Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Explains Why Only USB-C AirPods Pro Support Lossless Audio With Vision Pro
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The whole problem here is the name... If they'd called them "3rd Generation" and given the lossless low latency audio a name like Spatial Audio Pro, then the kinds of people who don't understand would still not understand but would feel placated that a different name means a different technology.
As it's being done, it just provides a chapter and paragraph reference into the "Assume greedy deception and reject technical reality" playbook.
As it's being done, it just provides a chapter and paragraph reference into the "Assume greedy deception and reject technical reality" playbook.
It's been explained multiple times. The Vision Pro has an H2 chip inside, iPhones don't, Macs don't, iPads don't.
So it's not "artifitial" or "arbitrary" limitation.
Whether poor management or poor planing led to this, is a completely different story but they made it clear when the AirPods Pro 2 (USB C) were released.
Yes, and devices probably aren’t made as robustly as they probably could be, potentially in the hopes that you buy subsequent models (though I don’t think there’s conclusive proof that that’s happening anywhere). And, of course, companies certainly do withhold potential features from the current release in order to drive future sales (for instance, there’s no reason why the iPhone 15 couldn’t have the Action Button, which will no doubt be a feature of the iPhone 16).In that there’s no one making products today that do NOT want to sell you another product in the future. EVERYthing is “planned obsolesence”.
So, of course, companies use the product upgrade cycle to inform the timing of releasing new hardware and features, and the products only have so long of a manufacture life. I reckon you could describe THAT as planned obsolescence. Though, of course, the more conspiratorial definition is unproven and even seemingly disproven (well, at least when it comes to the major consumer electronics firms, I wouldn’t trust more niche firms, especially considering how much no name cheap electronics clog sites like Wish and Temu).
Toys sell. It's more like a really expensive SDK. Most people buying it are going to try and make money from it.
It's also gonna remain "nicer" than the inevitable consumer version the way the 32" XDR > 27" Studio
Actually, that's a good point. This is a niche feature for a yet-to-be-released product and people are getting overly exercised about it. Probably the better way to look at this is to mollify the AVP buyers who would complain that they just bought new APPs 3 months earlier and they don't work.
It's probably not helped by the fact that everyone, including the headlines, keeps talking about lossless, but ignoring the ultra-low latency bit. I think it's that second part that's necessary for AVP and the reason for the change. Lossless audio is one of those things the audiophiles will go on and on about but those of us wearing airpods and walking a busy street will never know the difference.
Low latency really only matters when the system is interactive, like AVP or as wireless monitors for musicians. iPhone doesn't have much need for it.
I haven't watched the video from beginning to end, but the part referenced makes the point pretty strongly that H2 is a Bluetooth chip optimized for audio. There's no Bluetooth 5GHz standard that I'm aware of, but they say Bluetooth enough times that I would draw the conclusion that this is not WiFi-- I'm guessing it's fully proprietary, probably borrowing heavily from Bluetooth with custom codecs and RF bits.
Neither are niche products. The AirPods Pro are wildly successful, I see them often both in the US and Europe. VisionPro will certainly sell less units than AirPods, they're 15x less expensive and mass produced at a much larger scale. The VisionPro will still sell out of all the units Apple can make for years to come.
Because the Vision Pro will be ~2” away from the APP2 USB-C, it’s obvious. It won’t work any other way. I’ve seen no one else on MacRumors besides myself that plan to buy 2 pairs of Vision Pros the minute they go on sale. If you’re not getting the Vision Pro stop crying about what you’re missing. All the APP2s will work exactly the same otherwise. 😉
Last edited:
I see lambos and Ferraris every week. They’re successful too. They’ll make these for years to come
Doesn’t mean it’s mass adopted.
Yeah like the audience that reads 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz and jumps to the conclusion that bluetooth headsets use Wifi.
Uh…
They would have to if they use higher bandwidth than basic Bluetooth.
High bandwidth on Bluetooth is done by using WiFi. That’s part of the Bluetooth specification.
Different Bluetooth Versions: What You Need to Know
A closer look at the different Bluetooth versions, how they’ve changed, and how they affect your wireless listening experience.
www.headphonesty.com
I figured Apple wouldn’t be dumb enough to release a functional change to the actual AirPods without changing the version number. Well, apparently I was very wrong on that one! From this description, it seems they can’t even figure out when it is appropriate to change the number of the H2 chip.
They’ve gone from being too willing to upgrade numbers for watch chips that didn’t really deserve the bump, to keeping the same version number for parts with functional differences?
I usually prefer a lack of over-promotion when it comes to hype, but this under-promotion is actually worse because it confuses the products, as you should always be able to know exactly what features you have by model, not by some sub-version. I hate trying to figure out Lenovo’s products, and if you’ve ever had to research a part on their site, you will probably know what I mean! Was that the 2021 model or the 2022? Painful!
If this is accurate, I’m not a fan of the direction they are moving. They want a simple product lineup, but just calling everything the same name is actually more confusing. Are they just going to give every Apple Store an employee tag with the name “Bruce”?
They’ve gone from being too willing to upgrade numbers for watch chips that didn’t really deserve the bump, to keeping the same version number for parts with functional differences?
I usually prefer a lack of over-promotion when it comes to hype, but this under-promotion is actually worse because it confuses the products, as you should always be able to know exactly what features you have by model, not by some sub-version. I hate trying to figure out Lenovo’s products, and if you’ve ever had to research a part on their site, you will probably know what I mean! Was that the 2021 model or the 2022? Painful!
If this is accurate, I’m not a fan of the direction they are moving. They want a simple product lineup, but just calling everything the same name is actually more confusing. Are they just going to give every Apple Store an employee tag with the name “Bruce”?
That would be an inefficient way for Apple to make money, because the Vision Pro is going to be a niche product that sells in very small numbers its first few years.
I’m guessing Apple is still working on Vision Pro features, including lossless audio, and they have found a solution that requires newer antennae. They updated the APP 2 with USB-C and took that opportunity to add the new hardware so they’d have compatible headphones for Vision Pro at launch. This was almost certainly not worked out yet when the Lightning APP2’s were being designed.
This minor feature has no impact on any other shipping product. It won’t do anything until the Vision Pro ships and it won’t be usable with any other Apple product until they decide to add this 5GHz Bluetooth band to other products. It just doesn’t merit a name change or new product number. It only came up as a side note in an interview with a product manager.
Well, that depends. Apple’s using Bluetooth 4, not Bluetooth 3. But, even if they were using Bluetooth 3, unless their tech was specifically labeled with a “+HS” suffix, (it isn’t and wasn’t) it was not high speed.Uh…
They would have to if they use higher bandwidth than basic Bluetooth.
High bandwidth on Bluetooth is done by using WiFi. That’s part of the Bluetooth specification.
View attachment 2277297
Different Bluetooth Versions: What You Need to Know
A closer look at the different Bluetooth versions, how they’ve changed, and how they affect your wireless listening experience.
Bluetooth - Wikipedia
Bluetooth 4 does have a high speed that is based on WiFi familiar frequencies, hence 2.4 GHz and 5GHz, but it’s not WiFi as there are no signal interference issues within the spectrum as there is with WiFi.
Until Michael Baldwin starts. 😀Yes. To keep it clear.
Last edited:
By the time the majority of Apple users are finally ready to adopt the vision pro, who knows which generation of AirPods Pro will have been released already.
Even with the first generation of the vision pro, we know that it’s going to be so supply constrained that by the time you do get one, it’s likely time to upgrade anyways, and the AirPods Pro 3 update is likely a short distance away.
Has it been too long since the last controversy that people are once again grasping at any straw to criticise Apple?
Can anyone explain:
Why would you want wireless earbuds with Vision Pro anyway? It’s a bulky device strapped to your face. Might as well just use wired earbuds. A headphone jack seems still the easiest and superior solution. Zero latency.
Just make earbuds with very short cables.
Reminds me of nasa spending years to engineer a pen that would work in zero gravity. Russians just used a pencil. There’s already a good solution. No need to complicate things.
Why would you want wireless earbuds with Vision Pro anyway? It’s a bulky device strapped to your face. Might as well just use wired earbuds. A headphone jack seems still the easiest and superior solution. Zero latency.
Just make earbuds with very short cables.
Reminds me of nasa spending years to engineer a pen that would work in zero gravity. Russians just used a pencil. There’s already a good solution. No need to complicate things.
I’m betting the AirPods team had no idea about vision pro.
Apple is known for keeping things like that very secret.
Except the russians don't use pencils anymore, because breaking pencil lead is dangerous in space.
FACT CHECK: NASA's 'Astronaut Pen'
Space race legend claims NASA spent millions of dollars developing an 'astronaut pen' that would work in outer space, while the Soviets solved the same problem by simply using pencils.
www.snopes.com
Last edited: