I see that the new NSC222 lists Apple Music as one of its streaming options (in addition to Airplay 2). I have a Unity Star - will there be an Apple Music upgrade to the Unity series? It would be nice to have the lossless feed directly into the Star.
Sadly not until Apple change their 3rd party policy. See reply from Naim’s software director here re the NSc222 and Apple Music.
Thanks for the link
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It’s sad that Apple doesn’t allow Naim to properly utilise its lossless service especially as I’ve just cancelled my subscription to Tidal as I don’t believe that their ‘Master’ is lossless. Using Airplay isn’t quite the same as having the app embedded as you need to play with 2 pieces of technology that may be in the mood to talk with each other. Or not. It’s technology, after all!
I guess I’ll just keep buying Vinyl and CDs, rip them and stream them on my NAS.
Not just Naim they are pretty much closed to any 3rd party integration except the few that they seem to deem worthy of their effort.
Sorry, I phrased that badly.
Apple don’t let many utilise their apps, not just Naim.
Well, you can download hires music from Apple and play that.
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But even with a downloaded Apple Music Hi Res file, the route to getting this into the Uniti is not straightforward as I understand things… mainly because the Uniti products do not support digital audio input via the USB ports, so some sort of converter (like a Topping device?) is required to take a USB input and spit it out (untouched) via digital coax to the Uniti… all very messy.
Edit: the ideal solution in my view is a functionality similar to Spotify or Tidal Connect… but who knows if that will ever come to fruition.
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Download the music files onto a network file server with UPNP so the Uniti can play from there. Alter, download onto a USB stick and plug this into the Uniti.
But if they are AM files are they not protected by DRM?
From what I can see, they are now DRM free.
Music that you have purchased (maybe via iTunes), music that you have ripped and stored in the Apple Music app (on Mac/PC) or music that has been “matched” via iTunes Match are DRM free (I think), but music that is streamed, added to your Apple Music Library as part of the Apple Music service rather than the Apple Music app (even if downloaded for playback on your apple device when you are “off grid”) are protected by DRM, so can be played directly by an Apple device, but will not play via a UPnP server or any other mechanism outside of the apple ecosystem (Sonos being the only exception I know of).
At least, that is my understanding…
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With a wired connection. I connect using a Topping D10 and an Apple adapter. You want the one that also charges as it’s connected…
Hmm…
I have an Apple One account.
I haven’t yet tried it as I need to set up a new Apple account which I will use for hires downloads only (these would take up too much space on my phone).
I do have some MP3 songs which were automatically added to my library via Shazam. I’ll try downloading one of these and copying it to my music server.
Apple don’t help themselves in that the name “Apple Music” describes either an application, running on Mac, iOS or Windows PC (and maybe Android in a limited fashion?), or alternatively describes their music subscription service.
The application that runs on a desktop computer (Mac or Windows) incorporates the functionality of what was called iTunes. This allows you to use the app to organise you own music that you may have ripped from your CD collection, music that you may have purchased through the iTunes music store, or digital music files that you may have “acquired” in the good old days of peer to peer file sharing services. The Apple Music application on iOS, is a different beast as it does not include any capacity to organise music that you own, but will give you access to the streaming service. It can also give you access, via streaming, of music that you may have gained access to via the iTunes Match subscription. iTunes Match is a service that you setup (and subscribe to) on your desktop computer by ripping CDs that you (presumably) own, then the Apple wizards will identify the Albums, and provide a “streamable” 256kbps AAC version of that album via all incarnations of the Apple Music app. The Apple Music app also gives you the opportunity to access to the Apple Music streaming subscription service.
The music subscription service is basically a service that gives you access to all of the music Apple include in their library, but you lose access to that music the second you stop subscribing. You never own that music, and the music is protected by DRM, meaning that you can only access it via authorised mechanisms, (the Apple Music app, Sonos and I think a few car brands like Porsche are now offering native Apple Music integrations).
Apple do not go out of their way to clarify these things… their own Homepod products of course have integrated access to the streaming service, and even support lossless streaming, which is kind of a joke given the rather limited hardware. Not sure if they support hi-res lossless streaming, but that would only stretch the joke further!
What I and I think many Naim fans would love to see, is a means to have the Apple Music subscription service integrated into the Naim products, either in a way similar to the way Qobuz/Tidal work within the Naim app, or in a way similar to how Spotify and Tidal work via their “Connect” functionality. I would imagine this second scenario is more likely that the first, as it keep eyes on their interface and promotions. Of course “more likely” is still, I am sorry to say, pretty unlikely… however, I am the eternal optimist!
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This is a very helpful summary which revealed to me my level of ignorance about Apple’s music playing arrangements!
Apple Music hires downloads are DRM protected as they are part of the Apple Music subscription service you do not own them they may be matched to files you own but you do not own these and they cannot be used outside of Apple Music. You cannot buy hires music via the iTunes Store only aac.
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