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 suite of aptX codecs – including aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless – to almost any audio source with a USB-C port.
This makes it particularly interesting for iPhone, iPad, and Mac owners who want the best possible quality and a wider choice of premium headphones or wireless speakers.
It’s a nice 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 “Wait, 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 via the same Qualcomm chipset, and was designed to work with anything USB, including iPhones and iPads.
Unfortunately, this product has had a somewhat troubled existence, with discussions online – including an unusually long and ongoing thread on head-fi.org – over connectivity issues. Fiio’s own website describes connectivity issues with LDAC in particular, blames poor quality receivers, and suggests using “the LDAC Bluetooth codec in a better environment.”
This was a real shame, because the BT11 seemed like the perfect product for people we described as “iPhone-loving wireless audiophiles.” So I really hope Air Link can deliver on the same promise – but this time without any issues.
The Air Link will be available from November 2025 at the official price of $59 / £49.99. We’ve particularly rated Fiio’s releases over the past couple of years as offering great audiophile sound at a lower price than the competition – it’s a real leader in the growing world of ‘Chi-fi’, where Chinese audio brands are bringing the goods. The Fiio JM21 is our favorite budget option among the best hi-res audio players, for example.
The best headphone DACs for every budget
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
