Apple Music on Android will support Lossless, but not Dolby Atmos at launch

Android users who subscribe to Apple Music won't get all of the benefits of Apple's new additions, as it will include support for Lossless audio, but not Dolby Atmos at launch.

Announced on Monday, the long-rumored lossless audio streaming for Apple Music is arriving in June, included as part of the existing subscription. While Apple is making its Lossless Audio streams available across more than just its own product line, those using Android smartphones and tablets to listen won't get all of the benefits.

Android users will benefit from the introduction of lossless tracks to the service, but it won't include Dolby Atmos, according to MySmartPrice. There is no sign on when Dolby Atmos support will be included on Android at this time, but it won't be there when the changes go live in June .

For the existing lossless support, the Android app will work on capable devices, but Apple warns that extra hardware may be required for devices that rely on wireless headphones. Since Bluetooth isn't truly lossless, those wanting end-to-end lossless audio will have to acquire an external DAC and attach that to their Android devices to get the full effect.

Spatial Audio, another feature announced on Monday, will not be included in the Android app, as it will be exclusive to Apple's own hardware.

The Android version of Apple Music was a major source of leaks ahead of the announcement. Code within a beta release confirmed lossless support was on the way, as well as giving an idea on how much data would be used by the feature.

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4 Comments

ITGUYINSD 547 comments · 5 Years

About 3 years ago

My Samsung A71 5G (backup phone) has a headphone jack. How convenient, right? Lossless made easy.

Flytrap 61 comments · 7 Years

About 3 years ago

ITGUYINSD said:

My Samsung A71 5G (backup phone) has a headphone jack. How convenient, right? Lossless made easy.

I am not sure if this is a seriously ignorant statement or just intended to be a tongue in cheek joke. Either way, it is very misleading because that is not how it works. If you are not connecting your headphones or DAC directly to the lightning or usb connector, then you are definitely doing it wrong, when it comes to making the most of your lossless audio.

If you are going to pin your hopes on the el-cheapo low powered internal DAC and low fidelity built-in amp, then you might as well stick the headphones that came in the box with your mobile phone into that 3.5mm jack and enjoy the whatever noise it can crank out. You may be using a lossless audio file, but you are not listening to a faithful reproduction of what was encoded in that file.

sdw2001 17459 comments · 23 Years

About 3 years ago

Flytrap said:

ITGUYINSD said:

My Samsung A71 5G (backup phone) has a headphone jack. How convenient, right? Lossless made easy.

I am not sure if this is a seriously ignorant statement or just intended to be a tongue in cheek joke. Either way, it is very misleading because that is not how it works. If you are not connecting your headphones or DAC directly to the lightning or usb connector, then you are definitely doing it wrong, when it comes to making the most of your lossless audio.

If you are going to pin your hopes on the el-cheapo low powered internal DAC and low fidelity built-in amp, then you might as well stick the headphones that came in the box with your mobile phone into that 3.5mm jack and enjoy the whatever noise it can crank out. You may be using a lossless audio file, but you are not listening to a faithful reproduction of what was encoded in that file.

Hopefully he was joking. To the extent that lossless even makes a noticeable difference at all, it would most certainly be ruined with a terrible DAC. It would be like hooking up a 4K blu-ray player to an old big screen projection TV.

kirkm1976 1 comment · 3 Years

About 3 years ago

"If you are going to pin your hopes on the el-cheapo low powered internal DAC"

Laughs in internal ess sabre high res DAC nicely integrated into my LG phone vs hanging out of the USB C port.

Battery life? naa. Snappy performance? Not so much. Nice skin on Android? No. But music? Yes. It is the one thing LG got right and it'll actually push a decent set of headphones. You will be missed, LG.