Lossless Apple Music to Beosound core?

30 replies

Leosgonewild

Bronze

2637 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 09:33 GMT

If I have understood correctly, Airplay 2 is not lossless. This means that if I am using Apple Music on my iPhone and transmitting to my Beosound Core via Airplay 2, I am not listening to its full potential. what I have done is that I run a toslink cable from my Mac mini into the Beosound core. I could also run a toslink from my Apple TV into the Beosound core. is there any other way to get a lossless Apple Music signal into the Beosound core?

carolpa

Bronze

2504 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 10:29 GMT ? Edited November 26, 2023 at 10:32 GMT

#705507

Millemis

Bronze

1330 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 10:31 GMT ? Edited November 26, 2023 at 10:32 GMT

#705508

@Leo That is correct - whether one will be able to hear the difference is another question, though. What you could do, is to connect an old AirPort Express via toslink to the Core and stream to that. The APE is Airplay 1, when you only stream to that….no multiroom (as soon as you use multiroom, it is AirPlay 2 = lossy). What then would happen, when you use Beolink Multiroom from there, is not quite clear - years ago B&O wrote that Beolink Multiroom is distributed as CD quality. However, that just says, that it is 16/44.1. It does not say anything about compresset (lossy) or not! MM
Location: Flensborg————Danmark

Millemis

Bronze

1330 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 10:41 GMT ? Edited November 26, 2023 at 11:13 GMT

#705509

Location: Flensborg————Danmark

carolpa

Bronze

2504 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 10:54 GMT

#705510

Millemis

Bronze

1330 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 11:51 GMT ? Edited November 26, 2023 at 12:40 GMT

#705511

Again technically speaking if he want to feed the Core with a higher resolution music files from his Apple ecosystem, then he has, to my knowledge, skip AirPlay altogether and use the toslink connection.

With that I certainly agree. But Leo asked: “is there any other way to get a lossless Apple Music signal into the Beosound core?” And that was the question, I tried to answer. I guess a lot of people prefer a wireless version (AirPlay) and also not many use a Mac as the daily music driver. For me the bigger question though, is whether the difference matters - and if not the convenience of wireless is worth it? That is a question, that only the actual listener can answer. Maybe the mastering quality, the listening room and the speakers (and ones hearing ability) are the more important factors! MM
Location: Flensborg————Danmark

Millemis

Bronze

1330 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 12:12 GMT ? Edited November 26, 2023 at 12:25 GMT

#705512

For those without a Mac……..another way to do this could be to use an iDevice and an external DAC with a lightning input port such as the small Apple
Location: Flensborg————Danmark

Millemis

Bronze

1330 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 12:37 GMT

#705513

Furthermore….those concerned about audio quality should know that one has to change this setting in Apple Music to ‘on’ - by default it is ‘off’. Otherweise it won’t matter, whether you use a wired or a wireless (AP2) connection or not. Login to view image MM
Location: Flensborg————Danmark

carolpa

Bronze

2504 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 14:12 GMT

#705517

Again technically speaking if he want to feed the Core with a higher resolution music files from his Apple ecosystem, then he has, to my knowledge, skip AirPlay altogether and use the toslink connection.

But Leo asked: “is there any other way to get a lossless Apple Music signal into the Beosound core?” And that was the question, I tried to answer. We both did - skip Airplay: do it, as you propose, with an external DAC connected to an iDevice or use the the Mac.

I guess a lot of people prefer a wireless version (AirPlay) and also not many use a Mac as the daily music driver.

I prefer LAN connections; so everything, when possible, is LAN-connected. That said of course I use (DLNA) controllers much. For example I use Audirvana to stream Qobuz directly to B&o devices.

For me the bigger question though, is whether the difference matters – and if not the convenience of wireless is worth it? That is a question, that only the actual listener can answer.

Maybe the mastering quality, the listening room and the speakers (and ones hearing ability) are the more important factors! MM

You do, as I do, listen to "the Harmony Codex". "Abbey Road" and DSOTM in Dolby Atmos (correct me if I'm wrong). But in the end, I completely agree, its up to the listener. "Hires" is a hopeless discussion, because everybody's senses, tastes and preferences are somebody's own; atop of the physiological and technical discussion. I did set my preferences on my experiences. regards

Leosgonewild

Bronze

2637 posts

Posted November 26, 2023 at 20:37 GMT

#705533

And just to make this more difficult, Apple Music is not supported on the older Apple TV models that has optical output.

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