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When the AirPods Max arrived in late 2020, there wasn’t much spatial audio content for Apple’s high-end headphones. What’s more, there wasn’t any support at all for lossless audio. The company hadn’t added Dolby Atmos and lossless tunes to Apple Music yet, but even when those arrived, Apple still hadn’t solved my biggest problem with the $549 headphones. With iOS 18.4 and a firmware update for the AirPods Max with USB-C, Apple has finally put the finishing touches on its only headphones with lossless audio.

Let’s back up a few months. Last September, Apple gave the AirPods Max its only significant update since the original launch: it swapped the Lightning jack for a USB-C port. The headphones are still running on the aging H1 chip when the rest of the current AirPods lineup has moved on to the more recent and more capable H2. I wasn’t upset that the company didn’t take the opportunity to update the AirPods Max design, but the failure to upgrade that chip was a head scratcher.

Now that lossless audio is here on the lightly refreshed AirPods Max, the headphones feel more complete. But that took over four years to finally happen, and if you bought the 2020 model you won’t be able to use this newly added capability. You’ll need the USB-C version of the AirPods Max that arrived last year and either iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 or macOS Sequoia 15.4 to unlock lossless and ultra-low latency audio.

How to get lossless audio on AirPods Max with USB-C

Once you’ve updated one of your Apple devices to iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 or macOS Sequoia 15.4, connect your AirPods Max to it via Bluetooth. You’ll then want to plug the headphones into a power outlet or USB-C port with the included cable. If you keep the two gadgets in close proximity for about 30 minutes, the AirPods Max firmware update should download. To check, hop into the AirPods Max settings and scroll down to the About section. Here, you’ll want to see version 7E101 to confirm you’ve got the goods.

You’ll want to keep that cable handy. Lossless audio on the AirPods Max is only available for wired use. You will still need to establish a Bluetooth connection for all of the smart features like hands-free Siri. Apple also sells a new $39 USB-C-to-3.5mm cord if you want to go that route, but either way, you’ll need a cable due to the limitations of high-res audio over Bluetooth.

Why isn’t lossless audio available on the original AirPods Max?

If you bought Apple’s $549 headphones in 2020, I can understand your frustration that you aren’t privy to this update. However, I wouldn’t assume Apple made this decision just to drive sales. There are hardware limitations with the Lightning port that hinders lossless audio, specifically a data throughput constraint on the previous version. Apple made some changes to the DAC (digital-to-analog converter) inside the AirPods Max to make lossless happen, which wasn’t possible on the older model either.

Does lossless audio make a difference?

I’ve heard some people say they can’t tell the difference between normal songs and lossless tunes. I’d argue it depends on what you’re listening to. If it’s a recent pop tune from Dua Lipa or Sabrina Carpenter, you’re better off with the Dolby Atmos mix and likely won’t pick up any more detail for high-resolution streaming. For bass heavy, chaotic genres like metal, I notice a better balance to the mix. Vocals on Spiritbox’s Tsunami Sea rise above the booming drums and thrashing guitar, and the bass is a little more subdued. Same for Underoath’s The Place After This One, where all the instruments seem to have more separation from the vocals. And overall, the bombastic tracks on this album feel bigger and more immersive.

Lossless audio on the AirPods Max particularly elevates acoustic genres like bluegrass and folk, in addition to other mellow styles like jazz. I might as well have been inside the acoustic guitar on Julien Baker & TORRES’ “Sugar in the Tank” as I felt like I could hear every percussive detail on every string. I can’t imagine the sound would’ve been much better on Jason Isbell’s Foxes in the Snow if I was actually in the room at Electric Lady Studios during the recording. That 1940 Martin 0-17, the only instrument on the album, is so pure and true. Jump to Miles Davis’ Birth of the Blue where the horns, piano, bass and drums all seem a little livelier and a little more energetic, with Davis’ trumpet belting out its verse-like cadence throughout.

Do you have to use Apple Music?

First, let’s talk about what’s available on Apple Music. Since June 2021, the service has offered lossless audio to subscribers at no additional cost. This starts at CD quality, which is 16 bit at 44.1 kHz, and goes up to 24 bit at 48 kHz. That latter rate is the maximum that AirPods Max can now support via the USB-C connection, and Apple says there are now 100 million songs available on its service in lossless quality. There is also a collection of Hi-Resolution Lossless content on Apple Music, which goes up to 24 bit at 192 kHz. You’ll need extra gear like a USB DAC in order to listen at that level, though.

You aren’t limited to just Apple Music. Anywhere you can stream lossless audio up to 24 bit at 48 kHz you can do so with these headphones. There are other services that offer this (like Tidal), or you can play locally stored files. The only requirement is a USB-C cable; your source isn’t limited to Apple.

Wrap-up

It’s always nice when a company directly addresses one of your complaints. It’s not great when it takes over four years to do so. Now that lossless audio is here for the AirPods Max, I can no longer argue that the headphones feel incomplete, which is a big improvement from where they were at launch.

I keep going back and forth over whether or not this update is enough, though. It’s the first time Apple has expanded the capabilities of the AirPods Max in over four years, and it could only do so for the minimally updated 2024 version. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who has a solid track record with Apple product scoops, reported in November that the company had “no real plan to meaningfully update AirPods Max.” He said the headphones don’t sell well enough to justify much R&D, but they’re not a big enough failure to be permanently shelved.

With that in mind, this update, which adds ultra-low latency for gamers in addition to lossless audio, is actually a lot bigger than it ordinarily would be. But to continue to demand $549 for what’s essentially 2020 hardware, Apple needs to trot out these types of updates regularly. While you can find these headphones on sale for as low as $449, that’s still a steep investment. Even then, the AirPods Max would be tough to recommend to anyone other than iPhone and Mac die-hards with deep pockets.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/how-to-use-lossless-audio-on-the-airpods-max-180026218.html?src=rss 

HBO’s The Last of Us took a riveting action game bolstered by intimate human moments and made a richly human drama supported by terrifying action. In returning for season two, and now using the sequel game as source material, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann had quite a bit more work cut out for them. The first season greatly expanded the emotional depth and breadth of Joel and Ellie’s cross-country journey while also fleshing out the stories of many others they meet along the way, and the cast (led by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) was outstanding.

That was over two years ago, and now it’s encore time. Season two premieres on HBO this Sunday, April 13, and I am once again happy to report that the show does a faithful job of capturing the first part of a complex story while also fixing a few of the minor complaints I had about the first season.

[Editor’s note: this story discusses season two broadly but avoids specific plot details and spoilers. There are spoilers for season one.]

The show picks up exactly where season one (and the first game) concluded. Joel and Ellie return to the settlement of Jackson, Wyoming, where Joel’s brother Tommy is part of a peaceful, well-fortified commune — a rare oasis of relative safety in a destroyed world. This comes about a year after the Fireflies — a militia group searching for a cure for the zombie infection — tasked Joel with smuggling Ellie across the country. Over the ensuing journey, Joel bonds with Ellie and comes to treat her as a surrogate daughter, replacing the one he lost at the beginning of the outbreak 20 years prior.

Ellie’s immunity to the infection gave the Fireflies hopes she holds the key to finding a cure — but when Joel learns it would kill her, he wipes out a whole platoon of soldiers and the doctor who was trying to carry out the procedure, before fleeing with Ellie back to Jackson. As far as she knows, there was no way to make a cure and Joel rescued her when raiders descended on the Firefly complex.

Kaitlyn Dever in HBO’s The Last of Us season two

We immediately learn that Joel’s rampage against the Fireflies is going to have major repercussions right from the jump, as we meet Abby (played with furious intensity by Kaitlyn Dever) and her small crew of young Fireflies in Salt Lake City in the days following the massacre. Things then jump forward five years; Ellie and Joel are well-integrated into the Jackson community and living a relatively normal life — though Joel’s therapy sessions with Gail (the wonderful Catherine O’Hara) show that he and Ellie have had some degree of falling out. Whether it’s just her being a 19-year-old or something deeper remains to be seen.

Without spoiling anything, the sequel game, The Last of Us Part II, is a far less linear affair than its predecessor. Events are shown out of order through multiple flashbacks. Perspectives shift. The playable character changes at various points. I’ve spent much of the last year wondering exactly how Mazin and Druckmann would translate that structure to TV — what events would be shown in what order, and what things might get cut or expanded on?

But surprisingly, the show closely mirrors the game’s chronology. The core of the season remains Joel and Ellie, the fallout from season one and how it affects everyone around them. A handful of events, including an infamous town festival in Jackson and the reveal of Abby’s motivations throughout the season, are moved up sooner in the series to give viewers more context for why things are happening. It’s a change the creators said was made to compensate for the change between the interactivity of playing characters like Abby and Ellie versus watching them.

Pedro Pascal and Catherine O’Hara in HBO’s The Last of Us season two

The season’s structure worked — the multi-pronged plot didn’t ever feel hard to stick with, and I think the show did a better job this season at balancing out action and drama. As the cast and creators have alluded to, Ramsey and Pascal don’t get as much time together as they did in season one, which is a shame given their absolutely fantastic chemistry. But both actors make the most of Joel and Ellie’s fracturing relationship, and they also do wonderful work with other scene partners. Both Joel and Ellie spend significant time with Dina (Isabela Merced), who ends up being something of another daughter to Joel and a best friend / love interest for Ellie. She brings a completely different attitude to these scenes — like anyone in the world of The Last of Us, you know she’s seen her fair share of horrible things, but she combines a cool confidence with vulnerability in a way that keeps Ellie delightfully off balance.

One of the key new events in the show that didn’t take place in the game is a massive siege of Infected attacking the town of Jackson (something you see in the show’s various trailers). At first, it felt like an on-the-nose response to complaints that the Infected didn’t feel like much of a threat in season one, but the way the large-scale battle is juxtaposed with a much more intimate threat in the same episode plays out perfectly. That episode was followed by one that was far more peaceful and character-driven, a cadence I appreciated after the siege’s intensity. Naturally, things ramp up as the season draws to a close, but the balance feels measured and thoughtful.

Isabela Merced and Bella Ramsey in HBO’s The Last of Us season two

Overall, the Infected are more present in this season than the last, and they’re as deadly and terrifying as ever. In the game, the player might think nothing of taking on five or six in one go, but in the show even a one-on-one encounter feels fraught with danger. Of course, as in season one, the humans are the more unpredictable and threatening part of the world.

Other new characters and events, like the fate of Gail and her husband Eugene (played by Joe Pantoliano), once again serve to enrich and enhance the world of The Last of Us. And beyond individual characters, the show also delves deeply into bigger warring factions, similar to the Kansas City “liberators” in season one. We get multiple views of how groups band together and try to survive against the Infected, and each other, and the show does a good job of not portraying any one way as right or wrong.

Ellie makes her own judgments as the story progresses, and she starts to lose herself in a cycle that she can’t seem to get out of, even as her friends distance herself from her actions. Ramsey plays this extremely well — though they have a slight and small frame, they play Ellie’s ferocity in a way that’s convincing and frightening. That side of her is flipped on its head in more vulnerable moments when the weight of Elle’s choices start piling up, and it’s fascinating and disturbing to watch. Mazin said that the reasoning behind Ellie’s quiet fascination with violence and being protected would play out in season two, and a lot of small moments definitely start paying off here.

Pedro Pascal in HBO’s The Last of Us season two

Unlike season one, which is a self-contained affair, season two leaves much up in the air. Again, that’s something the creators have told us already; Mazin said that telling the story of the second game would take at least two seasons. There’s a lot of story still to be told here, and thus things end on a very different vibe than season one. I’m hoping that Mazin, Druckmann and the cast can get back to doing season three a little quicker than last time, as another two-plus years will feel like an exceedingly long wait for some resolution.

With only seven episodes, season two has a shorter run time than season one, which already felt a bit rushed to me. The finale in particular blew through some of its script in rapid-fire fashion that felt almost sloppy. It could have easily done with an extra 10 minutes without losing any momentum. And given that Mazin has already said the next season will be “significantly larger,” my hopes for a quick turn-around are probably not realistic.

Bella Ramsey in HBO’s The Last of Us season two

In the end, that might not be a bad thing for most viewers. The Last of Us can be a grueling and emotional watch, season two even more so than the first. There are some moments of extreme violence that are hard to watch. The show does strike a thoughtful balance between implied and graphic violence,, but it can still be harrowing, and a few moments made me feel almost ill (an appropriate emotion, but not the most pleasant one).

It’s a little hard to evaluate season two in a vacuum, given it’s only the first half of some fairly messy, non-linear source material. That’s not a major knock; plenty of shows don’t wrap everything up every year in a tidy package. And given the quality infused in every episode of this show, from the acting to the script to the set design and VFX, I’m confident in saying that anyone who enjoyed season one should get on board for what’s to come here, even if it takes a long time to get any resolution. Just as with the game that it’s based on, the journey of The Last of Us season two is intense and asks a lot from viewers, but it’s still a journey worth taking.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-last-of-us-season-two-review-amplified-action-and-crushing-drama-160007751.html?src=rss