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edmerklein Author

Level 1

15 points

Apple Music Lossless on Windows.

I've recently been on the deep dive of lossless music and I'm trying to find a way to play ALAC through my windows PC. I tried using iTunes and setting the playback to 24bit/96kHz (the max my Schiit Modi DAC can output), but when I view the properties of the Apple Music file being played, it always says it playing an AAC file maxed out at 256kbps. I have also tried using the Apple Music Preview app downloaded from the Microsoft Store and set the streaming audio quality to Hi-Res Lossless, yet the file properties still say it is playing back an AAC file as opposed to an ALAC file. When I insert a CD and use iTunes to play it back I get standard CD quality (16bit/44.1kHz or 1411kbps). So clearly iTunes can playback lossless audio, but not from Apple Music. When I do side-by-side comparisons between CD and Apple Music of the same song, I can clearly hear the difference, and I want to be able to use my Apple Music subscription to the fullest and stream lossless audio.

Does anyone else have this problem? could this also be happening when I stream from my iPhone or iPad?

If anyone has any tips to solve this problem please let me know. Thanks!

Posted on Apr 25, 2023 7:48 PM

Top-ranking reply

lossless_1

Level 1

10 points

Posted on Apr 28, 2023 7:02 PM

Also on windows. This is unacceptable. I only just noticed it today after prodding around. Why limit your features based on what platform your customers are on? I use a macbook pro for work, windows for personal. There's no excuse for this.

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20 replies

Jawsik

Level 1

8 points

Mar 17, 2024 5:22 AM in response to edmerklein

Hello,

If you transit from iTunes to Apple Music (app from window store), you probably faced the same issue as me due to the auto import function from iTunes to the app.

What i did to fix was to delete the app, my entire downloaded music files from the entire iTunes folder and Apple Music folder before re-installing. Before installing again make sure to enable lossless audio before installing the songs or playlists.

One tip will be to install one playlist at a time to monitor whether the file size really increased where your download files are stored which is a way to make sure it is actually in lossless format. Don't be alarm as there might still be some visual bug showing AAC instead of HLS but it will naturally change accordingly.

Before deleting your itunes library you can compare the whole library size vs the current size now, for my case because i have 500+ songs, it went from 9gb to 50gb.

May 18, 2024 10:19 PM in response to edmerklein

Hi! I may be late to this thread but currently the only way to go around this problem is to actually download the song or playlist in Lossless first before playing the song. Same problem too by the way. Until now, this problem still exists.

dewitt82

Level 1

8 points

May 19, 2024 1:18 PM in response to edmerklein

The whole thing is weird and I don't get it. using Apple Music on a 22 Air, I manually set 24/192. most albums still show as 16/44 or 24/48 (which id expect as that's what they are)

Then I play a Pink Floyd Album and it shows 24/192. and one song on the album showed 24/96 lol.

mind you I'm air playing it to a blue tooth speaker, lol

Best guess, if u happen to play one of the few Albums capable of 24/192 it upscale it to match my set preference.

Feb 27, 2024 7:37 PM in response to Higgsinspace

How did you find Qobuz? Do you recommend it?

Mar 1, 2024 3:44 PM in response to Higgsinspace

Thanks man, I'm going with Tidal too.

Apple Music Lossless on Windows.