Get these wired headphones to listen to Lossless Audio on Apple Music

[iMore.com]

You're going to need a pair of wired headphones to listen to Lossless Audio on Apple Music; here are our choices.

Full story from the iMore Blog...

 

[Wotchered]

As far as I can see I would need to subscribe to Apple Music and buy a signal converter as well so that’s £210 set up minimum,plus£120 pa, for the rest of your life. Ain’t no bargain !

 

[metllicamilitia]

As far as I can see I would need to subscribe to Apple Music and buy a signal converter as well so that’s £210 set up minimum,plus£120 pa, for the rest of your life. Ain’t no bargain !

The 3.5mm to Lightning converter is a DAC.

 

[Wotchered]

Yes indeed, obviously it must be, however as far as I can understand it Apple’s high res Lossless is going to require an external,self powered DAC/amplifier to run it.
The figure I dropped in for set up was for the cheapest DAC and Headphones I had seen recommended !

 

[Wotchered]

The 3.5mm to Lightning converter is a DAC.

To continue; I tried Amazon’s Prime Music HD tester with my Zero Audio earbuds and the Apple dongle yesterday and could not hear any difference, in fact Amazon sounds in general worse than Spotify by some distance !
Joined and deleted Amazon Prime music in a couple of hours! Do not bother to try and delete using any on-screen method, does not work ! go straight to customer services !!

 

[Ledsteplin]

THEN:
Get Bluetooth headphones, they said!
Bluetooth is great, they said!
Wireless is the way to go, they said!
Here's our picks for BT headphones, they said!
(Buys Bluetooth headphones)

NOW:
You'll need wired headphones, they said!
Lossless won't work with Bluetooth, they said!
Here's our picks for WIRED headphones, they said!
()

 

[metllicamilitia]

THEN:
Get Bluetooth headphones, they said!
Bluetooth is great, they said!
Wireless is the way to go, they said!
Here's our picks for BT headphones, they said!
(Buys Bluetooth headphones)

NOW:
You'll need wired headphones, they said!
Lossless won't work with Bluetooth, they said!
Here's our picks for WIRED headphones, they said!
()

I don't think you understand how I happy I am to finally have audio files worth listening to on Apple Music. I sacrificed a healthy chunk of my listening pleasure for the sake of convenience. And now my Shure's are actually worth connecting to my phone to listen to music.

 

[Wotchered]

We shall see what we see !

 

[Ledsteplin]

I don't think you understand how I happy I am to finally have audio files worth listening to on Apple Music. I sacrificed a healthy chunk of my listening pleasure for the sake of convenience. And now my Shure's are actually worth connecting to my phone to listen to music.

Cool! They list the Sony WH-1000XM4 because it has a 3.5 jack. My headphones also have a 3.5 jack. Would they get lossless with the 3.5 to lightning cable, you say is also a DAC?

 

[metllicamilitia]

Cool! They list the Sony WH-1000XM4 because it has a 3.5 jack. My headphones also have a 3.5 jack. Would they get lossless with the 3.5 to lightning cable, you say is also a DAC?

Yes that would allow you to listen to lossless.

 

[Wotchered]

Yes that would allow you to listen to lossless.

I don’t think the lightning to 3.5 adaptor will sufficiently power your headphones.

 

[metllicamilitia]

I don’t think the lightning to 3.5 adaptor will sufficiently power your headphones.

A DAC is a digital to analog converter. It takes a digital signal and converts to analog to run through the physical cable. There is no power. If you are using hifi headphones that need more power to sound their best at lower volumes then that requires a headphone amplifier.

 

[Annie_M]

So, what about the rumors that in upcoming updates, wireless headphones will be able to connect via AirPlay, and therefore be able to enjoy Lossless Audio? Hopefully, we'll know more in a few hours!

Edited to add: and then there's this "just in" report: https://forums.imore.com/imore-com-...ent-following-wwdc21-keynote.html#post3255630

Time will tell....

 

[jonny247]

If you have a apples lighting to jack and a pair of over the head headphones like beats ect you be Listen to lossless has a built in dac in it

 

[scruffypig]

If you have a apples lighting to jack and a pair of over the head headphones like beats ect you be Listen to lossless has a built in dac in it

But the DAC in the Lightning to headphone jack is only capable 24 bit, 48kHz. Apple High Resolution Lossless is 24 bit, up to 192kHz. Anything over 48kHz will be down sampled to 48kHz.

It probably wouldn’t be worth getting high resolution version of music and just listening to the regular CD quality lossless, unless you invest in a better DAC. In fact, Apple’s AAC 256K music is very close to CD quality, already.

 

[Wotchered]

A DAC is a digital to analog converter. It takes a digital signal and converts to analog to run through the physical cable. There is no power. If you are using hifi headphones that need more power to sound their best at lower volumes then that requires a headphone amplifier.

If there was no power, your headphones would make no sound, you have contradicted yourself by immediately mentioning that Hi fi cans need more power !

 

[metllicamilitia]

If there was no power, your headphones would make no sound, you have contradicted yourself by immediately mentioning that Hi fi cans need more power !

Yeah bad phrasing on my part. They require no additional power of any kind other than the minimal amount that is normally supplied. Hifi devices generally have a lower impedance rating and need to have a boosted signal to sound their best at lower volumes. It is required to run the drivers properly. Most people do not need to worry about any of it because most people will be using headphones with insufficient drivers for lossless anyway.

 

[scruffypig]

Yeah bad phrasing on my part. They require no additional power of any kind other than the minimal amount that is normally supplied. Hifi devices generally have a lower impedance rating and need to have a boosted signal to sound their best at lower volumes. It is required to run the drivers properly. Most people do not need to worry about any of it because most people will be using headphones with insufficient drivers for lossless anyway.

Agreed. The Lightning to headphone dongle has a pretty decent DAC for most people. It can handle up to 24 bit, 48kHz. Anything over that will be down sampled. That is perfectly sufficient for Apple Lossless. It is even fairly good for Apple High Resolution Lossless, if one is an average music listener and doesn’t have the desire or ability to invest in an expensive setup.

 

[Wotchered]

So can we agree that; If you pay for Apple Music, and your hearing is good enough, And you buy a decent set of HiFi headphones as well as a separate DAC/amplifier (like wot I said). It is possible that you may be able to gain some benefit from Apple’s High Definition Lossless Audio stream ?

 

[Spencerdl]

So can we agree that; If you pay for Apple Music, and your hearing is good enough, And you buy a decent set of HiFi headphones as well as a separate DAC/amplifier (like wot I said). It is possible that you may be able to gain some benefit from Apple’s High Definition Lossless Audio stream ?

This sounds about right to me. Not worth it in my opinion.
I will continue with wireless and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos when available and be happy.