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Apple Music Do I really need to get DAC to listen or stream in Hi-Res?
- Thread starter TsMkLg068426
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A Digital to Analog Converter or DAC for short, converts a digital audio (from a computer, Blu-Ray, and etc.) signal into an analog audio signal (so it can be played on speakers or headphones). You actually already have a DAC built-in into your iMac (and basically any device that outputs audio). Apple just recommends an external DAC because most built-in DACs usually can't handle Hi-Res signals especially 24-bit 192 kHz. For example, my 16" MacBook Pro built-in DAC can only handle 24-bit 96 kHz according to the Audio MIDI Setup app. (Actually, it shows up as 32-bit 96 kHz but I think that is incorrect as 32-bit DACs are rare especially on built-ins) Additionally, built-in DACs are usually space limited and next to other components which can introduce noise and distortion which can decrease sound quality.
Cool so can my built-in DAC on my iMac handle Hi-Res signals if I am understanding this correctly.
Yep! Just note that you won't notice a difference between a 24-bit 192 kHz and a 24-bit 96 kHz song if your iMac built-in DAC maxes out at 24-bit 96 kHz (Check the Audio MIDI Setup app to see the maximum your iMac built-in DAC can handle). The 24-bit 192 kHz song will be downsampled to 24-bit 96 kHz for your built-in DAC to handle. I hope everything I said makes sense. It can get technical. ? Enjoy Hi-Res!
I don't believe there are that many downsides to this. (If I am mistaken, someone can correct me) Yes, my 16" MacBook Pro shows up as 2 channel 32-bit as well. As I said in my previous post, I believe that is incorrect as 32-bit DACs are rare especially on built-in DACs, and it is actually a 24-bit DAC. I hope that clears it up.
What about the built in speakers of the iPhone 12 Pro Max and 2021 iPad Pro?
Anything that outputs audio to speakers or headphones has a DAC. Unfortunately, there's not much information about the built-in DAC for the built-in speakers. As for changing the settings, I believe iOS/iPadOS handles that automatically.
I don't see the iPhone/iPad internal speakers having the ability to resolve the added detail of hi-res lossless audio. There's already quite a loss in fidelity just playing the current AAC audio with them, compared to, say, headphones.
Yes, it does get technical when their multiple audio sources now from Lossless, Spatial, Dolby Atmos and Apples own version for 24 bits. But I did notice sometimes listening in Hi-Res there is a loud bleep in the beginning of a song or when it moves to the next track and sometimes static than no more audio.
But on MIDI do I need to change the format from 44,100 Hz to 48,000 Hz for my Built-in Output or does it do the formatting on its own it is just 2 channel 24-Bit integer can't make any changes to that if matters.
It's like when you learn something new and you wanna learn more about it gets overwhelming with more and more technical terms. Haha ?
Hmm. I do experience a chirp sometimes not sure if that's similar to your bleep. I have not experienced your other issue though. Maybe it is a bug in the app or something else. ?♂️
Hmm. I do experience a chirp sometimes not sure if that's similar to your bleep. I have not experienced your other issue though. Maybe it is a bug in the app or something else. ?♂️
They do. Hi-res lossless audio is just normal audio, with a frequency range audible to the human ear (approx 20Hz to 20KHz). Speakers are built to reproduce those frequencies. Where small speakers fail is their ability to reproduce lower frequencies.
Apple Music has a glitch even though it says Lossless for an album but then the Lossless icon disappears or does not show up on the right side where it shows the name of the song playing and tried deleting and readding the album or download it again did not solve the problem.
Yes, it is friggin overwhelming so many audio formats that work or don't with your devices I just wish like Dolby Atmos or like your sound receiver it would just detect automatically which audio format is suitable for your speaker setup.
To add to this: Small speakers (especially cheap ones) may fail to separate low, mid, and high frequencies correctly so everything sounds muffled or distorted. So all that detail? It gets buried and hard to distinguish. To be fair, they still try to reproduce all the frequencies it is fed but not well. For example, that is why Home Theater audio systems usually have a dedicated subwoofer just for low frequencies while the speakers handle mostly mids and highs.
I am also having that glitch as well and I'm hearing other people as well. Hopefully, Apple will work out the kinks.
Right? I remember the time when I had to upgrade my AV receiver just so I can listen to DTS-HD MA or Dolby True HD formats on Blu-Ray then again when Dolby Atmos came out. I believe it had to do something with the hardware and can't be added with a simple software update. Actually, most movies and some TV shows have alternative audio formats available for people who can't play Dolby Atmos and etc. The device (such as a Blu-ray player or Apple TV) that plays the movie or TV show will decide automatically the best audio format for your receiver. (The receiver actually lets the device know what audio format it supports) For example, the receiver doesn't support Dolby Atmos? It will most likely use other surround sound audio formats. No Surround sound? It will most likely use stereo.
Yeah that’s like saying every car engine that can reach 5,000rpm is equally fast. Performance isn’t just about hitting that single metric.
For one, Hi-Res Lossless has a higher bit depth than typical audio files, which allows for greater dynamic range. And the iPhone/iPad speakers would need to be able react to the larger dynamic range accurately and without adding distortion. That’s part of its resolving power.
You do have to change it in MIDI Settings, unfortunately. I hope Apple rectifies this in a future update so that you can output the native frequency and bit depth.
This topic has been debated since the dawn of digital audio. In theory, there is an adulteration of the audio when you upsample, especially when the upsampling factor is not an integer. For instance, CD music is sampled at 44.1 kHz, which is what the majority of non-high-res lossless is on Apple Music. If you set the output to 96 kHz, you’ve upsampled by a factor of 2.18. The better choice would be 88.2 kHz (a factor of 2) or no upsampling at all.
That said, will you actually hear any artifacts introduced by upsampling? Unlikely, especially if you are using your Mac speakers.
To set it correctly I’d need to know the exact Lossless specs of a song which i don’t know since there are different versions of regular Lossless as well as hi-res. A song just tells us lossless or hi-res. Even if we did know the exact specs it’s a hassle to constantly change the midi settings. Default was 48 kHz probably for audio on videos. If i listen to music mostly maybe i should set it to 44.1 kHz?
Yes, you may want to just set it to 44.1Khz so all music regardless will output at that sample rate through DAC and depending on the original bit sample/bit rate you may notice some slight compression. You can try using something like Bit Perfect + Apple Music to bypass this, or use an iPad as they have 'Exclusive Mode' which does not interfere with the audio output that the Mac does.
You're right. It is a pain since the tracks on Apple Music have various sampling rates.
You actually can view the bit depth and sampling info. If you click on the Lossless or Hi-Res Lossless symbol on the mini-player it shows you something like "24-bit 96 kHz ALAC."
There isn't a really good answer for what you should set the sampling to since it varies. Maybe Apple will allow it to dynamically change in the future to match the track.
Found the solution if you want to stream Lossless or Dolby Atmos you must add the songs or album if you try to stream straight from the search or from Browse it just streams AAC seems like glitch that needs immediate attention. Worse is when Ripping CDs to lossless even the Matching has been **** but even if it matches it misses Lossless match and some that match, I get 0 Bit 41,100 Khz when all lossless CDs are 16 bits lmao wtf.
Apple needs to get on these issues right away it can get annoying.
Apple needs to get on these issues right away it can get annoying.
That’s a good catch.
I still maintain my ripped library completely separate from Apple Music with its own library files. The one time I tried to merge it to iCloud it screwed my library up. That was years ago, and I’ve been afraid to try it again. I do use iCloud Music Library with Apple Music.
Yep, and the reason I have noticed it screws up the matching one reason the same song that is part of a DJ Mix compilation and that DJ Mixed album is not on Apple Music, so it finds the next best thing to match is the song alone from the artist album so instead it replaces the track with the album version ruing the original rip. This really bothers me when I set it up as Mixed tracks it still screws up the songs or I will have to rip as one track without the separate track listings, but I don't think that option is available anymore since it auto detects Cued parts of the tracks.
I would use iCloud but that is going to cost me to get more space and it is expensive if only OneDrive was available for Apple TV, I get 1 TB with Microsoft Office 365.