Apple Music High Res

He left the link on the golf course.

Lightning USB Cable to usb B.

Have you updated your software to 14.6?

I have now, and now I get multi channel when I play Apple Atmos from my Apple TV 4K to my AV hifi.

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Since you have Lumin T2 and you AirPlay works when streaming Apple Music to it, it must be ALAC in the delivery from the Apple device to Lumin (regardless of whether youā€™re playing an AAC or ALAC source). Current firmware for all current Lumin models restrict AirPlay 1 to ALAC 44.1kHz. If there is a way to stream AAC AirPlay 1 to Lumin, it cannot produce sound at all. Iā€™m aware of NAIMā€™s test result, but I believe that is AirPlay 2 only.

Thanks @wklie for your input.

Apple should fix the behavior of the lossless icon on desktop Music app, then.

Heā€™s referring to abx testing done by Apple. They probably did it pretty well being Apple. Clearly very few of those who did the testing could actually distinguish AAC from lossless (we all know that the difference between HiRes and Lossless 16/44.1 is even harder to pick. I wonder how many audiophiles actually try this. I suspect the majority fear it as it will confirm the bias that drives their desire for never achievable perfection. A bit like religion really.

I did the test and so did an audiologist friend of mine. We both couldnā€™t realibly tell the difference. He actually predicted based on the hearing test he gave me that picked an above average hearing spectrum for my age that most people over 50 would find it very difficult in true abx testing.

My hearing or my equipment aside, I still enjoy the music - just as I did as a kid on my crappy fake walkman in my early teens. Iā€™ll continue to listen to lossless knowing that itā€™s as good as it gets for me but Iā€™ll listen to the music instead of my equipment. I love Roon for the catalogue and the experience it gives me discovering music. Iā€™d like access to the Apple Music catalogue as well without leaving Roon, but perhaps thatā€™s a pipe dream.

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I agree, I think the beta Apple Lossless experience we are paying nothing extra for is very buggy and AirPlay in particular is not always playing lossless - even at the supposed capable 16/44.1. They will probably fix it over the course of this year.

I wouldnā€™t bet on it. Apple knows their customer base has zero interest in hires, lossless, Atmos, blah blah. They wanted to upstage Spotify, and like the amateurs they often can be, fell flat on their ars*s.

They usually fix things. While they are happy to dictate features and work to their ecosystem, they are also pretty good at fixing bugs. I suspect this is bound up Homepods and limitations of AirPlay 2. The marketing is the key. No point in it not working.

I also.think you underestimate their customer base. Most spend more on Apple because they demand quality - probably more so than the Android - Windows gang. They either want cheap solutions or demand system openness.

Weā€™ll see.

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I suspect the real reason is clever marketing, even the belief in quality is a by-product of marketing to some degree :wink:

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Yes, I agree. Lossless is ironically a loss leader for Apple. Theyā€™ll make it work.

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The Atmos surround via ATV is pretty impressive.

OK, itā€™s obviously not a patch on my M/C SACDā€™s, but itā€™s a nice bonus nonetheless.

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Wikipedia, January 2021: Apple now has the most valuable brand in the world at more than $260 billion, surpassing Amazon and Google. Indeed, they get so many things wrong, barely surviving.

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The only real problem i have right now with their music service is Airplay and Mac manual file sampling.

I hear airplay will be fixed soon . Donā€™t know about mac auto sampling.

It could be that Apple will make a big play for the car audio market, for which Atmos might be highly suited, since in car systems are multi channel and immersive. Eddie Cue said the car system he heard was fantastic. And Atmos already have a presence in the market - they are saying here that a car is second only to a recording studio for Atmos music.

Letā€™s chat a little about Appleā€™s new Lossless and Digital Master audio and how it compares with Roon & Tidal service. Have been playing different styles of music switching from Apple Music and Tidal and the obvious observation is Apple Music feels like it offers a greater sense of depth, better instrument separation, just feels more ā€œin your faceā€. However I played Stingā€™s ā€œA Thousand Yearsā€ and at 3:08, I heard some disturbing clipping sound on Apple Music but not with Tidal. I donā€™t know what to think at this point of time, if Apple calls Lossless music and if all they did was boost up the mids and treble too much then I am in shock!
Is anyone else conducting these tests and what have you observed so far?

Equipment used: Mac Pro, Focal Utopia, Woo Audio WA7 fireflies, Denafrips Ares II DAC.

So right now, I am sticking with Roon & Tidal.

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Yes indeed, i too had the same feeling of ā€œgreater sense of depth, better instrument separation, just feels more ā€œin your faceā€, which in other ways works like a better crossover. Canā€™t tell about other artifacts thoughā€¦ at least not yet.

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I prepared a sort of Apple Music cheat sheet.

If you spot any error, let me know. Hope itā€™s useful.

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AirPlay to Apple TV 4K lossless work. But maybe I was wrong. Because Apple Music shows the lossless icon when streaming audio to the Apple TV 4K. But if you listen to the same song directly on the Apple TV, the sound seems better.