Why Apple Music's Lossless Audio Doesn't Really Matter (Just Yet)
Why Apple Music's Lossless Audio Doesn't Really Matter
Plenty of other factors set wired and wireless apart: The convenience of not having cords versus having a mess to untangle before listening to a podcast; the need to remember to charge yet another wireless device rather than having simple plug-and-play; and the cost differences. But when it comes to overall audio quality, wired hardware always will beat wireless (with similar specifications).
Even with lower audio quality, the demand for wireless is still growing—to the point that, despite Apple Music requiring wired headphones to make use of its lossless feature, it’s not unreasonable to think it will find a way to make the technology work wirelessly. And listeners, think it's a good start.
"The trend in headsets for the last several years has been a steady pace of more Bluetooth headsets sales versus corded headsets/earbuds," said Global Teck World Wide employee Rolando Rosas in an email interview with Lifewire. "I don't see a new update by Apple reversing that trend.”
A second and trickier stumbling block is the hardware, itself.No matter how impressive a pair of headphones, earbuds, or speakers may be, outdated or low-quality hardware drags the audio quality down. Smartphones are still a suboptimal way to listen to the highest quality music and sound—not a terrible option, but not the best, either.
"Even Apple's website says so," Rosas said, pointing out that, the differences in audio quality may be indistinguishable. "If you're only listening to the audio on your Apple device, this benefit may not be enough of a differentiator to matter."
Hellmann echoes a similar sentiment. "Even if the quality of the source audio file is the best it can be, most devices like smartphones aren’t able to deliver the same quality to the headphone due to the smartphone's output quality."
Lossless streaming falls on its face because current smartphone audio technology still can’t quite reproduce the highest quality source audio. It’s a worthwhile concept, especially for audiophiles, however, those same audiophiles are likely not using their phones to listen to music at its best—and until the technology catches up that probably won’t change.
"The question a music listener should always ask is the following: 'Where’s the bottleneck to be found in my audio equipment?'" said Hellmann. "Apple must deliver some evidence that the sound quality of Apple Music’s new audio codec really reaches the listener’s ears before deciding which equipment from smartphone to headphones will deliver the best listening experience."
Dolby Atmos spatial audio and lossless audio are officially available for Apple Music subscribers, but only on certain devices.
Apple Music subscribers can listen to 20 million tracks with lossless audio right now, but the streaming platform will eventually add a total of more than 75 million songs with the new tech. Some of the albums available to listen to now in the new audio formats include Taylor Swift’s Folklore, Arianna Grande’s Positions, The Weeknd’s After Hours, and more.
Apple Music’s new lossless audio tier starts at 44.1 kHz (kilohertz), which There is also Hi-Resolution Lossless, up to 24 bit at 192 kHz.1, which aims to provide an even better quality listening experience.
Apple said in its that lossless audio is "the way the artists created [tracks] in the studio," without any edits or additions. Audiophiles say it provides an improved listening experience, though you'll need better headphones or speakers than are typically packed with your smartphone.
While Apple Music Lossless is available on , you won't be able to listen to it on Apple's own headphones or smart speakers like the HomePod mini.Spatial audio is a 360-degree sound format that can create a surround-sound effect, and "enables artists to mix music so the sound comes from all around and from above." It's great for movies and immersive video games. Spatial audio is available on Apple headphones like AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.
Apple last month. Users took to social media to sound off (so to speak) on their experience with spatial and lossless audio, and it’s mainly been positive. Some noted that Apple Music's new audio offerings make the streaming platform stand out among competitors like Spotify.
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