iFi UP Travel Max lets an old iPod broadcast to compatible wireless headphones
Auracast broadens sharing beyond two listeners, but the receiving headphones determine whether the new features are useful. US stock is still listed for preorder.
An old iPod can become the source for a small silent listening party with a flip-out adapter in its headphone jack. iFi’s UP Travel Max sends that analog output over Bluetooth, and its new Auracast support lets compatible headphones join a shared broadcast. The catch arrives before the music: compatible is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
The Max product page says Auracast is enabled through iFi’s Nexis app. Listeners with suitable receiving equipment can join without the usual individual pairing process. Ordinary Bluetooth headphones still get two-headset sharing. A roomful of whatever earbuds people happened to bring is therefore a different proposition from a roomful of Auracast receivers.
An UP Travel Max can transmit from a headphone output or receive Bluetooth audio for an analog input. Those two directions were already available on the original UP Travel, as was two-headphone sharing. The upgrade argument rests on the new broadcasting and codec support, with no need to give the predecessor selective amnesia.
| Deciding feature | UP Travel Max | Original UP Travel | AirFly Pro 2 | AirFly SE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary headphone sharing | Two headsets | Two headsets | Two headsets | One headset |
| Headline codec option | aptX Lossless | aptX Adaptive, LDAC | aptX HD | aptX, SBC |
| Maker-rated battery | At least 10 hours | At least 10 hours | 25+ hours | 20+ hours |
| Listed price checked | $129 US preorder | £99 maker listing | $59.99 US | $34.99 US |
The iFi specifications supply its two columns. Twelve South supplies the AirFly Pro 2 and AirFly SE figures. The prices are shown in their listed currencies, without pretending a UK listing is a directly comparable US checkout total. Neither AirFly page advertises Auracast; Max explicitly does.
The battery row deserves a look before the lossless badge wins the shopping argument. Both iFi models claim at least ten hours. Twelve South advertises considerably longer runtimes for its adapters, although these separate manufacturer claims do not establish a common test workload. For a person trying to get through a long flight, codec enthusiasm still has to fit between charging opportunities.
AirFly Pro 2 and AirFly SE make different cases by head count. A solo listener using a standard headphone jack has little reason to pay for a crowd. Someone already sharing two headsets can compare the older iFi before spending for Auracast, while someone arranging a compatible group has a reason to care about Max’s new trick.
The phrase aptX Lossless also comes with a receiving-hardware condition in iFi’s announcement. Adding the adapter cannot grant an incompatible headset a codec it does not support, nor can the wireless label establish an end-to-end bit-perfect path from a player’s analog headphone jack. Marketing gets quite a long leash around the word lossless (with optional knots).
Audio46 lists Max at $129 for preorder, rather than ready-to-ship stock. Its page says a shipment is expected soon and supplies no confirmed date here. The purchase decision starts with checking the headphones; the delivery decision still waits on inventory.
The iPod has an audience again.