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Level 1

19 points

Audio Midi Setup, and lossless

The new About page does not address whether or not a trip to Audio Midi Setup is still required to permit playback to happen at the file's native resolution.

I realize you don't have to adjust anything in Audio Midi Setup just to PLAY the file.

For example, listening to a 24/96 file from Apple Music isn't going to be a 24/96 file if the software is still transcoding it back down to 16/44 or whatever Audio Midi Setup is set to.

Or did Apple change this behavior?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.1

Posted on May 22, 2021 9:16 AM

Similar questions

22 replies

Jun 8, 2021 3:40 PM in response to Space Ranger

Please reference to my reply on page 1.

Apple Music App for MacOS only follows ONE bitrate, which is the bitrate configured at Audio MIDI Setup. Which is NOT something suppose to be.

The reason is, your stream won't be matching your source which is BAD BAD BAD! You do not want Audio MIDI Setup to mess with your stream, what you want is bit perfect stream from Apple Music directly to your DAC.

Setting Audio MIDI Setup to 384-32 won't help as one might think it "up-sample", which is NOT the case... it just "re"-sample with gibberish bit to makeup for the extra bit settings.

Hope that helps.

For now, the only bit-perfect way to stream with Apple Music is to use your iPad or iPhone, because the iOS version does not mess around with the actual stream from Apple Music.

As a temporary workaround... if you have to use Mac to stream music to your DAC, set Apple Music not to go beyond 44.1 (CD Quality) and configure Audio MIDI Setup for your Rotel at 44.1 to match.

Currently, Apple Music does not run on exclusive mode, not like Roon or Tidal's app.

Again, it is a shame that third party software KNOWS to run on exclusive mode but not Apple's own Music App....

and yes... I already filed a bug report with Apple.

deckeda Author

Level 1

19 points

Jun 8, 2021 4:03 PM in response to Space Ranger

Space, this is what we've been talking about. Your options are to play files in something other than iTunes/Music or to use BitPerfect, http://bitperfectsound.blogspot.com It appears to be abandonware but still works for me in Big Sur. BitPerfect and other solutions ignore the macOS audio chain and send directly to the DAC (Audio Midi Setup won't look different nor affect it.)

BitPerfect is still the only one I'm aware of that uses iTunes/Music as the player interface and therefore, should recognize the Apple Music stream. Keep in mind iTunes and Macs have had the ability to play 24/384 files for many years so long as they were local files associated with your local library.

Everything else that I'm aware of requires a different library database or file management system interface, i.e. "player." roon is the expensive solution (partly because it does so much more) however you might also look into something like Audirvana.

A compromise solution is to just adjust Audio Midi Setup for something that's "common" to the higher quality files you listen to and leave it alone. It won't really "hurt" anything if you play a CD rip thru the 24/192 configuration. Just remember to keep Music's volume level at max. Don't adjust volume from within that application.

Jun 8, 2021 6:36 PM in response to deckeda

hopefully its a matter of a point update to fix this, perhaps 11.5 or at least in Monterrey.

my current configuration is that Music app volume it 100%, Mac mini volume is 100% and I only adjust volume at the DAC/Rotel.

I also am confused as to why High resolution lossless audio is only applicable to Apple Music streaming and not through purchases, if they already have the high resolution content...considering they upgraded all iTunes purchases some time ago when they switched to AAC 256Kbps. I prefer to own my music then stream, though Apple Music is good for finding new stuff

Jun 8, 2021 6:44 PM in response to surfsnow1

Agree with all these comments. I made a post asking the same thing: how to output the song stream natively from MacOS. Audio Midi Setup will up/down convert to whatever the setting is.

I do have an outboard DAC that can take the USB input from iPhone/iPad and play natively.

But I have multiple other setups that can only take SPIDIF via coax or toslink.

I have a supported Mac that outputs toslink, so hopefully Apple provides an update to Music that outputs natively.

deckeda Author

Level 1

19 points

Jun 9, 2021 2:04 PM in response to Space Ranger

I can only speculate here. Steaming requires fewer resources than making files available for downloading (because you can trickle out a stream, more or less) and because Apple wants to push subscriptions. Also, it would be ripe for confusion for the vast majority of buyers who rightly have zero interest in having the libraries explode in size ... even a swap to 16/44 lossless from AAC would be quite a bit, most all of whom would be asking, "Why can't I hear any difference on my earbuds?"

So I don't think swapping AAC files to lossless of any flavor is their priority today.

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

May 24, 2021 5:10 AM in response to deckeda

From the page:

To listen to songs at sample rates higher than 48 kHz, you need an external digital-to-analog converter.

Exact details will perhaps become clear when this is all actually live.

tt2

Jun 8, 2021 11:39 AM in response to surfsnow1

Yes, I agree. More chance of Apple buying Roon out. If they did, imagine how awesome that bit of integration would be!

Audio Midi Setup, and lossless