iOS 14.6 Beta 1 Code Hints at Upcoming HiFi Apple Music Support

[matrix07]

sure lets lock HiFI music to $500 headphones.

/s

That's not what I said.

 

[pauloregan]

One thing is for sure, a new feature like that will be designed to drive NEW hardware purchases.

 

[bodonnell202]

I hope this is available on Sonos.

 

[Marco Klobas]

Another possibly worrying thing for the so called audiophiles would be the automatic sample rate switching on Mac.

Audio MIDI Setup doesn't automatically switch the output sample rate of played audio files. It's up to a third party app to accomplish in case a bitperfect output.

In a typical scenario where a USB DAC is connected to a Mac and the user is listening to a hi-res Apple Music streaming, how would Music app manage the output sample rate through Audio MIDI Setup?

Knowing Apple, I guess the auto switching simply would't be contemplated. Happy to be proven wrong, of course.

 

[flottenheimer]

HiFi should be standard on all streaming services.
Whenever advancements in any kind of technology makes quality worse – we are all moving in the wrong direction.

 

[B4rbelith]

HiFi should be standard on all streaming services.
Whenever advancements in any kind of technology makes quality worse – we are all moving in the wrong direction.

Except nobody can tell the difference between 320kbps and lossless. With the current way audio is streamed, i.e. with bandwidth limitations etc; lossless, or hifi or whatever you want to call it, is absolutely useless in the vast majority of usage cases. It's just unnecessary.
It might be useful for some people with super high-end audio gear who play music at high volumes. Possibly.
Somewhere in this thread there's a test to see if you can tell the difference between the different sound qualities. See if you can tell the difference.

 

[IllinoisCorn]

I'm old guy, so I had to look up what HiFi supposedly refers to. I initially assumed it was either just another BS gimmicky name for better music quality with the streaming. What I read though is that HiFi is this new thing wherein you buy separate pieces/components of equipment to create your audio system. Really, new? Growing up in the 70s as a teenager we did that. You had a separate amplifier, a separate tuner, a separate record player, a separate tape deck, and later on a separate CD player. It was what we called a modular system made up of the components you wanted, along with separate speakers of course. Some even added separate reel to reel tap players as well. So if this is what young people are calling HiFi, well you are reinventing the darn wheel. With the advent of boomboxes and Walkmans in the 1970s and 1980s, the trend was to scale down to a bookshelf system which was still somewhat modular but much smaller. When the MP3 players became popular in the late 1990s and exploded in popularity after the iPods were introduced, smaller and pocketable became the fashion. Maybe the younger folks are oblivious to the old stereo systems of their grandparents era, but those old systems predate HiFi systems by half a century. So I have to wonder, is HiFi really just a gimmicky, BS term to refer to better audio quality? After all, AirPods hardly fit the description I've read for HiFi.

This is the only HiFi thing I know for sure.

 

[Mrjetsondc]

I'm old guy, so I had to look up what HiFi supposedly refers to. I initially assumed it was either just another BS gimmicky name for better music quality with the streaming. What I read though is that HiFi is this new thing wherein you buy separate pieces/components of equipment to create your audio system. Really, new? Growing up in the 70s as a teenager we did that. You had a separate amplifier, a separate tuner, a separate record player, a separate tape deck, and later on a separate CD player. It was what we called a modular system made up of the components you wanted, along with separate speakers of course. Some even added separate reel to reel tap players as well. So if this is what young people are calling HiFi, well you are reinventing the darn wheel. With the advent of boomboxes and Walkmans in the 1970s and 1980s, the trend was to scale down to a bookshelf system which was still somewhat modular but much smaller. When the MP3 players became popular in the late 1990s and exploded in popularity after the iPods were introduced, smaller and pocketable became the fashion. Maybe the younger folks are oblivious to the old stereo systems of their grandparents era, but those old systems predate HiFi systems by half a century. So I have to wonder, is HiFi really just a gimmicky, BS term to refer to better audio quality? After all, AirPods hardly fit the description I've read for HiFi.

Lmao I used to have this setup. I love you old man.

 

[arvinsim]

Not interested if it is only limited to Apple devices.

 

[arvinsim]

I'm old guy, so I had to look up what HiFi supposedly refers to. I initially assumed it was either just another BS gimmicky name for better music quality with the streaming. What I read though is that HiFi is this new thing wherein you buy separate pieces/components of equipment to create your audio system. Really, new? Growing up in the 70s as a teenager we did that. You had a separate amplifier, a separate tuner, a separate record player, a separate tape deck, and later on a separate CD player. It was what we called a modular system made up of the components you wanted, along with separate speakers of course. Some even added separate reel to reel tap players as well. So if this is what young people are calling HiFi, well you are reinventing the darn wheel. With the advent of boomboxes and Walkmans in the 1970s and 1980s, the trend was to scale down to a bookshelf system which was still somewhat modular but much smaller. When the MP3 players became popular in the late 1990s and exploded in popularity after the iPods were introduced, smaller and pocketable became the fashion. Maybe the younger folks are oblivious to the old stereo systems of their grandparents era, but those old systems predate HiFi systems by half a century. So I have to wonder, is HiFi really just a gimmicky, BS term to refer to better audio quality? After all, AirPods hardly fit the description I've read for HiFi.

Don't forget the new, high-speed revolutionary connector called the 3.5mm headphone jack!

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Apple will try to „force“ the ones who already own Airpods, and use Spotify, and generally would like to have HiFi, to join Apple Music. And also „force“ the ones who use Apple Music, and generally would like to have HiFi, but currently own other Headphones, to buy Airpods.

How exactly? When, on the SAME device, the SAME person will be able to listen to Spotify high quality with no issues. Apple can’t force anyone to join Apple Music.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

There were even dozen of magazines called Hi-Fi something.. 🤣

What Hi-Fi?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

HiFi should be standard on all streaming services.
Whenever advancements in any kind of technology makes quality worse – we are all moving in the wrong direction.

So, when quality was made worse from Album to CD, that was the wrong direction? And, quality made worse AGAIN to mp3, that was the wrong direction?

Because, I would say that those steps are required to get from where we were to where we are now where standard purchased nitrates have risen from 128 to 256 and now we can even contemplate possibly obtaining higher.

 

[gnasher729]

So, when quality was made worse from Album to CD, that was the wrong direction? And, quality made worse AGAIN to mp3, that was the wrong direction?

Because, I would say that those steps are required to get from where we were to where we are now where standard purchased nitrates have risen from 128 to 256 and now we can even contemplate possibly obtaining higher.

The best you can get from iTunes is 256kbit AAC, derived from 192Khz/24bit originals, omitting the step when you import from CD where the music is first compressed to 44.1Khz/16bit.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

The best you can get from iTunes is 256kbit AAC, derived from 192Khz/24bit originals, omitting the step when you import from CD where the music is first compressed to 44.1Khz/16bit.

The best you USED to be able to get was 128, so 128 - 256… improvement. CD to 128 was a decrease which the OP indicates is ALWAYS a bad move.

 

[ani4ani]

I have pretty good hearing, too and using AirPods Pro there's no way for me to tell the difference between 320kbit MP3 and lossless. 128 was fairly easy to make out though...



Is this official information? Because then it would obviously be pretty hard to differentiate lossless from 320kbit MP3 😄

AirPods Pro cannot use lossless over bluetooth, so you might think you’re listening to lossless, but you are not unless you have aptX headphones, (which AirPods don’t have) standard bluetooth cannot carry lossless data at the required bit rates so you‘re not listening to lossless, hence probably why you cannot determine the difference. Even aptX only offers “CD like” by using special compression techniques to deliver “lossless” over the narrow Bluetooth bandwidth

 

[sdz]

as if the human ear is capable of noticing the difference. Another voodoo product.

 

[Robospungo]

Except nobody can tell the difference between 320kbps and lossless. With the current way audio is streamed, i.e. with bandwidth limitations etc; lossless, or hifi or whatever you want to call it, is absolutely useless in the vast majority of usage cases. It's just unnecessary.
It might be useful for some people with super high-end audio gear who play music at high volumes. Possibly.
Somewhere in this thread there's a test to see if you can tell the difference between the different sound qualities. See if you can tell the difference.

As often as people want to repeat this talking point, I’ll repeat that nobody listens to music like it’s a blind ABX test. People know what they are listening to when they are listening to it. The most these ABX tests can do is demonstrate the existence of the placebo effect. It doesn’t remove it.

I’ve been listening to digital files since the mid 1990s and I’ve never once preferred an MP3 to a lossless flac. Often, I can’t tell the difference. But there are times when I *think* the flac file clearly sounds better than the otherwise identical compressed version. Again, this might be placebo, but it’s irrelevant whether it is or not.

It’s 2021. We aren’t all on dial-up. There’s zero reason not to offer CD quality lossless files as an option. CD has been the standard since the 1980s. If you want a lesser spec, you can always encode to MP3 or Apple can offer customers the choice of download quality for those who prefer smaller file sizes.

 

[Robospungo]

as if the human ear is capable of noticing the difference. Another voodoo product.

CDs are a voodoo product?

 

[sdz]

CDs are a voodoo product?

You are unable to hear the difference between streamed music and a CD

 

[macmyworld]

I’m very happy with Tidal so Apple will have work to do. It’s not just having the ability to stream at a higher bit rate, but it also helps to have the recordings to match. Tidal Masters are fantastic to listen to on the right gear. Bluetooth remains a pesky problem for most setups. HD music is a bit of a confusing mess right now, it needs a single standard.

 

[JulianL]

I hope they update the iTunes store with lossless ALAC files, with an option to download 256k lossy version. If they keep prices the same, I’ll finally start buying digital music.

If the ALAC downloads were priced competitively that would be a good scenario for me. It would also make me a better Apple customer because it might switch the few hundred pounds a year I currently spend buying music mostly from the Qobuz download store over to Apple.

I discover new music by streaming and when something really grabs me I buy the download of the album both to support the artist more than via a few paltry streaming payments and also so that I can store it locally on my phone for when I’m flying, on the underground or elsewhere where I don’t have a good (or any) data connection. For my on-iPhone copies I already re-encode to 256K AAC so the option to download both lossless and lossy for any purchase would work brilliantly for me.

 

[1258186]

I hope there will be an option to update the purchased music in my iTunes library to HiFi quality. I’ve been waiting and hoping for this for many years.

 

[1258186]

It’s a shame they had to be pushed into this by Spotify making the first move. They should have done it years ago. This is exactly why we need strong competitors to force Apple to innovate.

 

[Wildkraut]

How exactly? When, on the SAME device, the SAME person will be able to listen to Spotify high quality with no issues. Apple can’t force anyone to join Apple Music.

Simply because they will Firmware update the Airpods to support HiFi over Apple Music only, the upcoming HiFi Codec surely won’t be available to Spotify & Co. Apps to access and use it.