*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY* Please be a decent human being and keep your sexist/racist thoughts and conspiracy theories to yourself. External links are also a no-no. Comments that *advance* the conversation are most welcome.

Your video is actually one of the best that actually explains what people need to know to get high res lossless and clearly explains the equipment needed and what their limitations are if you have lesser hardware available. Great job!

Bravo! One additional suggestion. The Apple “Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter “ has a second port for power which makes it possible to have the hi-res USB connection in the video while simultaneously powering the iPad, making for a 24/7 streamer with no concerns for battery life.

Best explanation and demonstration on youtube. Better than most ‘audiophile’ channels. This needed precise language and i appreciate the effort to be unambiguous with the various types of lossless files on apple music. Wish i could give more than one like.

Well done for adding this addendum to the first (very grumpy John) video! I am using my RME-ADI exactly as shown, with Apple Music, for home use into my speakers and also into some FH3 IEMs via IFIs hip dac. Very happy all round with both sound quality and some great playlists, which are introducing me to new bands. Win-win

Great and simple to understand. Thank you

Great video. I’ve recently just discovered that you can create a hearing audiogram with the mimi hearing app and then apply it as a kind of audiogram eq setting (through accessibility -> audio / visual -> Headphone Accommodations) to select earphones. It’s sort of like Dirac for your ears. I wonder what you’d make of it. My hearing isn’t great, but others may possibly benefit from it.

Thanks John! Always a joy watching your videos. 😊

Darko - I was pretty critical of the last video on this subject. This one was well done and shows the options while still calling out the limitations. Great follow up. I’m subscribing.

Thank you John, this is the first time I have seen anyone explain and show how to use Apple Music lossless in an audio system and not headphones. Congratulation. It could not have been clearer. It is surprising that Apple has not doe this as they would get more folk subscribing.

As a Classical musician I'm very much loving what Apple have done re releasing it's catalogue in Lossless/Hi-Res Lossless. For headphone use I do as John has outlined here, except that I'm using a Chord Mojo rather than the Audioquest dragonfly. For HiFi use, I'm getting excellent results from my Apple TV 4K 64gb - which will output up to 24 bit/48khz depending upon the file. It's not 24 bit/192khz yet - but likely to come - but still sounds better than 16 bit/44.1 regular CD played by a good quality CD player, or the files I've ripped in ALAC to my computer HD and streamed over the LAN. Win Win basically. Very happy with Apples move on this, and in particular the HUGE discography for the true Classical music lover - nothing else compares in my experience as regards streaming services, as an overall package which includes vast content and Hi-Res sound. A definite game changer. :-)

Hi John you inspired me today and have ordered the components to enable me to listen to hi res music they will be here on Saturday please continue with your brilliant work I'm still learning about Hi-Fi to make my system better

thanks so much for the info Darko, I now do exactly this with a topping dac but use it for tidal/roon as an endpoint. works great, and sound is a MASSIVE improvement for a couple of hundred dollars.

Doing this has led to me experimenting with an iPad as a Roon endpoint. Quite impressed with the results. Wouldn’t be the streamer of choice, but for a flexible other Zone endpoint it works well. Just have to have the Roon app active.

Some external DACs will not work in the configuration shown here because the power draw from iPad will be too high and the iPad will not output any signal. In that case, a power injection is required, i.e. a different lightning to USB adapter will do the trick, the one that accepts a power in from iPad charger.

There is something comforting about the way you speak. It is truly the real lossless spirit on youtube. Pure.

Love this kind of concise informative video. Great work!

There is one nasty gotcha for the airplay route with a maximum of 48Khz: Airplay can do it, but the Apple app does not send out the high res lossless stream, but a downsampled lossy stream. It is a problem in the Apple Music app, so Apple needs to release a new version where this feature is corrected. For instance, the Tidal app does send out high res on the same phone or iPad.

This actually a good thing Apple has done. As paying tidal hifi subscriber it frustrates and delights me that Apple clearly sounds better than tidal that I have been paying for for a few years. It's frustrating in that I don't see a lot of integration with Apple music in our streamers in the near future like tidal and spotify has done. Apple has their own ecosystem with their products and software and it wouldn't be cheap for companies to integrate Apple music. But I would absolutely be thrilled to prove wrong! If nothing else I hope this makes the other streaming services like tidal and spotify better and cheaper. I'm hoping to see something good from spotify hifi later this year that is equivalent to Apple. Should be interesting!

Thank you! Superb and simple. I had been futzing around with AppleTV and the iMac but had not tried the iPad yet. Indeed, by far the simplest way to enjoy lossless.

Great vid, John! Thanks for posting. Insightful and easy to understand.

John, I have a sneaky suspicion that the airplay 24/48 method is not streaming the lossless data, instead dropping to aac and upscaling. The reason I mention this is that on the android beta, it's definitely only streaming on the aac version via Chromecast. I also read a response from Apple that said the only approach was with an external DAC. Worth confirming. And I just now confirmed this does indeed seem to be the case. I ran a tcpdump on my Mac while streaming a Billie Eilish 24/44.1 track (My Future) and measured 37Mb data downloaded to my computer from Apple. When I played the same track in airplay mode to my Onkyo receivers Airplay renderer, I still see the 37Mb streamed in from Apple but around only 7.1Mb is then streamed between my mac and airplay renderer. That suggests an on-the-fly re-render into AAC.

Thanks, your first video wasn’t negative. The gotchas with AM lossless were bewildering. I’ve persisted and have an iPad Pro powered via a Magic Keyboard feeding via a USC-C dongle to my NADM10 via a Schiit Audio Eitr. My ears are very happy with the quality. I’m actually enjoying not having my phone as a remote next to me. I can now just sit down and listen rather than fiddling. Nice video!

John, thanks so much for this video. Made a world of difference for me. I have a pair of KEF LS50W (version 1) and trying to stream Tidal via the KEF control app was always hit and miss. The wifi connection would drop or songs would get stuck trying to load on the phone and just never play. I also have Apple Music for my whole family. Now I simply hook up the iPhone directly via USB to the KEF speakers and via, hi-res music that is gapless. Always works now. Thank you

Superb explanation. Love the attitude in solving the problem you pointed out to in the previous video. Also you jus stopped me from buying what I thought was a high res Bluetooth adapter. So thanks!

Thanks John. Now I just need to buy an external DAC.

From the corporation that essentially pushed the market to go wireless and drop the headphone jack is now making us go back to wired 😂

Thanks, this concise explanation has clarified so much for me.

THis video was perfect. It cleared up what I had in my mind and was kinda lost. Thank you for this

Yes! The iPad is the best streamer/interface combo for the price, and not just for Apple Music. Tidal sounds great on the set-up you showed.

I've realized for some time that using my iPad was the better way to get Audio (Hi Res or Hi Fi). Using the Mac OS was not as clean. Having used Tidal and Qobuz with the same DAC (SMSL m500) on Mac OS, I would run into audio switching issues. And having the iPad just do all my Audio streaming made more sense. I could free my laptop for other work, while my pad would handle all my streaming apps and audio "better" via a USB-C to USB-A cable (no adapters) strait to my DAC, and from there to my powered Klipsch "the sixes" speakers. I could then turn off/on my bluetooth adapter in iOS when I didn't need it (my airpods autoswitch and that can cause issues). Have a nice touch screen (and the keyboard too) for moving about on the Pad. I'm assuming that Apple will fix MacOS to better handle this. BUT, it also seems to me that the best Mac for this task is really the mini. Something you can place in your rack or "TV" stand area and connect to a DAC and just leave it alone. Maybe connect it to your TV (HDMI) and your set. BUT, again most folks such as yourself have ROON or other audio systems setups that better integrate things so you don't need to have a full on computer. Or at least, not have it integrated with the rest of your gear (wifi and or ethernet accessible from anywhere in the house). I'm hoping Apple allows better integrations with these systems. Or at least create iMusic Connect or something. So we can have it all. I'm fairly sure they will, otherwise why bother giving Hi-Res to the masses. They could have stopped at CD quality and been done with it. It may have to do with the fact that MacOS isn't ready with audio switching, and that they didn't want to give it away before announcing it. Also, they don't have proper DAC's in their computers and mobile devices. So I expect they are testing the waters first, see how many people are doing the Hi-Res thing before committing to at least a basic quality DAC across the board in everything they make.

Excellent explanation, I was a bit put down in your last Apple Music Video, but now it's clear, Thanks John.

Wonderful, You just answered a lot of the questions I had as to how to enjoy the 24bit/192kHz.

John, if you already have an integrated with a DAC built in and it has a USB B input as well as analog inputs. Would it still be preferable to use a dragonfly - mini-jack to rca output cable to plug in that way or can I just use lightning to usb OR usb C to usb b and try to eliminate dingle complications. Great video, thank you sir!!

Q: On a Mac, do I need to adjust the output each and every time? What if, I leave the midi setting at 192khz? What would be the impact of this setting staying like this while the audio from Apple music actually keeps changing (44.1-192khz)?

great clarifications, John!

John thanks for this update to clarify the ability to play Apple lossless and HiRes music, which I thought would work as you described in this video even after I saw your first video.

I feel like the dragonfly black is losing its statement as the price champ for portables, the Zorloo Ztella is great for this and doesn't require a dongle as you can buy a usb-C to lightning adaptor from them. Or on an Android phone the helm bolt works well at the price, but if you can go a little higher the ifi hip dac is honestly up there with the dragonfly red for me sound wise

Dragonfly drains device battery, in practice if you don’t want to experience that, the dongle to use is the Apple Lightning to USB3 Camera Adapter. This allows you to charge the iPad simultaneously, for unlimited listening.

Thank you John for providing these options. Following our last discussion I have now taken out the Apple trial and would like to add a couple of additional options: 1) Apple desktop - in my case MacMini with a Denafrips DAC connected via USB. For remote management I use VNC viewer on my iPad to control the MacMini’s screen and keyboard. 2) The alternative would be to use a screen with the Mac and a wireless keyboard. I don’t need to change the sound settings after choosing lossless and 196kHz between tracks - DAC shows hires. I hope that helps others too for obtaining high quality playback.

Thanks for this video demo. Makes it so simple to understand!

Helpful. Thanks. Iw ould like to know though, the YELLOW USB cable connected from the adapter to the back of your dac is USB both ends or a USB to ANALOGUE?

This was a fantastic follow up to your first Hi-Res Apple Music video. And, yes. That rant was very warranted. I love the fact you brought a solution to the table. For most people, CD quality will be enough. Those those that want to go the extra mile for the 192, it's good know we can pull that resolution out of the iPad with minimal effort.

John I find your videos to quite helpful and informative generally speaking. Thank you. Would love to see you do a short one like this for the MacBook Pro if feasible. Thank you again!

Thanks, makes a ton of sense, and helped me figure a few things out! Appreciate the info.

Dear John. Thank you very much for the most educational video. I don't know if someone asked this before but instead of using an Apple Lightning to USB converter, would it be possible to connect a USB-C to USB-B cable directly from the iPad to a DAC (BTW, I also have the RME). Will it still stream in full resolution or will it get downscaled. Thank you.

Spotify please hurry before you lose a customer!!

Thanks to your forums and blog. I run my iPhone through a lightning adapter > USB into Topping E30 DAC > into headphone Amp or Hifi system. Mainly used my E30 DAC to also make sure sample rates are what they say they are. Happiness at the end of the day. It worked.

Thanks to your other videos, and a flick through forums, I worked this out! Thank you for modernising and changing my perception and appreciation of hifi. Also, thanks for making that journey so enjoyable! Thoroughly enjoyed the podcast on Apple Music hires! Keep up the great work!

I would love your take on the quality of the music now that apple is upgrading their catalog, please do a video on that. Also, can you do a review on the spacial audio, I know it’s gimmicky but I would still get a kick out of you reviewing it

Question: so if I’m using a Mac Mini as my music source what is the best midi setting to use for all sample rates? I notice the Dac decodes at whatever the midi is set at, not what the source material is.

Every video doesn't need to be positive, and the stuff mentioned in the last video was nothing but the fair truth not held back by any bias towards an otherwise positive experience one may have with a company's products. I think the last video was spot on real, and this one was as well. Thanks for the great work.

Superb as always John!

I'm glad that you've decided to low comments. I missed being able to discuss your videos and I hope that we can all behave enough to keep it around.

Unfortunately, as another commenter has mentioned, using the Apple Music client to stream up to 24bit/48kHz audio from Apple Music servers over AirPlay to compatible speakers will result the Apple Music client streaming 256k AAC stream to those compatible speakers. You may get 24/48 across if you download the ALAC files, then AirPlay them. There is a rather long thread on Naim Audio Community’s Streaming Audio forum about it.

Very useful video! Thank you!

Thanks! You were my go to guide when this stuff came out , I got the schitt modi 3 DAC from your review …it’s awesome…plus i recently bought the THX mobile DAC for when I go into the office

Hi John, if I plug my iphone/ipad with lightening to my KEF LS Wireless via USB then that should also output Hi-Res ? As it will use the DAC from my KEF. Am I assuming right ?

Thank you for explaining and making it clear to everyone how easy it can be to enjoy Apple Music with an iOS device. Maybe you can also dig into using Apple Music with wired AirPods Max… this topic is rather unclear to most people. Keep up the awesome work.

Thanks for clarifying things, John. That previous video about Apple Music really bummed me out for a bit, especially after re-subscribing, when hearing about the free upgrade in audio quality. I have all the tools needed for doing what you recommended……👍

This was perfect. It finally answered all my questions on this topic after hours of research!

Finally! Now, can you also suggest the best way to get the full lossless res over wifi? So no AirPlay, so then what? Could it be a software restriction at present moment?

Thanks for the great video. Unless they've changed it in a recent update, unfortunately iOS USB C is limited to 48kHz output. Using the adapter as you've shown works great for my old iPad and iPhone 7 using lightening output......but on my new iPad Air with USB C its limited to 48kHz. No 96 and no 192. I assume Apple will update this at some point otherwise what's the point of hires when it can't be output as such?

Brilliant explanation!!! Thanks a bunch, with this simple video, u have very clearly done what even Apple couldn’t bother to explain

*Thank You* for the update.

I find it hard to get excited that Apple and their ilk now offer "CD quality" audio when "CD quality" technology will turn 40 next year. CD quality has been available for years from CD's, but everyone has been accepting poor quality streams from the likes of Apple and Spotify. Anyone under about 20 who has only ever streamed don't know what they've been missing out on so far as sound quality (damn I sound old). Whilst I do stream, it is just easier (when at home) to pop in a CD, press play and sit back and relax, knowing that I will hear excellent quality without having to delve in to settings in an app. You can buy 5 second-hand cd's off Ebay each month for the price of a monthly subscription to one of these services. And then the music belongs to you. Forever.

Any ideas on what’s causing some tracks to freeze dead on 15 seconds in?, since using lossless. Is it related to when using 4g ? Seems ok on WiFi at home

I'm happy with what Apple's doing with lossless music, here's to hoping they fix the music app on Mac OS to not be terrible. Good vid for setting up a simple Hi-fi apple set up :)

Awesome and thank you!

Is there a way to send a high res and/or lossless stream to a Raspberry Pi?

I hope Roon will add Apple Music to its app.

Thanks for this! Been using the Fiio BTR5 & FH3 w/ hi res lossless and it sounds amazing. 😭

Hi John. I didn’t think your last video was negative at all. I thought it reflected well on what all of us go through trying to connect widget A to thing-a-ma-gig B so that the sound we get it is akin to sitting in the best seat at the Berliner Philharmonie! And you did it in a very humorous manner - so much so that I replayed it for my wife, who has no interest in the tech behind the music. Thanks for your efforts in helping all of us to hear the music in the best way possible. Cheers from Pune, India.

Hey John - So how does Apple hi res sound via the ipad though your DAC?

I ditched Deezer for Apple Music, just waiting on Apple to provide lossless on Windows

World class presentation as always. It's a such a pleasure to watch your infotainment channel. *SUBSCRIBED*

Excellent. Thank You John

Is there much difference between the Dragonfly Black, Red and Cobalt.

Yes, that‘s the way to go. Got my iPad connected to the DAC. Spectacular quality on Apple Music. Way better than Tidal. Now Apple needs to integrate some remote functionality, so I can control my iPad‘s playback from the iPhone.

thanks for the vid! very useful

Now THIS was way better! LOVE IT! thanks for letting us know deets!

Does up-sampling have draw backs to sound?

Thank you for the very clear explanation on how to listen to HI-RES.

John...when I saw the name of this video, I immediately knew it was a re-do with more helpful / less depressing insights, given the size and use of Apple Music Nation among music lovers and some audiophiles. And you delivered as advertised. Thanks so much!! Very helpful video!!! Now if only some manufacturer would bring an Apple dock (not dac) to market that connects to CD quality and possibly hi-rez and charges iPhones / iPads at the same time. There's nothing worse than reaching a dead battery in the middle of long listening sessions. I remain hopeful as Apple Music has hit a grand slam with its no up charge offering to CD quality and beyond. Tidal, Spotify, and others now have their hands full from a competitive perspective. Thanks so much!!! Kudos to you!!

How about the iPad to a amp with built in dac? What do I need?

Would like to see Mac to Amp with built in DAC,….

I dont own an apple product and i still find this helpful and educational. Like your content Darko.

Great, this is exactly what I want to know. This can help me~ Thanks!

The day we got lossless I cancelled my Tidal subscription.

Why does Apple Music seem so much more complicated to use than Tidal or Qobuz?

Great tutorial, John!

Thanks for this. Very useful.

Now I know that human ears can't hear hires frequency 😭

Apple - the world of dongles. Question is, who wants a hi-fi setup like this? I guess no one. Anyway good video showing how it is done.

Hi thanks always for your informed videos on HiRes Audio stuff..

I have been using this similar configuration for over a year to listen to Amazon HD. The Apple dongle connected to a Dragonfly Red connected to audioquest’s 3.5mm to rca, connected to my receiver! And wallah, a great entry level streamer!

Hopefully BluOS will offer a native Apple option in a year. Til then, thanks for lighting a fire under Apples butt to fix this properly.

Just learned that Apple Music won’t play lossless through PC iTunes 😭😢

Awesome! I have been eyeing that exact RME DAC for a while now and trying to decide if I want to pull the trigger. It would be for headphone listening. Great to see it connected to Apple Music and working as intended with Lossless. Thanks!

Very helpful. Thank you.