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.

Sitting on an airplane with my $500 headphones that don’t allow for wired playback. Such a joke. Apple needs to fix this and also offer refunds to anyone who bought them, these headphones are useless.

For a $500 headphones, you need to go back to your engineer and tell them to patch the problem ASAP! Not telling us to just contacting apple support. It just supposed to work as a wired headphone when you plug in a 3.5mm Jack like any other wired headphones (beats, Sony, etc.). Just go and fix this and tell us when there is a patch coming for it.

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.

Have the same issue. Been sent in to apple care 2 times. Confirmed by the store but still don’t address the situation. They are robots who follow a script that doesn’t include testing the actual 3.5mm to lightning connection. Going round and round with them. Ridiculous that this has been going on since February and Apple doesn’t even acknowledge the issue in their own forum and service techs are pretty much useless. If can’t fix need a new set then.

As far as I have been able to tell these are the facts. The Air pod Max has an audio input which you can access using a $35 lightening to audio cable.

that plug plugs into an audio system such as like one on a plane.

BUT IT DOESN’T WORK.

A regular headset works

the Max does not.

WHY?

Dear Apple. This is not acceptable! I was struggling to buy the AirPods Max because I already own AirPods 3 but I wanted to use them for music making and video cutting without latency. They worked ONCE! After that no sound through the cable with lightning to aux adapter. It is already an insolence to not ship the lightning to audio cable (not mentioning the lack of a power plug and me laughing out loud when I saw the "Smart" Case. Really? It is smart enough to turn off my headphones but can't do what it is supposed to be: Protect my 479€ headphones? Open from all sides. *Facepalm*) Now I had to spend 38€ for a cable that should have been included (gold plated with diamonds on it for that price) to find out it won't solve my problem when it arrives tomorrow. 500€ spend for nothing since I already have AirPods 3. What happened to your quality assurance department? If my company would treat our users this way when we release our software we would lose them one by one. I am an Apple fan and have everything from MacBook Pro over iPhone 13 Pro to iPad Air (many devices over many years). But you soon have to realize that you can't rest on the success and "years ahead idea" of the first and following iPhone(s). You became a company like every company out there. Only profit no big innovations anymore. I still like your products but my love fades away.

Now go and fix this issue ASAP!

it happened again… I charged it overnight to get ready for my meeting. Right before my telephonic conference, I plugged it in to my laptop to see if it was going to work and… it didn’t. I switched it quickly with my over-ear beats headphone and it worked. Return window is over and so I am contemplating on selling it for a loss :(

This has to be Apple’s oversight of the century. This is the kind of thing that makes you miss Steve Jobs because if he were sitting next to me on this plane he’d be as frustrated with these headphones as he was with the discman. Bought this cord just to plug in and got my hopes up and alas it seems some minor glitch is preventing sound from coming out of these premium priced headphones. Sad day Apple.

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!

BrianDiaz19 Said:

"AirPods Max Wired connection does not work"

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Re-Pair the AirPods:

1. Unpair: Restart or unpair AirPods with iPhone - Apple Support
2. Next... Pair: Connect your AirPods and AirPods Pro to your iPhone - Apple Support

I had this issue when trying to use these with my PS5. What corrected the issue for me was a slight adjustment of the ear cups themselves (tilt either inwards or outwards depending on how they fit to your head). It’s almost as if the ear detection software doesn’t recognize I’m using them even though they’re plugged in.

This, by no means, is a permanent fix as I typically have to do this anytime I plug them in, which never seems to happen when I use them wirelessly.

This is all very frustrating! I purchased these with the intent to use them on the plane and was told they could connect with a wire seemlessly. However I was not able to get any sound to play using them in wired mode. I tried resetting the headphones, turned Bluetooth off on my other devices so they wouldn’t try to connect to those and several different cables and nothing worked. Seems like a waste of I can’t connect on the airplane since this was my main reason for purchasing. Please help me know what I need to do to make them work in wired mode.

I am having this exact problem. While wired I get no sound connecting my AirPods Max to my 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX. I am a video editor and need my AirPods Max to be in sync while editing. This requires a wired connection which is not working so basically my $500 headphones I purchased to edit video are useless for editing :/

Hey there, BrianDiaz19!

Thanks for stopping by the Apple Support Communities. We understand that you aren't getting any audio while using your AirPods Max with a wired connection to your iPad. You've come to the right place to get help!

We would recommend going through the Apple Support article Set up AirPods with iPad - Apple Support to make sure you've got the AirPods Max connected properly, specifically paying attention to the "Connect AirPods Max with an audio cable" section.

"Note: Make sure that the Headphone Jack Adapter is connected to your iPad, not your AirPods Max."

If the issue persists, please contact Apple directly here:

Get Support

Cheers!