Suggestion for Apple Lossless

[Kannan]

The Apple Music app on Android allows playback of lossless and hires audio. If your phone's DAC does not support lossless then you can use an external USB Dac if your phone supports OTG.

here are few pics.

Apple Music from my Android phone connected to FiiO BTA30 pro: The yellow light on FiiO indicates the playback is at native resolution



Same lossless track via Apple Music from iPad 2 connected to Fiio DAC. The blue light on FiiO indicates the playback is below 48khz as Ipad 2 does not support lossless playback from Apple Music app.



Playback of a 96khz file using Foobar on IPad 2 connected to the FiiO DAC from my DLNA server. The yellow light on FiiO indicates the playback is at native 96khz.

 

[jai1611]

Same lossless track via Apple Music from iPad 2 connected to Fiio DAC. The blue light on FiiO indicates the playback is below 48khz as Ipad 2 does not support lossless playback from Apple Music app.

View attachment 73408

Older Apple devices don't have full lossless support due to os limitations. They generally keep software updates going for five years and some older devices didn't receive support

 

[Kannan]

Older Apple devices don't have full lossless support due to os limitations. They generally keep software updates going for five years and some older devices didn't receive support

Yes...nothing works in iPad 2. I have done a work around by installing an earlier version of itunes which has Apple store support to download earlier versions of apps that work on IOS 9.5

 

[ajuvignesh]

This is what apple mentions on their website.

While the difference between AAC and lossless audio is virtually indistinguishable, we’re offering Apple Music subscribers the option to access music in lossless audio compression.

About lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support (IN)
So, let's not scratch our heads at the minuscule difference between AAC and ALAC, let's enjoy some music.

 

[Kannan]

So, let's not scratch our heads at the minuscule difference between AAC and ALAC, let's enjoy some music.

Also unless you have a stable connectivity, AAC streaming is stabler than ALAC .
Regarding audible differences, it is a subjective matter, but if your system can do ALAC without dropouts, go for it

 

[ajuvignesh]

Also unless you have a stable connectivity, AAC streaming is stabler than ALAC .
Regarding audible differences, it is a subjective matter, but if your system can do ALAC without dropouts, go for it

yes, ALAC can go up to 150 Mb per song, if I'm not wrong.

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

This is what apple mentions on their website.


About lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support (IN)
So, let's not scratch our heads at the minuscule difference between AAC and ALAC, let's enjoy some music.

That’s sacrilegious in an audiophile forum ! Most of us pay lacs of rupees (and/or spend hundreds of hours of time) to get that improvement in the sound of their system. Why shouldn’t that difference matter then?

Also unless you have a stable connectivity, AAC streaming is stabler than ALAC .

Can’t be a justification for settling for AAC just because Apple didn’t think through the implementation of lossless music well in the first place. What about those of us who have stable connectivity, even for hi-res streaming? And frankly, since most people today are able to stream HD movies on their broadband, ALAC shouldn’t be a challenge.

 

[ajuvignesh]

That’s sacrilegious in an audiophile forum ! Most of us pay lacs of rupees (and/or spend hundreds of hours of time) to get that improvement in the sound of their system. Why shouldn’t that difference matter then?



Can’t be a justification for settling for AAC just because Apple didn’t think through the implementation of lossless music well in the first place. What about those of us who have stable connectivity, even for hi-res streaming? And frankly, since most people today are able to stream HD movies on their broadband, ALAC shouldn’t be a challenge.

If one keep chasing after resolution like there is no tomorrow, forgetting about what we have now to enjoy music, the chase will never end and you can still be unsatisfied with what you have.

192 Kiloherts is not at all required for home audio. 48 Kiloherts is just fine if not 96 Kilohertz. You cannot differentiate between a 24 bit 96 Khz and a 24 bit 192 Khz files.

 

[sachinchavan 15865]

If one keep chasing after resolution like there is no tomorrow, forgetting about what we have now to enjoy music, the chase will never end and you can still be unsatisfied with what you have.

192 Kiloherts is not at all required for home audio. 48 Kiloherts is just fine if not 96 Kilohertz. You cannot differentiate between a 24 bit 96 Khz and a 24 bit 192 Khz files.

I understand that and am quite happy listening on 320 kbps on Spotify or even the radio as I love my music. But that doesn’t mean I downplay the difference between ALAC and AAC. I decided to let go of the lossless play because connecting laptop/phone to the DAC isn’t convenient for me. But whenever I did, ALAC sounded decidedly better. So whenever a lossless streaming option that doesn’t need me to be tethered to my DAC comes to the shores, I’d positively go for it.

 

[Kannan]

Another way to enable lossless on Android is via LDAC enabled transport or while listening on headphones with LDAC codecs.
LDAC enables the transmission of audio content, including High Resolution (Hi-Res) Audio, at the maximum bitrate of 990kbps even over a Bluetooth.
This has to be enabled under Developer Options under System in Settings.

 

[Kannan]

That’s sacrilegious in an audiophile forum ! Most of us pay lacs of rupees (and/or spend hundreds of hours of time) to get that improvement in the sound of their system. Why shouldn’t that difference matter then?



Can’t be a justification for settling for AAC just because Apple didn’t think through the implementation of lossless music well in the first place. What about those of us who have stable connectivity, even for hi-res streaming? And frankly, since most people today are able to stream HD movies on their broadband, ALAC shouldn’t be a challenge.

that is why I said...choose ALAC as long as there is no stutter.

 

[nuvo]

Apple lossless music is lossless or not is not, I am not sure. Yesterday, I checked Apple Music desktop app which is available on Windows 11 but the streaming details for some of the so-called lossless songs were 256 kbps only.

Having said that, Apple music through the app seems better than Amazon music and Spotify. However, it can't match FLAC. I played FLAC and Apple Music files side by side and FLAC is better.

Still, for the convenience, I have embraced Apple Music. I have played Apple music through Apple TV 4K, and through iPhone via Airplay - the airplay is definitely inferior.

Hence, even if your receiver supports Airplay, I suggest you may go for Apple TV 4k.