Apple today announced a major upgrade for Apple Music in a press release. The streaming service will support spatial audio with Dolby Atmos and lossless audio. Now the company has confirmed something less pleasant.
Apple Music will support spatial audio with Dolby Atmos and lossless audio from June. The great thing about it - there will be no change in price for subscribers. The upgrade does not require any additional costs. That was great news. But now there is something that is sure to cause discontent. The 600 euro AirPods Max do not support "lossless" or "hi-resolution lossless" audio quality. According to a report by T3, Apple has confirmed that even the impressive 600 euro AirPods Max cannot reproduce any of the lossless listening experiences announced today. Not to mention the in-ear AirPods Pro. The whole thing is said to be due to the codecs. In the report is it [called:
Apple confirmed to T3 that, unfortunately, these devices are not the AirPods Pro or AirPods Max. Both of Apple's elite earbud models only use the Bluetooth AAC codec when connected to an iPhone, meaning they can't receive the full quality of Apple Music "lossless" files, which are encoded as ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) files.
Apple Music: Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos is automatically activated on AirPods and Beats
Apple had already indicated that high-resolution lossless audio playback requires special USB hardware to work, but no specific requirements for standard lossless quality were mentioned.
You can listen to lossless audio using the latest Apple Music app on an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV. Turn on lossless audio in Settings > Music > Audio Quality. You can choose between Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless for cellular or WiFi connections. Note that Hi-Res Lossless requires external devices such as a USB digital-to-analog converter.
Although spatial audio for movies and TV shows is only available on the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, Dolby Atmos for Apple Music, which Apple describes as an "immersive audio format that allows musicians to mix music so it sounds like the instruments are all around you," will be compatible with all AirPods models as well as other headphones. Apple explains that Dolby Atmos will be automatically enabled for songs that support it with all AirPods and BeatsX, Beats Solo3 Wireless, Beats Studio3, Powerbeats3 Wireless, Beats Flex, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Solo Pro headphones. Users using other brand headphones will need to enable it manually. (Photo by hadrian / Bigstockphoto)
