Apple Music Launching Spatial Audio With Dolby Atmos and Lossless Audio in June at No Extra Cost

[AppleUser2]

"Due to the large file sizes and bandwidth needed for Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless Audio, subscribers will need to opt in to the experience. Hi-Res Lossless also requires external equipment, such as a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC)."

Thankfully I have this for my Tidal subscription. Guess it makes sense for Hi-Res as the internal DACs can't handle it I guess?

 

[brofkand]

20+ years after the digital download music revolution we are finally back to CD quality, and even exceeding it. Amazing it took this long.

 

[iamdmann]

"At no additional cost". I feel like there will be some kind of catch to that. I don't know what it could be. It's just hard to believe. I want to believe it, though.

they rolled out 4k video for existing purchases 'at no additional cost' so I'm very hopeful that this is a similar transition/expansion, but totally understand (and share) your skepticism.

 

[Bustycat]

I can’t wait for listening to the lossless version of this song on Apple Music!

 

[matrix07]

ALAC - was that a thing before now?

It was. Talked about at Sony Hi-Res music page.

 

[btrach144]

and unless Apple start selling wired headphones then lossless is pointless. there's only so much current Bluetooth can do.

That’s a lie. Please edit your post and stop spreading misinformation.

Apple’s format uses roughly 1.4 Mbps worth of data and Bluetooth 5 can support up to 2 Mbps.

 

[Poontaco]

Two questions:

1) would the difference in quality be noticeable listening from an HomePod (original one)?

2) any idea what the default quality will be for HomePod? The press release only refers to iOS settings to choose the quality depending on the connection...

Yes. Streaming lossless from Tidal sounds noticeably better than Apple Music on my Homepods.

 

[Vangeli]

Ooh they have a little announcement video with spatial audio on the front page of Apple Music and yeah, I dig it. Usually only used spatial audio for movies but that little beat sounded pretty cool, this’ll be fun.

 

[krspkbl]

do any of Apple's wireless headphones have the correct codecs to play ALAC? I recall researching this when the airpods max were released and couldnt find anything that indicated you could listen to ALAC wirelessly without losing some sound quality.

don't know but even if they do it doesn't matter. that word you used "wireless" is the reason. for lossless you really need a wired headphone/speaker.

it's like buying a 1080p tv to watch 4k. you can still watch the movie but there's only so much the TV can do.

i suspect we'll see new AirPods and 2nd gen AirPod Max soon.

 

[Davidprimer]

“Note that Hi-Res Lossless requires external equipment such as a USB digital to analog converter.”

Where is aptx HD / LDAC bluetooth support for iOS devices?

 

[archer75]

Difficult to stream on airplanes. Admittedly not much of an issue for me at the moment with air travel severely restricted but one day it will be a consideration for me again. Difficult to stream in any area with a dodgy mobile network connection and no WiFi. Also not everyone has high or unlimited data caps on their mobile phone plans so there can be cost implications especially if you’re on holiday and would need to use roaming data in a place where it’s extortionately expensive. And finally there’s battery life if you’re out and about. It’s far more power efficient to play from local storage than stream over a network especially a mobile phone network. Good for you that your circumstances never give you any of those issues but there are other people out there who aren’t in your situation.

with a subscription you can simply download all the music you want. No need to stream.

 

[Ldh.92]

Will this upgrade work through the original HomePod?

 

[dantracht]

This is seriously cool.

 

[Brenster]

Hope for some classical music in Dolby Atmos!

Deutsche Grammophon have Karajan’s Beethoven symphonies and the recent John WIlliams’ Vienna concert in Atmos on BluRay. Would LOVE to have these amongst so many other available.

 

[Feyl]

This is really great. Honestly, kudos to Apple. As Steve once said, this is industry leading offer. No competetion for Apple on this.

 

[dantracht]

Will this upgrade work through the original HomePod?

Wondering that too. The release says anything with an H1 or W1 chip, so perhaps not, as the OG homepod does not have the chip? Does that also mean it WILL work on homepod mini?

 

[Applelover711]

Ah it looks like it is only for Apple Music and not for the library you have already bought so pretty irrelevant.

And Some people are just miserable

 

[steevn]

At most I spend 99p a year on music. I already own all the music I listen too, why would I buy more?

Edit: Apple can get a £100 or so to upgrade all my existing 256 bit music to the highest quality, but not a subscription for the same music I am going to listen to for the next few decades.

Why would you spend that much on a few songs when you could get tens of millions more songs for the same price?

I flat out don’t even understand your logic lol, you’re saying that you don’t need new music because you’ll be listening to the same songs for decades, but still buy music every year.

If someone said I could pay $100 for 100 songs or $100 for tens of millions I don’t even know what the debate could be about.

 

[somnolentsurfer]

Nothing in the press release about either HomePod or AppleTV... I guess it's not bringing Atmos support to HomePod Mini stereo pairs. ?

 

[krspkbl]

That’s a lie. Please edit your post and stop spreading misinformation.

Apple’s format uses roughly 1.4 Mbps worth of data and Bluetooth 5 can support up to 2 Mbps.

i'm not gonna edit my post and tell lies.

i'm happy apple is updating the song quality but it's hilarious seeing people get excited when they are listening on AirPods. lots of cases of placebo are coming soon. if you're listening to lossless music over bluetooth on airpods you're doing it wrong. you need high quality wired headphones/speakers.

 

[nortonandreev]

Can't wait! I hope it's supported in iOS 15 Beta 1 haha

 

[Vado]

Anyone have any idea if HomePods will be supported?

 

[Remy149]

Apple today announced that Apple Music will be getting Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos at no additional cost starting in June.

At launch, Apple Music subscribers will have access to thousands of songs in Spatial Audio from artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd, and many others.

Apple Music subscribers will also be able to listen to more than 75 million songs in Lossless Audio:By default, Apple Music will automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, as well as the built-in speakers in the latest versions of the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, according to Apple.

Apple Music will be getting new Dolby Atmos tracks constantly and will offer a curated selection of Dolby Atmos playlists, according to Apple. Dolby Atmos albums will have a badge on their detail page for easy discovery.

Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio will be available on iOS 14.6, iPadOS 14.6, macOS 11.4, and tvOS 14.6 or later.

Article Link: Apple Music Launching Spatial Audio With Dolby Atmos in June

I don’t see any mention of Apple TV that’s where atmos would me most useful to me

 

[citysnaps]

Ah it looks like it is only for Apple Music and not for the library you have already bought so pretty irrelevant.

No worries. Your library will continue to work as before.

It is *very* relevant for those who subscribe to Apple Music. Hat tip to Apple!

 

[Vangeli]

Wondering that too. The release says anything with an H1 or W1 chip, so perhaps not, as the OG homepod does not have the chip? Does that also mean it WILL work on homepod mini?

Doesn’t the original HomePod stream off of its own WiFi connection? Shouldn’t be difficult to get lossless and Atmos playing on it.