Yes, I believe it does, it was the Yamaha I was referring to, which is a shame as it would make a great low cost digital transport it it just had an SPDIF out.
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If that’s true, streaming FLAC with the Qobuz app or ALAC with VLC over AirPlay should not be converted to AAC. @Stevesky could you please verify that - or give us the possibility to do it on our own? I.e. to see what Codec and resolution is streamed to the Naim streamer in the Naim app, the streamer‘s website, or on a REST service we could call.
That’s what I’m using for streaming. The only thing that lets in down is no digital out and a rubbish app. But for £150 I’m not complaining. Sound wise it beat my CD5XS
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That‘s surprising because the best the Qobuz app with AirPlay can do is streaming in CD quality. The reason might simply be better mastering of the title in Qobuz than the CD - especially when mastered during the loudness wars. Might be worth comparing the lossless rip from the CD and the CD5XS, where I would assume that the CD5XS sounds better.
That’s was comparing ripped CDs not the streaming side.
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It was actually an earlier post from @Stevesky in this thread that confirmed the AAC issue.
If you look at his recent posts you’ll find it.
Hi @Joamato
Qobuz ios app sends a legacy 16/44.1 ALAC stream to Airplay2 devices.
Example: playing this 24/96 track from Qobuz:
Pull the stats from the debug screen:
Regarding showing the internal stream format, unfortunately we have to stick to strict certification requirements and we can only show user facing metadata, not internal stream info of Airplay.
With regards
Steve
Thanks again @Stevesky. This makes it clearer that the lossless issue is not in the AirPlay 2 implementation but in the AppleMusic app which should be much easier to fix (by Apple).
That means that currently the options for streaming on an iPhone are:
- AppleMusic App: High Quality AAC → AirPlay as AAC => sounds good
- Qobuz App: CD Quality or HighRes FLAC → AirPlay as ALAC => sounds better
- Naim App: Qobuz HighRes FLAC → UPnP HighRes FLAC => sounds best
If showing the Codec and Resolution in the app isn‘t allowed by Apple, is it possible to access the debug screen through a secret URL or is that only available on the console.
One question on the aac issues. Is this both from IOS and MacOS? In other forums, they’re trying dispute the aac claim. Believe you are saying it’s both but I’m not sure.
On the iPhone, Amazon clearly sound better than Apple. And with Apple, I couldn’t hear any difference between high quality and lossless setting. Both sounded compressed.
Oh you forgot a 4th option, using iPhone with roon and Qobuz. Then can see all the versions, pick the best resolution, and even confirm the stream is actually what the metadata claims it should be.
I don’t have Roon because I don‘t like subscription models for software. Therefore, although I am a long time Audirvana user I won‘t use Audirvana Studio.
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Good point. I bought a lifetime membership about 6 years ago when they offered a Black Friday special. Think it was $150 or $200 off the original $499 price. At the time I was out of work but knew it was too good to pass up.
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i assume you are talking about AirPlay?
If you connect a USB DAC to your iOS or MacOS device you get wonderful lossless PCM upto 96/24 from the AppleMusic app - might go higher but that is all I have seen from the tracks I have played.
I have confirmed and measured this on iOS and MacOS - and jolly good it sounds as you would expect. The biggest issue is the lack of such content on AppleMusic right now - but that is changing day by day.
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When you listen with the Apple Music App on the Mac you still have to change the resolution in the MIDI App, while the Audirvana and the Qobuz app automatically change this to the title’s original resolution. That should be improved as well.
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Just been listening to Qobuz through Roon comparing the sq with Apple Music same bitrate. When listening to 44/16 Qobuz Roon is more to my liking. Apple sounds a bit closed in. Doesn’t really make me feel the flow as much as with Qobuz. When hires I think the difference is smaller.
Anyone else tried this? Listened with Chord mojo and Hifiman Sundara.
Yeah, I have Naim Uniti Atom HE, so it doesn’t even have usb input. Listen to everything wirelessly.
I don’t see myself switching to Apple Music, but Spotify will be tempting when it goes lossless. They have better library, better sub genres selection, and better discovery than what I’ve seen with Apple. And roon discovery features haven’t been that great for me even though the interface is nice.
What I could see there is also 192/24 in Apple Music
It’d doesn’t rate switch though using Apple Music on desktop. Thats what he was referring to I believe. It doesn’t have exclusive mode or rate switching. So on MacOS you get what ever your desktops Core audio is set to in the midi settings regardless of the streams native Res. iOS does rate switch so is not an issue.
So I think it’s safe to assume that we will have CD quality via airplay at some point in the not too distant future. That suits me. Anything more would be a bonus.
There is certainly a sense of loyalty to Naim here on this forum, price or complexity be damned. I would hope that extends to the choice of streaming service, and that just because Apple snaps their fingers, audiophiles that care won’t be throwing the likes of Qobuz/Tidal under the bus.
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