Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Streaming music might be entering a new era of hi-fi audio, but Apple’s AirPods Max aren’t technically ready to go along for the ride. The company has confirmed to The Verge that its premium noise-canceling headphones do not natively support playback of lossless music files.
“Lossless audio is not supported on AirPods, any model,” an Apple spokesperson said by email. “AirPods Max wired listening mode accepts analog output sources only. AirPods Max currently does not support digital audio formats in wired mode.”
It makes complete sense that the AirPods and AirPods Pro have no way of playing lossless audio. They’re totally wireless, and Apple supports the AAC codec over Bluetooth. AAC sounds plenty good, but it’s nowhere near the bit…
