I have a lot of hi-res (24bit) ALAC audio files in my iTunes library. iTunes refuses to sync those with my iPhone / iPad. Is there anyway of using another program together with another app to sync and play those audio files on my iPhone ?
iPhone 5s, iOS 7.0.3
One additional question: I have one "master" library with my full music collection on it, and I use iTunes Match to keep this library updated will all purchases/additions from other devices. This library "sits" on an Mac Mini, and is connected via optical out to one high-end system, and I have another high-end system in another part of the house connected via optical to an AirPort Express.
Question 1: if I download FLAC files, convert to Apple Lossless and import to the iTunes library on my MacMini, I assume that this is what I will hear on the system connected directly to the MacMini. What about when I stream the same Apple Lossless file to my other system via AirPlay? Will it still work?
Question 2: How does iTunes Match deal with Apple Lossless files when I sync with my other devices (MacBook Pro Retina, iPad Retina, iPhone 4s)?
Thanks in advance!
Bumping this up 😉.I have flacs,converted to alacs.I can import them to itunes,but when I transfer them to iphone ( I have Apple music, so Icloud music library is active),I tunes create a AAC version of them. This means,if I choose to have any of my alac files available on Iphone (6,ios 10) ,it will be transfered to phone at Aac format,loosing ofc the "loseless" condition!
I want to have those songs in alac,to be played via BT to a HI-def car audio with DSP (Mosconi on a BMW).
Any chances to tell itunes NOT to downgrade my alac files to aac when transfer them to Iphone`s Apple music library?
This is how I play HD music on my iPad Pro 13 inch.
I have an HD iTunes library set Up separately on my MacBook Pro. I open it with home sharing on. The iPad sees and it just plays the tunes through the headphone jack BUT downsample to CD.
The simple solution I'd to get an external DAC and Headphone amp that doesn't need external power. Dragonfly red, latest version will work this way. If the DAC/amp needs external power a powered hub will work but the new USB 3 lightning camera connector is easier. It has a power cable connection so hook up the charging cable to. Audioquest had an article to show the hookup but I've seen on other sites also. The music will be HD to the DAC so there is no downsampling.
But to be portable you need to load your HD music into a third party app, from the App Store. Onkyo and TEAC have an HD player. BUY ONLY ONE: THEY ARE THE SAME APP! Any third party app needs to be connected to an external DAC that plays HD. Onkyo/TEAC will play DSD if the connected DAC will handle it. Try VOX from the App Store also.
Can you play to a desktop DAC and then into your HiFi? Yeah. I connect the USB port from TEAC UD-301 to my iPad and play DSD with the TEAC or Onkyo apps. I have both.
What about a wireless drive storing the HD music? Hit or miss in my testing. The wireless connection may not support the necessary bit depth, or there are syncing problems, or the media player that ships with wireless device won't play the music directly. I've tried the app "FileBrowser" to connect to my wireless Kingston but not with great success.
So far my best results have been loading the music into the HD player and using an external DAC.
This is an addendum.
I have a Kingston wireless MobileLite Wireless G3. As I said in my first post the connection was quirky using FileBrowser or the MobileLite application from Kingston.
There is no "Connect to Server" function in iOS as far as I know that works the same way as on a Mac. BUT VLC has the equivalent capability to connect to the Kingston Wireless via an SMB protocol connection using the IP address of the Kingston MobileLite G3. If you have used Connect to Server then you will see this sets up the same way. You can browse the SD card in the MobileLite or a USB Drive connected to it. I had no problem streaming, YES, streaming HD music via VLC to my DAC/Headphone amp connected to the lightning port via the USB 3 camera connector kit.
By the way, the internal DAC/AMP in the iPad sounds pretty good through expensive, high end, low impedance (32 ohm) headphones. So spend the money on CDs, convert them to ALAC to save space and get a great set of headphones!
Speaking of Connect to Server. If you MacBook doesn't have an SDXC card slot and you have a few SD Cards around a mobile wireless device that holds them will work beautifully if you use Connect to Server to its IP address. You can drag and drop any file to the SD card or USB disk attached to it. It will be slower than a direct connection but it will work.
If on a Mac, get this:
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/23430/x-lossless-decoder
You can then convert your high-resolution files to—Apple Lossless, AAC, or MP3—and sync those files to your iOS device.
Thank you for your reply however my 24bit ALAC files (they're acutally converted from FLAC with XLD) plays fine in iTunes but as I wrote they wont sync with my iPhone and I want to play them in their naitve format (24bit).
You can't. If you want them on your phone, you'll have to convert them.
Isn't there any way around. For example another program (than iTunes) together with an app I could use ?
Thank you for your reply. Very disappointing though. You would think that whatever iTunes accepts to add (it doesn't accept multichannel ALAC), you would be able to sync with your iPhone (or iPad / iTouch for that matter).
It is what it is.
For those that may be interested I have just successfully played ALAC Hi Res audio from my IPhone using the Lighting to USB Camera cable to USB on my Lavry DAC. ALAC files were an Amy Winehouse 24 bit 192KHz download from Linn. Sounds fantastic!
Other audio from digital radio also works fine.
Am I missing something? The original question was, "Can I put ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) files on my iPhone?" And the response was, "No, they have to be in Apple Lossless, AAC, mp3, to be synced."
So he's starting with ALAC files. How did you make ALAC without iTunes and why would iTunes not accept or not sync an ALAC file? Is this a problem of bit-depth? Do they have to be 16-bit ALAC in order to sync?
Looks like there was some confusion here. From what I can tell, ALAC should go onto iPhones just fine. However, there seems to be a bit-depth limit. My 16 bit ALAC files work just fine, but an experimental 32 bit m4a was refused with the error "This will not work on your device."
But this misses a big point: Putting lossless files on an iPhone is a HUGE waste of space! There is no way you will be able to tell the difference between lossless and AAC on a handheld device.
Put your lossless files on an archive drive, and use lossy for portable devices.
Yes, you can play high definition files on your iPad/iPhone if you load them into another program. The bad news is that if you play them through the headphone jack, the iPad probably will downsample them.
The good news is that if you use the Camera Connection Kit and use the USB connection to connect to another amplifier like a DragonFly or another such device it may work without a powered hub. Most likely you will need a powered hub but the music will not be downsampled at least in my testing and my use on an iPad 4th gen.
Play 24bit ALAC audio on iPhone / iPad
