Audiophile music streaming and the best, if odd, way to listen to it.

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So last year after buying a fantastic MacBook Air M1 I got a free trial of Apple Music. I let it run it course and during the trial I played around with Lossless, (as well as Dolby Atmos) and was blown away by the difference in quality over my MP3 collection (not Atmos, that sounded rubbish). I've defended MP3 for many years, mostly for the convenience, but this new Lossless, highlighted a new modern way of enjoying music, convenience & having outstanding sound quality too. Just before Christmas, I got another trial and this sold it, I needed this in my life, but infuriatingly most of my streaming music was on Spotify, so, I did a back to back. I dug around and I found out some stuff. 

After the Apple Music trial, I found a great deal via PayPal for a three month trial with Spotify, this would allow me to unlock the full HD music Spotify don't let their free customers enjoy, but, it was no use. On the first night it just felt, somehow flat, a little investigation informed me I was listening to 320mbps MP3s, the same as my digital record collection anyway. All of the detail that Apple pull from the music is just streets ahead. On my home system (a Denon 5.1 amp hooked up to 5 Tannoy satellite speakers and an Active Sub fed by an Apple AirPort Express) the difference was night and day. Spotify was best for its epic user interface, but the quality of AM was too much to ignore. 

So I returned to Apple, put my money where my mouth was and subscribed. Then my Uncle said something that made Lossless my new special interest..... "I love lossless but are you listening to it wirelessly?"

"Yeah", I said, (questioning my sanity). So I started looking at why he would question it. The initial stuff I knew, Bluetooth doesn't support lossless, Bluetooth just doesn't have the capacity, so the Apple AirPods, AirPods Pro, etc none of it can enjoy Lossless. But I was using an AirPort Express plugged into my amp. 

AirPort Express is 16bit at 44khz.... or 16 x 44.1 = 705Mb per channel (x2 for stereo) is 1411kbps, compared with Spotify 320kbps, or 160mbps per channel. Apple Music at this bit rate is CD quality, which is where the name lossless comes from, which is why it sounds so good, BUT, and yes, it's a big BUT, Apple also support 'Hi Res Lossless' and 'Apple Masters', which go up to an incredible 24bits at 192khz, which is just silly. To hear this, I either needed to put my wired headphones in, or attach my iPad or MacBook to the Amp via a cable. But that would defeat the convenience aspect of it. So I kept digging. 

Like my very old Airport Express unit, the current 4K Apple TV, still only has 16bit @ 44.1khz. The AirPort Express audio devices are no longer being made by Apple, so there's no current version to check. The 'current' Airport 2 spec (which the current Apple TV supports) is 16bit at 44khz. So unless they upgrade the spec of that, CD quality is all you can get.

Timeout - it should be stated at this point that CD quality is pretty much as good as it gets for our ears, I have nailed hi res lossless, which I'll explain in a moment, but if there is an improvement, it is slight, my 50 year old ears are struggling to appreciate the 'wow' factor of 24bit 96khz hi res lossless, compared to the wow factor that exists next to Mp3. 

The question remains, can wireless Hi Res lossless over wifi be achieved? 

Yes, but the solution is an odd one, and not fully. 

Although I am a huge Apple fan, I've never bought into the phones. I still prefer my Android for functionality, but, the Apple Music app is available on the Google Play store. It does also allow for lossless playback, over Wifi, where you'll find a 5 minute track equates to around 145Mb! 

So, what about my boxed away Google Chromecast music? Believe it or not, it supports 24bit 96khz streaming! I dug it out, added it back into our Google Home and it sounds outstanding. Abbey Road, a Hi Res Lossless album never sounded so good. Prince's cracking final album Hit n Run Phase 2, (which did sound pretty good on MP3 sounds tremendous. 

In conclusion, the best way to enjoy full Hi Res Lossless playback wirelessly is to use the Apple Music app, on an Android device, using a Google Chromecast device. 

Peculiar, but true. 

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