AirPods Max Lossless Audio coming soon! 🔥
The AirPods Max is getting Lossless Audio support from a firmware update that’s coming in April 2025. This update will come with the latest versions of Apple device firmwares, specifically iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4.
With this update you can finally get 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio from the AirPods Max with Personalized Spatial Audio plus head tracking if you prefer to listen to a more open enveloping rendering. The catch is, it’s only for the USB-C version of the AirPods Max, and it’s only if you connect your source directly with a USB-C cable. Nonetheless, it’s a huge improvement, not only because the latency is much lower over cable which is great for gamers, but because when the switch happened from Lightning to USB-C, the AirPods Max also lost that wired audio feature. With this update, it not only supports cabled connection with Type-C cables, you can also use the Type-C to 3.5mm cable that Apple sells.
The Cable
Now, as for whether generic cables from other sources would work, that remains to be seen, because the Lightning version couldn’t transmit wired audio unless you used a specific $40 cable from Apple. Not even the official USB adapters from Apple works, it has to be that specific cable. And true enough, a new listing popped up on Apple’s website selling a similar cable that’s Type-C - 3.5mm specifically saying that it works with the AirPods Max.
Another thing which isn’t clear is, if the USB-C version supports microphone input if the Type-C to Type-C cable is used, as that is something that gamers, or people doing video conferencing would want.
The Lightning version didn’t support it because that 3.5mm cable that Apple sells uses a TRS jack, which only receives stereo sound and doesn’t have microphone support. The same goes for Apple’s new USB-C to 3.5mm cable.
But since now we’re talking about USB-C to USB-C, there may be a possibility there for microphone support. Whether the new USB-C architecture will allow that remains to be seen. For now, I’d rather say that this wired connection is only for listening to lossless audio on Apple devices and non-Apple devices. (Yes, I’m pretty sure it will be possible to listen on non-Apple devices too like your DAC if you use the Type-C to 3.5mm cable.)
As for USB-C, that remains to be seen because Apple may decide that “hey, we’re going to put a handshake behind this feature. Only Apple devices for direct USB-C audio, for security reasons!”
Check here to know how you can get Lossless audio from your Apple devices now. It’s not as straightforward as you think!
