Our favorite budget audiophile brand just launched a new tiny add-on to bring aptX Lossless and LDAC to any phone – yes, including your iPhone
- Lossless, low-latency wireless audio for any USB-C source
- Use your lossless / LDAC headphones with Apple devices
- $59 / £49.99
Fiio has announced a new pocket-sized Bluetooth transmitter, the Air Link. It delivers LDAC and the full aptX codec suite – including aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless – to pretty much any audio source with a USB-C port.
That makes it of particular interest to iPhone, iPad and Mac owners who want the best possible quality from, and a wider choice of, high-end headphones or wireless speakers.
It’s an interesting upgrade for any device. There’s Bluetooth 6.0, ultra-low latency of less than 50ms and a compact design that means it won’t make your phone too bulky.
FiiO Air Link: haven’t we heard this one before?
If you’re thinking “hang on, didn’t Fiio launch this last year?” you’re almost right: it’s very similar to the Fiio BT11, which also delivered LDAC, Hi-Res Audio and lossless through the same Qualcomm chipset, and was designed to work with everything USB, including iPhones and iPads.
Unfortunately that product has had a bit of a troubled existence, with some online discussion – including an exceptionally long and ongoing thread on head-fi.org – about connectivity issues. Fiio’s own website describes connectivity issues with LDAC in particular, blames low quality receivers and suggests using “the LDAC Bluetooth codec in a better environment.”
That was a real shame, because the BT11 looked like the perfect product for people we described as “iPhone-loving wireless audiophiles”. So I’m really hoping that the Air Link can deliver on the same promise – but this time without any problems.
The Air Link will be available from November 2025 with an official price of $59 / £49.99. We’ve particularly rated Fiio’s releases over the last couple of years as bringing excellent audiophile sound for a lower price than the competition – it’s a real leader in the growing ‘Chi-fi’ world, where Chinese audio brands are bringing the goods. The Fiio JM21 is our favorite budget options among the best hi-res audio players, for example.
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Lossless, low-latency wireless audio for any USB-C source Use your lossless / LDAC headphones with Apple devices $59 / £49.99 Fiio has announced a new pocket-sized Bluetooth transmitter, the Air Link. It delivers LDAC and the full aptX codec suite – including aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless – to pretty…
