AirPods Max Wired connection does not work

Hey guys, not sure if anyone has figured out the solution already, but if not I’m happy to say I have figured out the issue… after having the same issues as all of you (headphones working great on Bluetooth, but not wired) I looked into adapters, 3rd party lightning to 35mm cords (both from Amazon and bestbuy) and still nothing worked; I even went to apple for a genius apt and was told it has to be hardware and exchanged them for a new pair. This STILL did not resolve the issue. I decided to try one last thing, and purchased the lightning to 35mm cord from apple. Wouldn’t you know, it worked!!! That’s the solution, you have to buy the $35 apple brand cord.

Now, just to vent and give my opinion and hope that someone from apple reads this… how does a “pro max” branded product, who I’m assuming some professionals use for video and audio editing, not have a 35mm jack port and/or at the very least come this this $35 extra cable. How/why does this not come with the $550 headphones? This has absolutely changed my opinion in the brand/company, like what an absolute scum move to sell headphones at a premium and then if you want to use them wired and/or for travel you have to buy an expensive special cable. C’mon apple, I already gave you the $550 for the headphones, the least you could do is allow them to work however they are needed. And don’t even get me started about the lack of an actual case, that’s an entirely different conversation.

You have to use the official apple cable not the adapter as that won’t work. This is the only cable that works: Lightning to 3.5 mm Audio Cable (1.2m) - White - Apple

I also had this problem. Got really frustrating for me. I used the Apple lightning adapter in conjunction with a Bose Aux cable and no sound. I tried different other (working) aux cables and none worked with the Max.

My Solution:

I had to purchase the 35$ cable from Apple (Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Audio Cable) and that is the ONLY cable that works.

Frustrating due to the fact, that these 550$ headphones do not have an aux output and the overpriced 10$ adapter to aux will also not work in conjunction with a different aux cable.

YOU HAVE TO BUY THE NOT INCLUDED AND DEFINITELY OVERPRICED 35$ APPLE CABLE, TO HAVE WIRED SOUND WITH YOUR OVERPRICED AIRPODS MAX.

Thanks Apple

So I went to the Apple Store to test everything. We proved $35 cable I got from Apple didn't work. They opened another $35 connector (bidirectional, 3.5 mm audio jack to Lightning connector) and tried it on a display AirPods Max, by connecting audio from a Mac laptop. We reset the AirPods Max, and the audio from the Mac laptop came through to the AirPods Max. We unplugged the audio connector and the audio stopped. The Blue Tooth on the Mac laptop was turned off. The fellow helping me said his AirPods Max worked just fine with the bidirectional cable, so now we had experience with two AirPods Max that work the way they should. So then we connected my AirPods Max up to the new cable and the Mac laptop, reset my AirPods Max, but no sound came through. I have Mac Mini with the latest software, and my AirPods Max did not work on it either. The rep at the Apple store admitted my AirPods Max was defective and Apple should replace it. Since I bought it online, he said I would need to contact Apple and send it back. I am afraid I am going to run into a lot of resistance, because the two people I contacted at Apple gave me misinformation. One said the specs for the AirPods Max state connectivity is only by Blue Tooth, which the specs do say, but that spec is not consistent with Apple offering a bidirectional cable and with what we demonstrated in the store. The other Apple rep said the AirPods Max have to be connected to devices with the latest IOS software, which doesn't make sense that audio out from a 3.5 mm jack would be affected by IOS. If that were somehow possible, then Apple really blew it selling a $550 headphones that can't be connected to airplane audio output or any other audio output, including all the apple devices with 3.5 mm jacks. Apple is so well integrated with everything else, why can't they integrate the actual engineering specs with the published specs and all the customer service reps. Is Apple even listening to this? Judging by all the comments on the blog, this is a major, common problem with their entry into the headphone market. Apple should be enormously embarrassed and needs to make it up to their customers.

I thought I had this issue, turns out I wasn't using the right cord.

The offical Apple lightning to 3.5mm cable is bi-directional for sound that AirPod Max requires. I was using a Belkin cable that was made for iPhones that wasn't bi-directional. Get the offical Apple cable and hopefully this will work for you, it did for me.

Update:

The problem still exists and this needs to be done every couple times when the headphones have connected to other devices: Hold the crown and the button at the same time for about 12 seconds. As soon you see the light on the bottom flash Orange/Amber let go. That will restart the headphones. If you keep holding, you would perform a factory reset. After that, audio is routed for me again through the 3.5mm jack to lightning cable.

I have the exact same issue. I have an official Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Jack cable to use my AirPods Max wired so I can connect them to older devices. This worked flawlessly a couple months ago and now just wanted to do it again: Nothing!

I tested it on 5 devices with audio out that work without problems but the AirPods Max wont play any audio from them. Since my cable is and airpods max are hardly used, i suspect one of apples software updates messed up the firmware and the audio is simply not routed anymore 🤬 fix this!

Hi chrameza, thanks for taking the time to chime in. However after reading every post prior to going to apple directly I didn’t see a single solution which said that you needed to buy the Apple lightning to 35mm cable, and that was why I posted what I did, to try and help and be insightful; not really sure what your reasoning for your response was. However, even after I went to apple today the genius told me it’s hardware and needs to be replaced, I tried the cable and it worked fine. Lastly, to your point of needing an original cable and that being obvious, that doesn’t actually hold true as I used not only an apple adapter but also third party cables that had chips in them. Again, I did not write my post nor this response to have a back and forth, but more so to shed some insight. Take care

For those who need a solution, like a user above, I needed to buy the Apple cable not a 3rd party one. Whilst mine was a Belkin cable, and MFI certified, you have to look very carefully at what is needed!

The Belkin cable provides device>lightning>3.5mm>headphone connection - this works from iphone to speakers etc but is NOT what is needed for the airpods max headphones sadly. :( This is why the headphones don't work on the plane or attached to any other device sending audio out of a 3.5mm connection. :( :( :(

If you look carefully, the apple cable is a 2 way cable so it can transmit audio this way - device>3.5mm>lightning>headphones which is what you need (and it has a DAC built in). I found the cable $17 cheaper on Amazon here in Singapore so that was a blessing instead of the $49 Apple price!

The cable interestingly is made of such thin wire as to be very susceptible to breaking I would assume (causing you to buy another cable I bet.....). I also bought a 12south airfly pro to avoid needing the cable in case of issues.

Anyhow. Problem fixed for me. For those still with a problem after getting the Apple cable I think you need repair/return/refund at Apple sadly. Hope this helps.

I had a similar issue and manage to get it to work again for now.

Originally, it was working fine when I first plug into the Airpod Max to use it. After charging my Airpod Max, this issue happen. I am using the Apple Lighting to 3.5 mm cable.

I didn't reset my Airpod Max. I put it into the case to put it into sleep mode and take it out again and it works when connecting to the 3.5 mm cable.

This explains!

"AirPods Max is strictly necessary exactly bilateral (bi-directional) Lightning to 3.5mm cable "

Most cords aren't bi-directional.

Well, obviously you need an original cable. Its not a wire, inside the lightning connector is a small chip that translates analog to digital. The knock off stuff you bought doesn’t have that chip. Its a weird design decision to don’t have a DAC directly inside the headphones, but the Apple lightning to 3.5mm Jack cable is not just a cable with a couple wires but has more inside it. A 2x2mm microprocessor in the Plug. And if you read through the thread: People here have issues with genuine Apple equipment. No third party cables. Because that analog to digital conversion doesn’t work properly.

You need ‎MR2C2AM/A a digital to analog cable. Most cables are analog to digital. Air Pod Max need digital to analog. With this cable it should work all the time.

Just finished talking by phone to Apple support and they agreed to send me a new AirPods Max with instructions to return mine within 10 days. Apple put a hold on my credit card for the retail price to be removed when they receive my AirPods Max shipped back. It takes a lot of convincing to get them to understand what the problem is, but with patience I was finally successful. I spoke with Byron who seemed the most knowledgable of the lot. He said the engineers are aware of what happens on the support communities. Another prior helper, Jasmine, said an Apple store should take the AirPods Max back if demonstrated to be defective even if I purchased mine online from Apple. Good luck, Ryan, but I think the problem can be resolved with patience. I just hope the new pair work with audio input from an audio source.

I was in the exact same situation as "typemark" above. The original cable is needed.

Sounds freakin' amazeballs using cable, Max and Apple Music though. Well worth the extra 40 bucks.

I had the same problem. But it went away when I used a cable made by Apple. Of course it was twice the cost of the other cables on the market, but goof god does it work!!

good luck!!