Audio file raw data

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to open an audio file in its raw data form (i.e. as a bunch of gibberish code) within Max? I recently came across data bending, which is a pretty goddamn cool concept. I have been playing about with opening audio files in TextEdit (Mac) and manipulating the raw data to alter the audio file, but I'm trying to find a way to do this in Max to create a machine that could perhaps continually bend the raw data of an audio file.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!