As you may have noticed, music streaming is starting to turn towards high-fidelity audio. It all started with the idea of Tidal in 2014, but it took about 4 years to come up with a great service that adopted the same vision, then, in 2018, the Deezer Hi-fi plan emerged, however, 1 years later, in 2019, we had an increase in pace with Amazon Music HD, followed by Spotify and Apple, which announced the arrival of lossless streaming for this year, 2021. Now, ironically, according to Apple itself, the company's headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC) will not support lossless music streaming, which is not a surprise to anyone who understands how Bluetooth audio streaming works.
The Verge website contacted Apple for clarification and got the following response:
"Lossless audio is not supported on AirPods, any model. AirPods Max wired listening mode only supports analog output sources. AirPods Max currently does not support digital audio formats in wired mode."
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Bluetooth transmission is what limits the transmission of lossless audio
This limitation was to be expected for the True Wireless (TWS) AirPods and AirPods Pro headphones due to the Bluetooth connection and the use of the AAC audio codec, which has a very low bitrate threshold. The ideal would be to use codecs such as aptX HD, LDAC and UAT, where it is possible to obtain a transmission capacity of up to 1200kbps.
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Apple says converting your adapter's DAC and ADC can affect lossless audio
When we are going to analyze the situation of the AirPods Max, which allows the user to connect the headphones with cables, Apple states that even with the Lightning to P2 cable (3,5mm) sold by the company itself, the person will not hear the quality offered by lossless music streaming. According to Apple, TheVerge was told that when playing music in a lossless format at 24bit/48Khz using an iPhone in conjunction with AirPods Max through the Lightning dongle, the digital signal is converted to analog. (by DAC) and then converted to digital again (by ADC). This rescan step is why Apple says the user may not be hearing the pure, lossless audio.
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Even though Apple says there may be losses, it doesn't mean the AirPods Max won't sound good. However, if you are an audiophile purist who wants the best possible quality, this may not be the solution you are looking for.
HomePod Mini will not support lossless audio
Apple also told TheVerge that both the HomePod Mini and HomePod will not support lossless audio, but will support spatial audio.
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