That Airmusic app is on the Google Play Store… would that require you to “root” a device? Do Google allow such things on their store?
Either way, the enthusiasm for the original topic is clearly only relevant to those of us that live in the Apple eco system.
@jan Naim do support AirPlay 2 yes, but the closed nature of the Apple eco system relates to sending the media via AirPlay, Naim devices support receiving media via AirPlay. You can’t AirPlay from anything other than Apple devices, with the exception of some apparently dodgy 3rd party apps. You can AirPlay to lots of Apple approved devices.
Rooting is basically removing any layer of control Google has on what the OS does. Mainly done by changing the bootloader and loading a modified version of Android on it, Cyanogen used to be the main flavour. You run the risk of bricking the device quite easily. I did with with my first gen Nexus 7.
Most of the airplay apps that allow Airplay without modifying the os are for receiving not actually sending so are pretty useless. Also they may not work through the apps own DRM as these Airplay apps record or capture the output of the soundcard which is against copyright restrictions. So slow apps won’t work.
At least Spotify connect is platform agnostic for delivery and has the same feature set across all platforms which cannot be said for using Airplay or Chromecast.
Not to be overly picky, but rooting is just to modify the bootloader and system partition in a way that let’s the user acquire superuser (full admin) rights. This can be done without replacing the installed Android with a modified one like Cyanogen
In fairness Apple’s 256 kbps streams or purchases are very good, but they ought to have introduced at least CD quality years ago, and ought to be pushing hi-res streaming now, even if there’s an element of DRM.
If they do bring in hi-res audio it could be a killer blow if incorporated into an Apple One Family package - however just like Amazon’s hi-res mess how the hell do you play it?
Current AppleTVs do not have optical out, ok it might work over HDMI, but Airplay has always been limited to CD quality.
Hi-res but only to Apple Airpods or headphines would not be appealing.
As a huge mass-market brand I very much doubt that Apple see the audiophile niche market as anything more than a tiny drop in the ocean. The majority will be unaware of the whole lossy vs. lossless issue and happy with the service they get on their mass-market hardware.
Sure, Apple might add a lossless subscription to stop Spotify from appearing to be ahead of them, but I suspect they see the whole issue as irrelevant to their business.
It is so ironic that in the video sphere, everyone is obsessed with ultra hi definition, ad nauseam, but the mainstream consumer loves to ridicule audiophiles. Apple responds accordingly.
I hope this works out similar to when iTunes started doing 4K films, i.e. if you already bought the SD or HD version of film, you were ‘upgraded’ to get access to the higher format. I hope the same will be the case for the music.
At the end of the day, the hardware has come on a long way, as has the connectivity LTE/5G and home internet (we just upgraded to 1 GB speed) capabilities to be able to deliver files without buffering issues.
I just spotted that too… I have no experience with Deezer, but good to see! This seems to make Apple providing a CD quality tier an absolute certainty, and likely very soon.
That limited quality is better than you can hear. What matters is the quality of your system, not those numbers. Your DAC and amp limits the useable word length to 20…21 bits. Your amp and speaker limits your ability to play ultrasonics even if you claim you can hear them.
Your electronics will be more accurate if you give it more time to settle. The mixes will sound better if you run the mixer at a slower rate and use the freed up DSP to do dither everywhere it is needed. I’m beginning to think the fever for ever higher numbers is killing the music. More bits and sample rate will not give higher resolution. At best it gives you lower noise floor and wider bandwidth. Nyquist still rules.
My money is on there being more use of Spacial Audio features and something beyond just lossless. It will be interesting to see how they get beyond the 16 bit 44100 Hz limits of Airplay if there’s more on offer.
The release claims that some external hardware will be required to play lossless. What about Naim streamers? Do they qualify through Airplay? Or would they require firmware upgrade for a full support?
Airplay is already lossless using ALAC, but limited to 16/44. My assumption is that firmware upgrades are needed to go beyond that if the Airplay spec is upgraded.
