Apple’s AirPods Max with USB-C will soon support lossless audio

Apple is bringing higher-fidelity audio to its AirPods Max headphones in April, the company announced today. When the $549 headphones switched to a USB-C connector last year, they lost support for wired audio playback — but Apple is about to rectify that with full lossless support, which even the prior Lightning model technically lacked.

“With the included USB-C cable, users can enjoy the highest-quality audio across music, movies, and games, while music creators can experience significant enhancements to songwriting, beat making, production, and mixing,” the company wrote in a press release on Monday. “With this update, AirPods Max will unlock 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio, preserving the integrity of original recordings and allowing listeners to experience music the way the artist created it in the studio.” Lossless support “extends to Personalized Spatial Audio,” Apple noted.

Aside from richer sound, the new update enables ultra low latency on the AirPods Max, which makes them better suited for music production, gaming, and live streaming purposes, according to the company.

The firmware update will roll out alongside iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 sometime in April. You can use a USB-C to USB-C cord for lossless audio, but Apple is also now selling a $39 USB-C to 3.5mm audio cable that shares the same braided design as its other recent cables.

The previous edition of the AirPods Max with a Lightning connector don’t offer true “lossless” playback because of a signal conversion that occurs whenever a wired audio source is used. It’s still better quality than you’d get listening over Bluetooth, however.