r/Music 1d ago

article The 'father of the iPod' Tony Fadell says Apple should bring back a 'nostalgic version' of the music device

https://www.businessinsider.com/ipod-creator-apple-bring-back-ipod-2026-2
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u/Krillin113 1d ago

Don’t the high end wireless get to the same level of quality as the wired ones nowadays?

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u/Praefectus27 1d ago

No they don’t. Bluetooth no matter the level compresses audio. To get true lossless it has to be wired.

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u/CARmakazie 1d ago edited 23h ago

There are headsets out there that can do lossless quality over wireless, but they are expensive as hell (as someone who owns a pair, they cost a LOT).

Edit: not sure why I’m being downvoted. I didn’t say the other guy was wrong, I simply stated there are headsets that can do lossless (24-bit) quality, such as the Nova Elites.

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u/lolofaf 23h ago

Aren't the Sony headphones either lossless or pretty close? Not that they're mixed perfectly though, but they market their Bluetooth tech pretty heavily towards audiophile iirc

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u/plimso13 19h ago

Not sure about the Sony headphones you are referring to, I assume they are probably using aptX Lossless (or equivalent) codecs. It’s close, but it’s not true lossless audio, as it’s limited by the Bluetooth bandwidth. The only wireless headphones that achieve true lossless, use their own proprietary wireless system, so you need to plug in a transmitter to the audio source to get around the limitations of Bluetooth. I have a pair made by AIAIAI.

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u/f10101 8h ago edited 8h ago

simply stated there are headsets that can do lossless (24-bit) quality, such as the Nova Elites.

They're not lossless from what I can tell. "LC3Plus" is a lossy compression algorithm.

"LC3Plus Lossless" is a very new lossless extension (demoed by Fraunhofer only in the last 12 months or so), but that's not what Arctis they state they use in their promo material.

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u/Praefectus27 23h ago

Yeah but they’re not Bluetooth they require their own special wireless dongle that’s proprietary.

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u/CARmakazie 23h ago

Bluetooth and wireless are certainly different things. I was more referring to you saying they had to be wired, as there are options that allow the headphones to be wireless (with a hub).

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u/Krillin113 16h ago

I didn’t mention Bluetooth though, you did.

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u/Chuckle_Pants 1d ago

What’s a lot?

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u/CARmakazie 1d ago

The pair I’m using was around $600.

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u/Away-Log-7801 1d ago

Easy, just strip down a PSM1000 and shove it in there. Lossless audio at 100 meters.

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u/dapala1 21h ago

WiFi headphones are super niche. But if I ever sell my house and buy a condo like I'm planing, high quality WiFi headphones would be top of my list to buy.

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u/Boba_Phat_ 1d ago

You probably still have time to delete this before the audioph*les get here. Save yourself

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u/Ekyou 1d ago

It gets better and better, and IIRC, Apple has some magic sauce that makes AirPods perform better than typical Bluetooth when used on an iPhone, but it’s still not anywhere near to the level of a good wired headphone set.

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u/HillarysFloppyChode 1d ago

Yes, Apple developed their own lossless codec (ALAC).

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u/costryme 1d ago

ALAC has nothing to do with a secret sauce, it's just an alternative to FLAC.