Apple Music Lossless: What Devices are Supported?

[SigurTom]

Airplay to Sonos? Apple Music on Sonos?

 

[mymacrumorsname]

For real - just try this: test

I guarantee you won't be able to hear a difference.
I bet Apple could say it works and nobody would even bat an eyelid.

36% right
Tested with 300€ OverEars

 

[loinkloth]

Will the hi-res work on Apple TV over hdmi to a DAC?

ATV to an AV unit like a receiver (that has a DAC) via HDMI should.

 

[loinkloth]

Does anyone know what format these hi-res streams will be? I can't really find anything other than ALAC to 48kHz. Can ALAC do the 96kHz and 192kHz as well? Or is there a special format for their ADM (Apple Digital Masters) just like Tidal & Qobuz adapting MQA (licensed)? I'd be saving money if I could drop Tidal.

 

[zoomp]

ALAC only. Your dac needs to suport it.

 

[loinkloth]

So does this mean that HomePod can play play Lossless from iphone/ipad over Airplay 2, just not natively?

From how I understand it, AirPlay 2 can stream transcoded lossless audio (44.1kHz) with AES encryption.

 

[DonutHands]

as it was recorded by the artist, preserving the texture, detail, and sound that went into the music when it was created.

Can we make the files even smaller if we just preserve just the sound and none of the other marketing BS?

Anyways, lossless audio on my iPhones speakerphone! Gotta be better than the AirPods Max right? Because its lossless.

 

[Ace of aces]

I completely agree with you. The Apple headphone adaptor is OK for in ear earphones, but thats it. They are practically useless with larger headphones due to lack of Ampage.

If you read the whole article who would have seen that it's exactly what Ken Rockwell concludes ...

If you're using regular headphones (under 100Ω), you can't do better than using this adapter or just plugging it into your iPhone, iPad or iPod. Only if you're running 240Ω or higher headphones are you likely to need a professional amp like the Benchmark DAC1 HDR to get more output.

As for Realityck

If that was the case why hasn't Apple utilized lossless audio in their product lines for the last few years?

Maybe because it takes time to, first build at solid streaming platform and have traction, then build the infrastructure to enable the lossless audio streaming ... knowing that Spotify exists since 2008 and as of today, hasn't announce officially Lossless yet where Apple is here since 2015. Does that answers your question ?

 

[Xano]

This move from Apple is bold.

 

[dannys1]

Wouldn’t this only be useful to if you have nice speakers?

Yes - and even then you still wouldn't hear the difference - and by "nice speakers" we're talking $30,000 critical listening studio monitors, not hi fi speakers.

 

[dannys1]

I can 100% tell the difference between an MP3 and a ALAC track. And so can many others! I plug my external driver into my Denon Amp, I have MP3 albums downloaded from years ago, I also have ALAC versions I burned from CD’s. I can tell the difference! I’ve seen a few people reply saying no Human can tell lol. I assure you the people that were paying £20 a month for hi res subscription like me can tell. No it’s not a placebo. There is a real difference. And if you REALLY don’t believe me, then let’s put money on it and do a test. I’ve literally just signed up to this site, to say THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE THAT CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE. this muppet who says he is an engineer and has all this expensive gear, that can’t tell the difference, that’s on YOU mate. You must be crap at your damn job or have a hearing problem. So to everyone else reading this, don’t listen these muppets saying it is impossible to tell. MIC DROP.

I mean you're welcome to post your results from the blind test seeing as you think you've got more golden ears than the worlds best mix engineers... I look forward to seeing you get 100% as it's SO EASY.

Here's two

Is your audio system really ready for lossless?

Do an ABX test in your browser, and see if you can tell the difference between lossless and lossy audio

abx.digitalfeed.net

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

A hi-def test for your ears (and your audio equipment): Listen to these songs and see if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and an uncompressed audio file.

www.npr.org

Good luck!

 

[dannys1]

Tracks from Tidal or Qobuz on my computer sent to my stereo HomePods sound infinitely better than the Apple Music version. It may not be actual true lossless, but it certainly a lot better. My 6 year old was right 10x in a row

Well you can easily prove your golden ears that apparently can even spot the difference on "in between lossy and lossless codecs"

I look forward to seeing you get 100% as it's SO EASY.

Here's two

Is your audio system really ready for lossless?

Do an ABX test in your browser, and see if you can tell the difference between lossless and lossy audio

abx.digitalfeed.net

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

A hi-def test for your ears (and your audio equipment): Listen to these songs and see if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and an uncompressed audio file.

www.npr.org

Good luck!

 

[dannys1]

It all depends on what kind of music you were listing to. Bass and mid-frequencies won't make differences. Only high frequencies from hi-hat, cymbals or xylophone would make significant difference between lossless and lossy

I am aware exactly how lossy compression works - you're still not going to be able to tell the difference between a 320kbps file and a lossless file.

I mean it's easy to show you can here...

Is your audio system really ready for lossless?

Do an ABX test in your browser, and see if you can tell the difference between lossless and lossy audio

abx.digitalfeed.net

How Well Can You Hear Audio Quality?

A hi-def test for your ears (and your audio equipment): Listen to these songs and see if you can tell the difference between an MP3 and an uncompressed audio file.

www.npr.org

Good luck!

 

[dannys1]

We aren't talking about 320k MP3. We're talking about 256k AAC, which is what Apple Music currently uses.

256k AAC is actually BETTER than 320k MP3 though. It's far more efficient encoder.

 

[dannys1]

Unfortunately there are still alot of badly encoded files on both Spotify and Apple Music.

You are right though, outside of a very quiet room with decent cans, 99.99% of consumer playback doesn't warrant any more than 256kbps AAC.

There are occasions I can hear artifacts even on decent rips vs an original CD during a listening session which would be nice not to have to deal with .... ever.

Some people want the painting though, not the print, even if the image looks the same when it's mounted on a wall

I mean all of the problems you hear in music are errors or issue in the mix. These will stick out a lot more than 256kbps AAC/320kbps MP3 to Lossless formats. Yet none of the golden ears boys have ever noticed these things.

 

[dannys1]

That’s a terrible reason to not have lossless available on a device that is able to technically play it back.

Well I stream lossless files to the device - you, me and no one else would ever be able to tell if they're being played back lossless or not - but i've been streaming ALAC files to the Homepod since it came out.

 

[smulji]

Are you sure? I know that Apple TV supports "Apple Music Lossless", but when it comes to "Hi-Res Lossless" Apple does not mention Apple TV as a compatible playback device.

If you connect the ATV to an external DAC, it should work

 

[smulji]

This is where my thinking is at now. Going through the stages of grief with my AirPods Pro Max not being able to do hi-res lossless. Went through denial after the first article, then anger. Started bargaining, and now I can just accept it.

It's less stressful that way

 

[smulji]

I’d have stuck with spatial audio and waited on lossless. To be honest I wouldn’t even go lossless as it invites bringing back wired talk.

100% This.

 

[smulji]

Spatial audio coming to Apple Music at no extra charge is the big news, and it is every bit as big as the popularization of stereo sound over mono that happened over fifty years ago.

Bingo.

 

[bwayne]

This move from Apple is bold.

I really dig it. It’s so obviously a giant F*** You to Spotify. Now the other guy has nothing new, just a “catch up” move, and nobody’s gonna pay any extra for it either.

Apple - “We were first to bring free Hi-Res and Lossless”

Spotify - “We’ve been planning something for 3 years”

 

[smulji]

I’m right there with you. I felt like for the price I was getting a high quality hifi noise canceling headphone. However I guess we have to remember Max for Apple means maximum size not maximum features. Pro means maximum features. And these expensive headphones are still a great listen and super comfortable but they’re not Apple Pro.

Wait till you starting listening to Apple Music tracks (assuming you're a subscriber of course) encoded in Spatial Audio. Chances are you won't regret your purchase.

 

[lemonkid]

I understand it doesnt work natively with a HomePod. But what about over airplay 2?

If I airplay from my iPhone to homepod...that should work right?

I don't think that it will work. For Hi-res audio the device that plays it and the device that receives it, should be able to handle their clock synchronisation. When Airplay works on Bluetooth, it is probably not capable to transport the audio and the 'word-(clock)-signal'.

Both should be transferred to ensure a correct replay of all the 96Khz samples at the right time. Imagine the signal that is sent, cycles 96000 times per second. A mismatch of 1/96000th second results in quality loss. And even with USB this might result in a hassle. Ethernet and Wi-Fi can transport it, as HDMI can. For this reason the original PCM developed bij Sony and Phillips had the SPDIF-connection. The Sony Phillips Digital Interexchange Format. (at 44.1Khz)

To put it simple: Any device with a SPDIF-bus, Ethernet, WiFI or HDMI can transport it. USB can't but they use a workaround for it, so that it sounds acceptable.

 

[GBstoic]

I really dig it. It’s so obviously a giant F*** You to Spotify. Now the other guy has nothing new, just a “catch up” move, and nobody’s gonna pay any extra for it either.

Apple - “We were first to bring free Hi-Res and Lossless”

Spotify - “We’ve been planning something for 3 years”

Tidal - we have been doing this for years

Amazon - we have been doing this since 2020

Deezer - we do this as well

 

[lemonkid]

You really REALLY aren't noticing lossless audio in a car.

No..? How come? Did you check the output of your device? Most people are not aware that they listen to low resolution while they think it's high. Because they don't check the output. Check the settings in the audio/midi utilities app. And set it to High res.

However when you use bluetooth the audio will still be played at AAC or MP3 quality.