Afternoon, So just got my Mac Mini M2 for Roon Core. Thought I’d mess around and try the free 2 month Apple Music sub. Sending over Airplay 2 to my CXNv2 and it’s reporting 16/44 AAC. So it would appear Apple lossless is not lossless over Airplay! Or is it just a header or packing blip. Any ideas?
Please share the signal path.
Not within Roon my friend! It’s Apple Music
I missed that. Sorry, I can’t help.
Moving to #audio-gear-talk:music-services as you’ll probably get a better response there.
Thanks very much 
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That’s alarming. I’ve streamed apple music to a wimm mini and the quality just didn’t feel right. I could never tell what the bitrate was.
It’s funny only software like Roon and audiophile gear can expose the bitrates.
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AirPlay2 can exist in two forms: lossless 16/44.1 ALAC or lossy AAC. It’s up to the app to decide.
On system platforms, in-app AirPlay and OS-level AirPlay may be different.
Try Mac OS system AirPlay instead of in-app AirPlay.
To achieve the best results with Apple Music, you need to use a USB connection from the device running Apple Music app to a USB DAC: Disable Sound Check, EQ, and Dolby Atmos. Enable Hi-Res Lossless and Do Not Disturb.
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Just watched John Darko’s video on the Eversolo and he also seems to confirm that Airplay 2 is a lossy stream. I find this ridiculous. As a Roon user with Qobuz there is none of this nonsense. You get exactly what you pay for!
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Yeah it’s definitely only AAC 256 with AirPlay 2.
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Yep. AirPlay is 256kbps AAC.
Tried Tidal via AirPlay (iPhone) to WiiM Pro. Reported as 256kbps 44.1/16.
Still sounded better than Spotify Ogg Vorbis.
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This has been discussed so many times since the launch of Lossless on AM. Airplay 2 on AM is limited to AAC tas this is what Apple limits it to to aid Mulitroom sync. Some use on here tested other stuff as well using Airplay 2 and was also lossy. Whether it’s a necessity for multi room to work at all is not well known but might be the case.
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have shared this previously in other threads etc. … agree this topic has already been well covered, albeit in bits and pieces … this is my attempt to summarize in one place
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Thanks for sharing again. Not come across this before. Good reading
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