Why does Apple Music require an external DAC for hi-res - iMac supports 24/96 natively

[LukeHarrison]

I signed up for Apple Music last week, to take advantage of their lossless streaming, and having spent three days putting my carefully curated library back together after iCloud Match ruined it, a thought occured.

Apple say an external DAC is required for anything higher than 24/48, but why? To be fair, I already use an external DAC but it only supports 24/48 itself. The built-in DAC on this iMac I'm using however supports 24/96 natively, so why is it I can't use that to listen to hi-res.

I know it won't go up to 24/192, but reading on the Apple website it almost seems to suggest that the output from the music app is capped at 24/48 unless an external DAC is used. Does anybody know if this is actually the case or will it play back 24/96 through the built-in output?

Most of the hi-res albums I've found so far top out at 24/96 anyway so that's not a problem for me.

 

[posguy99]

I signed up for Apple Music last week, to take advantage of their lossless streaming, and having spent three days putting my carefully curated library back together after iCloud Match ruined it, a thought occured.

I think you mean iCloud Music Library. You'd think people would know by now not to turn that on if they have any significant local library. Remember that you can't even do playlists unless you allow Apple access to destroy your local library.

 

[LukeHarrison]

I think you mean iCloud Music Library. You'd think people would know by now not to turn that on if they have any significant local library. Remember that you can't even do playlists unless you allow Apple access to destroy your local library.

God forbid something should work as advertised…

 

[Ritsuka]

It does not, if your Mac internal DAC supports 24/96 then it's enough.

 

[posguy99]

God forbid something should work as advertised…

<shrug> Apple tells you up front that the service is crippled unless you allow them access to the local library. What I've never understood is what Apple gets out of making that a requirement.

I would never *pay* for Apple Music. I get it free from VZW with my phone plan, but I hardly ever bother with it.

 

[RcktMan77]

I believe the issue is that the Apple Music app on macOS cannot use your iMac's internal sound output device in exclusive mode. This means music will be played at whatever the internal speaker output format is set to in the Audio MIDI Setup application. For example, my iMac's built-in speaker output is set to 2 ch 24-bit integer 96.0 kHz. Music encoded at 24-bit 44.1 kHz would be re-sampled to be output at 96.0 kHz. Similarly, 24-bit 192 kHz Hi-Res audio would be downsampled to 96.0 kHz. That is, the Apple Music app can't change the sound output resampling rate depending on the audio source material. So, for some music you may have lossless audio output, but for music encoded differently, it is resampled and no longer bit perfect.

The DAC doesn't fix this. The DAC is only relevant for iOS devices. The only way to have lossless audio with Apple Music is to use an iOS device that is connected to a DAC. On macOS you can only get lossless audio if the settings in the Apple MIDI Setup application match the format which the music source was encoded.

Third-party applications like Roon allow you to use an audio output device in exclusive mode, which will adjust the audio output format and sampling rate based on the source material. However, Roon only supports Tidal and Qobuz streaming services, and it isn't likely that Apple is going to add API support for third-parties to access their Apple Music service for users.

So until Apple updates their macOS Music app to support exclusive mode, lossless music playback on macOS is somewhat limited or unavailable altogether depending on your perspective. Of course, driving headphones that can actually take advantage of lossless audio and lossless high-res audio, usually requires an amp. I would imagine the set of users who have purchased an amp, DAC, and high-end set of headphones to connect to an iOS device for playback of Apple Music lossless music content is small.

 

[HDFan]

The only way to have lossless audio with Apple Music is to use an iOS device that is connected to a DAC.

Do you mean hi-res lossless > 48 kHz 24 bit? My understanding is that CD quality lossless can be played via the headphone adapter which supports up to 48 kHz 24 bit.

 

[RcktMan77]

Do you mean hi-res lossless > 48 kHz 24 bit? My understanding is that CD quality lossless can be played via the headphone adapter which supports up to 48 kHz 24 bit.

You are right, the lightning to 3.5 mm headphone adapter will allow you to listen to lossless Apple Music audio from an iOS device up to 24-bit 48 kHz.

I had been thinking about the AirPods Max lightning to 3.5 mm headphone audio cable in writing my response, in which the analog to digital conversion in the cable resamples the audio and as a result isn't lossless.

 

[doobydoooby]

Fascinating, I didn't know this. If it helps as an alternative, the tidal OSX app actually has a setting for this. It can be set up to either handoff the audio settings to the Audio Midi defaults, or for you to decide directly in the app what you want. Personally I let the tidal app handoff to the Audio Midi app which is set, like Rocketman above, to 24/96. Weirdly the Audio Midi setup on my mac won't go to 192 even though my DAC can handle that, but apparently we can't hear beyond 20,000 Hz anyway so the whole idea of 48,000 or 96,000 or 192,000 is kinda irrelevant. And our speakers cant pump it out even if we could hear it...apparently!

I'm curious why you would care though, if your external DAC is limited to 24/48 that is always going to be your pinch point... whatever speaker system you might think of plugging directly into your Mac isn't going to compete with a proper external DAC plugged into a hifi system with decent speakers as far as i can imagine.

 

[LukeHarrison]

I'm curious why you would care though, if your external DAC is limited to 24/48 that is always going to be your pinch point... whatever speaker system you might think of plugging directly into your Mac isn't going to compete with a proper external DAC plugged into a hifi system with decent speakers as far as i can imagine.

I have a very good set of powered studio monitors connected to the DAC. I know the DAC is the pinch point but I'd be happier either connecting them straight to the iMac (would require different cables, that's all) for 24/96 or better yet, upgrading the DAC. I also have an excellent hifi system, but that is fed with an AirPort Express and so anything higher than 24/44.1 isn't happening with that.

 

[tubular]

I signed up for Apple Music last week, to take advantage of their lossless streaming, and having spent three days putting my carefully curated library back together after iCloud Match ruined it, a thought occured.

Wir fahrn auf der Autobahn!

Also, yes, Apple's insistence that its metadata is better than yours, no matter what, is the main reason Apple Music as a whole just doesn't interest me.

 

[cr2]

I have a very good set of powered studio monitors connected to the DAC. I know the DAC is the pinch point but I'd be happier either connecting them straight to the iMac (would require different cables, that's all) for 24/96 or better yet, upgrading the DAC. I also have an excellent hifi system, but that is fed with an AirPort Express and so anything higher than 24/44.1 isn't happening with that.

Do you mind taking about you setup? I am thinking of getting good speakers and a stereo receiver. I have an odd shaped small room and where it makes most sense to install the speakers. Any thoughts / ideas? I mostly listen to classical (instruments) and a flat response is important.

I feel for you, iTunes messed up my curated library too. I wish  puts in some efforts in developing iTunes for Mac. I have been hit by a bug!