Apple unveiled an interesting upgrade to Apple Music. The company said its streaming service will offer lossless audio on more than 75 million tracks starting in June. The feature will allow listeners to hear songs “the way the artists intended them in the studio.” Most interestingly, though, the feature will be available for free.
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Additionally, Apple Music will add Spatial Audio to support Dolby Atmos. This means that customers who have AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and Beats headphones with the H1 or W1 chip – or who use the built-in speakers on newer iPhones, iPads, and Macs – will be able to hear certain songs in a more immersive format.
“Apple Music is making the biggest leap forward in audio quality,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of audio. “Hearing a song in Dolby Atmos is magical. The music comes from everywhere and sounds incredible. Now we’re bringing this truly innovative and immersive experience to our listeners with music from their favorite artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd and many more. Subscribers will also be able to listen to their music in the highest quality possible thanks to Lossless Audio. Apple Music as we know it is about to change forever.”
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To promote the new features, Apple will launch a series of playlists to showcase songs in Dolby Atmos format as they become available. At launch, Apple says that “thousands” of songs will offer this new surround sound experience.
Lossless audio: Coming soon to Apple Music and promises an awesome listening experience
As we mentioned above, the new Apple Music features will be available in June and will be offered for free. Subscribers can turn on Lossless Audio by going to Settings > Music > Audio Quality . Apple Music’s lossless tier starts at CD quality — 16-bit/44.1 kHz — and goes up to 24-bit/48 kHz. Users can choose “different resolutions for different connections, like cellular, Wi-Fi, or downloads.”
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“Apple Music also offers Hi-Resolution Lossless up to 24-bit at 192 kHz,” Apple said. However, the company said that Hi-Resolution Lossless playback will require “external equipment.” AirPods do not support the lossless option in Apple Music. Apple is not the first company to announce lossless audio. Spotify announced in February that it would launch Spotify HiFi, although it has not yet revealed exactly when it will be released or how much it will cost.
Source: Cult of Mac
