Rumors about the Apple project about Apple Music were popping up every second on the internet. Meanwhile, Apple’s confirmation of the arrival of a high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) mode on Apple Music was awaited. It’s finally done, Apple’s press release has just confirmed the arrival of Dolby Atmos functionality on Apple Music and high-fidelity mode in June 2021.
Apple Music in Dolby Atmos at no extra cost
The Cupertino company has just announced the arrival of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music, which will delight music lovers who cannot afford millions of musical titles with this sound quality. Dolby Atmos will therefore be available to anyone with a solo or family subscription to Apple Music and who owns an Apple audio device (AirPods, AirPods 2, AirPods Max) – or Beats. Apple computer speakers (MacBook and iMac), iPhones, and iPads can also benefit from Dolby Atmos.
The high-fidelity sound that could be a problem
Apple also announced the arrival of high-fidelity audio on Apple Music. According to the company, the sound can be sent over Bluetooth without any loss of quality. An announcement that does well even more than competitors like Spotify and Deezer have a more expensive plan dedicated to this quality. Apple decides to make it accessible to everyone, at no extra cost (again, sorry we have to stress this is rare for Apple) but a problem can arise.
The high-fidelity model can be sent with a CODEC named ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec). The latter will be able to send music in 16 bits and 44.1 kHz at least up to 24 bits 48 kHz. People who have a very good DAC will be able to receive music with the sound quality of 24 bits and 192 kHz.
However, how will Apple audio devices that only operate using Bluetooth receive this CODEC? Bluetooth compression necessarily compresses information for AirPods to deliver sound. As for Apple’s headset, the AirPods Max, it could be plugged in to deliver sound properly.
In the meantime, Apple has also announced that Spacial Audio mode will now be open to everyone. As a reminder, it is – for the moment – only available for AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, Apple headphones. Like what, the good old mini-jack cable could still be used.
