[DeweyCH]

What's everyone's suggestion for playback settings on Windows with Apple Music? I can only play through iTunes, and I have my playback preferences set to use Direct Sound --> 44.1k sample rate --> 24 bit. Is there any way to have Apple Music match bitrate and bit depth to the song being played?

Running through a desktop DAC (SMSL SU-8).

 

[UntilThen]

What's everyone's suggestion for playback settings on Windows with Apple Music? I can only play through iTunes, and I have my playback preferences set to use Direct Sound --> 44.1k sample rate --> 24 bit. Is there any way to have Apple Music match bitrate and bit depth to the song being played?

Running through a desktop DAC (SMSL SU-8).

Good question. I like to know too as I use Apple Music on my Windows PC. The thing is I also have Roon / Tidal and my dac is Yggdrasil. At the moment though, everything sounds good.

 

[DeweyCH]

Good question. I like to know too as I use Apple Music on my Windows PC. The thing is I also have Roon / Tidal and my dac is Yggdrasil. At the moment though, everything sounds good.

I was very down on Apple Music until I found those playback preferences; kept going back to Amazon Music and their "Exclusive Mode" toggle. With Direct Sound the way I described it above, it sounds about equal, and I don't have to toggle it every time I load the player. Just wish there were more options, like "match source file" or something.

 

[efftee]

All things being equal, ie same IEM+Cable, is there any degradation of sound quality between a wired IEM connection to the device streaming Apple Lossless, and bluetooth IEM connection?

 

[Edyeded86]

All things being equal, ie same IEM+Cable, is there any degradation of sound quality between a wired IEM connection to the device streaming Apple Lossless, and bluetooth IEM connection?

Yes!

 

[DeweyCH]

All things being equal, ie same IEM+Cable, is there any degradation of sound quality between a wired IEM connection to the device streaming Apple Lossless, and bluetooth IEM connection?

Yeah. Bluetooth doesn't support lossless streaming. From Apple's FAQ on lossless:

Can I listen to lossless audio over Bluetooth?​

We will deliver music using lossless audio compression to your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Lossless will play back normally on Bluetooth speakers and headphones. However, Bluetooth connections don’t support lossless audio

 

[efftee]

Yeah. Bluetooth doesn't support lossless streaming. From Apple's FAQ on lossless:

Can I listen to lossless audio over Bluetooth?​

We will deliver music using (1) lossless audio compression to your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Lossless will play back (2) normally on Bluetooth speakers and headphones. However, (3) Bluetooth connections don’t support lossless audio

Thanks for clearing that up. Though I must say, that 1 para contains 3 confusing/misleading parts. (1) Didn't know compression could still yield lossless, (2) Normally probably be better as Lossy-ly, and (3) That just sounds like 'The Kind is dead, Long live the King!' Oh well...

 

[fufula]

What's everyone's suggestion for playback settings on Windows with Apple Music? I can only play through iTunes, and I have my playback preferences set to use Direct Sound --> 44.1k sample rate --> 24 bit. Is there any way to have Apple Music match bitrate and bit depth to the song being played?

Running through a desktop DAC (SMSL SU-8).

Did I miss something? Last I checked lossless wasn't available on Windows, so you don't need to trouble yourself with sample rate matching. My suggestion would be to not use any Apple services on Windows (or better yet, any Apple services period). Judging by how often their apps get updated and how well they perform, it's very clear they don't want them to be used on that platform.

 

[efftee]

Yeah. Bluetooth doesn't support lossless streaming. From Apple's FAQ on lossless:

Can I listen to lossless audio over Bluetooth?​

We will deliver music using lossless audio compression to your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Lossless will play back normally on Bluetooth speakers and headphones. However, Bluetooth connections don’t support lossless audio

Sorry but what if iPod wirelessly streams via bluetooth to a DAC/AMP, which is wired connected to the IEM. Any lossless music going on there?

 

[pieman3141]

Sorry but what if iPod wirelessly streams via bluetooth to a DAC/AMP, which is wired connected to the IEM. Any lossless music going on there?

There is no lossless playback via Bluetooth, no matter what. Even the proprietary stuff that Sony uses (APTX-HD) isn't actually lossless. The only way to get lossless playback wirelessly is to use wi-fi (aka Airplay).

 

[efftee]

So I switched over to OTG mode, connecting the iPod to DAC/AMP, and frankly, I am struggling to discern any SQ difference between a fully wired and iPod-BT-DAC/AMP-IEM rig. If it is 100% true that no Lossless over BT, then I am either hearing non-Lossless all this while or I'm deaf. But then since I can't tell the difference from day-1, I could be deaf either way!

 

[rlw6534]

So I switched over to OTG mode, connecting the iPod to DAC/AMP, and frankly, I am struggling to discern any SQ difference between a fully wired and iPod-BT-DAC/AMP-IEM rig. If it is 100% true that no Lossless over BT, then I am either hearing non-Lossless all this while or I'm deaf. But then since I can't tell the difference from day-1, I could be deaf either way!

Apple's bluetooth is 256 kbps AAC, a lossy, compressed format. It's quality is actually pretty good but certainly not lossless. For comparison, uncompressed CD audio is 1411 kbps and compressed (but not lossy) flac is around 600-800 kbps. You aren't deaf, I personally find 256 kbps AAC difficult to distinguish from lossless. I suspect that's true for many others as well, but I'm willing to admit it...

 

[Luis Mad]

Apple acquires classical music streaming service Primephonic​

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/08/apple-acquires-classical-music-streaming-service-primephonic/

 

[tomwoo]

I think I'll stick with Qobuz unless Apple enables bit-perfect playback across platforms.

 

[Tal00]

Ok so I did some side by side more like app/app critical listening and I can’t hear a difference between Apple High-Res Lossless and Tidal MQA master of Hotel California.
However when comparing the Dance Monkey MQA master v.s. The Apple Lossless (there was no High-Res Lossless available) the MQA sounded fuller richer and more open. I’m using the FiiO M11 Plus Ltd with balanced JVC HA-FD01.
Not sure what to do with this information. But I thought this would be a good place to share it.
Cheers.