Nah, it's a good deal for people who just want their music library in the cloud so they can play it anywhere. $25 is a lot cheaper than a year of Apple Music.
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iOS 14.6 Features: Everything New in iOS 14.6
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As a composer and responsible for mixing and/or mastering a number of artists, lossless IS a big deal. Try listening to one of your favorite tracks on Tidal versus Spotify. It's similar to a nearsighted person getting eyeglasses for the first time.
Hmm. I am willing to be convinced but my hearing is... ok not great (too many rock shows w/o ear protection when I was younger and dumber) and I'm not sure I have equipment that would show the difference. Maybe I'm wrong? I guess what I'm saying is that to someone like you with a well trained ear, I wonder if the differences are more glaring than they might be for plebes like me.
As an example, I have a pair of Grado GW100, which I think are pretty respectable open-backed headphones. They can work over Bluetooth or though a wired connection which (I believe) makes them behave like analog headphones. I know there's probably some difference but I'd be very hard-pressed to pinpoint it. There are things like cymbals and, oddly, static, that "show" compression much more, but it's a real strain for me to tell.
If you're dealing with MP3, yes. Easily. The audio with AAC is compressed differently.
So when are we going to get lossless video?
(I'm kidding; it's definitely unnecessary, just like 256AAC -> Lossless AAC)
(I'm kidding; it's definitely unnecessary, just like 256AAC -> Lossless AAC)
For a start, big sound systems usually have a flatter frequency response that stuff you’ll have at home. For the most part it’s to do with the colossal loss of harmonic content, ambience and space due to removing sub 20Hz/over 20kHz to retain the mp3 file size. In my experience it’s a lack of perceiving rather than hearing those extra harmonics, but you’ll miss them when they’re not there
Even at 320kbps the various conversions are still flawed even compared to AAC, and amount of mangling that happens with key lock and pitch control as you beat match… It only highlights things more, it ain’t pretty even using z plane elastique algorithms.
note: even the very best sound systems can’t be considered superior as such if placed outdoors, also a club environment has a rather high noise floor, so while the systems are capable of better reproduction by and large, it doesn’t mean better sound
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Right, but you can always sync lossless ALAC files (ripped from CD or downloaded from some HD audio site) to a device; they'll upload as lossy AAC, but you can still get them where you want with some extra effort.
Given that lossless files are much larger, esp. on older storage limited devices, I tend to be selective with what I have in lossless format, where I think I'd be likely to notice or paying close enough attention (not all music benefits equally, and some one might be likelier to listen to in more ideal listening conditions). As storage increases in new and future devices, I'll be less selective. So I have to make some extra effort anyway. I never had iTunes Match separately, only as a feature included in Apple Music, so I can't say it hurts except for those tracks that aren't available in Apple Music.
What I've discerned is that at age 65 I have trouble hearing explosions and sirens, let alone the distinction between lossless and lossy.
I’m on 14.6 - iPhone 8 and honestly haven’t come across any appreciable battery drain, if anything things are a bit better. My max capacity is at 86%