Very, very interesting !!!
many thanks,
LD
1 Like
Hi friends.
A question:
I have an Apple Music subscription.
So, If I understood correctlyā¦ to stream to my dac at the bestā¦ i have to buy an Apple TV 4K and stream to it from Apple Music app on my iPhone orā¦
i have to use a device like a Raspberry and install an old release of sharepoint-sync to have AirPlay1 and stream to it from Apple Music app on my iPhone
It is correct?
Now I have a WiiM pro and i think which has airplay2 soā¦ it is lossy
Can you confirm?
For best out of Apple Music you need to connect a DAC to a Phone or iPad and use them as streamer this will get you lossless and hires. If using Apple TV your limited to 48/24 and it will internally upsample or downsample everything to do this. Airplay 1 is limited to 44.1/16 lossless so all others are resampled to it, Airplay 2 will give you lossy AAC.
Thanks for the reply.
Soā¦it is very unusefull.
With a little computer like Raspberryā¦only lossless with airplay2
With a streamer like WiiMā¦the same
With a server (roon, lms etc) nothingā¦
If I buy an iPad or an old iPhone i have to use a cable to wire it to my dac and it would become totally useless
Soā¦i dont see a valid solution. I have Apple Music with Apple one but to play lossless to my hi-fiā¦ i have to pay Qobuzā¦ very bad
If you have another solutionā¦you could make me happy
You chose the wrong music service to subscribe to nothing anyone can do about that. Other alternative is to but an Android streamer from Eversolo or FiiO they use the android Apple Music app and will pass hires other than that you have no other alternatives. Thatās Apple Music for you!
I already said that. Still not the best from Apple Music.
Thank you very much.
So, AirPlay 1 being lossless (but limited to 16/44.1) is better than AirPlay 2 which is lossy (aacā¦like Spotify). Is it correct?
16/44.1 is like a CD?
My friendā¦soā¦ I didnāt understand Iām confused
He means Airplay 2 isnāt always lossy but you can ignore this as it depend on the app you use to send music via Airplay 2. In your case for Apple Music it always is lossy so, using Airplay 1 is better but as I said earlier your not getting the best out of Apple Music as it can go higher quality/resolution using an Apple phone or iPad connected to a DAC via USB. But the best you can get not using this method is using Airplay 1.
1 Like
I seem to remember this was a useful explainer, as Apple has made a complete mess of it. I think it might even have a follow up video 
1 Like
Ok!
Iām trying to use āAirConnectā.
It is a little software developed by philippe44 which transform an upnp player in an airplay1 player. I installed it in my home server and now I see my upnp players (for example Wiim pro) like a airplay1 players. it seem to workā¦ 16/44 losslessā¦ I will try well todayā¦
Airplay (v1, I will call it Airplay now) only goes to Airplay devices. Airplay senders are rare so, almost all senders are Airplay 2 devices. Airplay and Airplay 2 receiving devices are much more common. I send from an Airplay 2 device to an Airplay device and that Airplay 2 device will adapt and sends Airplay compatible 16/44 lossless.
You can confirm all of this on iOS, PadOS, and macOS from Control Center. Airplay has an open check mark and Airplay 2 devices use a checkmark in a circle. Since there is no way to combine Airplay and Airplay 2 devices, some devices might appear and vanish depending on what is picked in a mixed environment. Suffice it to say, if your device says Airplay 2, it will play lossy. If your device is an Airplay 1, and you send lossless, the sending device will adjust it to 16/44 lossless (if it is not already). In the case of Apple, it does a good job of this.
I am happy with this since I use Airplay point to point in office or living room and rarely use whole home audio. So if my file or stream is lossless, I get CD quality, which is not all that bad even compared to other wireless audio options. If I desire better, I move to a different method to increase the quality of playback. But day to day, it is fine.
Some audio companies work around the Apple audio processing and send files as Airplay from different devices. Ensuring 16/44 lossless for sure. But that is too in the weeds for me!
I send Apple Music lossless from an Airplay 2 sending device (most are) to an Airplay (1) only device. The sender adapts and sends lossless to the Airplay (1) device ensuring lossless audio PCM is sent to my DAC. Airplay is limited to 16/44 lossless, CD quality. Airplay 2 sent to Airplay 2 (most scenarios for people) will be AAC 256 lossy but, even that is very very good. Impossible to tell it from 16/44 lossy.