Apple Thread

[suntan]

Yeah one thing I noticed is the dearth of OEM cases this time round.

[bjstare]

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Generally I agree. My one exception to that, is if you want a leather case go with Nomad. My last Apple leather case didn’t last 18 months ( started tearing from the plastic frame, falling off the phone. The Nomad case I replaced it with has been really really good though.

Nomad is no cheaper than Apple though.

I'll endorse Bellroy as an awesome aftermarket leather case as well. When I bought they were pricey, but it looks like they're the same/cheaper than apple now. Mine is going on two years and basically looks like new. I will definitely buy another one of these when I get my next phone.

[suntan]

Great to know!

[killramos]

So Apple introduced lossless audio in Apple Music.

That isn’t compatible with any of their headphones

But if I plug in a “high quality digital to analog converter” into my iPhone I will be set. Crash and burn before it’s even off the runway.

[suntan]

Lossless over BT ain't happening.

[rage2]

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So Apple introduced lossless audio in Apple Music.

That isn’t compatible with any of their headphones

But if I plug in a “high quality digital to analog converter” into my iPhone I will be set. Crash and burn before it’s even off the runway.

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Lossless over BT ain't happening.

This. Even for every other current lossless audio service, it's always been limited to high end wired headphone/DACs to play FLAC properly.

What was surprising though is that the AirPods Max doesn't support it wired. Only supports wired analog input which it then redigitizes. That we can ridicule.

Not that any of our old ass ears can tell the difference in lossless anyways.

[schocker]

I would say spatial audio and atmos are still a big deal. I have been looking into a dac for my phone, but the real small ones are pretty rare it seems.
Ill give it a try on my desktop with my dac/amp when it comes out.

Sounds like sonos wont support losless right away which is what I am waiting for.


I have come across my biggest apple grievance so far though, when they brought out the purple iphone, they refreshed the watch bands and then removed all of the nike sport loop bands except for white and black. wtf

[killramos]

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This. Even for every other current lossless audio service, it's always been limited to high end wired headphone/DACs to play FLAC properly.

What was surprising though is that the AirPods Max doesn't support it wired. Only supports wired analog input which it then redigitizes. That we can ridicule.

Not that any of our old ass ears can tell the difference in lossless anyways.

Seems like one of those products with literally no buyers. I guess it’s a check box on comparison charts?

Apple Music
Lossless audio ✅*

*doesn’t actually work with anything.

[suntan]

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This. Even for every other current lossless audio service, it's always been limited to high end wired headphone/DACs to play FLAC properly.

What was surprising though is that the AirPods Max doesn't support it wired. Only supports wired analog input which it then redigitizes. That we can ridicule.

Not that any of our old ass ears can tell the difference in lossless anyways.

Don't worry, the AirPods Max Pro will support it!

[bjstare]

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Not that any of our old ass ears can tell the difference in lossless anyways.

This was always my thought. Who on earth over the age of 30 thinks they actually have good enough hearing to tell the fucking difference? It's like the person that wants an 8k TV when their eyes are hardly good enough to appreciate 4k.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because I spent too many years shooting guns with no hearing protection.

[rage2]

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I would say spatial audio and atmos are still a big deal. I have been looking into a dac for my phone, but the real small ones are pretty rare it seems.
Ill give it a try on my desktop with my dac/amp when it comes out.

Sounds like sonos wont support losless right away which is what I am waiting for.


I have come across my biggest apple grievance so far though, when they brought out the purple iphone, they refreshed the watch bands and then removed all of the nike sport loop bands except for white and black. wtf

Ya, spatial audio is cool. And listening to an album in atmos is definitely different. This isn’t the first time, Apple Music already had a few atmos albums available for limited time before.

Sonos already supports lossless, 24 bit FLAC and ALAC (what Apple Music will use). But that’s still driving it out of mediocre speakers which completely defeats the purpose.

[suntan]

Presuming they encoded properly, there's no difference. MaximumPC did a test years ago and no one could tell the difference.

But it's essential it was encoded properly.

[killramos]

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Don't worry, the AirPods Max Pro will support it!

Now with XDR Audio

[rage2]

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Seems like one of those products with literally no buyers. I guess it’s a check box on comparison charts?

Apple Music
Lossless audio ✅*

*doesn’t actually work with anything.

It works with the same equipment as someone using other lossless services. High end DACs/Amps/Speakers, or wired headphones that plays lossless codecs.

If you're complaining that Apple products can't play it, none of it (short of the AirPods Max) was really geared towards that audience. Hence surprised they didn't think to make sure the AirPods Max was engineered to support it.

[suntan]

They'll do a firmware upgrade for it I suspect.

[killramos]

I just find it very unapple to have a service that doesn’t work with their own ecosystem.

[rage2]

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They'll do a firmware upgrade for it I suspect.

They can't I don't think. Wireless is only over bluetooth (well Apple's special sauce BT implementation), and even at the max bitrate it's lossy. Sony's codec is the closest to lossless but still not so. There's no WIFI chipset in them AFAIK, that would be the only wireless method of carrying lossless wirelessly.

Wired is a possibility, but I don't want to speculate on what hardware is in an AirPods Max. There's a digital in, but so far the only thing it supports is charging, and whatever bitrate/resolution that lightning to 3.5mm jack outputs in. It doesn't support direct data connections, otherwise they would've been able to play lossless on other services over wired to USB-C on a computer.

[suntan]

Yeah, looks like with the Max everything still goes through a DAC. rofl.

[rage2]

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Yeah, looks like with the Max everything still goes through a DAC. rofl.

The question I haven't seen an answer to is what kind of DAC is in the Airpods Max, and if it has the ability to process lossless resolution/bitrate. Even if that's a yes, the other question like I mentioned above is if the lightning port can support USB data transfer.

Whole chain has to support it to make it work.

[suntan]

Technically there should be no reason why. These days everything boils down to developer competence.