No, pigs aren’t flying, hell hasn’t frozen over and also you (in all probability) haven’t gained the Powerball jackpot, however one thing else almost as surprising is occurring. Over 4 years after it debuted AirPods Max, Apple is ready to replace them with long-overdue options. The corporate is bringing lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio to the overear headphones when it rolls out iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4 in April.
That is the one main replace Apple has given the AirPods Max up to now, exterior of beginning to provide a mannequin with a USB-C charging port again in September. And that is the kicker: the replace will solely be for the USB-C model of the AirPods Max, not the unique model with the Lightning port. This is because of technical constraints on the Lightning mannequin, equivalent to digital-to-analog converter efficiency.
What’s extra, lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio will not be accessible in wi-fi mode. To reap the benefits of these options, you may want to attach the headphones to an audio supply by way of a USB-C cable. As luck would have it, Apple is beginning to promote a USB-C to three.5mm cable as we speak. That can run you $39. There may also be the choice to attach your iOS or iPadOS system to audio system or automotive stereos which have 3.5mm audio ports with the cable.
Nonetheless, you may ultimately be capable of hearken to 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio with AirPods Max, so long as you’ve got the USB-C mannequin. Lossless audio may also be appropriate with Customized Spatial Audio, Apple says. Apple Music subscribers can hearken to greater than 100 million songs in lossless audio.
The corporate notes that, following the firmware replace, “AirPods Max will turn into the one headphones that allow musicians to each create and blend in Customized Spatial Audio with head monitoring.” It provides that the ultra-low latency audio characteristic will permit for no response delay on par with the audio system constructed into Mac, iPad and iPhone units. It suggests this characteristic could possibly be a boon for players and livestreamers.
Replace March 24, 12:08PM ET: Added clarification that lossless and ultra-low latency audio will solely be accessible on the USB-C model of AirPods Max and solely in wired mode.
