Apple Music LOSSLESS: Can an Audiophile HEAR the Difference?

Apple Music launched with lossless streaming... but does it matter? I wanted to know for myself, so I'm testing my audiophile cred in a live test to see if I can hear a difference between standard and lossless streaming on iPhone.

Follow along with these playlists of the music I'm testing with:

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#AppleMusic #Lossless #SuperReview

[julesstanden]

Whoops the small white apple dongle converter doesnt transmit the hi res sampling rates. So this test is faulted from the get go. Do it again with a hi res dac dongle.

[ha]

Many years ago, I and many others have double blind tested aac from original and failed once we all got to 224kbps (only one succeeded but failed at 256kbps). But here's the kicker. We all heard slight differences before the test (even the commenter who speaks about dynamic range). But during the test those differences COMPLETELY DISSAPPEARED. The placebo effect is REAL!

Anyway, great video as always. I highly enjoy your content. I hope you keep doing this for a long time.

[alexwise-]

I truly applaud and respect how open-minded you are about your experience with audiophilia and how it can entirely be placebo. Wish more people from the community were more knowledgeable and would question the whole hi-res lossless audio thing more often

[deshan]

The only thing that really stands out for me between lossless and compressed files is the dynamic range of the tracks and that really only comes into play on well recorded music tbh. I only care about it when I'm at home in a quiet environment...for portable use it really wouldn't matter because background noise would be a much bigger factor anyways.

[Koffiato]

Hey, I think adding timestamps would help viewers skimming through the video. Keep up the good work!

[antonine.rodrigue]

My left ear got badly injuried resulting on my right ear compensating (ORL testing proves it). With fairly good headpones, ATH-M50x, I can hear a good amount of detail with ALAC. The very high and low ranges are the most obvious. Electric guitar such as the one played in the song Stricken sound much better with ALAC compared to AAC lossy. Also, the added range makes the music sound louder so instead of listening tp 50% of my maximum volume, I'm now about between 35-40%.
Take care of your hearing, it's well worth it

[ericlowenbach]

Yeah, I can't tell the difference either. You could feed me 256kb AAC all day long and tell me it's hi-res and I'd be happy. But you're right, FOMO is a thing, and I didn't spend a grand on headphones just to listen to compressed music (shudder) even though I can't tell the difference. On a related note, I'm not really sure my $1, 000 headphones are really better than my $350 headphones, which I enjoy just as much.

[dustintrombly]

It’s refreshing to hear self-described audiophiles help fight disinformation with the sensible take.

[Mordhereck]

I tried 320kbps vs FLAC with Human Nature from Michael Jackson and Heart of Gold from Neil Young. Both, my brother and I, we distinguish easily what the FLAC version was. With another songs is so much difficult, I think it highly depends on the quality of the recording.

[malfunkt]

In the past I've taken ABX tests and cannot reliably discern the difference between 320kpbs and WAV/AIFF/FLAC. When you are actually enjoying music, it doesn't really matter. Hi-res is a total scam. People just want to believe though.

[Thepapoyboyz]

Hmmm. Maybe try with 100$ dongle or amp or more. I always notice the different on same song on aac apple music and lossless. I used 7hz 71 and shio. 71 doesn't give different on acc and lossless. But on shio. Give a bit different. Idk how decribe it. Simply It's atmosphere on the sound more engaging and spacious and more natural sounds than aac. its depends on what songs you listening. On slow not busy track like acoustic with vocal song it's doesn't hear the difference between aac and lossless. But on other genre i always feel the difference

[BrianVallotton]

I wanted to take the time to thank you for making this video. I play guitar and have a great love for music but have hearing loss in both ears. About 50% loss in my left with tinnitus on top of it and my right is only about 80%... yet I can still hear the tonal qualities of music regardless. I have been kind of driving myself nuts lately with pursuit of that extra tone or quality of music that may be out there. It would be like a legally blind guy getting caught up in the difference between High definition vs. 4K televisions... What you have shared here helps me to put to rest the uneasy sense I have as to whether I am getting the best sound... One thing I am grateful for as of late is that I am able to adjust the balance on my devices to compensate for my lack of hearing on the left so that I can still hear the separation for panning left and right. We truly live in an amazing time. For the most part I most often have my bluetooth earbuds ion anyways and I am amazed every day that such a thing even exists! God bless and I look forward to your other reviews. By the way... what are your favorite go to wireless earbuds nowadays? (IF you use them) Thanks. P.S. After reading all the comments here I believe you have the patience of a Saint. ;-)

[sethagastya]

Actually the dongles only support 24/48kHz so it’s not bit perfect and there’s resampling that must happen. Not saying that 24/48 would be any different from 24/192 - but for the sake of testing, I think you should try with a dac that could do higher sampling rates…

[HeroOfAnnihilated]

abx test can be done with foobar2000 with abx plugin with your own music library

[dogewow]

I have no problem with proper transcodes (Lossless -> Lossy). The most important thing is the music. I also hear no difference between Hi-Res and lossless, yes I see by looking at the spectrogram of my Hi-Res files that they are legit, but I hear no difference, I have a decent balanced DAC, I think I fell for the meme. I have also tried the Hifiman Shangri-La and Sennheiser HE-1, not that big of a difference compared to 300-500$ headphones, maybe wind instruments sound a bit more natural but that's it. I also tried some expensive IEMs and some over 1000$ sound worse than the cheapest KZ/CCA.

[dmarcus]

It matters to me. That's why I prefer purchasing music from Bandcamp vs Apple Music (iTunes) when given the choice. I can hear the difference between lossless vs lossy. Albeit it's not a day and night difference but there is a subtle difference. Lossless sounds more organic, less compressed. The instrument separation stands out. I also notice more dynamic range with lossless audio.

[Johnassu]

Wow this is the test that I wanted to do, great content!

[codenzo]

So well explained sir. As you said; myself i would prefer to have lossless just so i know if a sound or note doesn't sound good at least i know its not because of the high compresion of an mp3 or AAC.

[k.vn.k]

I think it’s a testament of how good is Apple non lossless version already.

[taidee]

We appreciate this Mark, some of us don't have higher end gear, it could be difficult to know if we are just being cheated or not. At least the good thing is that Apple is not charging more so no loss if things are not as great for people like me who subscribe to Apple Music anyway. Also you're making me happy with the way I get my music using my equipment.