iPhone 15 Pro, iO5 18.5, Apple Music, Audio Quality Switch--Where is it at?

[smithdr]

Hello,

I am using an iPhone 15 Pro operating under iOS 18.5. Where is the Music Audio Quality switch? I do not see it in the in application itself or in the settings. Attached is a screen shot of my Music settings.

Thank you in advance.

Don

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

looking at your screenshot it says “join Apple music” so you either haven’t added your account or don’t have one…an account unlocks the audio quality feature.

 

[smithdr]

Hi SL,

Thank you for writing. I do not have Apple Music account. Nor did I I want one as all of my music is on my server. Are you saying that I need to have a paid Apple Music account in order to stream audio from my server to the iPhone so that I can unlock Apple Lossless Audio?

Don

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Sounds like you’ve thrown in a big wrench to your original question ha. No idea what your setup is but Apple Music is a service not a media management app. Unless you’re using the service you won’t get access to it’s features.

Whatever you are trying to do, Apple Music wouldn’t even be a part of the equation.

 

[smithdr]

Hi SL:

Well Apple Music is something media management app. I converted numerous .flac file to Apple Lossless on my server. Then I can see these files on Apple Music. Depending on what I do, I can organize them by artist, album, song. That to me is a media management app. Is it not? Plus all of the service that you can get.

So the question remains the same. Do I need to purchase a subscription to use Apple Lossless with my AirPod Max for my media that I have ripped from CDs? Because if I cannot, I might as well return the Air Pod Max's back and purchase a different product that will allow me to do so.

Don

 

[Michael0816]

I don't really get what Apple (Music) has to do with your own music on your server? If you have your tracks saved in a lossless audio format which the iPhone can play, shouldn't it do it? 🤔

 

[smithdr]

Hi Mike:

I am starting to believe this as well. Here's why. The AirPods Max 2 has a 24 bit 48 kHz DAC on the USB wired side which is little bit better that CD quality of 16 Bit 44.1 kHz which is 1411 kbps at 44.1 kHz. I tried this on the application called Flacbox with a file on my server that is .flac. Flacbox reported a playback of 706 kbs 48000 kHz--this varied by distance to the router and the track played. This is better than typical .mb3 files that are typically between 128 and 320 kbps. But know where near CD quality of 1411 kbps.

Maybe this is more a function on how I ripped to .flac and the file type. Maybe an .alac will preform better than a .flac for streaming from my router. My other though is that performance would be better if it is resident on my iPhone. Some fun experiments to try.

Here is what I do not understand as yet. With Apple Music they have high res lossless--24 bit 192 kHz using a wired connection. I do not know how this works if the best the wired AirPods Max 2 DAC can perform is 24 bit 48 kHz? I have tried researching this stuff on the internet but I am never able to get an answer that makes sense.

In fact, I am beginning to believe that none of these all-in-one headphones (whether they be Apple, B&W, Focal, etc) can ever play hires 24 bit 192 kHz--the onboard DACs are just not good enough. What is required is a good 24 bit 192 kHz external DAC going into high quality analog headphones.

Anyways, I have B&W PX7s3 on order. This has a wired DAC that has a specification that is 24 bit at 98 kHZ. I'll keep the headphone that has the best sound to me. Regardless, the best that you can hope for from a ripped CD is 16 bit 44.1 kHz because that is how they are encoded.


Let the games begin.

Don

 

[smithdr]

Anyways, I have B&W PX7s3 on order. This has a wired DAC that has a specification that is 24 bit at 98 kHZ. I'll keep the headphone that has the best sound to me. Regardless, the best that you can hope for from a ripped CD is 16 bit 44.1 kHz because that is how they are encoded.


Let the games begin.

Don

I have both the B&W PX7s3 and the AirPodsMax. The B&W's do sound a little better than the APM. The APMs sound a little on the dull side compared to the B&Ws. However, I found that I could brighten the APMs up a bit using the following: Settings, Accessibility, Audio and Visual, Headphone Accommodations, then select Brighten. This improved the sound (to me anyways) and made them closer the B&Ws.

The B&Ws did have a better DAC at 24 Bit 96 KHz vs. the APMs 24 Bit 48 KHz. But, all the music that I listen to is all CD quality 16 Bit 44.1 KHz. So the difference in DAC made no difference to me. The other nice think is that the B&Ws is the ability to receive aptX lossless via Bluetooth. This works with the Sennheiser BTD 700 dongle that when connected to iPhone transmits aptX lossless. I purchased one and it works well. However, it is not practical to plug directly into the phone because it could be damaged if bumped. Better to have the dongle attached to the USB C Male to USB C Female to prevents accidents. Again, this did not have much value to me because I listen to music with my iPhone in my hand. So might as well have it connected via a cable to the phone. Also, I found the B&Ws clunky to use with the little buttons on the ear cups.

Where the APMs shined was tight integration within the Apple ecosystem. Whereas the B&Ws did not. The B&Ws were always inadvertently connecting to the TV preventing my wife from watching while I was listening to music. Then, I would have to manually go into the B&W application to disconnect from the Apple TV.

The slight improvement in sound of the B&Ws did not offset the convenience of APMs. I returned the B&W Px7S3 and kept the APMs.

Hope this helps others.

Don