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riggles

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2013
301
14
Apple now offer four separate formats:
  1. 56k AAC (standard Apple Music format)
  2. Dolby Atmos (spatial)
  3. Lossless 24bit/48kHz
  4. Lossless 24bit/up to 192kHz (Hi-res)
They are all separate, apart from the two lossless formats, in which the 24/48 version will always be available if there is a hi-res version.
Assuming 1) is supposed to be 256kbps. On 3) its Lossless 24bit/ up to 48kHz recordings. There's a mix of 44.1 and 48.
 

Kier-XF

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2014
183
118
@riggles yes, typo on the AAC bitrate, yes, definitely 256 - I’ll update my post.

I wasn’t aware that some of the lossless tracks are as low as 44.1kHz, I’ll update the post to reflect that too.
 
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Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,859
5,445
Atlanta
Apple labeling in the Settings Music app are off some.

Lossless is 16bit/44.1kHz (CD quality) or 16bit/48kHz

Anything lossless above 16bit is Hi-res.

24bit/48kHz (mislabeled by Apple), 24bit/96kHz (not sure if Apple offers this) and 24bit/192kHz or all Hi-res.

EDIT: Just looked in macOS Music and it is also mislabeled. 24bit should be 16bit.

Screen Shot 2021-06-11 at 12.43.23 PM.png
 
Last edited:

riggles

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2013
301
14
@Kier-XF @Julien Maybe you can help make sense of this from the RIAA:

High Resolution Music is officially defined as “lossless audio capable of reproducing the full spectrum of sound from recordings which have been mastered from better than CD quality (48kHz/20-bit or higher) music sources which represent what the artists, producers and engineers originally intended.”​
So is Apple labeling 24-bit/44.1kHz recordings as simply Lossless because it doesn't meet both the bit-depth and sample rate definitions?
 

Julien

macrumors G4
Jun 30, 2007
11,859
5,445
Atlanta
@Kier-XF @Julien Maybe you can help make sense of this from the RIAA:

High Resolution Music is officially defined as “lossless audio capable of reproducing the full spectrum of sound from recordings which have been mastered from better than CD quality (48kHz/20-bit or higher) music sources which represent what the artists, producers and engineers originally intended.”​
So is Apple labeling 24-bit/44.1kHz recordings as simply Lossless because it doesn't meet both the bit-depth and sample rate definitions?
24bit is higher. It doesn't have to be both. Also bit depth is FAR more important to resolution than sampling rate. In a nut shell sampling rate determines the highest frequency response. The Nyquist filter dictates that the max infrequency response is ½ the sampling rate and 48kHz gives 24kHz which is beyond 99.9% of people over 15 years old.

Bit rate is much more important. Every bit gives you 6dB of dynamic range. So 16bit is 96dB and 24bit is 144dB. Also quantization errors happen at lower bit rates. This is something people can hear. 24bit means that even low level sounds are using more than 10bit and results in lower quantization distortion.
 
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riggles

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2013
301
14
24bit is higher. It doesn't have to be both. Also bit depth is FAR more important to resolution than sampling rate. In a nut shell sampling rate determines the highest frequency response. The Nyquist filter dictates that the max infrequency response is ½ the sampling rate and 48kHz gives 24kHz which is beyond 99.9% of people over 15 years old.

Bit rate is much more important. Every bit gives you 6dB of dynamic range. So 16bit is 96dB and 24bit is 144dB. Also quantization errors happen at lower bit rates. This is something people can hear. 24bit means that even low level sounds are using more than 10bit and results in lower quantization distortion.
Right, I know about bit depth's dynamic range and sample rates, etc. The "making sense" part I was referring to was the RIAA statement about better-than-CD-quality including both a bit rate and sample rate figure. And whether Apple is mis-labeling audio, or just using a stricter definition of HiRes in how they apply that label to their catalog. Perhaps they've settled on 24/96 as their baseline for representing HiRes.
 

Kier-XF

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2014
183
118
@riggles I don’t think 24 bit / 44.1kHz is a thing. [edit: apparently it is!]

16 bit / 44kHz is the format for CD audio, so you’ll find that a lot of the Apple Music stuff that’s been ripped directly from a CD will be available in that format.

Where Apple has had access to studio masters, you’ll find 24 bit depth and a varying sample rate up to 192kHz.
 
Last edited:

riggles

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2013
301
14
@riggles I don’t think 24 bit / 44.1kHz is a thing.

16 bit / 44kHz is the format for CD audio, so you’ll find that a lot of the Apple Music stuff that’s been ripped directly from a CD will be available in that format.

Where Apple has had access to studio masters, you’ll find 24 bit depth and a varying sample rate up to 192kHz.
I didn't know it was a thing either. Even the "20-bit" HDCDs I think I still have in a case from years ago were really 16-bit still. But I'm currently streaming Queen — The Platinum Collection on Apple Music, and clicking the Lossless logo reveals "24-bit 44.1kHz ALAC"

?‍♂️

EDIT: At this point it probably doesn't even matter, but HDTracks does have some 24/44.1 albums for download. Such as The Shins — Chutes Too Narrow.
 
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snourse

macrumors member
Jul 22, 2002
43
20
I've got 5.1 surround AV receivers hooked to my living room and basement Apple TVs and would love to have them both playing Apple Music Atmos songs in sync, but haven't found a way to do it. When I choose the basement Apple TV as a 2nd output, my living room Apple TV switches to stereo mode and both play in stereo only. Even if Atmos can't be airplayed to the second unit I wish that the HDMI connected Apple TV would maintain it's 5.1 signal- has anyone else observed this or have a solution.
 

Appalled

macrumors newbie
Jul 9, 2021
2
0
Hey everyone, I'm hoping to get some insight on here with some questions I've been having.

I see that an audio file on Apple Music is output at 24-bit/96khz.. so I changed my Audio MIDI Settings to output to my headphones at 96khz (as shown in the picture). My setup is a Macbook Air M1 2020 with headphones connected into the computer's headphone jack.

1625818705085.png


Now the questions are, (1) do I always have to manually change my Audio MIDI Settings to match the song that is playing to get the "appropriate" audio quality? Some songs can be at 44.1khz, 48khz, or 96khz. (2) Will the computer adjust for these changes if I just leave it at the highest possible setting of 96kz?
 
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