Tech

Apple to debut lossless audio on AirPods Pro 2

The AirPods Pro 2, Apple’s upcoming wireless headphones, will include a long-awaited feature for lovers of high-definition sound, the lossless audio, assures the analyst specialized in Apple, Ming-Chi Kuo.

The Cupertino firm extended its Apple Music service last May with this type of uncompressed audio formats, Apple Lossless. But there were only a few ways to enjoy it with devices from the brand. IPhone users must use an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC), while an Mac, technically you have to wear wired headphones to enjoy hi-fi music.

AirPods Pro 2, better sound, as far as possible

Surprisingly, none of Apple’s wireless headphones support lossless audio out of the box, not even the $ 550-priced ‘Max’. The next AirPods Pro 2 should be the answer, although there are doubts about the Inherent limitations of the Bluetooth wireless standard to transmit high definition sound.

Gary Geaves, vice president of audio at Apple, quoted in an interview with What Hi-Fi last week the bottleneck of the standard for audio delivery: «Issues like how much latency you have when moving your head and sound shifting is a problem, so we have to focus a lot on squeezing the most we can get out of Bluetooth. There are a number of tricks we can play to maximize or circumvent some of the limits of Bluetooth, but it’s fair to say that we’d like more bandwidth and… I’ll stop right there. We would like more bandwidth«.

It would be interesting to see if Apple’s solution could be applied to a wider range of wireless audio solutions. Currently, there are some standards, such as Qualcomm’s AptX and Sony’s LDAC that are included in the great WF-1000XM4 and that can transmit audio to a 990 kbps bit rate.

Apple’s challenge will be to overcome that barrier and provide the best wireless audio experience in the industry, considering that its headphones are among the best sellers on the market. Hopefully, this would put pressure on the group responsible for the standard to improve its characteristics to offer better sound support. Of course, there are no miracles, and lovers of high definition will continue to use wired headphones whose quality can never be achieved by wireless models.

AirPods Pro 2

Another novelty in addition to lossless audio, will be a charging case with a new form factor that will be able to emit a sound for users to track and the addition of health management functions that Apple has enhanced in its smart watches.

There is no release date for these AirPods Pro 2, although the recent launch of the third generation suggests that they will hit the market in the second half. The analyst foresees sales between 18 and 20 million units for a total of headphones of – no less – than 90 million units, 25% more than in 2021.

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