Apple Music: wired EarPods listening to lossless music versus AirPod Max listening AAC music over BT

[Luba]

I know this would be a judgment call as lossless Apple Music isn’t out yet, but if it were out and listener A used wired Earpods would she have a better listening experience with lossless music than listener B on an AirPod Max listening to AAC music over BT with better speakers. Essentially would better speakers triumph over a better source of music?

 

[MayaTlab]

The better frequency response at your own eardrum would given that AAC 256kbps, either as a file format, or as a bluetooth codec (not the same thing) is good enough to cause problems to quite a few people to succeed blind A/B tests.
And the AirPods Max are guaranteed to have a better FR at most people's eardrum than Apple's earbuds. For starters they can actually reproduce bass down to the lowest frequency humans can hear and are quite insusceptible to seal / fit issues given that Adaptive EQ can deliver a more or less constant and identical across listeners FR below 1khz. And the response above that, while being potentially at least a little bit off for quite a few people, isn't too shabby either relative to other wireless ANC over-ears.
Apple's earbuds' FR can vary quite a lot across the whole range depending on position and people, in a way that can introduce fairly significant unevenness in the response which could cause auditory masking and as a result make them less "detailed".
So yep, easily APM with 256kbps AAC files and 256kbps BT codec > wired Apple earbuds with lossless files, for a large majority of people.

 

[MayaTlab]

It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic,
but you sound like you know what you’re talking about.

That's just because I'm quite able to sound cleverer than I really am.
But yeah Apple's earbuds are lacking bass extension and show quite a lot of person to person variability : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/apple/earpods
The APM's response is for the most part more linear and more stable at lower frequencies (Adaptive EQ helps) :

Apple AirPods Max Wireless Review

The Apple AirPods Max Wireless are Apple's first pair of wireless over-ear headphones. Unlike other headphones from Apple, like the Apple AirPods Pro Truly Wirel...

www.rtings.com

I personally find the measurements made by Jude at Head-fi to be more representative of how the APM sound to me :

Apple AirPods Max Measurements - Brüel & Kjær 5128

Fig.1 (above): Apple AirPods Max frequency response, average of three seatings. Fig.1 (above): Apple AirPods Max THD (total harmonic distortion) at 90 dBSPL, 100 dBSPL, 110 dBSPL. The measurements in this post were made using: Brüel & Kjær High-frequency Head and Torso Simulator (HATS) Type...

www.head-fi.org

In all cases it's important to not over-interpret headphones measurements and take them with a pinch of salt.
Rtings's articles are a good primer on headphones measurements : https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tests
And this article on what sort of research has been going on in the last 10-15 years in regards to what a decent frequency response is for headphones :

A Deep Dive Into Harman Curves - The Long Way Round (Part 1)

In Part 1 of the Harman Target Curve deep-dive series, we explore the fundamental of human hearing and how it is related to the Harman Curve.

www.headphonesty.com

Measuring compression codecs, either as a file format, or as wireless audio over BT, is very difficult for mere mortals, but blind A/B tests can be performed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec_listening_test
In regards to AAC 256kbps as a file format, most people are unable to discriminate it from a lossless file.
But it seems that, for some compression formats, provided the right circumstances, some people may be able to A/B it if they know what to look for.
codecs for wireless audio are a different thing, even though in regards to AAC it shares similar underpinnings as the file compression scheme. Some implementations of wireless audio can produce easily audible artefacts, and sometimes it's not even a question of codecs. But so far with my AirPods I haven't noticed significant red flags.

All in all I don't think that the benefits one could gain from lossless files and wired connection would compensate for the earbuds' frequency response shortcomings vs. the AirPods Max.

 

[powerbook911]

AirPods max will sound better with 256 AAC than EarPods with lossless.


Nevertheless, I believe folks will be surprised the difference Apple Lossless makes on a product like AirPods Pro over bluetooth. Up until now, despite having Apple Music, I have kept a Tidal and /or Amazon Music HD subscription to use when listening on AirPods Pro because there is a clarity just not there when I listen to Apple Music on AirPods Pro. Starting with that lossless file before it goes to 250 AAC over bluetooth, makes a difference, my only conclusion. Virtually every song I prefer lossless on AirPods Pro.

Now, my big Bang Olufsen A9 Speaker in the living room, 256 AAC I find it harder to tell from lossless. I think because one, the actual 256 AAC file is being streamed to the speaker (wifi) rather than it going through a bluetooth collection, which degrades it more. And secondly, the quality speaker / headphone is still the biggest difference once you are at a decent quality source like 256 AAC.

 

[bigshot]

The transducer quality makes a heck of a lot more of a difference than the file format with lossless vs a lossy codec that has enough data rate to be audibly transparent.

 

[TheRealAlex]

I know this would be a judgment call as lossless Apple Music isn’t out yet, but if it were out and listener A used wired Earpods would she have a better listening experience with lossless music than listener B on an AirPod Max listening to AAC music over BT with better speakers. Essentially would better speakers triumph over a better source of music?

I suggest people get a hearing test before even attempting to dive into the audiophile realm. So one in their 20’s will likely have better hearing than a person in their 30’s or 40’s

 

[motulist]

99.9% of people hear lossless and high bit rate as exactly the same. So essentially the only question is which headphones sound better.