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Apple Music 'Lossless' Logo Surfaces Amid HiFi Tier Rumors

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Amid several rumors about the launch of a new HiFi Apple Music tier, a brand new graphic found within Apple Music on the web has solidified speculation that Apple is planning to announce a new Lossless audio streaming feature for Apple Music subscribers.

lossless-audio-badge-apple-music.jpg

Discovered by designer Stijn de Vries, a new Lossless logo has been found within Apple Music on the web. There is also a second logo that reads "Hi-Res Lossless." These graphic is likely to be some form of a badge presented next to songs compatible with Lossless audio streaming. Multiple references to Lossless and even Dolby Atmos audio were already found within Apple Music on the web.

A rumor last week indicated Apple will announce the new tier on Tuesday, May 18, alongside the release of the third-generation AirPods. Apple began teasing a major announcement that will "change music forever" over the weekend but has yet to confirm or announce when the announcement will be made.

Article Link: Apple Music 'Lossless' Logo Surfaces Amid HiFi Tier Rumors
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/17/apple-music-lossless-logo/
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I wonder why? We don’t have a way of listening to lossless music with Apple products right now.

Unless they plan to push new lossless technology with the new AirPods which will also be retro updated on the APP and APM
 
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A slight bitrate bump would suffice for audio. There isn't much to improve in the audible space aside from what's already there, especially if you're only listening to audio via Bluetooth.

I've tried Tidal HiFi, Amazon Ultra and Deezer HiFi, however I stopped using them because of how much they clog up my (already massive but nevertheless too small) SD card.

However, what could really stand to improve is the iTunes movie streaming bitrate. I'd be most impressed if they managed to get that doubled. It would completely crush disc formats if you got (nearly) the same picture quality out of an iTunes stream as if you were watching it from the disc itself.
 
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MecPro said:
I wonder why? We don’t have a way of listening to lossless music with Apple products right now.

Unless they plan to push new lossless technology with the new AirPods which will also be retro updated on the APP and APM
Click to expand...
Of benefit to under-50's with a Naim 555 and without wax-filled ears I suppose. I wonder how many high-end HiFi brands have updates for their streamers prepped?
 
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MecPro said:
I wonder why? We don’t have a way of listening to lossless music with Apple products right now.

Unless they plan to push new lossless technology with the new AirPods which will also be retro updated on the APP and APM
Click to expand...
I do. I may be an exception but my mac is hooked up to a dac which goes into my hifi. This is how I listen to tidal in all its glory currently. But i agree with you, for this to really make sense then apple music needs to start getting hooked into the hifi streaming boxes unless they are going to completely rewire bluetooth... otherwise it is mainly a marketing gimmick
 
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Any indication of the codec that this will use? Obviously; there’s existing ‘Apple Lossless’ encoders in iTunes, but I wonder if there’s an update / alternative for streaming (and/or the hi-res and Dolby extensions)..
 
MecPro said:
I wonder why? We don’t have a way of listening to lossless music with Apple products right now.
Click to expand...
Presumably, it'll be a proprietary format. Just because a format is lossless doesn't necessarily mean its accuracy can't be improved or the amount of compression increased/filesize decreased..
 
Surely they can’t charge extra for this? It will be a marketing tool to sell more Music subscriptions and/or more hardware?

The vast majority will very quickly realise they can’t really tell the difference in sound quality if it’s actually costing them more money every month.
 
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krspkbl said:
They can play them i’m sure. Doesn’t change the fact that iPhones/AirPods use Bluetooth. You’re not gonna hear much difference if any at all. For lossless music you should ideally have wired headphones.
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I have some fabulous wired headphones. They are utterly useless on the iphone, the phone just doesn't have the oomf to drive them properly. I'm not quite sure how they are going to square the circle, but its evident that wireless is the future with apple. Their $550 headphones tell you everything, really. The question is what they are going to do in the speaker market, having just walked away from the high end... maybe a partnership with the soundbar and hifi manufacturers, or will hell freeze over first?!
 
I’m probably totally off base here but what if they introduce losses audio by using the Airpod Max’s ability to connect to multiple devices at once? Instead using this to connect multiple times to the same device allowing for more data to be transferred?
 
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krspkbl said:
They can play them i’m sure. Doesn’t change the fact that iPhones/AirPods use Bluetooth. You’re not gonna hear much difference if any at all. For lossless music you should ideally have wired headphones.
Click to expand...
I mean Bluetooth 5 supports up to 2mbps of bandwidth per second. Lossless flac requires 1,41mbps. So technically you could transmit lossless audio over Bluetooth 5, as long as the signal is strong enough.

If Apple invented a new compression that’s more efficient than FLAC or ALAC they might it need a lot less bandwidth than that. It seems likely they have a new codec for this.

Or perhaps some sort of hybrid solution like MQA (lossy for the midrange + lossless low and high frequencies)
 
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doobydoooby said:
I have some fabulous wired headphones. They are utterly useless on the iphone, the phone just doesn't have the oomf to drive them properly. I'm not quite sure how they are going to square the circle, but its evident that wireless is the future with apple. Their $550 headphones tell you everything, really. The question is what they are going to do in the speaker market, having just walked away from the high end... maybe a partnership with the soundbar and hifi manufacturers, or will hell freeze over first?!
Click to expand...

You need to get a DAC...which is ridiculous, but there you go.

I forgot, you can AirPlay ALAC to an AEBS as well as AirPlay compatible speakers, so there's another lossless option for you.
 
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