Good job I bought the physical box set recently and ripped them all to lossless for Sony DAP for mobile and Roon/Sonos for home listening then Sad to hear, but Apple are making clear the difference between Apple Music (their present and future) and the iTunes Store (not far off of going the way of the classic iPod, at least as far as music goes).
From Macrumors: "Earlier today, we confirmed that AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max will not support lossless audio over Bluetooth because of Bluetooth limitations, and it turns out there's no direct wired lossless option for the AirPods Max either." AirPods Max Won't Directly Support Lossless Apple Music Over Lightning I think poster WhoDaKat sums it up nicely: "You have to be f’ing kidding me. My $600 headphones don’t support, even wired? They just freaking released them! Who on gods earth are they bringing lossless to Apple Music for? For all the people that don’t buy their products? They sell speakers and headphone, and none of them support lossless? That makes zero sense. This surely has to be a mistake."
I have a pair of AirPods that were gifted to me by a freelance client, they’re super handy for walks around the neighborhood or while traveling (and of course for the multitude of video calls we’ve all had to do). As earbuds go, they’re perfectly fine, if a bit overpriced. But if you care about lossless audio, you’re probably using someone else’s headphones anyway. I really don’t care about lossy audio when I’m out and about…at home it’s easy to run an AppleTV into my receiver in the living room and use an external DAC out of my computer in my office for when I do actually care about it.
References to lossless were found in the web app, so I assume (or hope) that'll it'll be possible to stream in lossless on a PC. Lossless audio references found in Apple Music web app as company teases special announcement - 9to5Mac I've literally never used Apple Music, and only ever downloaded a couple of things off iTunes years and years ago so I wouldn't pretend to know much about any of the tech limitations. Only used Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz and more recently Amazon Unlimited.
That is probably the best news for the likes of Qobuz and HDTracks. If Apple did start selling lossless and Hi-Res lossless it would have really hindered those storefronts.
Its since been confirmed that this is only for Apple Music and wont apply for downloads from the iTunes Store.
If they offer the sales of lossless downloads I will switch to Apple Music as a streaming service in a heartbeat (at least as long as I am certain they won't touch my existing files).
Current Bluetooth doesn’t habe enough bandwidth. And the dongle can’t help, anyway, as the Max has a Lightning port and the Regular AirPods (and the Pros) have obviously none.
All of which is entirely reasonable from a technical point of view. What is odd is Apple touting a lossless service you have to step outside of their ecosystem/walled garden to make use of. Don’t get me wrong - I’m hoping that my Sonos speakers & AppleTV+Denon AVR can make use of the Apple HiFi/lossless content in the way they make use of the same from my Qobuz subscription. I’m glad Apple is adding CD & hi-res resolution content to Apple Music, but baffling that none of Apple first party headphones and speakers are capable of supporting it directly. Ordinarily when Apple has launched a feature like this (say HDR10 & Dolby Vision content for purchase & rental from the iTunes Store), they’ve had hardware support already out there (Apple TV 4K, iPad Pro) waiting for the switch to be thrown in software to make use of it. I’ll still be happy to make use of the Spatial Audio content with my AirPods Pro. I had Hamilton (Atmos soundtrack) running from Disney+ whilst preparing dinner last night, iphone propped up on the counter with my AirPods in. Turning my back on Jonathan Groff’s You’ll Be Back to attend to the hob and the vocals & sounstage panned smoothly around the back of my head to originate behind me - assuming Apple Music has similar Atmos content to Tidal’s, I’m stoked to hear how it will sound via my Airpods (barring the fixed-in-space soundstage).
As expected sadly. Missed opportunity; there are better quality Bluetooth codecs than AAC 256K, and a wired option for the AirPods Max to enable lossless would have been easy to implement. My 2 year old B&W PX headphones charge via USB, and support up to 48K / 16 bit over a USB connection (needs the camera connection kit for an iDevice IIRC). Any MFi certified DAC (like my Oppo HA2) can support high res via USB without the need for the camera connection kit. Wouldn’t have been difficult for Apple to enable USB DAC functionality for the AirPods Max to allow lossless and Hi Res, and doing so would fit nicely with the lossless / Hi Res Apple Music rollout.
My thought process was incorrect. The dongle could theoretically help - at least with the AirPods Max, as is provides a Lighting to Lightning connection, if used together with the AirPods Max cable. So, maybe lossless to the Max might still be implemented later via updates.
Would have made more sense for Apple to have used USB C on the Max, and made them MFi certified so they could connect to an iPhone using a Lightning-USB C cable or iPad Pro using USB C to USB C. The protocols are all in place and many of us have been using USB DACs with iOS devices for years. It’s almost more difficult not to support it!
Two questions... Anyone figure out how to access Lossless in the Android app yet? Similarly for those of us fools still listening through the Windows iTunes app? HEAVY EDIT: Don't mind me, it launches in June. FML
Well, you'd lose that bet because the new pricing ($7.99/mo) showed up for me without having to opt in to anything.
What MacRumors knows about both lossless and spatial compatibility as of 9:00am, in case anyone else finds it helpful:
I'll use it for home streaming from PC or even iphone/iPad into Denon AVR just like I have done with Amazon HD. Although since Amazon just lowered the price to $7.99 for Prime subscribers - I will have to compare the usability - been on iTunes forever and my non-Apple Music stuff resides in the library there
Apple Music on Android will support Lossless, but not Dolby Atmos at launch - iPod + iTunes + AppleTV Discussions on AppleInsider Forums
It has enough bandwith. Lossless 16/44.1 transmission via Bluetooth is perfectly possible via LDAC. Apple just doesn't support it.
