Apple finally brings lossless audio and low-latency audio to AirPods Max

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AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Apple Music edited March 24

Owners of the AirPods Max will soon be able to enjoy lossless audio and low-latency audio with their headphones, enhancing the premium headphones' capabilities.

Black over-ear headphones resting on a digital media player with a circular control pad, on a dark surface.
AirPods Max with an iPod



Apple's audio hardware offers various features to enhance the musical and theatrical experience, but there are feature blindspots. In an inbound software update for the AirPods Max, the premium headphones will gain two missing functions.

Confirmed by Apple in Monday, an update for USB-C AirPods Max in April will add support for both lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio.



For the update, the lossless audio addition will enable 24-bit, 48kHz support, which Apple says preserves "the integrity of original recordings" on many Apple Music tracks. The support also extends to Personalized Spatial Audio.

While you could connect the AirPods Max to an analog source, which could be lossless in its own right, the analog-to-digital conversion via the cable didn't result in lossless playback. However, according to Apple's announcement, using the USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable or a USB-C to USB-C cable will enable support.

Consequently, the update will mean the AirPods max will be the only headphones to allow musicians to create and mix with Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking, in Apple's opinion.

The change won't just affect lossless audio support, as the AirPods Max will also get ultra-low latency audio. The feature lowers the lag time between audio playing on a connected device and it being played and heard through the AirPods Max into the user's ears.

Apple claims the reduction, which benefits gamers and livestreamers, is on par with native built-in speakers on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

The update will be included as part of the update to iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4.

At the same time, the announcement says there will be a USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable available to purchase from Apple's online store, priced at $39. This is different from the USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter, which is already being sold for $9.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    IanSians Posts: 50member
    Was hoping they would support Hi-Rez.
    tiredskillslotoneswilliamlondonappleinsideruser
     1Like 2Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 2 of 14
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,056member
    So only the USB C models despite the fact that they were selling ones with Lightning not long ago?  :/
    Hopefully this will fix the latency issues when using MIDI on the Mac. It is horrible on the AirPods Max and if you use a set of HomePods as speakers for your Mac.
    edited March 24
    williamlondon
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  • Reply 3 of 14
    AppleZuluapplezulu Posts: 2,350member
    To be clear, unless I'm misreading this article, the lossless and low latency modes will only be available when the headphones are connected by wire to a lossless audio source. When the headphones are used wirelessly, nothing changes from the current lossy audio formats. 
    ne1tdknox
     1Like 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 4 of 14
    ne1ne1 Posts: 75member
    AppleZulu said:
    To be clear, unless I'm misreading this article, the lossless and low latency modes will only be available when the headphones are connected by wire to a lossless audio source. When the headphones are used wirelessly, nothing changes from the current lossy audio formats. 
    That's what I got out of the article, too. And does that go for the Personalized Spatial Audio as well?
    tdknox
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 14
    alandailalandail Posts: 782member
    They could have avoided the need for any of this and had a better solution by simply using hte H2 chip when they refreshed the headphones. So annoyingly strange that they didn't do that.
    edited March 24
    lotonestdknox
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  • Reply 6 of 14
    nubusnubus Posts: 765member
    AppleZulu said:
    To be clear, unless I'm misreading this article, the lossless and low latency modes will only be available when the headphones are connected by wire to a lossless audio source. When the headphones are used wirelessly, nothing changes from the current lossy audio formats. 
    It is indeed "Go Air-less for lossless".

    Probably due to Max running Bluetooth 5.0 and Apple having decided to not compete with aptX-Lossless. Back in 2022 there was an article on how Apple would win but we're still at BT5.0 and AAC making aptX-Lossless the best wireless:
    https://www.whathifi.com/features/i-tried-aptx-lossless-bluetooth-and-yes-we-can-all-look-forward-to-it-with-caution
    lotonestdknox
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  • Reply 7 of 14
    winstoner71winstoner71 Posts: 121member
    So only to the USB-C “updated” Max and not to the lightning Max even though they have the same hardware, chip, etc? 
    tdknoxwilliamlondonptexidor
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  • Reply 8 of 14
    AppleZuluapplezulu Posts: 2,350member
    ne1 said:
    AppleZulu said:
    To be clear, unless I'm misreading this article, the lossless and low latency modes will only be available when the headphones are connected by wire to a lossless audio source. When the headphones are used wirelessly, nothing changes from the current lossy audio formats. 
    That's what I got out of the article, too. And does that go for the Personalized Spatial Audio as well?
     I think Personalized Spatial Audio should work in either case, wired or wirelessly. Regular spatial audio works for both, and the personalized version is simply a process using the 'true depth' camera on your phone to take measurements and create a model of your head and ears that is then used to tweak the delivery of spatial audio. Presumably the measurements determine more precisely where your ears are in relation to each other, so that the delay between when a sound reaches one ear versus the other will be exact as it simulates a sound that's supposed to be coming from a given direction. That filter would be applied equally to a lossy audio source or a lossless one.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 14
    charlesncharlesn Posts: 1,391member
    winstoner71 said:
    So only to the USB-C “updated” Max and not to the lightning Max even though they have the same hardware, chip, etc? 
    As an owner of the original APM, I was wondering the same and--at least so far--it doesn't appear the gen 1 APM will get the update. With the 2nd gen APM, you'll be able to play lossless music from any source that outputs lossless digital to a USB-C port (like an iPhone) simply by using the USB-C to USB-C cable that comes with the headphones. It would seem that if the gen 1 APM were to get the same update, it should support lossless using a USB-C to Lightning cable. Both gens accept only a digital signal at the input, with the only difference being USB-C vs Ligntning input, which shouldn't make a difference--Lightning can support the bandwidth needed for lossless audio. Same is true for the expensive 3.5mm to USB-C or Lightning cables. Both cables convert analog to digital, with the only difference being that the USB-C version is lossless and the Lightning version is not--but again, the connector should not make a difference. 

    If anyone has a technical explanation for why the difference in connectors should matter--when the internal hardware of both APMs is supposedly identical--please post!


    ptexidor
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  • Reply 10 of 14
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,609member
    charlesn said:
    winstoner71 said:
    So only to the USB-C “updated” Max and not to the lightning Max even though they have the same hardware, chip, etc? 
    As an owner of the original APM, I was wondering the same and--at least so far--it doesn't appear the gen 1 APM will get the update. With the 2nd gen APM, you'll be able to play lossless music from any source that outputs lossless digital to a USB-C port (like an iPhone) simply by using the USB-C to USB-C cable that comes with the headphones. It would seem that if the gen 1 APM were to get the same update, it should support lossless using a USB-C to Lightning cable. Both gens accept only a digital signal at the input, with the only difference being USB-C vs Ligntning input, which shouldn't make a difference--Lightning can support the bandwidth needed for lossless audio. Same is true for the expensive 3.5mm to USB-C or Lightning cables. Both cables convert analog to digital, with the only difference being that the USB-C version is lossless and the Lightning version is not--but again, the connector should not make a difference. 

    If anyone has a technical explanation for why the difference in connectors should matter--when the internal hardware of both APMs is supposedly identical--please post!


    They don’t want to release the cable for Lightning seeing as it’s now dead. As far as I can tell there is absolutely no reason, apart from financial, as to why it cannot be done.
    ptexidorwilliamlondon
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  • Reply 11 of 14
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 7,053member
    Consequently, the update will mean the AirPods max will be the only headphones to allow musicians to create and mix with Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking, in Apple's opinion. 

    Is the author disputing this claim? If so, I think additional information contradicting it would be in order. If not, it seems a bit odd to include the bolded phrase.


    randominternetperson
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 14
    charlesncharlesn Posts: 1,391member
    saarek said:
    charlesn said:
    winstoner71 said:
    So only to the USB-C “updated” Max and not to the lightning Max even though they have the same hardware, chip, etc? 
    As an owner of the original APM, I was wondering the same and--at least so far--it doesn't appear the gen 1 APM will get the update. With the 2nd gen APM, you'll be able to play lossless music from any source that outputs lossless digital to a USB-C port (like an iPhone) simply by using the USB-C to USB-C cable that comes with the headphones. It would seem that if the gen 1 APM were to get the same update, it should support lossless using a USB-C to Lightning cable. Both gens accept only a digital signal at the input, with the only difference being USB-C vs Ligntning input, which shouldn't make a difference--Lightning can support the bandwidth needed for lossless audio. Same is true for the expensive 3.5mm to USB-C or Lightning cables. Both cables convert analog to digital, with the only difference being that the USB-C version is lossless and the Lightning version is not--but again, the connector should not make a difference. 

    If anyone has a technical explanation for why the difference in connectors should matter--when the internal hardware of both APMs is supposedly identical--please post!


    They don’t want to release the cable for Lightning seeing as it’s now dead. As far as I can tell there is absolutely no reason, apart from financial, as to why it cannot be done.
    I can understand why Apple might not want to make a new 3.5mm to Lightning cable since sales of that cable would be VERY limited. However, if it provided the firmware update to the APM gen 1, then--in theory--any of the USB-C to Lightning cables already on the market would make lossless audio possible from an iPhone or any source with a USB-C output that's lossless digital. Of course, Apple may want to reserve lossless playback exclusively for APM gen 2 just because, which wouldn't be the first time Apple has screwed over buyers of a gen 1 product. I can't really complain since I've owned my pair since APM dropped over 4 years ago, but buyers of the APM 1 as recently as summer of last year when it was still the only one on sale might feel differently about not getting the firmware update. 
    nubus
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  • Reply 13 of 14
    AppleZuluapplezulu Posts: 2,350member
    anonymouse said:
    Consequently, the update will mean the AirPods max will be the only headphones to allow musicians to create and mix with Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking, in Apple's opinion. 

    Is the author disputing this claim? If so, I think additional information contradicting it would be in order. If not, it seems a bit odd to include the bolded phrase.


    I imagine this is simply a different way of saying "according to Apple," as an attribution of the claim. The inference isn't that the writer is disputing it or calling it into doubt. Rather, the writer isn't going to take the time to exhaustively fact check the claim, so if you have a problem with it, take it up with Apple.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 14 of 14
    mikethemartianmikethemartian Posts: 1,598member
    Even with 100% lossless you still won’t be able to make out what anyone is saying in Tenet.
    williamlondon
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