Apple Music: Dolby Atmos and Lossless are now available

Apple Music Upgrade: On Tuesday night, Apple launched the first music tracks with Dolby Atmos support for subscribers – as well as the new Lossless option, both of which are free of charge. Streaming and downloads with lossless audio summary must be activated manually in the settings; This requires at least the current iOS version 14.6.

According to Apple, 20 million songs can be streamed without loss at the beginning, and a complete list of about 75 million titles should be fixed by the end of the year.

Apple: Lossless “practically indistinguishable”

Lossless playback Apple’s internal code relies on ALAC (Apple’s Lossless Audio Codec). Apple notes that this is “practically indistinguishable” from the previous loss summary with AAC (Advanced Audio Coding). ALAC music files are also significantly larger, using more storage space and bandwidth. If you take 100 people, you can’t hear the “99 or 98” difference, says Eddie Q, Apple’s service head. Interview with the press advertisement board. Lossless option is still offered to “very, very high quality equipment” and a small group of customers who demand it.

Lossless compression starts at 44.1 kHz with CD 16 with Apple Music starting at “CD quality” and reaches up to 48 kHz, which can be played directly on Apple devices. In addition, Apple Music offers “high-resolution lossless” up to 192 kHz, which requires additional hardware in the form of USB Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC). Apple’s Airports can’t fully play music without loss along with the expensive Airports Max. As for home bots, Apple wants to submit a loss-free option via update.

The Dolby Atmos list is still early

The number of Dolby Atmos titles is initially limited to four digits, with this service highlighting related albums. On Airboats and Beats headphones with Apple’s H1 or W1 chip, Dolby Atmos is activated automatically; On other headphones, the functions can be implemented in settings. Q says adapting an existing list for “3D audio” is complicated and time consuming. The Apple manager expects new titles to be offered immediately on Dolby Atmos in the future.

From the fall – probably with iOS 15 – Apple wants to add more functionality to 3D audio on the Airbnb Pro and on airplanes: in the future, headphones’ motion sensors will be added to detect head movements and adjust the sound accordingly. Many video streaming applications for iOS already support such functionality.

(lbe)