Yep, designing $1000+ phones and $500+ headphones that only support Bluetooth and then using a music service that requires more bandwidth than Bluetooth is capable of is has nothing at all to do with Apple
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AirPods, AirPods Max and AirPods Pro Don't Support Apple Music Lossless Audio
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Yep, designing $1000+ phones and $500+ headphones that only support Bluetooth and then using a music service that requires more bandwidth than Bluetooth is capable of is has nothing at all to do with Apple
.Well to be fair, Apple loves forcing you to buy new equipment and their fans love needing bags full of accessories to show their devotion.
The only unusual thing here is that all that equipment from Best Buy is not sold by Apple.
a lot of people got a half apple turnaround with the so called air pods max that wont or can,t play hi-res lossless audio
Apple today announced that starting in June, Apple Music songs will be available to stream in Lossless and Hi-Resolution Lossless formats, but lossless audio won't be supported on the AirPods, AirPods Max, or AirPods Pro.
Apple's Lossless Audio is encoded as Apple Lossless Audio Codec files, with lossless quality ranging from 16-bit 44.1 kHz playback to 24-bit 48 kHz playback and Hi-Res Lossless offering 24-bit 192 kHz quality.
AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max are limited to the Bluetooth AAC codec when paired with an iPhone, and won't be able to stream Apple Music lossless files, Apple confirmed to T3.
Apple did not mention AirPods compatibility in its press release announcing the new functionality, and on its website, Apple confirms that lossless audio can be listened to on an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, and T3 also says that HomePod is compatible even though it wasn't listed in Apple's announcement.
Apple's lossless audio is less compressed and offers up a more accurate version of the studio recording process, for music that sounds as it was intended by the artist. Lossless audio provides a wider dynamic range to bring out the detail and realism in music.
Hi-Res Lossless will require a USB digital to analog converter or similar equipment, but will provide the best sound experience. Listening to lossless audio on an iPhone will require wired headphones and it's possible an additional dongle will be needed to get the best sound quality. AirPods Max will also not support lossless audio over the Lightning cable, Apple told Micah Singleton.
While the AirPods, AirPods Max, and AirPods Pro do not support lossless audio, they do support Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, and by default, Apple Music will automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip.
With Spatial Audio support, artists will be able to create immersive experiences that provide fans with multidimensional sound and clarity.
Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio are being added to Apple Music at no charge, so both new and current subscribers will get these features for the standard $9.99 per month (individual), $4.99 per month (student), or $14.99 per month (family) pricing.
Article Link: AirPods, AirPods Max and AirPods Pro Don't Support Apple Music Lossless Audio
and not support their lossless audio using the lightning cable headphone that should be included free and not charge consumers for is damn insulting to say the least. you would think that for such a high tech price people should get the full audio package especially listening to video and music having spatial audio support. " a total letdown and a bad APPLE. M 209.
There is currently no version of Bluetooth that supports lossless audio. Period. If you didn't know that, then you don't need lossless audio. If you did, you would know.
Usually Apple’s requirements are not so specific and expensive. Even Tidal doesn’t require any additional equipment.
I'm betting it's a disconnect from the tech and engineers and the PR people at Apple you see quoted in these articles. The $9 Apple lightning to 3.5mm dongle should be capable of up to 24bit/192kHz audio.
We've tried the Apple Lightning to Headphone Jack adaptor!
The iPhone 7 arrived without the jack input, but it does come with an adaptor cord featuring a Lightning connector and a 3.5mm jack entry. You can also buy the adaptor as an accessory to use with any Apple smartphone or iPad.
www.qobuz.com
As for wireless, if the internal hardware could physically support it, I'm betting on a firmware update for existing W1/H1 headphones to have ALAC via the ultra wideband chip. For CD quality lossless ALAC, you're looking at less than 1Mbps, and UWB should be capable of hundreds of megabits.
Everything you need to know about Ultra Wideband in the iPhone 12 and HomePod mini | AppleInsider
Apple has added its U1 chip to even more products, and is clearly planning to make Ultra Wideband a major feature of its device ecosystem? Here's a breakdown of UWB, what it does now, and what it can do for you.
What a time we live in. Apple releases a FREE (edit: by this I mean, no ADDITIONAL fee) hi-def audio capability that no one can enjoy because pretty much everyone listens to music via bluetooth. And evidently, Apple did so to try to keep up with other streaming services...who's hi-def audio can't be heard over bluetooth either. Strange days indeed.
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Completely wrong. Other than bluetooth earbuds the majority still listens to music with wired headphones. Audiophiles (which are whom lossless caters to) generally have high-end headphones and have zero interest in listening to high quality music via wireless.
Hopefully, this gets rectified soon (maybe in the next 5 years because with this chip shortage, this won't be rectified in the next 2 years at least).
Looking at it from a long-term perspective, it reminds me of the time when Thunderbolt was first introduced on the MacBooks and Apple only allowed you to charge the laptop from one side (if I recall correctly), even if there were multiple USB-C ports on the laptop.
This seems like the same thing - the software (lossless audio) is moving much more quickly than the hardware (Bluetooth streaming) and the hardware has to catch up.
Even with the current offering on Apple Music, wired was always going to sound better than Bluetooth anyway to be fair. Requiring a cable for better audio quality should not be news to those that care or have an interest in audio.
Everyone throwing their toys out the pram on the internet right now really need to understand the limitations of Bluetooth.
One of the other things that is getting lost in this discussion is that just because the music isn't coming across completely lossless, do not assume that is no better than than the 256k apple file. For example, if I play music on my iMac to the Stereo HomePods in my office, the sound coming from Tidal or Qobuz is night and day better than the sound coming from the Apple Music files.
Tidal requires the same gear as what Apple Music lossless will need. Playing Tidal via these devices faces the same limitation that the Apple Music does.
I am fine with all of this IF Apple releases a cable for Max that allows Lossless. Perfect scenario is lightning to lightning and keeping it digital until the headphones. Prior to the Max, I had Sennheiser momentum 3's. I played music from Tidal/Qobuz on my iPad Pro. The output from the iPad Pro was USB-C and the port on the headphones was also USB-3. The sound was great.
Interesting point. I’d be happy with any noticeable improvement, even if it’s not technically lossless.
I'm sure Apple will be happy to sell us new hardware which supports this, likely using a proprietary wireless technology that is backwards compatible with bluetooth for lossy audio.
Then I have to wonder… is this the best use of Apple’s resources, if the hardware isn’t ready?
The Apple Music app/interface is inexcusably sluggish compared to Spotify. And across all my Apple devices I encounter reproducible bugs on a daily basis, which go perpetually unaddressed.
Seems like Apple has plenty of software work to do… shame to see them wasting resources on features that won’t benefit… hardly anyone for… 5 years.