[Daniel Johnston]

Hi, from reading past posts here it seems using the airpods max cable is not completely lossless as per apple, but I’m still interested does it provide any audible improvement? The cable is finally available in our country months after i got the airpods max, so was wondering if i should get one to squeeze more quality out of the APM since i am using the lossless versions of the songs on apple music anyway (i have the lotoo paw s1 dongle connected to some of my wired gear). Thanks in advance

Yes it does offer audible improvement. It sounds better than the bluetooth AAC.

 

[SparkOnShore]

But I need to say that listening to lossless on Apple Music via the MacBook Air's headphone out, with my wired Shure Aonic 4, is a slightly better audio experience than the one my APM offers. Especially on the side of details, voices and instruments separation.

Edit: volume also is much higher with the wired Aonic 4. It was quite strange to me, seeing that I can't go above 4-5 dots when with APM, for the same volume perception, I need to go much higher, maybe around 4 dots further.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Also what I have noticed is that from my music selections of new albums, which are mainly electronic, idm and experimental, nothing is Dolby Atmos! But at the same time more and more appear in lossless! So lossless is more useful to my music, at least for the time being...

The artists/labels have to go back through and mix songs in Dolby Atmos.

Most releases are distributed with lossless files, so they already have access to the original WAV of the final master.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I think one of the issues with Dolby Atmos currently is volume matching.

I have the volume turned up to 73% (I thought it was 80% which makes me more impressed — you can ask Siri what the volume level is set at) and the experience is significantly better than where I’d usually have it at around 50%.

“Duh, of course it sounds better at a higher volume.” Sure, but this is where I’d normally have it lately when listening to music with Atmos off.

I get why they can’t have it matched better since Atmos has a higher dynamic range. If Headphone Audio Levels are correct, then the song I’m listening to has hovered between 60-83dB.

This makes it so if I turn up the volume to listen to Atmos, which makes the experience slightly more magical on the right song like they intended and as it was in the car, and a non-Atmos song comes on then I’m going to have to turn the volume down otherwise it’s going to be a tad ear-piercing.

This is on Powerbeats Pro, so I’m fairly confident this would be potentially magical on AirPods Max. I suppose a lot of listeners are already blasting music so Apple didn’t account for this and they’re still trying to protect hearing instead of constantly making music and audio products louder.

Side note: I think it’s better in the car since the artificial sense of space makes me want the drivers themselves to be further from my ears, which would also be less fatiguing.

No pun intended.

 

[tinyman392]

I think one of the issues with Dolby Atmos currently is volume matching.

I have the volume turned up to 73% (I thought it was 80% which makes me more impressed — you can ask Siri what the volume level is set at) and the experience is significantly better than where I’d usually have it at around 50%.

“Duh, of course it sounds better at a higher volume.” Sure, but this is where I’d normally have it lately when listening to music with Atmos off.

I get why they can’t have it matched better since Atmos has a higher dynamic range. If Headphone Audio Levels are correct, then the song I’m listening to has hovered between 60-83dB.

This makes it so if I turn up the volume to listen to Atmos, which makes the experience slightly more magical on the right song like they intended and as it was in the car, and a non-Atmos song comes on then I’m going to have to turn the volume down otherwise it’s going to be a tad ear-piercing.

This is on Powerbeats Pro, so I’m fairly confident this would be potentially magical on AirPods Max. I suppose a lot of listeners are already blasting music so Apple didn’t account for this and they’re still trying to protect hearing instead of constantly making music and audio products louder.

Side note: I think it’s better in the car since the artificial sense of space makes me want the drivers themselves to be further from my ears, which would also be less fatiguing.

No pun intended.

I turned on sound check to help deal with the volume issues a little. Though some songs are buggy with it and will play at full volume. I've also found that if you play a predownloaded Atmos song from your library, it'll sound check like the non-Atmos version, but if you play it from the Spatial Audio playlist, it'll sound check properly. So it's not perfect and still something Apple needs to address.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I turned on sound check to help deal with the volume issues a little. Though some songs are buggy with it and will play at full volume. I've also found that if you play a predownloaded Atmos song from your library, it'll sound check like the non-Atmos version, but if you play it from the Spatial Audio playlist, it'll sound check properly. So it's not perfect and still something Apple needs to address.

There are still a lot of glitches with Atmos and even Lossless. I’ve found sometimes the song will stop playing then start back at :15.

If I’m being honest I turned on the Lossless version of “good 4 u” after listening to it in Atmos and I’m not necessarily sure I prefer it in Atmos, and I have a feeling not every consumer will either — I think the more closed soundstage of Beats headphones fits more closely to what consumers want.

Again, no pun intended.

 

[tinyman392]

There are still a lot of glitches with Atmos and even Lossless. I’ve found sometimes the song will stop playing then start back at :15.

If I’m being honest I turned on the Lossless version of “good 4 u” after listening to it in Atmos and I’m not necessarily sure I prefer it in Atmos, and I have a feeling not every consumer will either — I think the more closed soundstage of Beats headphones fits more closely to what consumers want.

Again, no pun intended.

I haven't had that bug (where it stops playing mid song), but I have had the bug where songs won't start playing. Though this bug has been around since before Apple released Atmos or Lossless. People on Reddit said it was a networking issue Some said restarting the device could fix it I've had it happen for a song I had downloaded for offline listening which is annoying; it's not specific to Atmos or lossless songs though, happens for regular AAC as well (though I feel if it is network related its likely that it would affect more Atmos or lossless songs).

 

[MICHAELSD]

I haven't had that bug (where it stops playing mid song), but I have had the bug where songs won't start playing. Though this bug has been around since before Apple released Atmos or Lossless. People on Reddit said it was a networking issue Some said restarting the device could fix it I've had it happen for a song I had downloaded for offline listening which is annoying; it's not specific to Atmos or lossless songs though, happens for regular AAC as well (though I feel if it is network related its likely that it would affect more Atmos or lossless songs).

I haven’t had any issues with the Music app until the latest update.

That being said about Dolby Atmos, I’m about to go on a short run and I’m disappointed that I can’t listen to Atmos on my Apple Watch. It is great to have for a different experience, especially on tracks already known and loved.

 

[tkddans]

I had an issue where the tracks would show the lossless logo when streaming over WiFi, but the logo would disappear after downloading the same tracks. When I check the file info, it says it is AAC. Oddly enough though, the downloaded file would be over 30 MB. So it would appear that the file is large enough to be lossless, but the file info in Apple Music claims it is AAC and not lossless.

Given the large file size of the downloaded files, and my settings set to download in lossless, Im guessing the info panel stating “AAC” is a bug with what info is displayed and nothing more.

Just to be safe, I’ve deleted all downloads and been streaming over WiFi only. Unless I’m on my phone and away from WiFi, then I’ve just downloaded everything and hoped for the best that it’s lossless.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Even the Apple Watch Music app has been finicky lately. I ended up taking my phone outside to listen to Atmos, and I enjoyed it more on a run. I appreciate this as a new way to listen to music, so it definitely has its utility.

Once my iPhone SE (lifestyle choice) died I switched over to my Watch and missed having Atmos. Also the volume level on my Watch was 67% which hurt my ears pretty much instantly with stereo music since they’ve been sensitive lately, while I was listening to Atmos at 75% volume on the iPhone. I eventually settled at 56% volume on the Watch comparatively.

 

[senorbroom]

I received my grey Airpods Max and some first impressions from today:

• As per Apple's usual build quality, the finish is impeccable
• Unlike Apple's typical standard, the case is ugly and fiddly
• It's surprisingly heavy
• The headband is extremely comfortable
• After an hour my neck is starting to hurt
• The ANC is fantastic

Sound-wise:

• Tonally, very pleasing
• Overall sound profile is very cohesive
• Listening to electronic/synth-pop, the synths are nice and slinky, the bass is fairly deep and tight
• Listening to hardcore/metal, the mid-range is too polite/glossed-over
  • Playing with the headphone accessibility makes it a little more punchy, but at the expense of some of the bass/lower-mids

I've been using a Beoplay H6 (2nd gen) plus Shanling UP2 combo and the sound isn't too dissimilar however the H6 (while still quite cohesive/polite) has more bite in the mids. The APM has a slightly wider soundstage. The Shanling works as a wired DAC which makes it easy to compare bluetooth versus wired - and it highlights how the finer details are lost using wireless. I'm worried that we might be hitting the upper limits of bluetooth quality.

I'm a little on the fence as to whether I keep the APM. The build quality is fantastic but the case is so inconvenient and the weight might be a little too much for me. I'm tempted to go try out the Beoplay HX and see whether it can compete with my H6+DAC combo.

 

[tkddans]

They never really seemed to like AirPods max in the first place. These guys sell multi thousand dollar, open back, wired headphones; and they recommend very expensive cables and amps and DACs, so yea they aren’t going to be positive lol

 

[James-uk]

They never really seemed to like AirPods max in the first place. These guys sell multi thousand dollar, open back, wired headphones; and they recommend very expensive cables and amps and DACs, so yea they aren’t going to be positive lol

These guys create content just promote their own products. The Abyss headphones are terrible by any objective measure. Some would say they’re Abyssmal.
I’ll get my coat.

 

[tkddans]

Some would say they’re Abyssmal.
I’ll get my coat.

Hah! Nice

 

[Heyyoudvd]

These guys create content just promote their own products. The Abyss headphones are terrible by any objective measure. Some would say they’re Abyssmal.
I’ll get my coat.

I haven’t personally heard the Abyss stuff, but a lot of highly respected people rave about them - from Steve Guttenberg to Linus Sebastian to people at audiophile meets to people on this board and others.

If you’re assuming they’re terrible based on the whole ordeal with Audio Science Review, I wouldn’t, as ASR’s headphone reviews have shown themselves to be pretty worthless. Their methodology has resulted in them crapping on some of the most beloved and highly esteemed headphones in the industry. For example, just recently, ASR handed out negative reviews to the Ananda and to the Focal Clear, two headphones that are universally loved. They’ve done the same to so many others. That makes me highly suspicious of their negative reviews on Abyss, especially when someone as credible as Steve Guttenberg showers Abyss with praise.

With all of that said, I agree that the Abyss guys can get a little silly sometimes. I enjoy their YouTube channel, but the way they talk about amps, DACs, and even cables can definitely feel a little snake-oily at times.