Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, And Lossless Audio Coming To Apple Music For Free

| Published: Tuesday, May 18, 2021, 12:21 [IST]

Apple is all set to take its premium music streaming service - Apple Music to the next level by offering spatial audio, Dolby Atmos, and lossless audio at no additional cost to subscribers. Existing Apple Music users can enjoy these features starting June of 2021.

Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, And Lossless Audio Coming To Apple Music

Soon after this announcement, Amazon music also announced Amazon Music HD, which is Amazon's term for lossless music streaming service, and Spotify is also expected to launch a similar service in the coming days. However, Spotify users might have to shell out a bit more to enjoy lossless music streaming.

According to Apple, users can enjoy over 20 million lossless audio tracks at the time of launch, and the library is going to get bigger with up to 75 million lossless audio tracks by the end of the year. Users with AirPods or Beats earphones with H1 or W1 chip will be able to enjoy Dolby Atmos tracks by default. Not just that, the recent iPhones, iPads, and macs will also be able to stream Dolby Atmos tracks via the built-in speakers.

To make it a little easier for users, songs/albums which are encoded in Dolby Atmos will have a badge, which makes it easy for track discovery. To further enhance this experience, Apple is also said to be working with artists and music producers to make music in spatial audio form.

We usually listen to music in stereo form, where, there will be a left and a right sound. In the case of Dolby Atmos or spatial audio, it offers a 360-degree sound for a more immersive audio experience. Spatial audio and Dolby Atmos tracks can be streamed via Bluetooth, hence, users with AirPods will be able to listen to spatial audio without any issue.

What Is Lossless Audio?

Lossless audio is a piece of uncompressed music, and Apple is using ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to deliver every bit from the original audio, hence, a user can listen to a track exactly as it was created by the artist. This also means, the phone will consume more internet, as these files will be large in size when compared to regular music files.

How To Enable Lossless Audio In Apple Music?

Post-launch, go to settings on Apple Music and select audio quality. In the submenu, you can select different resolutions of audio for cellular and WiFi connections. Depending on the network type, Apple Music will automatically switch music streaming quality to offer the best-in-class audio experience.

To listen to lossless audio, you need to have special headphones and accessories like a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC) to enjoy lossless audio. Do note that, even the AirPods Max won't be able to stream lossless audio even with a 3.5mm to a lightning connector and the same applies to the AirPods and the AirPods Pro.

Lossless Audio Options On Apple Music

Apple music offers various lossless audio options, starting with the CD quality (16 bit at 44.1 kHz (kilohertz)) and it goes up to 24 bit at 48 kHz, which can be played on native Apple devices. For the true audiophiles, Apple also offers 24 bit at 192 kHz, which will consume more data but will offer the best possible music quality.

Devices That Support Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, And Lossless Audio

iPhones with iOS 14.6, iPads with iPadOS 14.6, MacBooks, and Macs with macOS 11.4, and AppleTV with tvOS 14.6 or newer operating system will support Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, and lossless audio.

Wireless Headphones That Support Spatial Audio And Dolby Atmos

AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, BeatsX, Beats Solo3 Wireless, Beats Studio3, Powerbeats3 Wireless, Beats Flex, Powerbeats Pro, and Beats Solo Pro when paired with a supported iPhone/iPad or mac can playback Spatial Audio or Dolby Atmos tracks.