Apple Hi-Res lossless via Airplay using Yamaha R-N303 / RxV683

[Drogon]

@All , I brought zen dac v2 and played few Hi res tracks through dac and Airpay . I didn't notice any difference .

Connected via Apple Music -> IPad mini6 -> Zen dac v2 -> Yamaha RxV683 -> Klipsch rp 8000f ii .

So I suggest don't buy budget dacs not sure about high end dacs and headphones

Alternate For Hi Res (24/192 Flac files) I am using Kodi -> FireTvCubev2 -> Yamaha RxV683 -> Klipsch rp 8000f ii . Sounds

 

[dvraghavan]

Let me explain this in simpler terms. There are 3 lossless codecs

1. FLAC - This is a codec that apple doesn't understand. But windows, linux, FreeBSD, openBSD can use this codec. But this codec is not understood by apple devices using apple software (Apple Music, etc). But third party software can play FLAC like jriver mediacenter, audio nirvana, pine player, mpd and many others
2. ALAC - This is a codec that is proprietary to apple. Only apple devices can play this
3. DSD - This is a codec that windows, linux, BSD etc can use but apple music doesn't use this. But third party software on apple devices can play this (jriver, audio nirvana, mpd, etc)

AAC, mp3, etc are lossy codecs.

Problem 1
When you run apple music on a non-apple hardware or do airplay to a non-apple device, apple music will use the AAC. So when you use apple music on android or do send the stream usining airplay to a non-apple hardware, apple music detects that the end device cannot use ALAC. Hence it choses the AAC version of the music file. So whatever you do, what will get streamed will be a lossy version because the end devices cannot play ALAC codec. So linux, windows, chromecast, etc will never get the lossless version streamed to them from the apple music server.

Problem 2
Apple devices can play ALAC. So apple music server will send the lossless version (ALAC) to the device. So far so good. But all macbooks, ATV etc work on a fixed sample rate. Only the IPAD and Iphones can adjust the sample rate according to the sample rate of the source file of the master on apple music servers. So if you use macbooks (pro, air, mini) or apple tv they will play at a fixed sample rate. So if the ALAC source is encoded at 192 kHz sample rate, the devices will play at a fixed rate (ATV at 48 kHz, airplay at 44.1 kHz, macbooks at whatever sampling rate is set by the Audio Midi Setup App. So even if the source sent by the apple music server is a lossless stream, they will get played at a different sampling rate. However Ipad and Iphones can adjust the sampling rate as per the source. This essentially means that only Iphone and Ipads can play the music bit perfect. Macbooks can play bit perfect as long as you manually adjust the sampling rate for each and every song if it doesn't match the source sampling rate. Exception is the ATV which doesn't have any option to adjust the sampling rate and will always play at 48 kHz and airplay which will play only at 44.1 kHz.

Hope this explanation helps.

Is there a affordable DAC that you could suggest which can interface between iPhone and AVR?

 

[mbhangui]

Is there a affordable DAC that you could suggest which can interface between iPhone and AVR?

Which iphone? Does it have the 3.5mm audio out. AFAIK, the audio out is lossless. For the newer iphones you have to use apple's own 3.5mm adaptor which comes with an inbuilt dac.

Apple Audio Adapter Review - The One To Beat • Music For The Masses

A thorough review of the Apple audio adapter (both Lightning and USB-C versions) by Jürgen Kraus.

www.audioreviews.org

DISCLAIMER. I haven't tried any of the above. So check with apple users

 

[dvraghavan]

Which iphone? Does it have the 3.5mm audio out. AFAIK, the audio out is lossless. For the newer iphones you have to use apple's own 3.5mm adaptor which comes with an inbuilt dac.

Apple Audio Adapter Review - The One To Beat • Music For The Masses

A thorough review of the Apple audio adapter (both Lightning and USB-C versions) by Jürgen Kraus.

www.audioreviews.org

DISCLAIMER. I haven't tried any of the above. So check with apple users

I have XR and an older IPhone 6. I will try with the adaptor. I think I have that adaptor as well. Will post here after testing

 

[MaSh]

Was able to get audio out of my iphone xr via a cheap OTG cable from Amazon into a fiio btr5. The display on the track shows the bitrate matching the track spec in apple music.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B09HH7CVK5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Haven't got down to testing it yet, just glad to overcome the obstacle without having to spend a lot in getting the camera kit adaptor from apple.

MaSh

 

[dvraghavan]

I have XR and an older IPhone 6. I will try with the adaptor. I think I have that adaptor as well. Will post here after testing

I tried the adapter and connected to a Y cable to the one of the analog ports on the AVR. THe volume was too low and I couldn't feel the "hi Res" content. Could it be that the Y cable (3.55 mm to RCA) is not of good quality?

 

[mbhangui]

I tried the adapter and connected to a Y cable to the one of the analog ports on the AVR. THe volume was too low and I couldn't feel the "hi Res" content. Could it be that the Y cable (3.55 mm to RCA) is not of good quality?

Go to settings and turn off noise cancellation, etc. See this

Sound too low when using headphones - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

and this too

 

[dvraghavan]

Tried that and again with another set of cables and new iPhone 13 too....volume is still very low. Should I connect to the "Phono" port on the receiver or one of the analog ports is fine?