[jabz10]

Could someone advise how lossless would this setup be?

 

[heathman]

Could someone advise how lossless would this setup be?

I have the same setup (other than my DAC is the $10 sold by Apple). Honestly, to me the APMs sound exactly the same whether cabled and over bluetooth. (The reason I bought the cable is so there is no latency when I plug the APMs into my electronic drums control module.)

Also, are there even "degrees" of lossless? It's either lossless or it's not, right?

 

[plakat]

Could someone advise how lossless would this setup be?

With one conversion from digital to analog and then another from analog to digital, then back again to analog? Not very much lossless I think…

 

[SparkOnShore]

Finally Apple is offering Music App's Spatial Audio (both head tracked as well as fixed) on all selected AirPods/Beats headphones, with today's Monterey 12.3 update, on all M1 Macs! It was about time since it seemed quite peculiar to not support the feature on those recent machines operating on Apple's own chips. Anyway that's good news for the APM on any M1 Mac.

 

[micah323]

Thinking about getting these for night listening and for immersive movie watching while kids sleeping above

Are you guys pretty satisfied with movie watching compared to a surround system setup?

 

[NewCoke]

Thinking about getting these for night listening and for immersive movie watching while kids sleeping above

Are you guys pretty satisfied with movie watching compared to a surround system setup?

Not a fan of the compression in Atmos/Multichannel mode on these, as they get too "dark" and details seem distant with movies/tv. The bass is delicious for movie watching, though.

 

[justanut]

Thinking about getting these for night listening and for immersive movie watching while kids sleeping above

Are you guys pretty satisfied with movie watching compared to a surround system setup?

Seriously, outside of a 7.1 speaker system, these are the best pair of headphones for movies. I can never get enough of that sub-bass rumble in action movies with the AirPods Max.

 

[heathman]

Thinking about getting these for night listening and for immersive movie watching while kids sleeping above

Are you guys pretty satisfied with movie watching compared to a surround system setup?

I find them to be fantastic for music and movies late at night.

 

[NewCoke]

Not a fan of the compression in Atmos/Multichannel mode on these, as they get too "dark" and details seem distant with movies/tv. The bass is delicious for movie watching, though.

To add onto this:

If you want an H1 chip headphone for movies/TV on the Apple TV, The Beats Fit Pro has as good (if not *slightly* better) bass and also has good treble. The better treble brings back some of the details lost in Atmos/Multi channel tracks lost with the Max. I would even take the Airpods Pro over the Max for Apple TV, personally.

 

[SparkOnShore]

To add onto this:

If you want an H1 chip headphone for movies/TV on the Apple TV, The Beats Fit Pro has as good (if not *slightly* better) bass and also has good treble. The better treble brings back some of the details lost in Atmos/Multi channel tracks lost with the Max. I would even take the Airpods Pro over the Max for Apple TV, personally.

Beats Fit Pro have indeed a really good sound, with impressive bass and detailed treble, as well as being generally quite accurate and balanced. I own and really enjoy them. With that said I prefer the APM for music at most times. The impressive aspect of fit pro is how stable, light and comfortable they are when exercising, something I could never say about the APP which had zero stability in my ears.

 

[plakat]

To add onto this:

If you want an H1 chip headphone for movies/TV on the Apple TV, The Beats Fit Pro has as good (if not *slightly* better) bass and also has good treble. The better treble brings back some of the details lost in Atmos/Multi channel tracks lost with the Max. I would even take the Airpods Pro over the Max for Apple TV, personally.

While I do own and like the Fit Pro, I think especially the bass is much more precise and deeper reaching on the APM… which I prefer for both music and films while at home. I do much prefer the Fit Pro to the AirPods Pro though.

 

[the W]

Could someone advise how lossless would this setup be?

Here is what apples says:

Can I listen to lossless audio using the AirPods Max Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable?​

The Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable was designed to allow AirPods Max to connect to analog sources for listening to movies and music. AirPods Max can be connected to devices playing Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless recordings with exceptional audio quality. However, given the analog-to-digital conversion in the cable, the playback will not be completely lossless.

this is extremely misleading though, as it sounds like AMP can receive lossless analog signal directly. But it is not true, as AMP will need to convert whatever analog signal to digital before doing any processing of the audio, namely any DSP. So in a word, AMP may not play any lossless format no matter wired or not.

However, does this really hurt the music quality from a good source? I am on the fence, as I could not tell lossless from high quality lossy audio at least in my devices, while it just feels better listening to lossless .

You are getting great music quality, no worries.

 

[plakat]

Here is what apples says:

Can I listen to lossless audio using the AirPods Max Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable?​

The Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable was designed to allow AirPods Max to connect to analog sources for listening to movies and music. AirPods Max can be connected to devices playing Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless recordings with exceptional audio quality. However, given the analog-to-digital conversion in the cable, the playback will not be completely lossless.

this is extremely misleading though, as it sounds like AMP can receive lossless analog signal directly. But it is not true, as AMP will need to convert whatever analog signal to digital before doing any processing of the audio, namely any DSP. So in a word, AMP may not play any lossless format no matter wired or not.

However, does this really hurt the music quality from a good source? I am on the fence, as I could not tell lossless from high quality lossy audio at least in my devices, while it just feels better listening to lossless .

You are getting great music quality, no worries.

Hm, I don’t see apples statement as misleading: they clearly state that there’s another ADC in the signal path.
Only a digital input path could avoid that problem. At the moment the only digital input path is Bluetooth, which doesn’t offer uncompressed audio transfer. According to a recent interview with one Apple guy they are looking into ways to change that.

While I don’t care about high-res in the least, I do like lossless, i.e. CD level audio. I’m not missing anything with the APM for what they are (a very good wireless headphone), but that would be an interesting evolution…

 

[fonefan]

While I do own and like the Fit Pro, I think especially the bass is much more precise and deeper reaching on the APM… which I prefer for both music and films while at home. I do much prefer the Fit Pro to the AirPods Pro though.

That is good to know, thank you. I've been looking into AirPods Pro vs Fit Pro to 'Share' from my Apple TV for my girlfriend when watching movies. It is annoying that only H1 head/ear phones can be used for dual Bluetooth but it is what it is. Fit Pro it is then!

Whilst the APM don't dig super deep in the bass, they do have excellent slam, which is something I find most earphones can't match. Basic physics I suppose. Over ear have bigger drivers in bigger enclosures. Compared to regular headphones, I think the APM do a good job with movies. With spatial/Atmos turned off, the movie definitely sounds more closed in to my ears.

How is the Fit Pro's ANC compared to AirPod Pro, and indeed APM?

 

[justanut]

That is good to know, thank you. I've been looking into AirPods Pro vs Fit Pro to 'Share' from my Apple TV for my girlfriend when watching movies. It is annoying that only H1 head/ear phones can be used for dual Bluetooth but it is what it is. Fit Pro it is then!

Whilst the APM don't dig super deep in the bass, they do have excellent slam, which is something I find most earphones can't match. Basic physics I suppose. Over ear have bigger drivers in bigger enclosures. Compared to regular headphones, I think the APM do a good job with movies. With spatial/Atmos turned off, the movie definitely sounds more closed in to my ears.

How is the Fit Pro's ANC compared to AirPod Pro, and indeed APM?

The BFP has better passive isolation vs the APP due to the better secure "fit". But I still prefer the APM's ANC in most cases. It would depend on whether you want to wear headphones or in-ear monitors. Can't go wrong with either.