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These are limited to 256kbps low bandwidth Bluetooth. Leave it to Apple to change prices of hifi headphones, but make what amounts to laughable input quality. E

These are limited to 256kbps low bandwidth Bluetooth. Leave it to Apple to change prices of hifi headphones, but make what amounts to laughable input quality. Expensive toys for rich people that really don’t know any better. Just like the XDR display, which was presented as “competing with industry titans at lower price”, but that ended up as complete bullshit claim by Apple. Sony’s competitors, however badly named, cost 350$ (before the usual discounts on Amazon and retailers), and have audio in, and support higher audio input fidelity. They still use low quality amp+dac, but still the end result is much better than this.

kissiel 6y ago
Just a reminder that 256kbit is A LOT when using modern codecs. http://soundexpert.org/encoders-256-kbps http://soundexpert.org/encoders-256-kbps Where is this info form, btw? I'd love to read more specs. BT5 has a 2Mbit throughput for LE.
- bryal 6y ago
  > Just a reminder that 256kbit is A LOT when using modern codecs. Seriously. Opus is close to transparent already at 128kbps.
n1xbuffoon 6y ago
I know it’s tempting to believe only the audio specs matter, but would you buy a receiver with great output and only one jack? There’s more to it, perhaps. The ecosystem integration, materials are apparently above the plastic-y norm, the just works without fiddling with EQ... Oh and buying them is not compulsory. Really very little reason to even login to post this, given reality on the whole. Thanks for sharing I guess. Not sure how salty hot takes make HN “better” than Reddit. The rules mean nothing.
matthew-wegner 6y ago
You're probably putting another DAC in the signal path with this, but you can plug in a 3.5mm audio source to the AirPods Max: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR2C2AM/A/lightning-to-35mm-audio-cable-12m https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR2C2AM/A/lightning-to-35...

kissiel 6y ago

Just a reminder that 256kbit is A LOT when using modern codecs. http://soundexpert.org/encoders-256-kbps http://soundexpert.org/encoders-256-kbps Where is this info form, btw? I'd love to read more specs. BT5 has a 2Mbit throughput for LE.

bryal 6y ago
> Just a reminder that 256kbit is A LOT when using modern codecs. Seriously. Opus is close to transparent already at 128kbps.

n1xbuffoon 6y ago

I know it’s tempting to believe only the audio specs matter, but would you buy a receiver with great output and only one jack? There’s more to it, perhaps. The ecosystem integration, materials are apparently above the plastic-y norm, the just works without fiddling with EQ... Oh and buying them is not compulsory. Really very little reason to even login to post this, given reality on the whole. Thanks for sharing I guess. Not sure how salty hot takes make HN “better” than Reddit. The rules mean nothing.

matthew-wegner 6y ago

You're probably putting another DAC in the signal path with this, but you can plug in a 3.5mm audio source to the AirPods Max: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR2C2AM/A/lightning-to-35mm-audio-cable-12m https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR2C2AM/A/lightning-to-35...