Re:AirPods Max 2
by ebb_earl_co on Monday March 16, 2026 @09:21PM
(#47407435)
The AirPods Max 2 are primarily Bluetooth headphones, but support lossless audio over USB-C cable, for what it’s worth.
That is through a ADC then DAC, at least for the previous iteration, analog direct to the drivers was not supported. You would be compounding distortion, and largely throwing away what the external DAC+Amp had on offer.
The new(ish) Sennheiser HDB 630s have been getting fairly spectacular reviews for sound quality, and cost a touch less than the Airpods Max 2s.
Leaving the rest of your equipment aside, those would be the first options I'd consider in the Airpods price bracket.
Re:AirPods Max 2
by ranger_danger on Tuesday March 17, 2026 @09:47AM
(#47412620)
> You also can't experience true lossless on any bluetooth audio output device
Pretty sure you can... there's no technical reason you cannot use BT purely as a digital-only lossless data carrier. Whether or not current devices exist that work this way may be another story though.
The Apple tax makes me extremely skeptical that I would get $500+ worth of sound quality, however ANC upsets that equation quite a bit. For around the same cost I could get a much better set of DAC+Amp+Headphones but it would sound objectively worse in a noisy environment.
You also can't experience true lossless on any bluetooth audio output device, for what that's worth (many "true" audiophiles would fail an A/B test for AAC).
The previous generation were also REALLY bassy, and there's nothing wrong with that, bassy headphones are how to make things sound "fun" and that's why the likes of Beats make so much money. That categorically makes it not audiophile, though, because it just takes an EQ/pre-amp to achieve the same effect (which can be toggled on and off).
Ultimately, my most basic issue with these is that if you're willing to blow 500 bucks on headphones, then going modular (DAC+Amp+Headphones) will give you more room to explore something that you apparently really enjoy.