I don’t see ALAC listed in the supported codecs on RS 201E. Does it decode Apple Lossless ?
Only Apple hardware or software developed by Apple products and apps support lossless music.
Since the app (software) on the Android phone was also developed by Apple, it supports lossless sound sources.
So, until now, Apple hardware or software supports only up to aac256 bps unless it is a product or app developed by Apple.
For hi-fi audio equipment, I think Apple Music will gradually expand technology disclosure.
If Apple releases this part in the future, we will be able to apply it.
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My original CD music library was ripped through iTunes and I chose ALAC lossless to undertake this. This was the simplest tool I had available at the time for CD ripping.
My Rose RS150B plays these tracks no problem, indicating the same kbps also tagging them in the album view as ‘ALAC’. Below is a ‘Foobar’ screenshot of a typical track properties:
Thanks, Woorlord and ROSEHAN. This helps a lot with my perplexity. I know Apple developed Apple Lossless over a decade ago, converted almost their entire catalog of music to Lossless, loudly told the world that they offer streaming Lossless for no extra charge, and shows a logo for Lossless on almost every track I play from Apple Music. But recently, I found that streaming Apple Lossless or Hi-Res to a hifi system capable of taking advantage of it is nigh impossible.
I still don’t understand why Apple is making it so hard— delivering a stream of 384 kbps data over 100Mbps wireless sounds like it wouldn’t be too much to handle— but I finally understand the facts on the ground. Woorlord shows that Rose equipment (Android, etc) is entirely capable of **playing ** ALAC files. ROSEHAN informs us that as soon as Apple gives Rose and the world the missing tool, Rose will implement streaming ALAC, too.
Thanks
The simple answer is that letting Rose (or anything else) play lossless does not increase sales of iDevices, and that’s the one and only thing Apple cares about.
I can see how bragging about Lossless, not to mention Hi Res Lossless might sell one or two iDevices. But why did they go to the trouble of converting their whole catalog to ALAC, only to make it almost impossible to stream ALAC? Only iPhones, Macs, and HomePods can easily play Apple Music streaming Lossless — and none of them has the fidelity to make any use of such resolution!
Converting to ALAC is pretty easy, especially with Apple’s resources. Saying that you have “high rez lossless” is a good marketing point (whether anyone can tell any difference, especially when listening through AirPods, is another question). And you can always plug an external DAC into most iDevices. As far as Apple is concerned, being Apple, nobody needs anything else. They already grudgingly allow you to use a store app on Android, since it can keep pestering you to join “the ecosystem.” Allowing custom apps on third-party streamers would allow you to have no Apple products, other than Apple Music itself, whatsoever. Given Apple’s general attitude it is rather unlikely to happen.
You brought up the reasonable question of “whether anyone can tell with Airpods”. And AirPods Max are surely your best bet among any Apple product that puts out sound, right?Amazingly, this point is moot, because even AirPods Max, and even with a wired connection, cannot play Apple Lossless, on account of their Lightning connector, which has a tiny DAC inside that can only handle 256kbps AAC. Jaw-dropping
Well, there you go. Audiophiles aren’t Apple’s target audience, and adding support for even a decent BT codec let alone allowing high-quality streaming through their equipment just isn’t on their radar; not their market.