HI-RES AUDIO and APPLE MUSIC done right!

Camera: Olaf von Voss | Editor: John Darko | Motion GFX: John Darko | Ad segment: Jana Dagdagan

for associated music playlists + exclusive video content

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Apple Music’s hi-res streaming is a bit of a mess:

MacOS Audio Midi Setup app:

Podcast: Apple Music’s hi-res lossless & Spatial Audio:

AudioQuest DragonFly Black:

RME ADI-2 DAC FS:

#applemusic #hiresaudio #ipad
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[DarkoAudio]

*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY* Please be a decent human being and keep your sexist/racist thoughts and conspiracy theories to yourself. External links are also a no-no. Comments that *advance* the conversation are most welcome.

[mrplant]

Your video is actually one of the best that actually explains what people need to know to get high res lossless and clearly explains the equipment needed and what their limitations are if you have lesser hardware available. Great job!

[acbarnard]

Bravo! One additional suggestion. The Apple “Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter “ has a second port for power which makes it possible to have the hi-res USB connection in the video while simultaneously powering the iPad, making for a 24/7 streamer with no concerns for battery life.

[thomashowe]

Thank you John, this is the first time I have seen anyone explain and show how to use Apple Music lossless in an audio system and not headphones. Congratulation. It could not have been clearer. It is surprising that Apple has not doe this as they would get more folk subscribing.

[Pisceanboi]

As a Classical musician I'm very much loving what Apple have done re releasing it's catalogue in Lossless/Hi-Res Lossless. For headphone use I do as John has outlined here, except that I'm using a Chord Mojo rather than the Audioquest dragonfly.

For HiFi use, I'm getting excellent results from my Apple TV 4K 64gb - which will output up to 24 bit/48khz depending upon the file. It's not 24 bit/192khz yet - but likely to come - but still sounds better than 16 bit/44.1 regular CD played by a good quality CD player, or the files I've ripped in ALAC to my computer HD and streamed over the LAN. Win Win basically.

Very happy with Apples move on this, and in particular the HUGE discography for the true Classical music lover - nothing else compares in my experience as regards streaming services, as an overall package which includes vast content and Hi-Res sound. A definite game changer. :-)

[ABDLLHSDDQI]

Every video doesn't need to be positive, and the stuff mentioned in the last video was nothing but the fair truth not held back by any bias towards an otherwise positive experience one may have with a company's products. I think the last video was spot on real, and this one was as well. Thanks for the great work.

[zloinaopako]

Some external DACs will not work in the configuration shown here because the power draw from iPad will be too high and the iPad will not output any signal. In that case, a power injection is required, i.e. a different lightning to USB adapter will do the trick, the one that accepts a power in from iPad charger.

[Ramesh_Muthusamy]

There is something comforting about the way you speak. It is truly the real lossless spirit on youtube. Pure.

[brandonburr]

This actually a good thing Apple has done. As paying tidal hifi subscriber it frustrates and delights me that Apple clearly sounds better than tidal that I have been paying for for a few years. It's frustrating in that I don't see a lot of integration with Apple music in our streamers in the near future like tidal and spotify has done. Apple has their own ecosystem with their products and software and it wouldn't be cheap for companies to integrate Apple music. But I would absolutely be thrilled to prove wrong! If nothing else I hope this makes the other streaming services like tidal and spotify better and cheaper. I'm hoping to see something good from spotify hifi later this year that is equivalent to Apple. Should be interesting!

[valdiskrebs]

Yes! The iPad is the best streamer/interface combo for the price, and not just for Apple Music. Tidal sounds great on the set-up you showed.

[richardlynch]

Thanks John. Now I just need to buy an external DAC.

[ba]

Thank you, I was foolishly not checking the fact that I was using that basic 3.5mm to lightning adapter, which was keeping me from accessing 24/192. I just picked up the needed USB to lightning adapter, and now all is well in the 24/192 world. Thanks again, brother!

[jlachoff]

Dragonfly drains device battery, in practice if you don’t want to experience that, the dongle to use is the Apple Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter. This allows you to charge the iPad simultaneously, for unlimited listening.

[Hypermancek]

Using the Bit Perfect app on iOS solves all your issues. You get around the output issues for bit perfect output over USB on any Mac. I use an old 2012 Mac Mini just for music.

[stephanem]

Great and simple to understand. Thank you

[jmcc]

Thanks to your forums and blog. I run my iPhone through a lightning adapter > USB into Topping E30 DAC > into headphone Amp or Hifi system. Mainly used my E30 DAC to also make sure sample rates are what they say they are. Happiness at the end of the day. It worked.

[NeilLavitt]

Thanks, your first video wasn’t negative. The gotchas with AM lossless were bewildering. I’ve persisted and have an iPad Pro powered via a Magic Keyboard feeding via a USC-C dongle to my NADM10 via a Schiit Audio Eitr. My ears are very happy with the quality. I’m actually enjoying not having my phone as a remote next to me. I can now just sit down and listen rather than fiddling. Nice video!

[iannewby]

Hi John you inspired me today and have ordered the components to enable me to listen to hi res music they will be here on Saturday please continue with your brilliant work I'm still learning about Hi-Fi to make my system better

[jmtennapel]

There is one nasty gotcha for the airplay route with a maximum of 48Khz: Airplay can do it, but the Apple app does not send out the high res lossless stream, but a downsampled lossy stream. It is a problem in the Apple Music app, so Apple needs to release a new version where this feature is corrected. For instance, the Tidal app does send out high res on the same phone or iPad.

[MrRosscoz]

The best thing about a setup like this is if you get a fairly high spec iPad, it has plenty of storage to download heaps of songs in hires. Using the camera adapter, you can keep in constantly on charge as part of a set up if you want.
Not sure why but I find the quality of the down loaded files better than when you stream them. Possibly because of my crappy internet