Apple TV Won't Support Hi-Res Lossless at Launch, AirPods Max Wired Playback 'Will Not Be Completely Lossless'

[fwmireault]

I understand all the limitations of lossless and Hi-Fi over Bluetooth and the hardware limitations of Apple products. But man… the way Apple launch these features was so odd, confusing and frustrating. These support documents should have been ready day 1 last Monday

 

[MauiPa]

One thing that the article is misleading on refers to this quote from the support document “However, given the analog to digital conversion in the cable, the playback will not be completely lossless”. This specifically says “the cable”. So if you use an external higher res DAC it sounds like you can use a hires lossless connection with AirPods Max. This is also further supported by the statement that you will need external equipment to play

I know, English is hard, right?

 

[iAFC]

What about the Beats Studio3? If I plug it to a MacBook Pro directly into the headphone jack (no Lightning BS), will it play lossless audio?

One thing that the article is misleading on refers to this quote from the support document “However, given the analog to digital conversion in the cable, the playback will not be completely lossless”. This specifically says “the cable”. So if you use an external higher re DAC it sounds like you can use a hires lossless connection with AirPods Max. This is also further supported by the statement that you will need external equipment to play

I know, English is hard, right?

I'm guessing Lightning is not capable of providing the necessary bitrate.

 

[coolbreeze2]

All these "if, and, or, buts" and current vs. future is messy and confusing and very contrary to Apple's historic theme "it just works right out of the box". Think about the PC guy vs Mac guy commercials. This current deployment of enhancements to Apple Music seems more akin to PC guy and not Mac guy. It all, in my opinion, appears Apple was forced to roll out these changes and was not ready.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

I can tell the difference between the qualities in these formats. Check out your hearing if you can’t.

Yeah, maybe if you have audio equipment worth thousands of dollars.

 

[w5jck]

"Lossless" is mostly a sales gimmick, and multitudes will buy into it, literally and figuratively. Very few people would even be able to discern the difference between really good audio and lossless audio, but if they hear that "lossless" buzzword they will gladly claim it makes a huge difference and shell out more money to get it.

 

[DVNIEL]

I wonder if someone made a quick test that can determine if you have the hearing capability to distinguish both.

 

[ct2k7]

Apple discontinued a particular HomePod model.

Yes.

HomePod

HomePod mini takes up no space yet delivers room-filling sound. HomePod is a breakthrough high-fidelity speaker. Both help you multitask with Siri.

www.apple.com

The product is called HomePod, which is what I was referring to... not the product line.

 

[decisions]

If you know what lossless audio is, you would have never expected Apple's wireless devices to be able to play it - that would be a world-first.

 

[B/D]

High res is not necessary anyway. Waste of bandwidth and space. 16/44 is at the limit of what the human ear can perceive.


I am more concerned with the fact that the ATV4K currently resamples everything to 48khz. It would nice for it to do bit perfect playback of apple music lossless tracks (those in CD quality, anyway).

 

[Vangeli]

I wonder if this means they’ll implement HiRes lossless over HomePod/AirPlay speakers using the new eARC pass through functionality, seeing as eARC can pass through 24/192 lossless audio.

 

[B/D]

If you know what lossless audio is, you would have never expected Apple's wireless devices to be able to play it - that would be a world-first.

Exactly. Magic doesn´t exist, and the current version of the bluetooth protocol and implementations simply does not allow for an ALAC or FLAC stream passthrough, leaving the source files untouched. Its just not possible.


The Homepods will be able to do it because they use wifi for playback, not bluetooth.


There is still a benefit of streaming a lossless file over bluetooth, and that is that you avoid the current double compression that further deteriorates quality (since currently the lossy stream get reencoded to lossy one more time before playback).


Excuse my English.

 

[lars666]

"Apple's support document acknowledges that the difference between Apple Music's standard audio and lossless audio will be 'virtually indistinguishable.'"

Where are all those "I can't stand compressed 256, lossless sounds so much better" golden ears now? First time even Apple itself doesn't over-sell one of their features, that REALLY has to mean something, lol …

 

[Marco Klobas]

I am more concerned with the fact that the ATV4K currently resamples everything to 48khz. It would nice for it to do bit perfect playback of apple music lossless tracks (those in CD quality, anyway).

That would be long overdue.

The 48 kHz forced upsampling has always been silly.

I know that it's mostly a video device where 48 kHz is the norm. Still, is it so difficult to provide a bitperfect output? It's very likely only a matter of software "switch". At least I hope it isn't hardware limited.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

This is a mess. I thought, oh well, my AppleTV connected to my receiver will be the one place were I can stream lossless.

And you will be able to.
You’ll be able to stream CD-quality Lossless, but not the “high-res” lossless

 

[now i see it]

I'd like to hear a great recording of music I like in the ultimate lossless format on super high end earphones plugged into a top of the line DAC.

I bet it would - finally- be able to give me the chills like hi-fi should

 

[citysnaps]

Yes.

HomePod

HomePod mini takes up no space yet delivers room-filling sound. HomePod is a breakthrough high-fidelity speaker. Both help you multitask with Siri.

www.apple.com

The product is called HomePod, which is what I was referring to... not the product line.

Thanx for the clarification... Getting back to your original question, I suspect the original HomePod was discontinued because there's a new model to replace it, likely with better sound/features, on the cusp of being released.

 

[Joniz]

Apple Music "will not be completely lossless"

Sound like “not completely pregnant.”

If it’s not completely lossless, then it’s not lossless.

 

[ericwn]

I don't know why there's so many people are up in arms over this feature. Majority of people wouldn't know the difference. I think it's a great option AND AT NO ADDITIONAL COST. Tidal HiFi... tried it out at discount prices... never could tell the difference.

I will try it out on my Apple TV 4K through my receiver system. Playing Apple Music through my system in its current form... I just reach for the vinyl.

Exactly. One gets better quality that will be making more of a difference the better the audio equipment will become.

If we would make similar comments to camera manufacturers we’d still be looking as JPEG as the only file format option.

 

[breather]

So this new audio thing won’t work on anything then?

 

[Tofupunch]

Imagine working at an apple store and a customer walks in asking about lossless audio, Apple Music and the products apple sells so said customer can begin enjoying it right away!

I consider myself tech-savvy and I'm having a hard time understanding/keeping track of all of this!

 

[chabig]

I wonder if someone made a quick test that can determine if you have the hearing capability to distinguish both.

Here you go (spoiler: you can't hear the difference)

Is your audio system really ready for lossless?

Do an ABX test in your browser, and see if you can tell the difference between lossless and Spotify-compression quality audio

abx.digitalfeed.net

 

[ericwn]

I understand all the limitations of lossless and Hi-Fi over Bluetooth and the hardware limitations of Apple products. But man… the way Apple launch these features was so odd, confusing and frustrating. These support documents should have been ready day 1 last Monday

Well said. And that lossless thing could have been added years ago, at least launched alongside the HomePod.

 

[B/D]

Thanx for the clarification... Getting back to your original question, I suspect the original HomePod was discontinued because there's a new model to replace it, likely with better sound/features, on the cusp of being released.

But usually the don´t announce the discontinuation of a product if a new generation of it its coming in the future. It doesnt work like that with Iphone, Ipads, or Macs. They just announce the new model any particular day and thats it.

 

[BornAgainMac]

At this point, I am just curious what lossless sounds like compared to what I consider is normal and not using professional gear.