Your Apple AirPods Max are getting a major audio upgrade for free – but there’s catch
Jason Hiner/ZDNETYour AirPods Max might be getting a long-awaited free audio upgrade. Also: The best AirPods: Expert-tested and reviewedIn an announcement this week, Apple said that its high-end AirPods are getting lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio via a software update next month. This marks the first upgrade to the device since it launched over four years ago (except for the port change from Lightning to USB-C). The catchUnfortunately, this only applies to models with a USB-C connector and not to the previous generation of AirPods Max with a Lightning connector (due to the way the Lightning cable converts the signal, it’s not totally lossless). Also: 6 ways the new AirPods Max could have been so much better”With the included USB-C cable,” Apple explained, “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.” Lossless audio is a form of audio compression. Most audio files lose data from the original source, but lossless audio is essentially audio straight from the production team. Bluetooth connections don’t support lossless audio, meaning you need to use a wired connection. Apple’s $549 headphones More