Tidal is Apple Music's closest competitor in the space, and offers 24-bit and 96kHZ resolution streaming on its highest ‘Masters' tier. These files will be streamed at up to 24-bit and 192kHz resolution, which is higher than what Tidal offers. Apple Music users will, of course, have the option to continue streaming in more efficient tiers as well, which will be the recommended way to stream for most users.Īpple has stated that it will use the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) file format to stream music, which is comparable to other high-resolution audio formats such as FLAC, which competing streaming services use. With these new upgrades, Apple Music will have the option to stream the entire catalogue of over 75 million tracks in Lossless Audio, allowing for the stream to contain much more data, and as a result, more detail in the sound for your output device to process. Apple AirPods and HomePod Models Won’t Benefit From Lossless Apple Music.Apple Music has, till now, offered music streaming in lower quality but more efficient audio formats that typically appeal to most users, as they consume less data and are quicker to stream even on slow connections. The concept of lossless audio or high-resolution music streaming isn't new a handful of services such as Amazon Music HD, Tidal, and Qobuz already offer subscription-based access to audio tracks which stream in superior quality to the more efficient but considerably compressed formats used by services such as Spotify and YouTube Music. Before you rush into any new purchases or cancelling subscriptions to other streaming services, read on to find out exactly how the new Apple Music features will work, and whether you'll be able to take full advantage of them.

There are many hardware limitations that need to be considered, and some features will only work on a very limited set of devices. These upgrades will give Apple Music a strong position in the streaming segment, and offer users a significant reason to choose Apple Music over competitors such as Spotify and Tidal.Īll these new features can get a little confusing though, and you're probably wondering if you can even make use of them with the headphones and other audio gear you've got. How does that affect you? The new Apple Music features will be available for subscribers in June, for all Apple Music listeners across devices, platforms, and regions. Apple is bringing Lossless Audio, Spatial Audio, and Dolby Atmos support for all Apple Music subscribers at no extra cost.

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