Yesterday, I spent some time testing their Hi-Res titles against Tidal/Qobuz over headphone, well, I found most of their Hi-Res titles (the track Fearless was as good as its Tidal/Qobuz counterpart though) were Hollow compared to Tidal/Qobuz. The tracks like 'Blinding Lights' / 'Don't Start Now' could feel that as if I was listening to compressed AAC rather than Hi-Res Music. That said, I got a serious doubt if they were simply upsampling the regular lossy AAC tracks and selling them as Hi-Res.
Apple music to launch lossless streaming
- Thread starter Pardeep Bansal
- Start date
Passive_audio_enthusiast
Well-Known Member
this album wasn’t mastered right. True. It’s a bit grainy sounding. But it still sounds clear. Not muffled like what’s on Apple Music or any other platform. I have the Orginal magnasound cd for comparison
Wow that must be really disheartening experience waiting for the unnecessary hype on lossless only to be let down massively by fake hi res... Hope it is a one off and not a rip off... Just hollow like apple marketing as alwaysthis album wasn’t mastered right. True. It’s a bit grainy sounding. But it still sounds clear. Not muffled like what’s on Apple Music or any other platform. I have the Orginal magnasound cd for comparison
To add some additional clarity,
- Fearless Played as ATMOS - Good as Tidal/Qobuz Counterpart
- Blinding Lights as ATMOS - Sounds Hollow
- Don't Start Now as Hi-Res (24/48) - Sounds Hollow
And now this announcement:
www.news18.com
i dont see the hi res option on my iPhoneXS or iPad pro yet.
Apple Music Lossless Audio Rolls Out In India And Dolby Atmos Is What You Should Care About Most - News18
Apple has said that more than 20 million tracks are available in lossless audio quality with the entire catalogue of 75 million tracks being upgraded by the end of the year.
i dont see the hi res option on my iPhoneXS or iPad pro yet.
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How are you getting the Lossless function on your Apple music/iTunes? Can't figure out how to switch it on or any options in relation thereto.
For reference, I'm using Apple music on three devices - Apple music on Android, Apple music on iPad Pro, and iTunes on PC.
narenvaidee
Active Member
No wonder these websites practice low quality journalism. These are SEO articles aimed at driving traffic and the title is a click bait. If the title had been 'Apple Lossless is coming soon to India while the rest of the world enjoys first' that would make sense. We all are waiting. I've a gut feeling that it wouldn't be worth this much of a hype as I'm already coming across reviews that it isn't great unless one has a complete multi-channel setup with proper bitrates and DACs that can handle these.And now this announcement:
Apple Music Lossless Audio Rolls Out In India And Dolby Atmos Is What You Should Care About Most - News18
Apple has said that more than 20 million tracks are available in lossless audio quality with the entire catalogue of 75 million tracks being upgraded by the end of the year.
i dont see the hi res option on my iPhoneXS or iPad pro yet.
narenvaidee
Active Member
Interesting. I still don't see it. Well, given my past experience, I might be the last receiving this update
Did you do anything or it just appeared just like that in the settings?Even as I checked the option for atmos and lossless and switched on the system eagerly, it has disappeared. Will keep checking. Though I have other
lossless subscriptions, looking forward to this for the lyrics support and strong Indian content.
lossless subscriptions, looking forward to this for the lyrics support and strong Indian content.
gurujee
Active Member
I don't think it is available for India yet. I have some experience as worker for these media, and I know they have just turned a Press Release to fit in Indian context without actual knowledge of it is available for India or not.
So I have been doing this since yesterday - using my US ID - the sources were (as I have since circled back to my regular use ID) iPOD Touch 2019 and 2020 iPad Pro with AQ Cobalt as the DAC, playback using AL6000a with Quad S1 speakers and a Focal Cub2 Sub with a Mediabridge RCA to 3.5mm cable and my IEMs - Westone UM3X and Etymotic ER4XR. I also re-activated my Tidal membership for the test and did a side by side with some Local Hi-Res files I have. The songs were the ones that I know very very well from the following genres - Classic and Hard Rock, Alternate Rock, Jazz, Classical and Electronic, some R&B/Soul, some vocal centric music.
I personally feel something has changed for sure, from their regular offering of the same music, but I am not sure if it is for the better. The songs I have on Local definitely beat both Tidal and Apple, but they beat Apple by a very fine margin. The details using the ER4XR is the dead giveaway, there I can hear some very specific things that are clearly superior on the local RIPs and on UM3X (my current and forever reference) though the differences are not night and day, but the Local RIPs feel superior. The UM3X's fun yet kind of analytical character makes my Local files a lot more enjoyable. Tidal in comparison to Apple Music also sound much better - cleaner. Apple Music is very lifeless - not sure how to explain.
The only difference I see is that Apple Music files are a fair bit louder at the same volume from the sources. The volume of the playing program - Apple Music, Tidal and JetAudio was set at 100% and the sources were kept at 35% (I am not SPL crazy) - that could be the reason for loudness difference though.
Also I am not sure if the JetAudio was natively playing my local files at full hi-res so take that with a pinch of salt. However most of the testing was done on Apple Music and Tidal, the local was just for reference. Also my methodology is not very scientific so do not take it as the final word.
I never had much hope from Apple Music, hence I didn't want to go thru this pain, but I have my answers now, I am still waiting and will wait for Spotify Lossless, they have spent so much time on this that I am hoping they are doing something good - "HOPING". Regardless, if they fail too, I will learn to live with the regular Spotify. Time to save money and get me some Philips earphone and creative speakers. Life will be much much simpler.
I personally feel something has changed for sure, from their regular offering of the same music, but I am not sure if it is for the better. The songs I have on Local definitely beat both Tidal and Apple, but they beat Apple by a very fine margin. The details using the ER4XR is the dead giveaway, there I can hear some very specific things that are clearly superior on the local RIPs and on UM3X (my current and forever reference) though the differences are not night and day, but the Local RIPs feel superior. The UM3X's fun yet kind of analytical character makes my Local files a lot more enjoyable. Tidal in comparison to Apple Music also sound much better - cleaner. Apple Music is very lifeless - not sure how to explain.
The only difference I see is that Apple Music files are a fair bit louder at the same volume from the sources. The volume of the playing program - Apple Music, Tidal and JetAudio was set at 100% and the sources were kept at 35% (I am not SPL crazy) - that could be the reason for loudness difference though.
Also I am not sure if the JetAudio was natively playing my local files at full hi-res so take that with a pinch of salt. However most of the testing was done on Apple Music and Tidal, the local was just for reference. Also my methodology is not very scientific so do not take it as the final word.
I never had much hope from Apple Music, hence I didn't want to go thru this pain, but I have my answers now, I am still waiting and will wait for Spotify Lossless, they have spent so much time on this that I am hoping they are doing something good - "HOPING". Regardless, if they fail too, I will learn to live with the regular Spotify. Time to save money and get me some Philips earphone and creative speakers. Life will be much much simpler.
I have been playing and comparing AM against Audirvana+Tidal (and Roon) for the past few days with my US ID
While Lossless and Hi-res Lossless AM tracks are clearly better than their AAC counterparts. I noticed the highs and bass are exaggerated with Lossless, and overall they lack refinement. I feel Apple needs to either improve their streams or the software/player itself to suit lossless.
To my ears from a rigged out MacMini: Audirvana+Tidal>Roon+Tidal>Qobuz native app>Apple Music>Audirvana+Qobuz>Tidal native app
I didn’t have any expectations for AM to begin with, but didn’t think it would be this bad. It’s Music player just can’t compete with Audirvana or Roon. I’ll consider AM when Apple lets 3rd party software/hardware integrations. Won’t hold by breath for it though
While Lossless and Hi-res Lossless AM tracks are clearly better than their AAC counterparts. I noticed the highs and bass are exaggerated with Lossless, and overall they lack refinement. I feel Apple needs to either improve their streams or the software/player itself to suit lossless.
To my ears from a rigged out MacMini: Audirvana+Tidal>Roon+Tidal>Qobuz native app>Apple Music>Audirvana+Qobuz>Tidal native app
I didn’t have any expectations for AM to begin with, but didn’t think it would be this bad. It’s Music player just can’t compete with Audirvana or Roon. I’ll consider AM when Apple lets 3rd party software/hardware integrations. Won’t hold by breath for it though
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Haha i had 100% expected this from Apple. They hype everything up like it is the greatest thing in the world. When they actually deliver it, it is useless. At least in this case one doesn't have to waste a kidney to find out. As usual, hollow marketing and hype
In this case, they haven't even delivered the bad service to India yet they have started advertising it as the best.
I just hope that spotify doesn't follow suit and let its product do the talking.
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I beg to differ. Your dislike for Apple is well evident thought this thread. I have ignored your comments so far, but will respond just this once.
I have been into Apple ecosystem starting 2007 and quite content. Most of the stuff they do is very refined, reliable and offer very good user experience. I feel, I get what I pay for with Apple. And Apple is known to take care of its customers.
I like many Apple products, a lot. But unlike fanboys, when I find flaws, I point em out.
There is no reason to get worked up about AM. There are plenty of alternatives and I’m sure at least one of those will work for each of us
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