(Pocket-Lint) – Lossless audio offers much better sound quality to Apple Music. Members can listen to tracks better than 24-bit 48kHz or higher CD quality.
However, to get it you have to jump with a few hoops. And, you will need the right tools.
Here’s how to make lossless audio work on Apple Music on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple TV.
How to turn on Apple Music Lossless Audio on iPhone and iPad
Although millions of tracks are now available in lossless audio, you will not automatically get access to them. Lossless audio is turned off by default (to save storage and / or data).
We tell you how to turn it on and adjust the quality settings. We used an iPhone 12 Pro Max but the same steps should work on your iPhone and / or iPad running iOS 14.6 / iPadOS 14.6 or above.
First, go to Settings on your iOS or iPadOS device. Scroll to the music, tap on it, and then scroll to the audio quality and tap on it as well.
Inside the Audio Quality Settings page you will see that Lossless Audio will be turned off by default. You need to tap on the slider to turn it on.
This will unlock different quality modes for lossless audio. You can change each one individually depending on whether you want to save data or storage space.
Each streaming / download menu offers the same quality settings. If you do not own a separate USB DAC (Digital to Audio Converter) you will want to choose Lossless.
Note: Apple provides rough estimates of the file size of each format. Unless you’re on an unlimited data plan, you can’t choose lossless audio streaming at 36MB per audio track – more than five times a standard (high) quality file. In that case, you may want to set the downloads as lossless and download all the music you want to play while you have Wi-Fi at home.
Once your Apple Music settings are done, you need to re-download any album already stored on your iPhone or iPad – regardless of whether your downloaded version now uses the lossless mark under the album art.
To start the process, tap the tick icon at the top right of the Apple Music album page.
If you want to remove downloads in the pop-up, you will be prompted, tap on that option.
Now tap on the arrow icon in the upper-right corner to get the new lossless audio version.
Once downloaded, the lossless audio track will be stored on your iPhone or iPad. Now all you need is the right kit to listen to them.
How Apple Music Lists Lossless Audio
Sorry, you can’t listen to wireless audio through wireless headphones – not even Apple’s own AirPods or AirPod Max.
You’ll need wired headphones, and a 3.5mm jack adapter (or a USB-C equivalent in an iPad Pro) from Apple’s own Lightning.
You must ensure that your headphones are capable of rendering 24-bit 44.1kHz or 48kHz – lossless audio.
If so, plug them into the adapter and listen to your benefits
Unfortunately, you can’t listen to Apple’s 24-bit 192kHz high-resolution lossless audio through the Apple adapter. You will need a dedicated third-party DAC for this. It’s a device that sits between your iPhone and headphones and processes audio independently. These can often be reasonably expensive and will require a USB cable from an additional Lightning (A or C depending on the device).
How to turn on Apple Music Lossless Audio on Apple TV or Mac
You can listen to lossless audio via Apple TV or Mac.
When running the Apple Music app on a Mac running MacOS 11.4 or higher, you must click Music> Preferences in the menu bar. Click the Playback tab and turn on Lossless under Audio Quality. You can also choose the quality here, although for high-race lossless you will need an external DAC as well.
Additionally, lossless audio can only be heard through the Mac’s wired connection – to headphones, AV receivers or speakers.
For an Apple TV running 4K tvOS 14.6 or above, you need to go to Settings> Music and select Audio Quality. Select Lossless Audio.
This will only work if the Apple TV 4K is connected to an AV receiver. Only Apple TV can play 4K lossless audio. High-race lossless is not yet available on Apple TV.
Rick Henderson writes.
