[Calvinyjj]

Recently I am able to subscribed to a 4 months free trial on apple music, tried playing them over my fiio DAP, they sounded better than Tidal app (android),
but when i switch over to stream music using a PC connected to an external DAC/AMP, Apple music cannot deliver bit-perfect music given that it's app in the form of windows itunes and apple music android app via emulator.
So it renders Apple Music useless unless using it via apple product or a DAP to play music directly.
Anyone has any idea to allow Apple Music to be playing bit-perfect audio via a PC - external DAC AMP?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Recently I am able to subscribed to a 4 months free trial on apple music, tried playing them over my fiio DAP, they sounded better than Tidal app (android),
but when i switch over to stream music using a PC connected to an external DAC/AMP, Apple music cannot deliver bit-perfect music given that it's app in the form of windows itunes and apple music android app via emulator.
So it renders Apple Music useless unless using it via apple product or a DAP to play music directly.
Anyone has any idea to allow Apple Music to be playing bit-perfect audio via a PC - external DAC AMP?

Hi, yes. There is a thread at audiophilestyle about how to set up bitfect applemusic / itunes.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

From what I've gathered you cannot officially, but saw some article with using Android simulator and app, haven't tried it myself, too much hassle, so my free Apple sub goes wasted.

 

[Calvinyjj]

Hi, yes. There is a thread at audiophilestyle about how to set up bitfect applemusic / itunes.

Thanks for your referral, I read the article yesterday, it seems that they were just focusing on the Mac Os optimization, not really for windows / android platform.

 

[Calvinyjj]

From what I've gathered you cannot officially, but saw some article with using Android simulator and app, haven't tried it myself, too much hassle, so my free Apple sub goes wwasted

Yes I try to use Apple music via bluestacks simulator but still it is not bit perfect output which is holygrail for all we ever want from these streaming services.

 

[xeizo]

I use Itunes on Windows 11 and while it doesn't explicitly mention lossless, some streams are displayed under "song info" as "unknown format" and generally those are the best sounding streams. "Normal" streams are displayed as AAC and 256kB. Those sounds good too, but not as good.

I have set 24-bit and my interface maximum sample rate under /edit/preferences/playback which requires a restart of Itunes to start working. I use it on several PC:s with maximum sample rates ranging from 48kHz to 192kHz, all sounds good. Biggest con is you can only authorize Itunes on 5 devices, I'm currently at 4, and you can only reset authorization once a year(a bummer for me as I constantly rebuild my rigs, I like the latest and the greatest).

On Android the Apple Music client do have native support of lossless, I use it a lot with cans, but Itunes with a good interface sounds virtually as good. Hard to detect any difference in quality, if at all. And, Google Chromecast TV streams from the Android client just fine, also sounds very good.

Overall, I can do with the current situation even if I would have liked a much better client than Itunes, but I can hardly blame Itunes for sounding bad. Remember, the quality of the record masters does a lot more for the sound quality than which streaming protocol. And Apple has a lot of very good masters from the record labels. So far happy with Apple Music, even if I do not have a single Apple device

 

[Calvinyjj]

I use Itunes on Windows 11 and while it doesn't explicitly mention lossless, some streams are displayed under "song info" as "unknown format" and generally those are the best sounding streams. "Normal" streams are displayed as AAC and 256kB. Those sounds good too, but not as good.

I have set 24-bit and my interface maximum sample rate under /edit/preferences/playback which requires a restart of Itunes to start working. I use it on several PC:s with maximum sample rates ranging from 48kHz to 192kHz, all sounds good. Biggest con is you can only authorize Itunes on 5 devices, I'm currently at 4, and you can only reset authorization once a year(a bummer for me as I constantly rebuild my rigs, I like the latest and the greatest).

On Android the Apple Music client do have native support of lossless, I use it a lot with cans, but Itunes with a good interface sounds virtually as good. Hard to detect any difference in quality, if at all. And, Google Chromecast TV streams from the Android client just fine, also sounds very good.

Overall, I can do with the current situation even if I would have liked a much better client than Itunes, but I can hardly blame Itunes for sounding bad. Remember, the quality of the record masters does a lot more for the sound quality than which streaming protocol. And Apple has a lot of very good masters from the record labels. So far happy with Apple Music, even if I do not have a single Apple device

I try to use Itunes on windows 11 too, thanks for mentioning about the 'unknown format', it seems that it might be playing at hi-res quality but unfortunately it is not playing at real Hi-Res because I could look at my K9pro light indicator for the type of source file, it is still in the lowest quality (blue color) at 16bit48k max. So it means that itunes is not able to play the files at exclusive mode / wasapi exclusive or Asio mode.

 

[xeizo]

I try to use Itunes on windows 11 too, thanks for mentioning about the 'unknown format', it seems that it might be playing at hi-res quality but unfortunately it is not playing at real Hi-Res because I could look at my K9pro light indicator for the type of source file, it is still in the lowest quality (blue color) at 16bit48k max. So it means that itunes is not able to play the files at exclusive mode / wasapi exclusive or Asio mode.

Maybe not, but even if it's only ALAC 16/48 it's a step up from AAC 256kb, but then it could also depend on the versatility of the driver for the soundcard being used. How it treats WMA. WMA is able to perform 24/192, so it could very much be the driver limiting things. And yes, there's no switch for ASIO/Wasapi but in Windows 11 WMA can perform exclusive mode which you control with the new audio applet in Windows 11.

Anyway, the damned thing sounds good to the ears which is what ultimately matters

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I try to use Itunes on windows 11 too, thanks for mentioning about the 'unknown format', it seems that it might be playing at hi-res quality but unfortunately it is not playing at real Hi-Res because I could look at my K9pro light indicator for the type of source file, it is still in the lowest quality (blue color) at 16bit48k max. So it means that itunes is not able to play the files at exclusive mode / wasapi exclusive or Asio mode.

There was some discussion about how to get bit perfect with apple music on apple gear on the audiophilestyle site.

 

[Pro-Jules]

New airpods rumored have hi res

WLAN?

New blutooth codec?

 

[Bytor123]

Apple Music is about more than the fidelity of the playback; there's convenience and completeness. Much of one's music consumption, on a day to day basis, is probably 'on the go' - in the car, on the bike, commuting, walking the cat. Via Bluetooth. I reckon it's spot on.

 

[stonesfan99]

My parents got a subscription to it. It's nice if you want a huge catalog of music, but don't own much of anything already. If you've already got a big CD collection built up, I don't know if it's worth it. The quality is pretty good. I've ABX'd 256k Apple AAC with lossless (both tracks ripped from the same CD) for hours and hours and couldn't hear a difference on my relatively cheap equipment.

 

[kachoo]

I use a Mac/Pc and switch the two fairly frequently. Is lossless supported on iTunes via Windows? How about through the web player? I didn't see any options for lossless when I checked, but was hoping it was on by default.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

No lossless support in iTunes, not sure if they even plan one.

 

[stonesfan99]

.