Contributor I

Question

Does Apple Music Lossless play through the Sonos Port?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 19, 2025
59 replies
2909 views

I read with great interest that Sonos now supports Apple Music Lossless.

But I’m unable to find a list of supported devices.

I want to add a streamer to an existing stereo. I’d considered Bluesound, but would definitely get the Sonos Port instead if I was certain that Apple Music Lossless worked. Can anyone provide an answer?

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G

gnahra01

Lyricist III

@gnahra01

Ok, in that case I suppose Apple just uses 16/44 lossless cd quality via Sonos API.

AM Music through Sonos is Max 24/48 kHz. I can see I am getting this from system where an album exists in 24/48 on AM.

Thanks. I’ll keep fiddling around with my setup then. Must be something amiss in the chain somewhere.

G

gnahra01

Lyricist III

@gnahra01

Ok, in that case I suppose Apple just uses 16/44 lossless cd quality via Sonos API.

AM Music through Sonos is Max 24/48 kHz. I can see I am getting this from system where an album exists in 24/48 on AM.

Yes, 24/48 is the max. limit on Sonos. But as far as I know Apple, some time after they introduced lossless on Sonos, switched to a dynamic choose of audio quality depending on network quality, because many people had issues with lossless on poor network performance.
So my suspicion is, that could be the reason for getting just 16/44 though the track is available on AM in 24/48.

Btw… how do you check what quality for AM is used exactly via Sonos api when showing „lossless“. Unfortunately there are no different badges like with Amazon Music that show you HD or UHD.
So I suppose you will have to use a DAC or AVR that shows you what is coming in from a Sonos Port. Or is there any other way?

My DAC displays this. So I’m just checking the bit rate directly on AM and then comparing to what my DAC displays when I’m using Sonos app->AM->port->DAC.
would he strange if it’s my network signal since I’m using the same network to get 24/44 on AM directly.

R

rastallp

Collaborator I

I’m actually using TVOS app called Bops. Shows now playing info/data from Sonos.

So Bops app does show more detailed audio information like bitrate than Sonos app itself does?
In case of Apple Music that would mean Sonos app just shows lossless or not, and Bops app can see from system data if it’s 16/44 or 24/48? This is hard to imagine imho, and if this data actually is provided to Sonos system by Apple, why shouldn’t Sonos app show it!?

Yes it does. And accurately. It uses Soco to retrieve data from the Sonos device. You can even see the quality step-up at the start of a new session with AM from 256 > 16/44 > 24/48. I’m not buying or selling the app, Just offering advice on how to view the stream quality. No need to imagine it or have an opinion. It works.

Schlumpf

Virtuoso

@gnahra01

Yes, I understand… I just think about possible reasons.
One imo as said could be reducing incoming quality by Apple.
Another one might be audio settings on your DAC.
Or maybe Sonos Port is limited on digital spdif output to 16/44 at non bit perfect output. I don’t know…

Do you use fixed (bit perfect) or variable (non bit perfect) output?

Ralf

Schlumpf

Virtuoso

@rastallp

Thank you for screenshot and clarification.
I definitely will spend the 10€ and try the app on my ATV. 👍🏻

But I really don’t understand why Sonos doesn’t use the information and show it on their own app as it obviously is submitted from Apple and available on Sonos system.

@Corry P

Can you please submit this as an user request? And do you have any idea, why Sonos Port might just put out a 16/44 signal? Would this be visible in some diagnostic data (coming in and going out quality)?

Ralf

106rallye

While Sonos does play 24/48 (play, as in decode it to analogue) I’m not sure it also will pass it through to the digital out. Might that be the problem?

G

gnahra01

Lyricist III

@gnahra01

Yes, I understand… I just think about possible reasons.
One imo as said could be reducing incoming quality by Apple.
Another one might be audio settings on your DAC.
Or maybe Sonos Port is limited on digital spdif output to 16/44 at non bit perfect output. I don’t know…

Do you use fixed (bit perfect) or variable (non bit perfect) output?

Thank you, I appreciate it.

I have tried variable, fixed, and pass-through line-out from the Port. All result in the same issue (16/44.1).

G

gnahra01

Lyricist III

While Sonos does play 24/48 (play, as in decode it to analogue) I’m not sure it also will pass it through to the digital out. Might that be the problem?

Thank you.

I thought this might be an issue but others on the forum have said they are able to get 24/48 out from the Port if I’m understanding correctly...thus my confusion.

G

gnahra01

Lyricist III

For what it’s worth…

I tried ChatGPT and it told me that:

Sonos does not support Apple Music Lossless streaming.
Apple Music on Sonos currently only supports AAC 256kbps streams, which is lossy and limited to 16-bit/44.1kHz.
So no matter how great your DAC or speakers are, you're bottlenecked by this integration limit.

So I followed up with Sonos directly - the “bot” confirmed this. Bit depth is limited to 16 on AM when streaming...not sure how @rastallp was able to get 24??

Apparently it’s an Apple issue, not a Sonos one - Apple restricts bit depth output to 16 when not using the app directly.

And apparently Airplay 2 is limited to 16-bit, so bypassing the Sonos app (and using Airplay into the Port directly) won’t help either.

This also seems to be in conflict with what @Sandemannn said awhile back.

Perhaps it’s semantics...I think Sonos is capable of supporting, but AM will not output anything better than 16-bit when not using it’s app natively...and if you try and use Airplay2, the bottleneck shifts to that.

R

rastallp

Collaborator I

For what it’s worth…

I tried ChatGPT and it told me that:

Sonos does not support Apple Music Lossless streaming.
Apple Music on Sonos currently only supports AAC 256kbps streams, which is lossy and limited to 16-bit/44.1kHz.
So no matter how great your DAC or speakers are, you're bottlenecked by this integration limit.

So I followed up with Sonos directly - the “bot” confirmed this. Bit depth is limited to 16 on AM when streaming...not sure how @rastallp was able to get 24??

Apparently it’s an Apple issue, not a Sonos one - Apple restricts bit depth output to 16 when not using the app directly.

And apparently Airplay 2 is limited to 16-bit, so bypassing the Sonos app (and using Airplay into the Port directly) won’t help either.

This also seems to be in conflict with what @Sandemannn said awhile back.

Perhaps it’s semantics...I think Sonos is capable of supporting, but AM will not output anything better than 16-bit when not using it’s app natively...and if you try and use Airplay2, the bottleneck shifts to that.

https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/services/apple-music

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