Apple Music, Audiophiles and Streamers.

I mostly want Apple to make it possible to control Apple Music playing directly on my iPad (connected to an integrated amplifier via a good USB DAC) from my iPhone or Apple Watch in the same way that I can for my Apple TV and HomePods. Apple already has the hardware it needs to be a great hi res streaming option with just a small tweak to the Apple Music software on their iDevices.

Best case scenario, I’d also like to see an AppleConnect feature similar to TidalConnect so that the various hifi streamers from NAD, Marantz, Cambridge Audio, etc. could be hi res partners for Apple Music.

I definitely agree that these features need to be implemented for Apple Music Classical as well!

If you want to see features like these, I’d suggest letting Apple know in detail at this link: Feedback - Apple Music - Apple. I sent them message at that link, plus the links for iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch about these feature requests already, since I don’t think Apple really monitors these message boards.

Hey, I fully agree and I am doing the same over here with an iPad Air and my Marantz HiFi system.

It works and it works in HiRes audio. That’s all that matters.

Yes, you can play any format of music codecs just use the Dac as your default sound device and also the Dac can tell you what resolution of music you are playing

I’ve also been super curious for years now to make this happen, not just audio quality, but also simply having a device play rather than having it tied to your phone, which I resolved for a while with HomePods throughout the house until I replaced them with Genelecs. The first step Apple actually made was integrating Apple Music into the Porsche Taycan entertainment system back in 2019 https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2019/products/porsche-taycan-apple-music-integrated-music-streaming-experience-entertainment-18405.html

looking forward to seeing it open up further to streamer/DACs where they belong ✌🏻

The answer is “yes”, but not with the old Pioneer in the chain. It would make sense to upgrade to a streamer if/when you significantly upgrade your receiver, and perhaps other components. If you like what you have, then keep rocking with it.

Thanks spawn350. What would you consider an upgrade to my receiver if I were shopping for a 2-channel stereo integrated with a good internal dac and decent power? My current pioneer has a burr brown dac and 140wpc (20-20k at 8ohms).

How important is Apple Music to you? I know this is ironic considering the page this is on, but it's a really important consideration.

Beyond that, what kind of budget are we talking about? What speakers are you driving?

All these hoops to jump through to get what other services offer out of the box. ****, I cannot even get lossless from my Sonos setup unless I use the music app on my Apple TV, the Sonos app just outputs AAC 256! Same on my streamer/hi-if setup. It renders lossless almost pointless on Apple Music let alone hi-res.

I only have Apple Music as I get it free through my mobile plan, no way I’d pay for it right now. On my hifi setup I use Qobuz and get full 24/192. It just works and sounds great.

Whoa hold on. I had no intention of insulting your intelligence. I’m sorry if it came off that way. I just hadn’t heard of any Apple authorized companies that were actually doing high res AM. Some say they “work with Apple” and they’re just really doing AAC.

So again I apologize if what I said or how I said it came off as an insult.

Thanks Nicholas,

I have a question here: are you sure that iPad (or any other Apple device) outputs the audio signal with ALAC format in their USB-C output? I mean, is there a spec that Apple clarifies it? My doubt is, they only output with AAC format no matter Apple Music app is running with ALAC.

thx

Sadly, my Marantz 6012 is so bad with ATV, that I'm piping the ATV4k to my samsung tv and then using arc to pipe back to the Marantz. All in the pursuit of 4k, which was a mistake. Replaced my musical AV7005 gorgeousness with this abomination.

I could definitely hear the artifacts of early digital filters in the first CD players. I didn't know what caused what I was disliking (or even what a digital filter was), but it easy to discern the superiority of those few early players that offended less. And at this advanced age, it's easy to hear the improvements of the best current tech.

I bought one of the first really good DAC's in 2008.. Wavelength tube DAC @ $2500 then. It is 16 bits. The designer said over that you can't hear a difference, so no big deal. He now makes them 24 bits, and the old ones could be upgraded. I obsessed about what I might be missing (I am old and have a very nice system.. McCormack amp and Genesis 501 speakers) so did a lot of reading. I appreciate what the recording engineer said earlier. The higher bit rate is for mixing and worthless for listening in reality. This is an excellent article explaining the technical issues involved in detail. A great read for those interested.

https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html.

I am so happy with my old tube DAC and have no reason to upgrade it for a higher bit rate. Advertising is the #1 game in Hifi.