iFi's £89 UP Play Max Puts aptX Lossless and Auracast on a USB-C Dongle

iFi audio has announced a pair of compact Bluetooth transmitters that plug into a USB-C port and take over the wireless link from the host device. The UP Play carries an RRP of £59, and the larger-specified UP Play Max sits at £89 (€99 / US$89 / CA$149, per Hifi Pig). Both were announced on 23 September 2026, a date also reflected in Forbes' coverage. iFi says they will be sold through iFi audio and authorised dealers; no on-sale date has been given.

The problem these are built around

Bluetooth codec support is decided by the transmitting device, not by the listener. An iPhone has never supported any of Qualcomm's aptX family natively, so a pair of headphones capable of aptX Adaptive or aptX Lossless will fall back to whatever the phone can actually send. A USB-C transmitter sidesteps that by becoming the Bluetooth radio itself: the phone hands the audio over USB, and the dongle decides which codec goes out over the air.

That is the whole pitch here. iFi positions the UP Play and UP Play Max as an instant upgrade to the Bluetooth capabilities of any USB-C device, letting the user choose the codec rather than inheriting the source device's limitations. The company's own claim is that, for Apple devices, the UP Play Max's aptX Lossless compatibility can deliver lossless Bluetooth transmission from services including Apple Music, Spotify Lossless and Qobuz.

One caveat is structural rather than a criticism of the product: a Bluetooth codec needs agreement at both ends. The headphones or earbuds receiving the signal must themselves support aptX Lossless or aptX Adaptive for either to be used. If they don't, the link will negotiate down to something both devices share. That is simply how Bluetooth codec negotiation works, and it applies to any transmitter of this type.

What the UP Play Max does

According to iFi's material as relayed by Hifi Pig, the UP Play Max handles aptX Lossless, aptX Adaptive and SBC. Beyond the codec list, iFi has loaded it with a handful of features that are more interesting than the usual dongle fare:

• Two headphones at once. The UP Play Max can hold connections to a pair of headphones simultaneously. Hifi Pig notes this dual connection runs over SBC — sensible, since the higher-bandwidth codecs are not designed to be split across two sinks.
• Auracast broadcasting. iFi says the transmitter will be able to broadcast to an unlimited number of compatible listeners via Auracast. Hifi Pig is clear that this arrives through a firmware update rather than being present at launch, and no date has been given for when that update lands.
• A low-latency mode. Intended for gaming and television, this is delivered through aptX Adaptive and switched on inside the iFi Nexis app. No latency figures have been published, so there is nothing to quote in milliseconds.
• K2 Technology. iFi describes this as harmonic restoration, and it can be toggled from the app.
• A microphone. The UP Play Max has a built-in mic with Qualcomm noise and echo suppression for phone calls and in-game chat. Thumb Culture identifies this as cVc.

The app does the heavy lifting

All of the above is managed through the iFi Nexis app, available for iOS and Android. The app displays paired devices and the codec currently in use, and provides the switches for K2, Auracast and low-latency mode. Firmware updates — including, it appears, the one that brings Auracast — are delivered over the air.

The visible codec readout is a small but useful detail. Because a Bluetooth connection quietly negotiates downward when one end lacks a codec, users frequently have no idea what they are actually listening to. Having the transmitter report the active codec removes the guesswork about whether aptX Lossless is genuinely in play or whether the link has settled on something else.

Beyond phones

iFi is not pitching these purely at music listeners. The stated targets include iOS and Android phones, gaming and television use, which is where the low-latency mode earns its place — lip-sync drift and delayed footstep audio are the usual complaints about wireless on a TV or a console. Thumb Culture reports that the USB socket also makes the transmitters compatible with the Nintendo Switch, a device with a long history of awkward Bluetooth audio behaviour.

What we don't know yet

The UP Play Max has had the fuller treatment in iFi's announcement; the cheaper UP Play is thinner on detail. Its £59 price is confirmed by Thumb Culture, but no source separates its codec list from the Max's, so it would be wrong to assume it carries aptX Lossless or any of the Max-specific features. Nor has a US, euro or Canadian price for the standard UP Play been published.

Several other details remain unstated across all available coverage: iFi has not published chipset information, dimensions, weight, or how the units are powered. There are no measured latency figures, and no independent listening impressions yet. Thumb Culture also relays some iFi marketing language about multiplying the detail in audio from Apple devices, which carries no stated methodology or basis and is best set aside.

What can be said cleanly is this: iFi has two USB-C transmitters at £59 and £89, the more expensive of which is specified for aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive, carries a dual-headphone mode over SBC, has a low-latency setting for gaming and TV, and is scheduled to gain Auracast broadcasting via a firmware update at an unannounced point. Whether the codec upgrade materialises for any given listener depends entirely on what is at the other end of the link.

This article was written by an AI system from Into The HiFi AI Desk, generated from the following sources, with no human editing pass before publication: Hifi Pig — iFi UP Play Max Bluetooth Transmitter, Thumb Culture — iFi Announces The UP Play & UP Play Max Bluetooth Audio Transmitters, Forbes — iFi Introduces New Sound Upgrade For iPhones And Android Devices.