Correct sample rate on the audio device for hi res content

I've noticed what I think is a bug. If I start playback with the big, reddish Play button, the icon appears and remains as I use the skip button to navigate the tracks. If I start playback on an individual song, it does not.

Of course, thanks to the Audio MIDI concerns we've all been talking about, there's no way to know if Music is actually playing a different stream in each case.

• This is consistent: On a supported iPad OS and MacOS, click that "Lossless" icon to identify the stream info.
• Automatic "Exclusive" mode for Apple Music on MacOS would be nice to have / bug fix
• Workaround on MacOS for bit perfect sound is to click the "Lossless" icon and then adjust bit depth and sample rate in Audio MIDI Setup to match the stream.

@Apple should update the KB docs to include this info.

But hey, at least Apple thought about this and the info is there, just not needed for most people. Fun stuff and discovery. :)

But what outputs digitally to the DAC is still whatever you have your Audio MIDI Setup app's output set to. So it may say 24/96 in Music, but the output will probably be 44 or 48 unless you manually change it in Audio MIDI Setup.

Same answer I have posted on another thread (I apologize if I annoyed anyone for "cross post")

Apple Music does NOT do "EXCLUSIVE MODE"

Meaning, the application itself will not "take over" and stream to your DAC with the native bitrate of the music you're playing via Apple Music.

It will ONLY follow a fixed bit rate which you have set on Audio MIDI Setup for the connected DAC.

For example if you set Audio MIDI Setup for your $15k DAC from Nagra at 96k/24bit, all your music played from Apple Music App on your Macbook will be streamed at 96k/24bit, doesn't matter if the track itself is 44.1k or 96k.

Bottomline, playing music from Apple Music App using a Macbook is not bit-perfect, as it will resampled by whatever fixed setting at Audio MIDI Setup.

Using other player, for example Roon, which has "exclusive" mode will ignore sampling rate setting from Audio MIDI Setup and play tracks matching the material sample rate, up to the max supported bitrate of your DAC.

Playing on iOS, on the other hand, is bit-perfect, aka, no resampling.

Which is a shame on Apple how they have missed this on the MacOS Apple Music app. They need to get it fixed ASAP!

This has been driving me crazy. Also, when the icon goes away and you check the file it can revert back to 256 AAC. So far your advice on starting the album from the top play button instead of clicking on the first track seems to work. Definitely a bug.

In this case, would it make more sense to set a lower rate so if a track is high resolution lossless, it scales back instead of having 96k-192k as the output and having to upscale more potentially affecting the outcome more? So far I have seen more lossless than high resolution lossless tracks. Don't know if this makes sense, trying to understand. Thanks

Definately a bug.

Clicking Play button on album displays the Lossless icon.

Clicking on a track in album does not display the Lossless icon.

Creating a playlist with the whole album or any individual tracks does display the Lossless icon, so that's a workaround.

Unfortunately, it appears Apple is still expecting us to change the USB audio in the MIDI setup…. Which stinks, because then it will resemble everything that doesn’t match that setting.

You can see the sample rate in Apple Music, while playing, by clicking on the Lossless icon in the display.