Play 24bit ALAC audio on iPhone / iPad

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.

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!

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.

According to Apple, iTunes was designed to play CD quality.

BUT on the Mac it will play 96KHz music now becasue the internal DACs support that. iTunes will play high def music up to 192KHz (and I think now 384 but I haven't tried it) if the connected DAC will support it. If not it will downsample to whatever the connected hardware supports. I have 192KHz music in my Mac library and it plays on the Mac but it will not sync to iTunes. By the way be careful. Unless you use a third party app that changes the sample rate you will get the rate set by Midi setup.

Why? Must be Apple Marketing brilliance, stupidity, or arrogance.

I have not had a lot of luck using iTunes to "play" HD (24 bit) files. I have found that if you don't dedicate the computer to playing HD tracks, you will hear artifacts. Audirvana Plus is a good alternative to iTunes.

I rip and then catalog with iTunes, but play HD content by either the usb out to a dac/amp or download to my AK100.

At the present, anything above 16/44 will have "issues" on an Apple Computer.

HD on an Apple is like me eating cucumbers. Yes, I can eat them, but then comes all the hiccups and burping.

In my opinion, HD and iTunes do not play WELL together.

"iDevices" are currently limited to a maximum of 24 bit 48kHz output. Yes, this is confirmed. iTunes will play back 32/192. Yes confirmed once again. I would recommend checking the sampling rate of your ALACs. If they are 2448, they will sync. If they are higher, iTunes will tell you that it can't. You can playback 24/192 from your "iDevice", but only with the camera connection kit, and a DAC that supports USB in. I believe class A? You'll have to check the manufacturer specs. Hope this helps.

Do you know if there is an official statement about that ? I wanted to import some multichannel ALAC files but nothing happens, it just doesn't seam to work, and I can't find any valuable log information.

Please explain how you got the 24bit ALAC file onto your iphone from itunes mine will not sync either. It's great that you can use cables like that to play it but you didn't provide much help since the original question was how to get it onto the iphone.

Thank you,

Transfer of 24bit ALAC files also depends on the sample rate well, so 24bit/44.1kHz or 48kHz works great on both iPhone 6 and iPad Air2

However if like me most of your ALAC files are 24/96 or 24/192 then you're out of luck which probably why your are not getting them to sync, error is:

"..... was not copied because the sample rate is not supported by the ...."

it's great that iPhone 6 & iPad Air2 will play 24 bit 48 kHz files. You really don't need anything above 48kHz, anyway, as that ends up giving you 24kHz per channel and humans won't hear a whole lot past 16-18kHz and little, if anything, past 20kHz. The rest is a waste, as most reproductive mechanisms (speakers, amps) won't reproduce much higher than 24kHz audio. Now, 24 bit resolution is a HUGE difference, if the audio isn't crushed up with limiters. 24 bit provides millions more levels of volume approximation per sample and can much more realistically reproduce volume swells and drops. 24 bit audio is MUCH more musical so, just convert your 192kHz/24bit audio files to 48kHz/24bit ALAC and put on your iPhone / iPad. All good.

I have somewhat of a similar problem. Back in Jan, 2016, I downloaded some HD song files from HDTracks, and imported them into iTunes on my iMac. Originally they would not sync with my iPhone 6s Plus or iPad Pro, and I would get an error message for all songs, every time it tried to sync. I know that, back in Jan, 2016, I changed some setting on the iPhone and iPad...for the life of me I don't remember, but, it was something to do with iTunes, Music, or iCloud, and...it started to sync, and I played most of the songs on both devices.

Fast forward to April, 2016, when all the OS X, iOS, and iTunes updates came out...after I upgraded, they stopped synching. I poked around in the iPhone and iPad settings, I I don't seem to be able to find anything to change--in fact, I'm not even sure the item I changed is still there, but...not sure. I've Googled, and read and posted in the Forums, but, No Joy. Since, I know they worked before, and I have the same HW, just updated SW...am hoping that I can make it work again.

Any ideas?

Thanks!