Apple Music High Res

Not even lossless with Airplay 2, just 256k. Until they update this, Apple Music is a no go. I tried hardwiring it and didn’t like the inconvenience.

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Right. You need to use an external DAC wired from an iPhone, iPad, or MAC.

Good points. I hadn’t considered that the record labels might have some skin in the game, and it makes sense. While I use many Apple products, this discussion has affirmed to me that I’ll stick with Tidal, Qobuz, Roon, and the independent music download retailers. Thanks everyone!

Yup, that was my conclusion also.

If you use a Mac, it does not adjust resolution on the fly which is another drawback.

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I guess an iPhone is the best way to use Apple Music. I could make do with 200 albums loaded locally. For me, it doesn’t much matter because my cell plan includes unlimited, not throttled, iPhone 4G/5G data. It’s only hotspot data that is limited, but I have a lot (135GB).

I don’t think I am ever going to justify getting a new Macbook Air M2. That’s the problem with being an analytical person. You can never do anything just on a whim.

EDIT: I’ve now downloaded 250 lossless albums plus several playlists to my iPhone using 199GB of space and 60 albums to my iPad Mini 6 using 35GB.

Try this software, which switches the Mac sample rate to match the track playing on Apple Music:

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Thanks looks good - if I ever decide to use Apple Music I’ll check it out.

Has anyone here used this app to know it works properly?

I just tried it now and it works perfectly. Confirmed that playing Apple Music on the Mac through a NAD M51 DAC shows the sample rate and bitrate switching based on the music being played. There is a slightly less than one second pause while the sample rate changes. Fantastic… been waiting for someone to come up with something so simple.

I just tried the lastest beta and it will now ppear in the processor activity for about 10 secs and then disappear. Perfect solution. Prior to this its a constant processor drain. No good for Macbooks on battery.

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Yes, this works brilliantly in this mode!

That’s good news. I have some mad money coming in January and I would really like to purchase an Apple Macbook Air M2 to run Roon core and Apple Music when I travel.

If I do this, I will download my 1300+ lossless albums to the Macbook Air and use it when I run out of hotspot data for streaming Tidal and Qobuz to Roon. I really like the SQ of downloaded Apple Music files on my iPhone 13 Pro Max to Mojo 2 to Focal Clear.

EDIT: While I would really like to do this, I suspect I will not be willing to part with the cash for a new Apple Macbook Air M2. Financially, it doesn’t make any sense with unlimited iPhone data. Apple Music lossless hi res via iPhone > Mojo 2 > Focal Clear is sounding pretty amazing to me.

I have set it up today and during a short test it worked properly. I played files between 24/44.1 and 24/192.
I used an iPad Pro as remote for a MacBook Pro via Splashtop. This set up can already be used as a Roon Backup system.

I stopped by the local Apple store today to take a look at the new Macbook Air M2. While it looked like a neat little computer, I think I have talked myself out of buying one, at least for now. I’m in good shape for listening to music with what I already have.

At home, Roon on Nucleus playing to Oppo 203 and Bose Soundtouch 300 for casual listening. RPi4 (RoPieeeXL), Meridian Prime Headphone Amplifier and Power Supply or Chord Mojo 2 with Focal Clear headphones for serious listening.

Away from home, Roon on Dell XPS 15 playing to RPi4 (RoPieeeXL) and Chord Mojo 2 with Focal Clear headphones using 135 GB of Verizon hotspot data on iPhone and 2 iPads. When hotspot data is gone, switch to Apple Music on iPhone and/or iPads using unlimited Verizon cellular data.

Out and about or in the car, Apple Music on iPhone with Carplay or iPads using one of three portable DACs including Chord Mojo 2, AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt, or FiiO KA1 with Sony WH-1000XM3 noise-cancelling headphones or aux input to car radio.

I think I’m in good shape and can find other worthwhile things to do with $1,000 besides buying a Macbook Air. With Roon (lifetime), Tidal, Qobuz, and free Apple Music, I couldn’t ask for more.

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I’m listening to Apple Music lossless high resolution using iPhone HDMI to HDMI audio extractor converter, then optical to Mojo 2. Sounds really good, but I don’t know if it’s any better or worse than USB to Mojo 2. It’s going to be a good “away from home” setup to keep from using hotspot data.

With this setup, it looks like Apple Music is converting everything to 24/48, but the Mojo 2 upsamples everything to 2048, so I guess that doesn’t matter.

EDIT: I switched to iPhone USB to Mojo 2 and I think it sounds just as good. In addition, Apple Music does not down sample everything to 24/48. So, this might be the simpliest and preferred way to go. I’ll use the HDMI option when and if I need to play music from my Dell instead of USB.

That’s something of a debate. In this interview Rob Watts, the designer, declares he likes optical best on the MJ1

It’s complicated and depends upon a number of factors - principally the amount of RF noise injected into the Mojo, and the amount of correlated noise that gets in. It will depend upon the source device as to which sounds best. My preference is optical, as this has the smoothest sound quality and best depth, as it does not suffer from both of the aforementioned problems

But I’d just listen and see if I could tell a difference. If you can and you like one better then you know :slight_smile:

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What is this? Can you share a link to the exact model?

If it’s a HDMI extractor then this could explain the 48k limit

If optical is the end result you what you want, a simple USB to optical will do the job, even bit perfectly (from iOS) up to 24/192k

This cheap one works well for me:

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I bought this when I first got the Mojo 2 because I was getting noise from my Dell USB port. I wanted to switch to HDMI out of the Dell and optical into the Mojo 2 seemed like a good way to go, and it is.

Yesterday, I just decided to give it a try with my iPhone because I already had a lightning to HDMI dongle from before. I’m not really looking to switch to optical when using the iPhone, but I just wanted to see how it sounded.

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As above, can you share exactly what model “iPhone HDMI to HDMI audio extractor converter” you are using ?

A link ?