Apple Lossless and Spatial Audio (1 Viewer)

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hmmm... think I might just get an iFi Hip DAC for portable use w/ the Sundaras (and maybe even my Sennheiser HD600s):

iFi Audio Hip DAC V2 Portable DAC & Amp with MQA Decode

The new and improved iFi Audio Hip DAC V2 Portable Digital to Analog Convertor (DAC) and headphone amplifier delivers incredible audio in a sleek, small package.

www.headphones.com

Seems like a popular, fairly affordable, portable option. Not quite as portable as USB dongle types like the AudioQuest DragonFly series or that THX Onyx Sam referenced earlier, but probably portable (and affordable) enough for me while offering its own (albeit modest, battery-)power sourced amp instead of relying on USB power. Seen at least one review that suggests it could actually also work well w/ my HD600 cans, not just the Sundaras, so that would be a very nice bonus... although it may ultimately still have limited usefulness since both cans are bulky, open-back designs not suitable for most uses outside the home...

Will have to see how my new living arrangement works out in the near future...

_Man_

PS: Sorry I keep taking this a bit OT into headphones talk. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a particular good place to talk specifically about headphones gear on HTF, and a good headphones rig would certainly be at least tangentially relevant to lossless streaming music services...

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Guess I should at least give this a trial. Doesn't the new ATV4K come w/ a free trial subscription?

Hmmm... actually, maybe I should be doing the Apple One $20/month Family plan since I already pay $3/month for iCloud 200GB and would probably do the family plan for Apple Music plus maybe do some lite gaming thru the ATV4K...

_Man_

 

[Thomas Newton]

Guess I should at least give this a trial. Doesn't the new ATV4K come w/ a free trial subscription?

Hmmm... actually, maybe I should be doing the Apple One $20/month Family plan since I already pay $3/month for iCloud 200GB and would probably do the family plan for Apple Music plus maybe do some lite gaming thru the ATV4K...

_Man_

I believe you can get a free trial (if you are a new subscriber) just by going to the Apple site and signing up; no hardware purchase required. But they will auto-bill you for the paid plan if you don't cancel in time.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Spatial Audio for Apple Music a gimmick and/or mixed bag?

Apple Music’s spatial audio is sometimes amazing but mostly inconsistent

It’s too hit-or-miss for this much hype at launch.

www.theverge.com

_Man_

 

[TonyD]

I guess we have a similar topic in Music on this Atmos sound on Apple Music.

That’s a great article and mirrors my thoughts too so far.

There are clearly many songs that have a new mix or have been remixed for Atmos.

Sam says that he thinks sings have been re-recorded to skirt copyright laws.
Maybe but I haven’t found evidence of that yet.

Many songs including some mentioned in that article are different mixes or alternate versions.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Sam says that he thinks sings have been re-recorded to skirt copyright laws.
Maybe but I haven’t found evidence of that yet.

Re-recorded songs (especially ones not marked as such) can be a curse on buyers, but they are not the same as an attempt to "skirt copyright laws."

U.S. copyright law offers two main types of artificial monopolies on music: copyright on the sound recording, and copyright on the words/lyrics. The latter is subject to compulsory licensing (once there has been a first publication), and all sorts of major artists rely on that when performing alternate interpretations and cover songs. What compulsory licensing does is to ensure that artists who are willing to pay royalties to cover or re-record songs can do so.

Record companies used to take artists' copyrights away from them without ever giving the copyrights back, even after advances were repaid. So if the record company didn't feel like being cooperative, an artist or group might have been legally unable to sell copies of the original recordings of their OWN songs. Thus motivating some artists (trying to scrape together pennies in their old age) to put out cover versions of their own hits, as a way of complying with the "legally-locked-up" nature of the original sound recordings.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Thus motivating some artists (trying to scrape together pennies in their old age) to put out cover versions of their own hits, as a way of complying with the "legally-locked-up" nature of the original sound recordings.

Also motivating record labels who were too cheap to license the original recordings; or who couldn't get cooperation from major record companies at any price; to do the "let's sell re-recordings for which only compulsory lyric/melody royalties are due" bit.

Remember, Rhino and Time-Life and Collectables were kind of outliers in being able to get licenses to resell original recordings whose copyrights were held by major labels … and even then, usually had limited or no access to Beatles/Stones/Dylan/etc.

 

[Ted Todorov]

A good example is Taylor Swift who re-recorded Fearless as a FU to the the record label that was trying to hold her prisoner to a record deal she signed as a teenager (or her parents did because she was underage??).
But albums aren't being re-recorded for Atmos -- The Beatles didn't suddenly reappear, but their masters were used numerous times over the years to release new versions of their albums (and I'm yet to hear complaints about "the original" being ruined.) Yes, some people prefer the mono versions, but the last time I bought their collections on CD they had both the Mono and Stereo boxed sets, I got both

 

[DaveF]

Informed speculation is the studios are re-mixing the songs. Especially when the have the original stems of all the separate instruments from a modern studio recording, they have great ability to do significant surround productions.

Studios / labels tend to own the copyrights, as noted.

 

[Sam Posten]

We’ve got like 3 different threads talking about lossless and spatial audio. Let’s make this one the official thread to consolidate opinions and recommendations.

Starting off, iMore recommends this playlist over Apple’s.

Forget Apple's Spatial Audio playlists – listen to this one instead

Apple shared some new playlists that include music mixed for Spatial Audio, but you shouldn't bother with them.

www.imore.com

They recommend the whole Linkin Park album as a ’new experience’

 

[Sam Posten]

Apple Explains How Spatial Audio Head Tracking Will Work on Apple TV

With tvOS 15, Apple is bringing Spatial Audio to the Apple TV when the set-top box is used with AirPods Pro or AirPods Max. It has been unclear how...

www.macrumors.com

 

[Sam Posten]

Apple’s starter playlist:

From that I recommend boom, The Gambler, and Dudamel.

 

[TonyD]

I’ve decided to let my free trial lapse without renewing.

That Imore playlist has maybe 1 song I’d listen to twice.

Too much of the rest of Atmos on Apple sounds weird or is remixed terribly.

I’m out on Apple Atmos for now.

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[Sam Posten]

I’ve decided to let my free trial lapse without renewing.

That Imore playlist has maybe 1 song I’d listen to twice.

Too much of the rest of Atmos on Apple sounds weird or is remixed terribly.

I’m out on Apple Atmos for now.

Fair enough, but this is the way things are moving. All new releases will be in this format, 100%

 

[TonyD]

I’m going to stick with Amazon music.

we’re using the Amazon devices at home so it’s a better fit anyway.

 

[Sam Posten]

 

[dpippel]

Fair enough, but this is the way things are moving. All new releases will be in this format, 100%

On Apple Music maybe.

 

[TonyD]

On Apple Music maybe.

Yep.

Sam doesn’t let those little nitpicky details bother him.