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neuropathy
Avid Contributor I
March 14, 2023

Apple Music service (Sonos app plugin) lossless coming soon?

  • March 14, 2023
  • 15 replies
  • 1083 views

Does the 3/28 “Hi Res” and Apple Music Classical update mean that we’ll also be able to stream regular lossless (CD quality audio - 16-bit/44.1 kHz) through the Apple Music service via the Sonos iPhone app and Mac app?

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15 replies

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Belly M
Belly M
April 12, 2023

@Belly M

Yes… strange that Apple just uses AAC for using airplay on ios. But on the other hand i compared this with using airplay on my iphone playing flac 16/44,1 from Deezer. For my ears no difference… 

So if the result is ok, why not using AAC!? It really sounds much better than mp3 HQ. 


Internal testing at Apple showed that most members of staff could not tell the difference, and personally I do find AAC on Sonos hardware perfectly acceptable.

    Schlumpf
    Schlumpf
    Virtuoso
    April 12, 2023

    @Belly M 

    Maybe we can hear a difference on the „big“ Sonos speakers  if Apple Music will be able to play 24/48 directly to Sonos. But this won’t be an airplay issue any longer. 

    Ralf
    bradbort
    Enthusiast II
    October 14, 2023

    I was suprised recently to read that airplay 2 actually downsamples to AAC. That was really disappointing. I also believe that apple does not play lossless natively on the sonos. It is actually really hard to figure out a way to hear lossless with apple unless you plug your computer/ipad/iphone directly into a DAC. Even listening over apple’s own wireless headphones is not lossless. 

    Kumar
    October 14, 2023

     Even listening over apple’s own wireless headphones is not lossless. 

    Lossless refers to just bits and bytes, nothing is being lost in the heard sound quality. Don’t just take my word for it, the head of Apple Music said so about a year ago. At the time of the Apple Music lossless release, which would suggest that this release was just a check the box marketing exercise for Apple.

      Kumar
      October 14, 2023

      Worth a read:

      https://markellisreviews.com/apple-music-lossless-sounds-better-because-its-louder-a-follow-up/

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