Not sure the announcement linked below will help with Apple Music integration, but it might at least allow Naim access to the native media player controls… quite encouraging to start seeing a few cracks in the garden wall!
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Personally from a security viewpointI really wouldn’t want alternative app stores - if Apple wasn’t so greedy with their up to 30% cut of apps sold and charged a sensible developer fee for hosting/processing payments on the app store it might not have come to this.
UK has currently dodged it due to 'the thing which cannot be named’.
I think the EU have opened a real can of worms which will potentially cause lots of problems especially in family groups (no sharing apps/subscriptions/screentime for non Apple App store apps). New charges for developers producing free apps if they want to access the latest APIs.
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I think we are on the same page here. I won’t be loading any apps from any alternative store, plus I’m in UK so that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
I suppose my big issue here is that Apple appear to be wanting to “have their cake and eat it”. I’m sure they can relax the APIs somewhat to allow third party manufacturers of equipment to consume Apple services eg Apple Music, whilst still maintaining their market share of hardware such as phones etc. I accept that some of the Apple speaker derivatives will be under pressure but that will be balanced against increase of revenue from services. I am not aware which is the bigger revenue generator, I assume their own speaker derivatives else they would have eased the rules already. Still if Sonos can get an in there is still a bit of hope for others.
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They only have it as they are Android based streamers. Eversolo and uses Apples own Android Music app installed it’s not integrated like Tidal or Qobuz are on the Naim app. It’s standalone. Hifiroses uses the poor webapi and is buggy and limited to aac.
Apple don’t integrate with other vendors, unless it suits their needs at the time. Sonos was done many years ago so they could get a foothold but you won’t find that stuff happening much and even when it does it’s only works on aac material you don’t get Hires/lossless with their basic webap. Apple have music to sell hardware they put the app on Android and tvs to get more chance of a migration of users to their eco system. Integrations on Naim won’t happen.
Recently Roon said they had talks with Apple about adding it as a service to their platform. They were open to it and could have started to add work to add ot with on large caveat. They would only allow them to access and play it for users with Apple hardware only, they would have to use Apples drm player and not use any of its own advanced playback engine and features. So pretty pointless and shows what Apple are all about for Music.
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One thing I’ve just discovered after connecting a Bluesound Node X to my Nova (mainly to stream Amazon Music) is that it allows Airplay to stream at 16-bit/44.1kHz.
That will likely be AirPlay 1, which can support CD quality… there is a Darko YouTube video about the differences between AirPlay 1 and 2.
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If a device is Airplay 2 capable as the Node is, Apple Music will stream AAC to it there are no compromises here. BluOS has been reported to have incorreclty reported what its receiving over Airplay for Apple Music.
As SPDIF is digital audio transport direct to a DAC it doesnt send AAC only PCM uncompressed or compressed multuchannel formats that get decoded in the receiver end for AVRs soundbars etc. The node will be decoding what comes in to PCM first before sending it over SPDIF to a connected DAC, so the Nova acting as a DAC here will see a 44.1/16 input and this is now PCM from the original lossy AAC.
Only if a device is purely legacy Ariplay will the stream be 44.1/16 ALAC. Airplay 2 can send and recieve lossless up to 44.1/16 to audio gear and 48/24 for video gear such as Apple TV but this is down to the application. Airplay now has two modes of streaming. Realtime Streaming (legacy Airplay) or Low Latency (new to Airplay2) .
Low Latency uses AAC and was deisgned with mulitroom in mind, where realtime is based on the original Airplay streams. Whilst you can multiroom with either Apple Music and some other appes only use Low Latency. Their are big benifts for multiroom use here as its lower bandwidth and likely more stable which is Apples goal here. Rememebr Airplay streams orginate from the phone to device so asking the tiny wifi chips and antennas on a phone to carry out uncompressed multiroom without lag and dropouts (bugbare of Airplay) is asking a lot so to ensure better compatibility the use AAC and Low Latecy streaming.
I can confirm what you are saying. The drop-outs were constant. The BluOS support page is clearly giving half-truths.
Was aware of the Android requirement. I don’t think Naim use an architecture that will support Android apps so probably not arriving on Naim any time soon.
My personal feeling is that Apple are being a bit short sighted. Put Apple, nose and face into a well known phrase. But who am I to say that, they make big profits from their current approach, just have to wait and see how long it works. I do use a fair amount of Apple hardware, I just tend to use services from other providers whilst being cognisant of who has access/use of my personal data.
So I’ve been using Apple Music (including Classical) alongside my Qobuz subscription. Using Apple Music with Naim equipment does involve jumping through a few hoops especially in terms of getting the data stream out of the device and into Naim. For me this involved the need to use a USB C to SPDIF conversion that included a cable (USB C to USB B) and a small powered adapter (Douk U2 Pro). I therefore have a cable lying across the floor from my iDevice to the HiFi unit. Using the Apple App itself was fairly easy and I dare say over time I could probably use it with no problems. It is a little bit awkward to use as volume has to be controlled from Naim and music selection from Apple, so two Apps in use. Naim app does display data stream sample frequency but not bit depth. Apple app obviously displays the Apple Lossless/Hi Res Lossless etc.
The more important aspect of SQ is a little more difficult. I did quite like the presentation from Apple Music. Maybe just a little bit less bright but nothing huge and on some tracks I couldn’t discern any difference.
UIltimately for me it comes down to ease of use and this is where the fact that Qobuz being better integrated into Naim proved to be decisive. For now I’m sticking with Qobuz and if/when Apple Music becomes better integrated I’ll review again.
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