Apple Music  Now with lossless high-res and spatial audio
Jun 11, 2021 at 11:57 AM Post #271 of 871
Yeah, AirPlay has always made my Chord Mojo+Poly light up red (16/44), never orange (24/48). I have always wondered about that. Seems like Apple is using "Lossless" as a euphemism to mean CD Quality. I'm finding it hard to care because it sounds so good.

Well this is even worse since Apple Music is not even doing true 16/44 over AirPlay but compressed aac. The lossless selection in settings hasn’t been applied to AirPlay streaming yet.

But yeah AirPlay 2 needs an update. Chromecast can do up to 24/192 on some systems so no reason AirPlay can’t be updated as well.
 
Jun 11, 2021 at 12:37 PM Post #273 of 871
Agree. However, I'm not sure of the quality of the songs that I uploaded to the icloud library since the songs i uploaded is in 16/42khz. If it was convert to 256kbps AAC, i have no telling as my 2Qute will still be lighting up in the same red colour. You got any insight to this?
If you upload it redbook alac. It will show up as lossless when you play a track click the lossless icon.
Even some very old alac I uploaded few years ago showed up as lossless and I know for sure these albums are not on AM.
I haven’t tried uploading a 96kHz album yet.
 
Jun 11, 2021 at 12:42 PM Post #274 of 871
I'd rather have them simply use a higher bitrate version of AAC. Both LDAC and aptX are less sophisticated.
On the way is my guess.

Then a new batch of headphones users will have to buy to use it!

(Or are the M1 chip headphones able to be upgraded?)
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2021 at 12:55 PM Post #276 of 871
How compressed did the Naim device say the AirPlay audio is? If it's compressing it below CD quality I'd be surprised because it sounds a lot better than the old Apple Music (on a Chord device and fancy headphones). Also better than Tidal Hi-Fi over AirPlay when I tried some A/B tests with the same gear.

I doubt an AirPlay update is coming. Apple is downplaying Lossless/Hi-Res in all of their public statements. They are very content to make billions of dollars selling bluetooth AirPod devices to the world, hence the emphasis on Atmos

They showed it’s being sent as 256 aac. As said this is not an AirPlay issue, but an issue with the settings of Apple Music and AirPlay. Directly connected, Apple is putting out lossless and hires. The assumption was we could at least use AirPlay to get lossless sound quality now. I’ve compared to Amazon Music, and their quality match roon/Qobuz for cd level.

Just mention, Naim doesn’t currently show the bit rate of the files. A Naim tech chimed in with detailed screenshots of what was going on behind the scenes. And then in roon forum, other users also showed on different streamers with bit rate shown that same thing was happening. So wasn’t an issue with Naim but Apple Music itself.
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2021 at 2:17 PM Post #278 of 871
Reading the Roon thread. Seems like the AAC/AirPlay issue is confined to the macOS app rather than iOS or iPadOS?


Hmm, I’ll have to re-read but I got that it was both mac and iPhone/iPad. I clearly could hear from the iPhone that songs didn’t sound as good as roon.

Just looked at the Naim forum and the tech does not say anything about this issue being limited to only the mac. Just says it’s an issue with Apple Music. If they make a change to the software, should be able to get 16/44 to work. Anything higher would require AirPlay to be updated.

So if using other apps to stream thu AirPlay, can at least get 16/44 right now.
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2021 at 2:34 PM Post #280 of 871
That's pretty unconvincing. They are completely different apps and AirPlay on iOS is always system-wide. People on Roon forum are saying Mac is playing ALAC if AirPlay is sent as the OS audio output. If you switch from high quality to lossless on iPhone AirPlay the difference is apparent.

So I’m going to assume it’s just iOS related. I’ll test from my new iMac later to see if sounds any different. The issue is I’d never play from my iMac to my headphone setup. I’d be using iPad or iPhone, so this doesn’t solve current situation. Or do you want have this backwards?

I’ll try playing with settings on iPhone first.
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2021 at 2:56 PM Post #282 of 871
To be clear this is using a Chord streamer/dac with HifiMAN Arya. I'm sure I would not be able to tell the difference on HomePod or Sonos. Those systems use their own DSP anyway

I still don’t believe Apple Music on the iPhone is lossless over AirPlay. Amazon Music clearly sounds better with more reverb, space, and air to the music. But couldn’t hear any difference between lossless and high quality setting on the iPhone for Apple Music. I’m listening with Focal Uptopia’s with Danacable Reference Lazuli cable and Naim Uniti Atom HE. I used to have Chord Dave/mscaler setup, so I know how the units compare to each other.

I’m using track “Cold Days from the Birdhouse” from Twilight Sad. Listen to the the guitar in the beginning and listen for the space around it. It’s clearly better with Amazon track. More sparkle and reverb. And next track with the drums is even easier to hear difference.
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2021 at 3:01 PM Post #283 of 871
I am enjoying Apple Lossless via iTunes running on a 7+ iPhone connected to Airport Express, which is connected to my Parasound P6 preamp's DAC.. Of course, the Airport Express down samples the up to 24/48 streams to 16/44.1. To enjoy 24/192 I will need to connect my iPhone to the Parasound via Lightning to usb C. I am hoping iTunes on my laptop will eventually be updated to receive and transmit hi-res streams and downloads from Apple Music by means of usb from laptop to Parasound. Regarding Spatial Audio, I connected my laptop to my OPPO via HDMI thinking perhaps I could stream or download Spatial Audio music from iTunes but all Spatial Audio is still delivered in stereo at 256k AAC. Looks like I will therefore need to buy an Apple TV and hook it up to the OPPO.
 
Last edited:
Jun 11, 2021 at 3:53 PM Post #284 of 871
I am enjoying Apple Lossless via iTunes running on a 7+ iPhone connected to Airport Express, which is connected to my Parasound P6 preamp's DAC.. Of course, the Airport Express down samples the up to 24/48 streams to 16/44.1. To enjoy 24/192 I will need to connect my iPhone to the Parasound via Lightning to usb C. I am hoping iTunes on my laptop will eventually be updated to receive and transmit hi-res streams and downloads from Apple Music by means of usb from laptop to Parasound. Regarding Spatial Audio, I connected my laptop to my OPPO via HDMI thinking perhaps I could stream or download Spatial Audio music from iTunes but all Spatial Audio is still delivered in stereo at 256k AAC. Looks like I will therefore need to buy an Apple TV and hook it up to the OPPO.
I would wait on buying appletv. Im sure more devices will be updated shortly. My lg native apps support Atmos for Tidal. But it took about a month.
 
Jun 11, 2021 at 3:57 PM Post #285 of 871
I am enjoying Apple Lossless via iTunes running on a 7+ iPhone connected to Airport Express, which is connected to my Parasound P6 preamp's DAC.. Of course, the Airport Express down samples the up to 24/48 streams to 16/44.1. To enjoy 24/192 I will need to connect my iPhone to the Parasound via Lightning to usb C. I am hoping iTunes on my laptop will eventually be updated to receive and transmit hi-res streams and downloads from Apple Music by means of usb from laptop to Parasound. Regarding Spatial Audio, I connected my laptop to my OPPO via HDMI thinking perhaps I could stream or download Spatial Audio music from iTunes but all Spatial Audio is still delivered in stereo at 256k AAC. Looks like I will therefore need to buy an Apple TV and hook it up to the OPPO.
If you can afford it, highly recommend getting an Apple TV. Mine is the center of my media usage. If you have other Apple devices, like iPhone or iPad, it just integrates so easily & well.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top