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Apple Music Gaining Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio in iOS 14.6, Not All Tracks Supported at Launch

RamGuy said:
You have to remember that these transfer rates are best-case scenarios. By simply having parts of your body between the receiver in your headphones and the transceiver (your phone) the fluids in your body itself will cause enough resistance to toss you straight out of a best-case scenario.

This is the major problem with LDAC and why it's only a lossless codec in theory and not in practice. You won't see it utilising its full 909 kbps capabilities in any real-world scenario. You end up with 606 kbps at best, and often 330 kbps. Which is still decent but far from being capable of offering lossless transmission even at normal resolution. When you start tossing in 24-bit and 192kHz you are not even close to lossless transmission and you are most likely better of by passing smaller 16-bit and 44.1kHz tracks over 330/606 kbps transmissions instead of trying to shoehorn in 24-bit and 192kHz using the same transmission as it would require too much compression.

Soundguys.com have done some decent tests with SBC, aptX, LDAC and AAC and they pretty much conclude that Apple's implementation of AAC is on the levels of the best you are able to get out of aptX and LDAC. It doesn't allow for the use of higher than 16-bit depth or any higher sampling rates than 44.1kHz but there is really no value in going any higher especially over Bluetooth as increasing depth and sampling rates just results in you having to add even more compression to the transmission.
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I agree. The same can be observed for WiFi etc.
 
I mostly listen to my music at my Mac these days, and I’ve got the output an my Mac mini set to 96KHz 32bit float. Have a really nice pair of old headphones from the 70s that I like the sound of and an ok speaker setup. Hopefully with this I can get rid of a lot of the less listened to local files and save a bit of disk space. There’s still some music I want to keep local, and not every song will be lossless to start with but this is progress.
 
LeadingHeat said:
Meanwhile Tidal is sweating bullets… that was their selling point, offering hifi for those who felt they needed it
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I might keep my Tidal subscription anyway because my home system is built around a BluOS Node 2i. Apple insists on streaming using AirPlay 2, but it only supports up to CD-level quality and does not support Hi-Res.
 
So I had originally arrogantly posted “goodbye Amazon Music HD.” Then, hours later, Amazon announced that their lossless music service will be offered free to all Prime members. Proof that competition is great for the consumer!
 
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Robospungo said:
Here’s confirmation that you can’t purchase or upgrade to lossless files:

www.theverge.com

Apple announces lossless Apple Music is coming in June at no added cost

To compete with Amazon, Spotify, and Tidal.
www.theverge.com www.theverge.com

“Apple has confirmed to The Verge that lossless audio is exclusive to Apple Music and thus subscription-only. The company won’t offer music purchases in lossless quality, nor will there be any way to upgrade owned tracks to lossless with the paid iTunes Match service.”
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I'm wondering if it would be possible to add my own ALAC tracks (that are not in the Apple Music Library) to my Apple Music Cloud Library. Since Apple Music disables syncing between Macs and iPhones, there will be no way to listen to my own ALAC tracks otherwise.
 
LeadingHeat said:
Meanwhile Tidal is sweating bullets… that was their selling point, offering hifi for those who felt they needed it
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Prices for Tidal are even worse if you do in-app subscriptions.
 

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Prabas said:
If you are listening to lossless on AirPods or AirPods Pro, forget it: there’s just no way that you’re going to hear any difference. With AirPods Max, they do support Hi-Resolution Lossless – but only when used as wired headphones.
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Apparently they don’t.
 
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StupidOpinion said:
just gonna have to say it now. if you expect an amazing experience with the hifi audio, you're probably gonna have a bad time. you'll need an external DAC and a high quality audiophile level headphone to even have the possibility of hearing the better quality. neither of these things are provided by Apple. your entry level option is to go buy a Sennheiser HD6XX, Schiit Modi, and Schiit Magni, but this will already set you back $420 (plux tax).

i don't wanna be that guy to say "steve jobs would've blah blah blah", but steve jobs probably wouldn't bother with the hifi business because of the clunkiness of needing an external amp, dac, and headphone that isn't sold by Apple. not only that, steve jobs cares more about the user experience than the technical specs. 90% of you guys will probably not be able to tell the difference between 256 AAC and ALAC.

now spatial audio might be decent, but it's not even one of Apple's tech.
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I'm super happy about the news. My family have been using Apple Music for years. After purchasing some hi-fi equipment, my son and I moved to Tidal, but my wife and daughter preferred to stay with Apple Music. Actually, we now have Apple One Premiere because of Fitness+, and Apple Music is a part of the package.

I really hope Apple Music adds integration with BluOS (our home system relies on a Node 2i for streaming). Then we can ditch Tidal for sure. AirPlay 2 as far as I know does not support Hi-Res and can only streams in the CD-level quality.
 
roncron said:
Yes, I like it a lot. But there are some others in the same price range that are very well-reviewed. The Dragonfly sounds great, is small (about the size of a USB thumb drive), doesn't require external power, and all 3 models are very well-reviewed (e.g. 5 star reviews at Whathifi). But there are other good options out there.
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I use a Dragonfly Cobalt (primarily with Tidal) and happy with it, but keep in mind that for Hi-Res Dragonfly is limited at 96khz. Higher sampling rates (I believe with all Dragonflies) are only possible with MQA. Most certainly, MQA is not going to be implemented with Apple Music ever, so I would recommend to check other options.
 
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SkiHound2 said:
Perhaps critical listeners who are using high end cable connected audiophile headphones or speaker set ups. Folks using conventional consumer gear, especially if used via bluetooth probably not. Of course there will be a placebo effect. Some will at least believe they can hear a difference. I know that with my ears and the equipment I have it will be of no consequence to me.
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Definitely not with Bluetooth speakers and headphones. Bluetooth is lossy.
 
It is weird that the lossless story here completely ignores every single audio hardware product Apple has released lately, including the supposedly high end AirPod Max. One would think the work put into the proprietary real time wireless codec used to connect the Apple TV and the HomePods could have been leveraged for high bitrate wireless music playback for AirPods and HomePods alike.

Best case I can come up with is this is a chicken and egg situation, where we'll see hardware support later on once there's a demand for it. Damn shame Match and purchases are exempt too. The venn diagram between people who care about lossless/high res and people who like to own their music should be damn near a circle.
 
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ErikGrim said:
Can you point me to a track in Apple Music that's either lossless or spatial? I haven't found any yet.
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Apple isn’t playing any yet. I suspect it will start when iOS 14.6 gets its general release or sometimes shortly afterwards. For now SACS have great lossless audio if you have the gear for it. As for spatial audio you can get a feel for it listening to
on APPs or APMs…
 
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I am fully aware that spatial audio is already fully achievable with the equipment we already have. I've been mixing my tracks with binaural panning for a long time already.

Heck, I first experienced spatial audio with headphones back in System 7.
 
EricNau said:
You hit the nail on the head. Mobile or auto users won’t notice any difference in the vast majority of cases. Much of modern music has been mixed for lossy compression as well so even on high end gear it won’t make a difference. But if you have a good original source, mixed properly, and hq equipment…and good ears it does.
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What? How do you mix music for lossy compression?
 
Iconoclysm said:
It doesn't say iTunes Match is going away, and it only says iTunes can't download/upgrade/purchase lossless.
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Yes but only allowing lossless on Apple Music means it is impossible to buy music from iTunes Store with high quality or upgrade, meaning iTunes Match is immediately less appealing compared to Apple Music (Hifi with no extra cost vs none).

Granted, apple has essentially abandoned iTunes Store long time ago, but this move means apple is really going to kill off iTunes Store sooner than later.
 
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