You still have to subscribe to Apple Music & they are only really doing CD quality, it's really difficult to get anything better than CD quality from Apple.
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The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.
- Thread starter Ed Selley
- Start date
You still have to subscribe to Apple Music & they are only really doing CD quality, it's really difficult to get anything better than CD quality from Apple.
Apple TV only offers 24/48 I believe
Whilst the chip can be important, it's often the electronics & housing around it that will make the difference. You could have a better chip in a Node 3, in comparison to an Audiolab preamp, but the Audiolab might sound better as a DAC.(as an example)
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
yeah for sure and the software can play a huge part in it too. The better that is the better it can sound as well. There’s a relatively small selection of DAC chip companies and there’s probably not a huge amount between them, it’s more the implementation that makes the difference!
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
edit: this was wrong
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jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
I thought Apple said they will have everything Lossless by the end of the year and some albums (no number given) will be Hi-Res (above 16/44)?
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
That sounds more plausible.
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
You are probably right: WhatHiFi said the whole catalog is currently lossless and will be high-res lossless by the end of the year, but elsewhere I’m seeing 20 million songs lossless, the whole catalog by the end of the year, and more high res lossless being added regularly where it’s available.
Serves me right for trusting WhatHiFi.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
You are probably right: WhatHiFi said the whole catalog is currently lossless and will be high-res lossless by the end of the year, but elsewhere I’m seeing 20 million songs lossless, the whole catalog by the end of the year, and more high res lossless being added regularly where it’s available.
Serves me right for trusting WhatHiFi.
Ah yeah you’re grand the terminology is vague, probably purposefully vague to be honest. It’s just being a subscriber to a hi res service they have a lot but a lot also isn’t available and I know Apple have muscle, but also maybe not that much to have all the music remastered just for them
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
No matter which service you subscribe or listen to, there are a lot of shenanigans behind the player and clever weasel words in their advertising. Amazon Music was one of the first to start using lossless and hi-res interchangably.
That was my understanding, but I think you have to have a hardwire connection to your Mac device in order to play any of their hi res
kvetcha
Chet Hanks' Filmography Buff
Apparently high-res lossless works perfectly from an iOS device via USB, but MacOS was still having issues with bit-perfect playback back in June.
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
I think you are correct. So many gotcha's with trying to actually listen to hi-res streams through a stereo. Darko says one of the better methods is an iPad with a dongle DAC and then a cable going to the amp. Sigh.
displayname
Well-Known Member
This is my philosophy too. Focus on the whole unit, not just the chip. Just see if it can process the rates/formats you actually listen to, and if so then see if you like the sound. I very much think the current chip marketing in DACs is like the Watts advertising in amps.
I'd much rather listen to my 20w class-A tube amp then a cheap 100w class D receiver.
Like wise, I'd prefer a very well implemented older burr brown chip well implemented with a very high end output stage processing music from an actual CD than the latest and greatest ESS MQA chip running through a $2 output stage. This is why I often think about doing the modwright upgrade to my CXN vs upgrading to something like a Lumin with an external DAC.
Obviously there is a lot of great options between those two, and that's where this shopping becomes hard. And when it comes to streaming, I do still think ease of software use is also a big make or break for streamers.
Joe Mac
Well-Known Member
Yeah a lightening (or usb c if iPad Pro) cable to a USB DAC is the easiest way but that’s equally not wireless, sigh.
@Mather How have you got on with Tidal connect. I hadn't really used, just tried earlier today (with my Node2i) and couldn't get the tidal connect option visible in the app
Mather
Unknown Member
Once I added tidal and Spotify to the BluOs app on my phone it's pretty easy. I can either go straight to the Tidal app on my phone and play through there or I can go to the BlueOs app and select Tidal and play it that way. I'm not sure if BlueOs updated their app but I found it pretty simple to use so in general I've been playing everything from Tidal but using the BlueOs app rather than the Tidal app. I think all I had to do was "add service" and that popped Tidal into BlueOs. And from the Tidal app there's a little speaker in the upper right hand corner and when you click on that it'll show you the BlueSound as a destination. But you have to be on the same wifi channel. So if you have multiple wifi options in your house, make sure you're on the same one as the BlueSound.
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
On my Mac, the Tidal Connect icon showed up in the lower right of the screen. Like a speaker with 2 sound waves. You just clicked it and choose the Bluesound as an option. The pain in the butt was I found I had to choose the Node each time I would use Tidal, it would not remember 'last played' .
Mather
Unknown Member
Oh that's odd, my phone doesn't seem to have that issue. I'll try it out later today when I'm back from work. I think it just remembers. Unless I'm on the backyard wifi then I can't see it (different wifi channel, long story)
jamieanderson1968
ninniest jackaninny
It may have been because I mostly controlled Tidal through Roon, so the Tidal app was being forced to drop the Tidal Connect with Roon took over.