Whisperer: Apple AirPods Pro 2 will support the lossless ALAC format

Source: Apple

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s most reliable behind-the-scenes source of information, has launched this year’s headphone prediction series. According to its sources, the Cupertino company will launch the second generation AirPods Pro this year. The charging case will receive a mini speaker , so it can be found independently of the headphones. The first unofficial photos that have confirmed this fact have already appeared on the Internet.

The second novelty will not be visible at first glance, but should be heard. Apple is said to include support for its own ALAC lossless format in AirPods Pro 2. It already offers streamed music, but until now it has always put recordings with lossy AAC compression on the headphones.

If this information is confirmed, it will be a big deal. Bluetooth is a highly compromised wireless technology where signal quality, data flow and energy requirements must be balanced. Until now, no one has passed lossless music formats through it because the throughput did not exceed 1 Mbps, and recordings equivalent to a music CD (44 kHz, 16 bits) can be up to 1411 kbps.

It wasn’t until last fall that Qualcomm introduced the new aptX Lossless format, which should transmit this quality via Bluetooth, but it’s not in any headphones yet. Apple can win first place here.

By the way, ALAC allows you to store hi-res audio with 192 kHz sampling and 24 bit depth. Apple Music offers some albums in this quality. However, the company finds it difficult to transmit such sound via Bluetooth. It already has a data flow of up to 9216 kb / s. There are Bluetooth HS specifications with a throughput of up to 24 Mbps, but it is practically not used anywhere

Last week, coincidentally, he complained about insufficient Bluetooth throughput in an interview with What HiFi Gary Geaves, who heads the sound division at Apple. This may have suggested that future headphones would not have to rely on a bluebell, but Wi-Fi Direct or some of their own wireless technology. But it would significantly reduce compatibility and certainly significantly shorten the life of the headphones.

via MacRumors