As rumoured, Apple has announced Lossless Audio to Apple Music subscribers, offering the “next generation of sound” for free, starting in June 2021, to over 75 million songs. Also available will be Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos.
“Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, in a statement. “Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic. The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible. Now we are bringing this truly innovative and immersive experience to our listeners with music from their favorite artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd, and so many more. Subscribers will also be able to listen to their music in the highest audio quality with Lossless Audio. Apple Music as we know it is about to change forever.”
The next dimension of sound is coming.
Announcing #SpatialAudio, featuring #DolbyAtmos. pic.twitter.com/np8UjNusmF
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) May 17, 2021
Apple Music by default will automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on the following:
Apple says albums in Dolby Atmos will have a badge to let listeners know it’s supported.
“Apple uses ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to preserve every single bit of the original audio file. This means Apple Music subscribers will be able to hear the exact same thing that the artists created in the studio,” explained the company.
To enable Lossless Audio in the latest version of Apple Music, it’s available by going to Settings > Music > Audio Quality. There are various settings available, with Hi-Resolution Lossless available all the way up to 24 bit and 192 kHz.
