I don’t really feel that this is likely to happen. Apple are fully invested in the Airplay eco-system and I don’t see them changing from that.
They managed to do it with Sonos - not sure what agreement they reached with Apple to make it happen, so it’s certainly not impossible.
Either way, I guess it’s mostly wishful thinking on my part.
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Amazon echo devices play from apple music too and my tv and games console have apple music so apple is definitely expanding options but not sure if naim is a big enough user base.
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They likely gave in and used the Apple player you need to use or they got given a back door to use their own. The API doesn’t allow streams to go via Naims own player architecture or any for that matter it uses the native os players on iOS Mac os or android or their own player and requires applemusic app to be installed for authenticating. For webpages it has to call AMs JS player.
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interesting I didn’t know that
With the recent firmware update to Nova,Star,Atom etc - Saying Airplay improvements - Does this change anything in regardless to getting lossless via IOS to Naim? Or is it still AAC?
Also iOS16 - any changes here to change how AirPlay 2 works?
Thanks
Slightly to one side, but i thought this was interesting from 9to5mac:
With inflation rising to 9% in the United Kingdom and further rises in the cost of living expected, the rising cancellation rates of music subscriptions is evidence that British households are starting to prioritise the spending of their disposable income. Over 1 million subscriptions were cancelled in the last quarter, which has also seen the highest level of consumers citing they want to save money as the reason they want to cancel their subscription, at 37%. This number is up 4% from the same period last year.
To all I know, those updates from Naim side only include latest fixes/updates from Apple (library updates, or some such). No feature changes.
For iOS 16 (and related) I have not read any mention on my usual IT news yet… so it seems nothing big/official was pitched. (But who knows, if Apple will do „silent updates“ which people will find during beta testing.)
No it doesn’t change a thing Apple have not changed how it works. It’s just API updates which is standard, they update stuff like this all the time and manufacturers have to keep up as part of their licensing agreement of Airplay.
So, a big deal is isolating the signal from wall interference right? And the Audiophillo thing (@$1000) does that. It just occurred to me if we run the Topping without using the wall power for the Apple adapters wouldn’t that do the same thing? My iPhone 13 has battery to spare so…
I’m listening to see. It is hard to tell, but I will say it sounds incredible…have you done that with your Topping? I think for the money the D10s is a great buy.
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I am very happy with the Qobuz sound quality. But I don’t know if they can survive given their relative small customer base. So I am always interested to hear about alternatives in case it becomes necessary to switch . Did you compare your set up to Qobuz integrated in a Naim streamer?
Apple hi res when hard wired is at least as good as Qobuz…or I’d guess anything. I personally do think Apple has an edge, but a slight edge. I usually stream Qobuz. The Topping D10s is generally connected to the Mac Mini. When I do want to listen to Apple Music I disconnect the USB from the Mac and us the adapter into my iPhone or iPad.
We have Apple Music Family which is mainly used by my daughter.
I cancelled Tidal and don’t miss it at all.
My annual Qobuz subscription is due in the next week or two - I’ve not purchased much in the last year to take advantage of download discounts. Can I justify £180 each per annum for two music services - the advantage Qobuz has is the Naim/Roon/Audirvana integration and that I hate the Apple Music interface. Apple Music has a more rounded catalogue and music videos.
I did not renew Audirvana Studio a few months ago. I doubt I’ll renew Roon.
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I have just cancelled Roon, and am debating whether to continue with Qobuz (which I use for streaming, not purchases).
I may go the Topping D10s route so I can use my Apple Music subscription through my Atom, and also through iPad… times are tough financially!
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Yes, times are extremely financially challenging currently.
I’ve used Qobuz for many years and it’s better value than ever, however, do I really need it or even Apple Music? Hundreds of purchased downloads including some ‘bargains’ I’ve not even listened to once. Hundreds of LPs, hundreds of CDs, hundreds of DVDs/BluRays not to mention compact cassettes and VHS/betamax. Oh and the HD DVDs. No laserdisc sadly. I’m not exactly short of things to listen to or watch and there’s always internet/conventional radio.
I like supporting Qobuz vs the big companies, but suddenly £180 is a significant outlay.
Ultimately I think I’ll stick with Qobuz or maybe go to monthly billing rather than annual.
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I assume you’ve tried Airplay to the Atom, I think it does a good job despite the current limitaions.
I’m not sure about the Topping. Several here are getting along very well with them.
I got mine last year. I have both the powered and unpowered camera adapters.
Initially these worked unpowered with an iPhone X and older iPad Pro, but I soon got an error saying the Topping was drawing too much current and the powered adapter was needed.
My biggest concerns are:
1 - Need to dedicate a ‘wired’ phone/tablet to the playback process, at least temporarily
2 - For me the Topping did not give a fixed audio output over optical to the Nova and volume was variable depending on the iPhone/iPad volume level - hence the streams, lossless, hires or otherwise are having volume changes processed by the phone/tablet which may not be ideal.
3 - If you are intending to control from your listening position it means a trailing USB cable across the floor to the Topping or a trailing optical/analogue lead from a closer powered Topping to the hi-fi. If you have the Topping close to the hi-fi and are happy to have the phone/tablet there and get up to control playback it’s less of an issue.
No Qobuz renew here, keeping Spotify and Apple Music only (I would love to see Apples classical service introduced at tonights event. And enabling purchase of lossless downloads on iTunes). We never streamed much from Qobuz anyway.
Spotify lossy is pretty decent to listen to. But there is also a social reason, most people use Spotify or Apple Music and it is easy to interact with friends.
Otherwise collecting CD:s on the Melco gives more than enough to listen to. And you can always join those services again. What bugs me most is the Roon Lifetime I bought some years back and then never agreed with.
Yes that would be nice. Hopefully a free AppleMusic ‘fork’. I doubt I’d pay for it.
Just know that if you hook an iPad or iPhone directly to the Atom, you lose all the streaming features such as; album art and the ability to use the remote to pause, play, and skip. Plus you’ll be hardwired in.
If you use Airplay with Apple Music, you lose lossless sound quality. If you stick with Qobuz I believe you get lossless over Airplay and can get hires thru Chromecast. Chromecast is a little glitchy and works best if plugged into Ethernet.
I’m hoping before end of year Apple has a better lossless solution. They still haven’t announced there classical music app.
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All excellent points.
Yes, no way around that as only the audio is being sent.
Yes - Airplay/Airtunes has always been able to send CD quality lossless to Airplay/Airtunes targets, so with ripped CDs etc or even hi-res files added to iTunes in the past, iTunes used to send up to CD quality lossless over Airplay/Airtunes.
The lines are now blurred and why I dislike Apple Music to some extent. Streaming subscription Apple Music tracks (downloaded or streamed live) is a lossy AAC compromise at best. Most of my Macs are old and I’ve not tried Airplay of locally stored downloads/CD rips with the M1 Mini - something to test vs Apple Music streams/downloads.
There really is no good reason now that Airplay 2 supports hi-res lossless for Apple not to make it easy - my personal view is that it’s all PR nonsense and most customers won’t know any better. Even current Apple headphones/Airpods don’t support lossless (let’s see what they announce later!). The original Homepods are nice but were a complete connectivity mess, I believe they support lossless now but how on earth could you tell what they are playing?
Interesting thoughr about Airplay of Qobuz - I’ve not tried that recently, primarily as I tend to play Qobuz via the Naim app (and previously Roon or Audirvana Studio).
I’ve found Chromecast direct to my Nova to be glitchy at best. Biggest issue is lack of gapless support without jumping through hoops with other apps.
It really should not be as much hassle to simply get what we pay for! Problem is most folk won’t even notice or be interested in the nitty gritty details.
Interestingly or not (relating to my PSU thread in the Lounge area), I found an AC adapter the other day and couldn’t figure out why there was a Chrome logo on it - I’ve never had a Chromebook. Suddenly dawned on me that the little disc like device wasn’t a surround audio setup microphone but a Chromecast Audio device I bought some years ago.