[rcoranje]

I’ve gotta say, I’m starting to re-evaluate the entire need for headphone amps.

I’m listening to my 6XX straight out of my iPad via the $9 Apple dongle and Lossless sounds incredible.

Funny that people discover that now. Somebody like Ken Rockwell described Apple's cheap dongle already in 2017, saying: 'Most 3rd-party headphone amps and DACs, all be they bigger and far more expensive, put out less clean power into 32Ω loads, and do it with more distortion, poorer sound and lousier frequency response.' https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-quality.htm

 

[Soundizer]

Is there a Apple Music lossless thread here on HEADFI. I have tried searching, but cannot find it or perhaps there is a main Apple Music thread.

 

[hehifi]

I bought APM, actually it sounds good, and the noise cancelling is very powerful. With spatial audio, it rocks with Apple TV. I think it is much better than 1000XM3, just a little bit pricy.

 

[polymathic]

I like how system wide this is, for my hearing loss, this helps a lot on a phone call or while watching a video.

This works across the board and has helped me. You can already do this on iOS 14--I figured out a way to manually equalize the APMs using the audiogram feature of accessibility. There is an app that allows you to tune 9 channels for each side at 62.5Hz, 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1.0kHz, 2.0kHz, 4.0kHz, 8.0kHz, and 10.0kHz. Once you input into the app your preference (or in my case to my clinical audiogram), you can save the info to HealthKit and have the APM and APP use the custom configuration. You can save multiple configurations, and cycle through them in HealthApp's audiogram section.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ihearit/id1564791424

 

[mammal]

This works across the board and has helped me. You can already do this on iOS 14--I figured out a way to manually equalize the APMs using the audiogram feature of accessibility. There is an app that allows you to tune 9 channels for each side at 62.5Hz, 125Hz, 250Hz, 500Hz, 1.0kHz, 2.0kHz, 4.0kHz, 8.0kHz, and 10.0kHz. Once you input into the app your preference (or in my case to my clinical audiogram), you can save the info to HealthKit and have the APM and APP use the custom configuration. You can save multiple configurations, and cycle through them in HealthApp's audiogram section.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ihearit/id1564791424

Thank you so much for this. I only knew of a different app that does take the measurement, but for me it was not as accurate as my audiogram. Will manually input it using this app, much appreciated!

 

[Soundizer]

I bought APM, actually it sounds good, and the noise cancelling is very powerful. With spatial audio, it rocks with Apple TV. I think it is much better than 1000XM3, just a little bit pricy.

Does Spatial now work with AppleTV to APM for iTunes Movies?

 

[hehifi]

Does Spatial now work with AppleTV to APM for iTunes Movies?

I don't use iTunes Movies. AirPods Max does support spatial audio for Apple TV App on iPad (will support Apple TV on Mac with M1 chip too in macOS 12?), now APM supports spatial audio for Apple Music with Dolby Atmos. Eventually, spatial audio will support more and more apps in apple ecosystem.

 

[tinyman392]

Does Spatial now work with AppleTV to APM for iTunes Movies?

On the AppleTV beta OS, I'd imagine it should if the movie is Dolby surround sound. But I don't know for sure.

Does Spatial now work with AppleTV to APM for iTunes Movies?

Sorry for the double reply, but if you have an iPad or iPhone, try to play one of your Dolby surround sound videos (maybe one purchased in iTunes and one not) on that device with your APP or APM and see if it does Spatial Audio for you. If it does, I'd imagine it would most likely work with the AppleTV too. If it doesn't then I'd imagine that it wouldn't work on the AppleTV for sure.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Funny that people discover that now. Somebody like Ken Rockwell described Apple's cheap dongle already in 2017, saying: 'Most 3rd-party headphone amps and DACs, all be they bigger and far more expensive, put out less clean power into 32Ω loads, and do it with more distortion, poorer sound and lousier frequency response.' https://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/lightning-adapter-audio-quality.htm

Yes, the $9 adapter puts out better quality than most if not all other Lightning-based options on the market. The only issue that may lead an audiophile to seek an alternative is that it can’t output Hi-Res Lossless.

 

[MICHAELSD]

There isn't really a big difference between 256Kbps since it is 262,144 bps and the Apple developer document is 264,630 bps. Why the difference? Apple doesn't send AAC as constant bit rate (CBR), rather it uses variable bit rate (VBR).... In VBR in Bluetooth you put in the maximum peak bit rate rather than the actual bit rate in CBR, thus the average bit rate is usually lower and that agrees with what I see on the Mac where it rarely gets close to (roughly) 256Kbps.

There shouldn’t be a significant difference anyway that would justify debating the merits of 256kbps vs 264kbps, if that’s even how the numbers convert. The perceived improvement with lossless over Bluetooth is more than likely just placebo, but I know plenty of people (myself included) that will be streaming Apple Lossless files whenever possible. I’ve wondered myself if I’m unnecessarily placing more work on the processor to re-encode lossless to Bluetooth AAC.

I have also enabled Lossless streaming over cellular since I’m confident that in the car on a high-end sound system via CarPlay is where it will truly shine. Also of course on planar magnetic headphones such as my Audeze EL-8 Titanium. This may even breathe new life into the Cipher cable.

 

[Bhelpoori]

There shouldn’t be a significant difference anyway that would justify debating the merits of 256kbps vs 264kbps, if that’s even how the numbers convert. The perceived improvement with lossless over Bluetooth is more than likely just placebo, but I know plenty of people (myself included) that will be streaming Apple Lossless files whenever possible. I’ve wondered myself if I’m unnecessarily placing more work on the processor to re-encode lossless to Bluetooth AAC.

I have also enabled Lossless streaming over cellular since I’m confident that in the car on a high-end sound system via CarPlay is where it will truly shine. Also of course on planar magnetic headphones such as my Audeze EL-8 Titanium. This may even breathe new life into the Cipher cable.

Decompressing ALAC to WAV is trivial and less processing than decoding AAC, however, streaming ALAC will use more power simply because it is more bandwidth so keeping the radio on longer. I doubt it would be more than 15% though.

There is no difference in quality for that small a difference in bps, however, note that we’re dealing with VBR so these are maximum bps not average…

 

[hehifi]

Yes, the $9 adapter puts out better quality than most if not all other Lightning-based options on the market. The only issue that may lead an audiophile to seek an alternative is that it can’t output Hi-Res Lossless.

The biggest drawback of Apple's lightening to 3.5 mm audio adapter is its limited output power. Since most HiFi earphones have several BA units, and they are quite difficult to be fully driven by low power outputs.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Decompressing ALAC to WAV is trivial and less processing than decoding AAC, however, streaming ALAC will use more power simply because it is more bandwidth so keeping the radio on longer. I doubt it would be more than 15% though.

There is no difference in quality for that small a difference in bps, however, note that we’re dealing with VBR so these are maximum bps not average…

What’s going to happen is that there are going to be millions of Apple Music subscribers unnecessarily using the extra storage space and bandwidth to stream Lossless files over Bluetooth, which shouldn’t be an issue since they’ll still get the gratification of seeing the Lossless logo. Having Dolby Atmos and Lossless makes Apple Music feel more premium.

I am enjoying Dolby Atmos on Taylor Swift’s re-recorded Fearless album. I’ve heard it multiple times on various sound systems, so it does feel like a different experience that brings out finer details I hadn’t heard before. I think that’s the utility of Dolby Atmos, just as it is with Lossless on high-end gear IMO: to go back in and hear a different perspective on songs that are already known and loved. There are definitely guitar riffs and background vocals/instruments that weren’t apparent before that can be more easily picked out in space and appreciated. Apple should make it possible to toggle between Dolby Atmos and stereo within the Music app. I’d rather listen to a song in stereo first, then go back and listen to the Atmos version.

 

[fly1171]

Hello my impression but with the latest update the AirPods max feel worse. Raised the bass and practically gone the highs?

 

[rcoranje]

The biggest drawback of Apple's lightening to 3.5 mm audio adapter is its limited output power. Since most HiFi earphones have several BA units, and they are quite difficult to be fully driven by low power outputs.

I just quote: 'If you're using regular headphones (under 100Ω), you can't do better than using this adapter or just plugging it into your iPhone, iPad or iPod. Only if you're running 240Ω or higher headphones are you likely to need a professional amp like the Benchmark DAC1 HDR to get more output.'
And: 'The only reason to get an outboard headphone amplifier for use with your iPhone 7 Plus is if you have high-impedance (100Ω or greater) headphones like the 600 Ω beyerdynamic DT880 which often require more voltage than the 1V RMS maximum from iOS devices and this adapter. In this case, you still don't need a DAC; the analog output from this adapter will probably be better than what you'd get from an expensive outboard DAC!'