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    Apple Daily Tech Support Thread

    May 19, 2021

    Apple Daily Tech Support Thread

    Daily Tech Support Thread

    Posted: 19 May 2021 03:00 AM PDT

    Welcome to the daily (Tech) Support thread for /r/Apple. This thread may also be used to find buying/selling advice or answers to other short questions.

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    Here is an archive of all previous "Tech Support" threads. This is best viewed on a browser. If on mobile, type on the searchbar [title:"Daily Tech Support Thread" author:"AutoModerator"] (without the brackets, and including the quotation marks around the title and author.)

    The new Daily Tech Support Thread is posted each day at 06:00 AM EST (Click HERE for other timezones) and then the old one is archived. If this time is near when you want to post your question, it is advised to wait for the new thread to be posted.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    submitted by /u/exjr_
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    Understanding lossless, Hi-Res, and Dolby Atmos audio

    Posted: 18 May 2021 02:51 AM PDT

    I've been seeing some confusion regarding Apple's decision to provide lossless audio as well as Dolby Atmos to the Apple Music subscribers. A lot of the confusion revolves around how this affects those using wireless headphones, including the AirPods series. Below I've tried to briefly summarize the new features announced in yesterday's update and hopefully it helps clear the air around this topic.

    ​

    What is lossless audio?

    Most of the music we consume today has been compressed from the source file. The source for digital music is usually the Red Book format created for audio CDs. In this format, music is stored at 16-bit bit-depth at 44.1kHz sampling frequency. The audio is uncompressed, as was the case with audio CDs.

    To make this audio accessible to those originally downloading and later streaming these files off the internet, the files were compressed. Compression can be done losslessly or in a lossy manner. The lossy technique achieves the smallest file sizes as you can just keep discarding more and more data to achieve smaller file sizes.

    There is some method to the madness of lossy compression. Depending upon the codec used, the algorithm will selectively discard parts of the audio it thinks you wouldn't notice. At higher bit rates, the final file can sound surprisingly identical to the original file since only the parts you can't hear were discarded. However, as the bit rate drops, the algorithm is forced to remove more and more parts of the original file, which results in a significant drop in fidelity and audible compression artifacts.

    This is where lossless audio comes in. Lossless audio doesn't necessarily have to be uncompressed. As mentioned before, audio (and data, in general) can be compressed losslessly. Popular codec FLAC does this quite well, as does Apple's ALAC. This means that these files will still be smaller than the original Red Book audio but sound the same since they aren't perceptually identical to the original but actually identical to the original.

    ​

    What is high-resolution audio?

    The term 'resolution' is commonly used for images but also applies to audio. Just as with a digital image, where increasing the resolution of the camera capturing the subject adds more detail to the image, capturing the original audio recording in high-resolution preserves more of the original analog source.

    The way this is achieved is by upping both the bit-depth and sampling rate. As mentioned above, standard Red Book audio has a bit depth of 16-bits and a sampling rate of 44.1kHz or 48kHz. Most of the audio we consume today is in this format.

    High-resolution audio increases the bit depth to typically 24-bit and up to 32-bit. A higher bit depth increases the dynamic range of the audio and also reduces the noise floor. Generally, a higher bit-depth is always better.

    Hi-Res audio also increases the sampling frequency and is usually double that of Red Book audio. This means it goes from 44.1kHz and 48kHz to 88.2kHz and 96kHz. Some files can go as high as 192kHz.

    The higher the sampling frequency (or sampling rate), the more finely can the original analog source can be recreated. Think of a sine wave being represented by a bunch of discrete digital 'steps'. The more of these steps you have, the more finely you can recreate the original sine wave. It can't quite match the infinite points on an analog sine wave but with a high enough sampling frequency you can get very close to the original signal.

    It's worth stressing that Hi-Res audio and lossless audio are two different things. Lossless compression can be used for standard resolution or high-resolution audio. High-resolution audio can be in lossless (FLAC, ALAC) or lossy (MQA) codecs.

    The problem with Hi-Res audio is two-fold. The first is that it's usually quite difficult to hear the advantages it brings compared to a well-recorded Red Book audio. Even amongst audiophiles, most can't seem to agree on whether if it's a good thing or just snake oil.

    The second problem is that it does require quality equipment. While the ability to recode 24-bit, 192kHz is becoming increasingly common even in budget gear, only a good DAC can do these files justice. After that, you also need good speakers or headphones to truly discern any difference at all.

    ​

    What is Dolby Atmos?

    Atmos is Dolby Laboratories' latest and flagship audio format. The advantages it brings are not just for the consumers but also content creators.

    Atmos moves away from the traditional approach to creating surround sound by using an object-based method rather than channel-based. Previously, an audio engineer would have to place sounds within specific channels for a surround sound mix for, say, a movie. These channels will then correspond to the speakers used in the movie theater or home theater.

    Atmos moves away from that by getting rid of the concept of channels. Instead, it lets creators place sounds in a 360-degree 3D space and then the system will figure out which speakers to use for that sound. Because it doesn't have fixed channels, it can technically have an infinite number of speakers, each acting as a discrete "channel". To complete the 360-degree audio sphere, Atmos also added height "channels", speakers meant to be placed above the listener.

    For the consumer, this means audio that is just more naturally enveloping and coming from all around them that pans around smoothly.

    For headphones, the Atmos system takes the source audio and then tries to recreate it using the two speakers of the headphones. This is not too dissimilar from Dolby's previous 3D audio for headphones but it is working with a source that has much more information, including height channels.

    On top of that, Apple then takes it to a next level, adding head tracking to anchor you in a fixed spot in the 3D audio space and have the audio spin around you as you turn your head, just as in real life. They call this Spatial Audio and it needs something with a lot of information like Atmos to work effectively.

    ​

    What does all this mean for me?

    Lossless audio will simply provide you with the original audio with no compromises. A lot of us now live in a world where internet speeds and storage space are no longer a concern so we don't have to keep listening to lossy audio. You hear the source file as you would have from a CD with no artifacts.

    Those opting to listen in Hi-Res will potentially hear even more of the original recording, provided they have quality hardware and equally more quality ears to process it.

    As for Dolby Atmos, it will depend on the recording on whether this creates that three-dimensional effect of being on the stage with the music being played live or just a cheap gimmick. It's also available on only select titles right now.

    ​

    What about wireless audio?

    Whenever we use Bluetooth headphones from any manufacturer, the audio sent from the source to the headphones has to be compressed using lossy techniques to fit within Bluetooth's limited bandwidth. There are no exceptions to this. All current Bluetooth codecs — SBC, AAC, the various flavors of aptX, LDAC, LHDC, Samsung Scalable Codec — are lossy compressed codecs. Also, Bluetooth transmission codecs are generally different from codecs for storing files; FLAC, ALAC, MP3, etc. are not used to stream over Bluetooth. The only exception to this is AAC.

    If you play a lossy compressed file over Bluetooth, it will be lossily compressed a second time before transmitting. This will happen even if the file is in AAC and the Bluetooth transmission is using AAC. It is unavoidable as of now and happens regardless of what products you use.

    If you give Bluetooth a lossless file, you are giving it more data to work with, especially if the transmission codec supports higher bitrates (such as aptX HD or LDAC), which should theoretically produce better results. Also, while the Bluetooth codecs are lossy, they can still support higher bit-depths and sampling frequencies. LDAC, for example, supports 32-bit, 96kHz at up to 900kbps.

    Unfortunately, none of Apple's products support LDAC or aptX HD. They support AAC for Bluetooth, which is only a small step above the basic SBC that all Bluetooth audio products are required to support as a default. This means you gain a limited advantage from playing in lossless, let alone lossless with Hi-Res audio.

    However, if you are using Apple Music on an Android phone that does support LDAC, and are using an LDAC compatible Bluetooth headphones, then you stand to get far more benefit from this new update than any iPhone/AirPods user.

    I must mention that older Macs did use to support the aptX codec. My 2012 MacBook Air did. Not only did Apple drop this codec in later Macs (not to mention never added it to iPhones and iPads) but also removed it entirely with the macOS Catalina update. This means my 2012 MacBook Air, which did support aptX, no longer does since updating to Catalina. Make of this information what you will.

    ​

    What about wired stuff?

    The beauty of wired stuff is that doesn't care or mess about with what you're feeding it. When you plug in that 3.5/6.3mm audio cable, you are creating an analog connection to the device's amplifier. The amplifier, which is fed by the DAC, cares equally less about things like bit-depths and sampling rates.

    All you need is a good DAC that can handle the codec you are feeding it. The DAC used on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and most other devices can comfortably handle 16-bit, 48kHz files, as does the one inside the Apple Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter and USB-C to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter. Most external DACs and several Android phones can also handle up to 32-bit, 192kHz audio. Once the DAC decodes this signal, it will then send the analog equivalent to the amp and from there it goes to your headphones or speakers. This is, in theory, the best way to experience audio.

    I'm not entirely sure where the AirPods Max used in wired mode fits into this. While you can feed it the highest quality analog signal through the cable, from what I know, it does convert it back into digital domain before converting it back to analog to feed the speakers (all Bluetooth headphones do this last step). Without knowing the quality of the initial analog to digital conversion happening within the headphones, it's hard to say whether there's any point in feeding it high quality audio.

    Update: According to The Verge, the AirPods Max convert the audio from analog to 24-bit/48kHz digital when plugged in using the cable. This step seems lossy in nature, which is why it's not the same as plugging in a pair of standard wired headphones.

    ​

    That's pretty much it on this topic. Let me know if I've missed something, messed up something, or need to explain something more.

    submitted by /u/dadmou5
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