Enthusiast II

Answered

Apple Music Lossless on the new app

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 14, 2024
41 replies
18192 views

Not a fan of the new app, but I listened to a playlist on Apple Music this morning. And a saw a Lossless logo on one of the songs. It came and went and hasn’t showed up for other songs, but thought it was interesting.

Is lossless playback coming? Was it already here and I missed it?

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Best answer by Nollind

The recent system update (to your speakers, not the app) added Apple Music lossless support but you need the new app updates to see the lossless indicator.

That said though, if you launch an Apple Music song from the old app, it will still play lossless but the indicator just won’t show on the old app (but will be seen on the new app).

PS. BTW the lossless indicator may not show immediately. A workaround to force it to appear is to scrub the song progress forward or backwards a few times and then it will kick in. Not sure why.

Show previous replies

K

Kumar

I’m eager to get Apple lossless audio on my Sonos ASAP but I definitely want to stay away from the new buggy app for now.

You would be wise to do that, for different reasons:

For many years till 2021, Sonos did not offer high bit stream audio, because they felt that the science did not support claims for audibly better sound quality from it. Further, when Apple started lossless services, the head of Apple Music - no less - said in an interview that neither he nor his engineers could hear anything different from it compared to Apple lossy 256k streams. However what Apple has done is the old trick of making lossless play a little louder than lossy, because even a little louder seems better in a side by side comparison.

S

sdmiller10

Contributor I

I can’t believe that with all the negative furore about the new app, Sonos didn’t make any noise about the very welcome addition of Lossless audio for Apple Music. I only just found out it was on 80.00.04 [also requiring the firmware update] when I happened to read the release notes while updating to 80.00.08..!

Total agree. Sonos, make some positive noise!

G

Gert_4

Prominent Collaborator I

It requires a fast internet to be able to play lossless without hickups.

And I listen to lossless via the old S2 app, but without the lossless badge, therfore this sound update has nothing to do with the new app.

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sdmiller10

Contributor I

So playing Apple Music via the new Sonos app is now lossless quality. Does anyone know if the signal to the speakers via Airplay is now lossless quality for Apple music?

I

ings

Enthusiast II

It requires a fast internet to be able to play lossless without hickups.

That’s true by historical standards, but not so true by 2024 standards.

AFAIK “Apple Lossless” is usually CD Red Book encoding, which is 1,411,200 bps or (rounded) 1.5 Mbps. That’s not so fast by modern standards. 1,000 Mpbs is often available in major cities, and in rural areas Starlink typically delivers 1-200 Mbps.

(Apple also offers a “hi-res” lossless option, which would have a higher bitrate.)

Bumper

Does anyone know whether only certain speakers will play Apple Music Lossless? When I play on my Ray soundbar the lossless symbol shows up but not on my symfonisk lamps?

Yes Sonos has only added this for certain speakers. Not supported on Playbase and “a few others”

A

Adam

Trending Lyricist I

It would be good if Sonos could provide a list of supported devices, I’ve been unable to get lossless to work with a Era100 stereo pair and Gen 2 Sub. Remove the Sub and lossless works, could be the gen 2 sub just isn't supported.

Bumper

It would be good if Sonos could provide a list of supported devices, I’ve been unable to get lossless to work with a Era100 stereo pair and Gen 2 Sub. Remove the Sub and lossless works, could be the gen 2 sub just isn't supported.

Yeah you would think they could provide that, put it in the release notes etc.

I’m also having a lot of issues with Apple Lossless. I can get it to play but initial issues: pausing, skipping tracks are delayed. Can’t use the slider to advance in the song reliably. Lots of audio glitches. Would prefer to use lossy while they fix the bugs tbh.

M

Michael.B

Enthusiast II

It would be good if Sonos could provide a list of supported devices, I’ve been unable to get lossless to work with a Era100 stereo pair and Gen 2 Sub. Remove the Sub and lossless works, could be the gen 2 sub just isn't supported.

I’m also having a lot of issues with Apple Lossless. I can get it to play but initial issues: pausing, skipping tracks are delayed. Can’t use the slider to advance in the song reliably. Lots of audio glitches. Would prefer to use lossy while they fix the bugs tbh.

@Bumper Which mobile app version are you using for the lossless playback - the new “brave” 80.00.xx or the old 16.1?

Bumper

Brave.

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