Unfortunately, there is no Apple AirPods product support. So far, you will be able to stream supported tracks in standard CD quality losslessly or high-resolution losslessly on the latest versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. However, some important caveats do need to be noted, especially when it comes to Apple’s own audio products.
While Dolby Atmos spatial audio will be limited to certain albums, Apple said yesterday at WWDC that lossless streaming will eventually come to its entire catalog of 75 million tracks. Over 20 million songs should already be available on the service as of today, compared to just "thousands" of spatial audio tracks. Both features require a subscription to Apple Music.
The service is available on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV 4K, with support coming to the HomePod and HomePod Mini with a future update. Once you have the latest OS, you'll need to switch your preferences from AAC to lossless in the Music a
Lossless audio requires a wired connection and thus won't work on any of Apple's AirPod wireless audio devices. That includes AirPods Max headphones, because they support a digital, not analog wired connection via a Lightning cable. For more on that, check our explainer here.
You can listen to regular lossless (CD-quality) audio by simply connecting any wired analog headphones to an iPhone 7 or later (with iOS 14.6), Mac (with macOS 11.4), iPad (iPadOS 14.6) or Apple TV 4K (tvOS 14.6). A Lightning to 3.5mm adapter may be required, of course. To listen to lossless hi-res, however, you'll need an external digital-to-analog (DAC) converter like this one. To appreciate the extra dynamic range, you'll want the best wired headphones you can afford.