AppleInsider Staff
As promised, Apple late Monday flipped the switch on Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio content on Apple Music, with some users reporting the technology is now live for select tracks and albums.
Mentioned in passing during the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple Music was scheduled to enable both Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio today. Subscribers are now reporting that the service is now live, though support has not rolled out to all users.
Once the new technologies are ready in a given area, users can find the appropriate audio settings in the iOS Settings app under Music, according to accounts of the process posted to social media networks.
When enabled, a new "Dolby Atmos" option will appear under "Audio" and will allow users to switch between automatic, always on, and off.
"Automatic will play in Dolby Atmos and other Dolby Audio formats whenever connected to capable outputs like AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max (when spatial audio is turned on), and supported Beats headphones or Apple devices," the setting description reads.
A separate setting for "Audio Quality" enables Lossless Audio and controls streaming quality over cellular and Wi-Fi. Users can also elect to download lossless tracks to their device.
With Dolby Atmos activated in Settings, users will be able to play back Spatial Audio content in Apple Music. Apple earlier today said "thousands" of tracks support the feature, which is denoted by a special Dolby Atmos icon. Apple Music is also featuring special Spatial Audio playlists that gather songs, hits and albums in one location.
Spatial Audio is built using Dolby Atmos technology and enables listeners to hear music in a simulated 3D audio space, with dynamic head tracking due to arrive later this year.
Lossless Audio is not compatible with Apple headphones and will only benefit audiophiles who have a dedicated DAC in their system. HomePod and HomePod mini, which currently use AAC, will one day support lossless on Apple Music, though a firm launch date has yet to be announced.
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William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
15 Comments
Live on my phone. I might cry. Never thought I’d see the day. Goodbye to the 3 apps I use because of their lossless features.
Not seeing it in the UK yet :-(
Spatial audio guide just popped up on music in U.K. after I rebooted my phone. I can see all the lovely albums and playlists but can’t actually play them as don’t have the option to toggle in settings!
There’s a surprising amount of content too!
Seems a stupid way to do it - very un-Apple! Here’s some great new feature. We’ll show you a video on how to access it but won’t actually let you access it!
I almost canceled Apple Music subscription last year because of the lack of lossless.
Now the only inconvenience I can see now is that you cannot re-download the songs which have previously been downloaded in 256kbps AAC format. You have to remove the album from your library and then re-add it. Apple was lazy here and cut corners.