Article: Apple Music Lossless Mess Part 2: AirPlay

[The Computer Audiophile]

12 minutes ago, Bigreddog said:

Quick question. Article says MacBook Pro to Node 2i using AirPlay 2 is bit perfect. Can a newer MacBook AIR achieve the same thing or does it have to be a Pro? Thanks!

Air should work just fine. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

16 minutes ago, Rijckholt said:

Hi @tgp-2,

 

Thanks for your reply. While the icons are indeed a tell tale of the protocol that is being used (AirPlay 1 at 44,1 kHz ALAC ) it does not necessarily mean that what is inside that ALAC wrapper is the original (lossless compressed) content. Based on my network traffic I suspect that the Apple Music and classical app are compressing in lossy way BEFORE it is handed over the the AirPlay service of the phone. Resulting in sending less data wrapped in the ALAC AirPlay1 stream (like playing an MP3 via Airpay 1 in the old days).
 

This would have been introduced in the either iOS 15 or 16 as in iOS 14 (if the testing done as described in this article is correct) the input and output are identical. 
 

I am suspecting Apple made changes and this is no longer the case. However I cannot test it in my setup. Except by looking at network traffic that sits well below the 1000 kbps that I would expect when a lossless compressed music file (CD quality) is streamed. 
 

In order to confirm this you need to know what is sent and what s unpacked in the DAC and compare the two. Maybe @The Computer Audiophile or @Marco Klobas can help here.

 

cheers

Onno

If I can find some time I’ll look into it. I may wait for iOS 17 as it’s right around the corner. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Technically it won't be lossless all the time even though Apple says it is. It's 20 bit rather than 24.