]

It actually surprises me that here we are in 2021 and Bluetooth is still so bandwidth limited. What exactly is the hold-up? There's no reason Bluetooth can't be as fast as WiFi, and WiFi is orders of magnitude faster than what lossless audio needs, even uncompressed. (about 2mbps)

Apple had a chance to develop lossless audio for its wireless headphones, and squandered it. They could have even used WiFi direct.