What is Apple Music Lossless? What does it do and will it sound better?

#music #apple
Written, Produced, and Presented by Lorne Bregitzer, an Associate Professor for the University of Colorado Denver.

With Apple announcing the addition of Lossless Audio and Dolby Atmos through Spatial Audio, what does that actually mean to the average Apple Music listener?

You may see certain features and logos mentioned, such as Apple Lossless, Apple Digital Master, and Dolby Atmos.

I’m Lorne Bregitzer, The Audio Professor, and I’m going to explain what exactly these mean to you the consumer, and what the benefits are.

First off, Lossless audio has been available on services like Tidal, Amazon Music HD, and Qobuz. But these services have far fewer subscribers than Apple Music.

Most streaming services will stream lossy audio. This includes Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. There are the few previously mentioned services that offer a tier with Lossless Audio for an additional cost, such as Tidal and Amazon Music HD.

Apple has announced that their lossless streaming will come at no extra cost for the service. After this announcement, Amazon HD quickly eliminated the extra cost for their Lossless HD tier, as well.

So what does lossless really mean, and does it make a difference?

First off, Lossless Audio is at least CD quality. Anything that is referred to as High Resolution Audio can be anything higher than CD Quality. This can range from the marginal, with a slightly higher sample rate, to the extreme at 4 times the sample rate and 50% more bit depth.

It’s like saying two videos are in High Definition. One is at 720P and the other is in 8K. While they’re both in high definition one has significantly higher resolution than the other.

The other question is, does it really matter? Well, it really depends on your listening environment. If you’re listening on AirPods from the base model to the Max model, Bluetooth cannot carry a lossless audio signal, so you’ll only be hearing the compressed music. Also, if you’re listening in your car with all of the background noise, odds are you won’t hear a difference.

However, listening to a nice system at home in a quiet environment, the difference in quality can be noticeable. Same can be said with good wired headphones.

Now Lossless audio will take up a significant more amount of data. If you’re listening on your phone, you may only want to do it while you have an unlimited WiFi connection, as the size of the lossless audio file is 2.5-4x the size of the standard compressed audio. This will also impact your phone’s storage, if you choose to have your music library stored locally on there.

All in all, giving consumers more options for the same price is a good thing.

Now on to the question to whether Hi Resolution audio is worth while? Well, the science is unsettled, but many people much swear by their high-resolution music, so I’ll just leave it at that.

As far as what is an Apple Digital Master and what does it mean? Well, it’s primarily a set of standards that Apple certified mastering engineers hold the audio to when submitting songs to Apple Music. In reality, it’s mostly a marketing term, as any decent audio engineer will hit those same specifications, so it really doesn’t mean anything.

Now lastly, let’s address music being played in Dolby Atmos. This is something that Tidal has done, as well as Qobuz with select hardware.

To oversimplify it, Dolby Atmos is a scalable surround sound system commonly used in home theatres, movie streaming services, and increasingly some music services.

You’ll be able to listen to music released in Dolby Atmos through any Apple hardware that supports their Spatial Audio. This includes many models of AirPods and their most recent iPhones and iPads. Additionally, you’ll also be able to listen to the audio through a compatible Dolby Atmos receiver and television.

Hopefully this clears things up regarding the new lossless additions to Apple Music.

Take care and enjoy your music with more options than before.

[nigelsargeant]

Thank you for your straightforward easy to understand explanation of this complicated subject 😊

[javtimestwo]

This is one of the best videos I have seen that explains exactly what Apple Music Lossless truly is and how it work. I listen via my iPhone and laptop and am not an audiophile. I do not have high quality wired headphones or speaker system. So the way I listen to lossless is by purchasing the Apple $9 lightning to 3.5mm headphone jack adapter. It features a built-in DAC. Supports up to 24/48. What more can anybody ask for?
I know Belkin makes an adapter but they charge about $39 for that item. IMO, the $9 Apple adapter is very underrated and performs very well.

[wesleyleigh]

um that recording studio with the pointy walls is so excessive yet pretty awesome, think i might've finally found my next home reno goal

[theayeshaerotica]

Apple Digital Master means that when Apple Music lossless comes out the audio will be 24bit instead of 16bit

[JewishRockMusic]

As an artist who does my own mixing/mastering, what specs for lossless do I submit for distribution?

[bigsky]

Apple Digital Masters is a program where Apple works with sound engineers mastering music in the studio, whereby the songs Apple puts the label on are as true to the original master that was mixed inside the studio at the studio mixing console. Basically it's initial audio without any loss. CD's are as close to the master studio audio a consumer can get, but there are bit-depth and compression losses once the music is "burned" to the consumer CD.

[BlaqViper]

The ambiguity is apparent when it comes to Apple’s embrace of Lossless music though none of their wearable hardware being able to support it, as well as the continued rejection of USB-C on the iPhone that would easily support a DAC like the THX Onyx that would be needed to actually enjoy true High Res Lossless music without convoluted adapter cables, not to mention other advantages USB-C could bring to the iPhone.

[Waseemqaziatx]

I have a pre Sonus audiobox one usb audio interface connected to my m1 Mac. Does that give me the hi res n lossless or I still need a DAC?

[nathancoronado]

Can you do a video about widening sound on ableton

[JohnDeLeon]

The spatial audio with Dolby Atmos will make the music more amazing. Can’t wait!

[johngage]

I love how this video is just the facts. I personally am excited for Apple Lossless. I will no longer buy CDs. Just bought a pair of Seinheisser 560s in anticipation for Apple Music.

[uniqueflh]

I've been looking at a lot of the reporting on the Lossless Audio announcement, and everyone seems to be focused on listening thru headphones. It's a bit frustrating.

Having seen that Apple is going to release a HomePod/Mini update that will allow Lossless playback is encouraging - but my question is AirPlay/AirPlay 2...???

In addition to my many (too many, according to Wifey) HomePods...I am currently using an Apple AirPort Express as an AirPlay device. It's connected to my Yamaha Receiver via Toslink/Optical.
- Should I expect to be able to stream Lossless with this type of setup?

And...to sort of extend the scenario...
What about the old Gen3 AppleTV boxes that had an Optical Audio port? Seems to me that repurposing one of those old boxes would be an ideal way to AirPlay Lossless Audio to a home stereo system. No need for video, simply run it instead of a CD player and have high quality streaming content. Additionally, I am hopeful that I will be able to connect a Gen3 ATV to my Network via Ethernet...and still see the unit as an AirPlay device - so it would sort of be 'the best of both worlds'.

Not sure how all this will work, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thoughts?