News Apple Music HiFi tier for £9.99/month?

[Niallivm]

From MacRumours website:

Citing sources within the music industry, Hits Double Daily reports that Apple is preparing to launch a new HiFi Apple Music tier in the "coming weeks," which will come alongside the release of the rumored third-generation AirPods.
According to the report, the new tier, which will offer high-fidelity music streaming, will cost the same $9.99 monthly subscription as the current individual tier. Spotify, Apple Music's most fierce competitor, has announced that later in 2021, Spotify users will be able to "upgrade their sound quality to Spotify HiFi and listen to their favorite songs the way artists intended."

The report says that an announcement of the new Apple Musc tier and the launch of the third-generation AirPods will take place in the "coming weeks." Apple plans to hold its Worldwide Developers Conference on June 7, and while no hardware was announced at the conference last year, hardware announcements are possible at the software-focused event.

 

[Niallivm]

Further to my post, MacRumors has uncovered HiFi (as opposed to High Res) streaming code in the beta for iOS 14.6 https://www.macrumors.com/2021/05/01/ios-14-6-beta-6-hifi-apple-music/

 

[petergabriel]

Great and all, but Apple Music is still way to proprietary for me. I am running Deezer HiFi on my 10 year old Squeezebox Touch. Apple Music's support for devices is just too lacking. They seem to have opened up, probably mostly out of necessity due to the competition - like with Apple TV - but still not ubiquitous enough.

 

[Niallivm]

According to a report in Forbes
“Apple’s catalog of hi-res songs will no doubt be vastly larger than anything else available. Way back in 2012 the company began requesting all submissions to its iTunes Store be what they called “Mastered For iTunes,” meaning that the resolution must be at least 24 bit, with the preference for sampling rate at 96kHz. That means that the masters submitted to the service were pretty much the same final masters that came directly from the recording studio in terms of quality level.
“As stated above, Apple never decided to actually launch a dedicated hi-resolution tier to iTunes or its replacement Apple Music, but other services like Tidal and Deezer did. Those services charge about double their normal lossy tier subscription rate at $19.99. There are reports that Apple won’t go there though, instead deciding to stay at the same $9.99 priceas its lower-res tier.”

Will Apple Hi-Fi Finally Become A Reality?

Music creators have been waiting for years for Apple to release its version of a high-fidelity music service to no avail, but indications are that the time may be near.

www.forbes.com

 

[iMark]

It's very interesting. Lossless streaming (AirPlay) should work without us having to buy any new gear. We already do lossless streaming around the house: our CDs are ripped to Apple Lossless (ALAC).

I still would prefer to have Spotify at lossless CD quality. Our network receiver supports Spotify Connect.

I suppose that what the platforms call "HiFi quality" will be more than good enough for the vast majority of subscribers.

 

[petergabriel]

The limitation of Apples lightning to mini jack cable now shows. Wonder if they will release a new high end adapter with support for 24bit 96Khz? Seems like a desparate move to support lossless, and then not even their high end headphones support it, because it uses a shitty Bluetooth connection?! I will be able to play 16bit 44.1khz via Airplay 2 to my Airport Express, which is just fine, but that none or their phones or headphones support it seems pretty dumb. Ah well, guess its all about beating Spotify and levelling with Tidal (cough) and Deezer. Wonder if Deezer will lower the price, as they "only" support 16bit 44.1Khz, and not hi-res. No matter what, most people will stick with their usual sound quality, so no loss for Apple. Now they just won't seem obsolete, as they give you the options.

 

[Gonepostal]

The limitation of Apples lightning to mini jack cable now shows. Wonder if they will release a new high end adapter with support for 24bit 96Khz? Seems like a desparate move to support lossless, and then not even their high end headphones support it, because it uses a shitty Bluetooth connection?! I will be able to play 16bit 44.1khz via Airplay 2 to my Airport Express, which is just fine, but that none or their phones or headphones support it seems pretty dumb. Ah well, guess its all about beating Spotify and levelling with Tidal (cough) and Deezer. Wonder if Deezer will lower the price, as they "only" support 16bit 44.1Khz, and not hi-res. No matter what, most people will stick with their usual sound quality, so no loss for Apple. Now they just won't seem obsolete, as they give you the options.

Hi, you seem to know your stuff, I currently use the lightning adapter into my amps usb type B connection. Is this the best way to do it?

 

[petergabriel]

Hi, you seem to know your stuff, I currently use the lightning adapter into my amps usb type B connection. Is this the best way to do it?

I assume you mean the lightning to USB adapter? If so, yes, then it is the best option, as it will pass lossless and hi-res audio into your amps built in DAC, which, if of a later date, supports 24bit 96Khz. Its the same way you get hi-res audio via your iPhone into e.g. a Dragonfly.

 

[Gonepostal]

I assume you mean the lightning to USB adapter? If so, yes, then it is the best option, as it will pass lossless and hi-res audio into your amps built in DAC, which, if of a later date, supports 24bit 96Khz. Its the same way you get hi-res audio via your iPhone into e.g. a Dragonfly.

I use the original Quad Vena so I'm not sure if it supports 24bit, think it will 16 bit.