When listening to Hi-Res Lossless audio (on my MacBook), I have to go into Midi Setup to adjust to a higher quality to match what is displayed on my DAC and what is labeled in the songs info. I don't have to do these additional steps on my iPad or iPhone. Is there a work around for this?
MacBook Pro (2020 and later)
What you’re asking for is called “exclusive mode” and there isn’t currently a workaround. This is a function of the Music app, not the OS. Tidal, Roon and others currently offer this functionality and we’re hoping Apple eventually makes this an option in the Music app on MacOS. In the meantime the recommendation is to set the output sample rate to either 44.1 since it’s the most common, or some higher multiple (THX recommends 176.4).
If you plan to continue manually changing the sample rate, you might consider an app called SoundSource. It runs in the menu bar and makes sample rate switching much easier than using the Audio MIDI app. It also has built in PEQ and other useful features for controlling audio on a Mac.
What you’re asking for is called “exclusive mode” and there isn’t currently a workaround. This is a function of the Music app, not the OS. Tidal, Roon and others currently offer this functionality and we’re hoping Apple eventually makes this an option in the Music app on MacOS. In the meantime the recommendation is to set the output sample rate to either 44.1 since it’s the most common, or some higher multiple (THX recommends 176.4).
If you plan to continue manually changing the sample rate, you might consider an app called SoundSource. It runs in the menu bar and makes sample rate switching much easier than using the Audio MIDI app. It also has built in PEQ and other useful features for controlling audio on a Mac.
Hello nfp3880,
We see you have questions about Apple Lossless playback and are happy to clarify.
While newer Mac computers have digital-to-analog hardware built in, other models will require the external converter and setup as you describe in your post. Details on this are covered in our article About high-resolution digital-to-analog conversion on new MacBook Pro models.
We hope this helps!
Bill_T1 didn't see the word, "why" in the question.
As abarnard mentioned, this issue is a "not invented here" circumstance by the macOS team that the iOS team figured out. The Music app on macOS takes its lead from macOS, which is why you have to adjust it first via AudioMidi and re-launch Music.
There are other challenges to using a computer for hi res audio as well, that go beyond sample rate and bit depth machine.
"Bag of hurt," in other words.
Why do I have to go into Midi Setup top adjust audio quality. Shouldn't it autoswitch?
