[Blinxat]

anyone feel the bass is slightly more pronounced when ANC is turned OFF? I think I prefer it with it ON

 

[alidark3000]

anyone feel the bass is slightly more pronounced when ANC is turned OFF? I think I prefer it with it ON

The sound changes for everyone differently - because it's not compensating for the fit of the cups.

For me, the treble is smoother and sub is more reasonable with anc off. I used to prefer anc off But I don't notice issues with the ANC sound any more, so maybe I got used to it or maybe it's anc has been tweaked.

 

[Soundizer]

I just ordered White Airpod MAX arriving tomorrow.

I also have 2 x Sony WH1000XM4 headphones.

Why so many BT Headphones:
- Airpod MAX = for best sound quality BT from Apple Music. Also waiting for TVOS15 for Dolby iTunes Movieslater this year.
- 1st Sony WH1000XM4 = TV listening via Nvidia Shield in LDAC.
- 2nd Sony WH1000XM4 = when cleaning house and gardening.

 

[MICHAELSD]

One thing I’ve learned about Atmos. Make sure when NOT using AirPods of any kind that you change the Atmos setting to ‘Always On’. If you like (or want to try) Atmos.

Also, I’m still baffled by Apple’s demo of Spatial Audio using a track by The Weeknd. I’ve yet to hear any meaningful difference on my APM. Is it just me? The Gaye demo is much more dramatic.

On basically everything I’ve listened to it on The Weeknd’s “From Stereo to Spatial” track Apple is using definitely doesn’t have the wow effect that they’re intending. It boggles the mind how they could say that this isn’t hype and do an excellent job hyping and describing spatial audio, then they say “check this out” and the example isn’t exactly compelling. It should be almost exaggerated like being in the theater seeing/hearing the Dolby presentation for the first time.

 

[Daniel Johnston]

On basically everything I’ve listened to it on The Weeknd’s “From Stereo to Spatial” track Apple is using definitely doesn’t have the wow effect that they’re intending. It boggles the mind how they could say that this isn’t hype and do an excellent job hyping and describing spatial audio, then they say “check this out” and the example isn’t exactly compelling. It should be almost exaggerated like being in the theater seeing/hearing the Dolby presentation for the first time.

Agreed on this.

I'm underwhelmed playing spatial audio on anything except the APM.

We also are a bit biased given we have pretty good headphone gear and sources. The leap may not be high for us, but it could wow someone with stock earbuds or cheap headphones.

 

[fordski]

Agreed on this.

I'm underwhelmed playing spatial audio on anything except the APM.

We also are a bit biased given we have pretty good headphone gear and sources. The leap may not be high for us, but it could wow someone with stock earbuds or cheap headphones.

I've been spending a fair amount of time trying the spacial audio on various headphones (including Airpods Max) and gear. After listening to it for a few days it's starting to grow on me. I find the best experience with the music where the differences between spacial audio and stereo are subtle but still noticeable. I agree the leap may not be high with good equipment but to my ears, it's a noticeable improvement in how I enjoy the music. Having said that some songs are almost unlistenable in Dolby Atmos and could possibly be due to mixing/or conversion issues.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I've been spending a fair amount of time trying the spacial audio on various headphones (including Airpods Max) and gear. After listening to it for a few days it's starting to grow on me. I find the best experience with the music where the differences between spacial audio and stereo are subtle but still noticeable. I agree the leap may not be high with good equipment but to my ears, it's a noticeable improvement in how I enjoy the music. Having said that some songs are almost unlistenable in Dolby Atmos and could possibly be due to mixing/or conversion issues.

The biggest surprise to me with Spatial Audio has been how well it works in the car. A 12-speaker “hi-fi” system has been the most impressive place I’ve found to listen to Dolby Atmos by far.

I wouldn’t say it’s definitively better than stereo, but singers sound like they’re outside of the vehicle and every single layer is clearly defined and separated. It’s almost incredible being able to pick out every single piano, string, and guitar riff with clarity and precision on the right tracks. Again I’m just not sure I’d want to listen like this all the time and it would be nice to be able to switch between Atmos/Lossless/AAC in CarPlay. I’m not even sure when Lossless is streaming properly without checking my iPhone, and in some cases the logo doesn’t pop up at all where it should and it seems like it is playing higher-bitrate Lossless files due to pauses and minor hiccups while streaming.

 

[SparkOnShore]

Checking the audio midi setup on my m1 MacBook Air, while APM is playing in bluetooth, I saw writing: AirPods Max output 2 ch, 32 bit float, 48khz. What does that mean? Is the APM already lossless capable but just not Hi-Res lossless capable? Also, Apple says that we need to activate spatial audio on control center in oder to get Dolby Atmos music on the APM. But the spatial audio toggle, even though existing on iPhone, it does not exist on the control center of Mac OS. Does that mean that we cannot have Dolby Atmos music when playing from a Mac?

 

[tinyman392]

Checking the audio midi setup on my m1 MacBook Air, while APM is playing in bluetooth, I saw writing: AirPods Max output 2 ch, 32 bit float, 48khz. What does that mean? Is the APM already lossless capable but just not Hi-Res lossless capable? Also, Apple says that we need to activate spatial audio on control center in oder to get Dolby Atmos music on the APM. But the spatial audio toggle, even though existing on iPhone, it does not exist on the control center of Mac OS. Does that mean that we cannot have Dolby Atmos music when playing from a Mac?

The app is likely transmitting 2 channel audio with 32-bits of dynamic range and 48kHz sampling rate. This will get transcribed down to 256 AAC (24 bit/48 kHz) before being sent to the APM. Spatial Audio support for Macs is coming in the next OS if I'm not mistaken, so no current Macs support it. You'll need an M1 machine as well, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[OneEyedHito]

Mac OSX Monterrey has spatial audio to APM. Watched a few minutes of Greyhound 2 days ago……this is the best application of audio in a long time! Watched 2 episodes of Loki on iPad Pro with iPad OS 15 and again, damn Spatial Audio is good in films. Music is clearly in the very early stages of development with this tech but movies/shows. It’s on point!

 

[SparkOnShore]

The app is likely transmitting 2 channel audio with 32-bits of dynamic range and 48kHz sampling rate. This will get transcribed down to 256 AAC (24 bit/48 kHz) before being sent to the APM. Spatial Audio support for Macs is coming in the next OS if I'm not mistaken, so no current Macs support it. You'll need an M1 machine as well, if I'm not mistaken.

Are you sure AAC 256 is 24 bit/48 khz? Because 24/48 is the lossless quality on Apple Music, but AAC is lossy.

 

[tinyman392]

Are you sure AAC 256 is 24 bit/48 khz? Because 24/48 is the lossless quality on Apple Music, but AAC is lossy.

Yes, the AAC (iTunes+) should be 24 bit/48 kHz. It’s compressed though so information is taken out. When uncompressed it comes out to 24 bit/48 kHz, however, if you compare the uncompressed with the original, you’ll see a lot of missing information (the waveforms won’t be the same). I‘m pretty sure it’s 24 bit, but it may be 16 bit.

 

[SparkOnShore]

Yes, the AAC (iTunes+) should be 24 bit/48 kHz. It’s compressed though so information is taken out. When uncompressed it comes out to 24 bit/48 kHz, however, if you compare the uncompressed with the original, you’ll see a lot of missing information (the waveforms won’t be the same). I‘m pretty sure it’s 24 bit, but it may be 16 bit.

I understand, you are clear. Thank you.

 

[tinyman392]

I understand, you are clear. Thank you.

I need to correct myself on the above. It looks like iTunes Plus is sampled at 44.1 Hz with a bit depth of 24 bits. I'm actually not sure what's sent to the headphones though, it would have to be between 44.1/16 to 48/24 since the AirPods Max peak out at 48/24 (digital through wire).

 

[tkddans]

With all this talk about lossless and comparing bit depths and sampling rates, etc…I found this article today that is fantastic at explaining it all, along with how playback is specifically impacted.

My takeaway is essentially…

• Sampling rates above 44 kHz (AAC) is inaudible. I.e. don’t bother improving beyond it unless you need to record higher frequencies for some purpose besides music. Recording bats maybe? Lol

• Bit depth of 16 bit allows for accurate portrayal of recorded loudness of up to 96 dB. That’s very loud, but for instantaneously louder moments in classical recordings, for example, a higher bit depth would, in theory, have more accurate playback of dynamic range. It would seem here that bit depth could be most important for us audiophiles. However, 16 bit giving us an accurate playback of 96 dB range would essentially mean that most of the time we really won’t hear the differences of aliasing or artifacts come up in our music, when trying to compare 16 bit with 24 bit or higher.

Conclusion. On paper, it would make sense to say higher bit depth could allow for more accurate playback at the ends of the dynamic range in our music, but it will hardly be an issue for most playback if it is at all to most people. In theory, neither the increased bit depth nor sampling rate of lossless should have any appreciable impact on anything in normal listening conditions over 16 bit / 44.1 kHz AAC.

I ordered an audio switch box off Amazon and will compare two iOS devices, one AAC, one lossless, to see if I can notice any differences. I should, according to the article and my naive understanding, only hear differences at quieter and louder portions of playback. Lossless should have less of a noise floor as well as more accurate extremely loud moments.

EDIT:: Many of you know more about this than me and what I read in that article. If you can help educate me on how else music may be affected beyond the article, please help correct or reach me