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Audio Midi Auto Switching

Now that we have Apple lossless . YEAH!!!! the mac needs to be able to switch the music file rate automatically.


There is no way of doing this . My iphone does ,ipad does,but the mac cannot.


Sitting at my imac and using my iphone to ply music because it automatically changes the bitrate is silly.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jun 8, 2021 6:17 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 8, 2021 10:43 AM

Apple Music app on MacOS does NOT do "EXCLUSIVE MODE"

Meaning, the application itself will not "take over" and stream to your DAC with the native bitrate of the music you're playing via Apple Music.

It will ONLY follow a fixed bit rate which you have set on Audio MIDI Setup for the connected DAC.

For example if you set Audio MIDI Setup for your $15k DAC from Nagra at 96k/24bit, all your music played from Apple Music App on your Macbook will be streamed at 96k/24bit, doesn't matter if the track itself is 44.1k or 96k.

Bottomline, playing music from Apple Music App using a Macbook is not bit-perfect, as it will resampled by whatever fixed setting at Audio MIDI Setup.

Using other player, for example Roon, which has "exclusive" mode will ignore sampling rate setting from Audio MIDI Setup and play tracks matching the material sample rate, up to the max supported bitrate of your DAC.


Playing on iOS, on the other hand, is bit-perfect, aka, no resampling. I've tried connecting my iPhone 11 Pro Max to an external DAC and the DAC displaying matching bitrate of the track.

Which is a shame on Apple how they have missed this on the MacOS Apple Music app.

It is not a OS level issue, they just need to upgrade the Apple Music App to have an "exclusive mode" just like what Roon has MacOS App.


6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 8, 2021 10:43 AM in response to jimmypowder

Apple Music app on MacOS does NOT do "EXCLUSIVE MODE"

Meaning, the application itself will not "take over" and stream to your DAC with the native bitrate of the music you're playing via Apple Music.

It will ONLY follow a fixed bit rate which you have set on Audio MIDI Setup for the connected DAC.

For example if you set Audio MIDI Setup for your $15k DAC from Nagra at 96k/24bit, all your music played from Apple Music App on your Macbook will be streamed at 96k/24bit, doesn't matter if the track itself is 44.1k or 96k.

Bottomline, playing music from Apple Music App using a Macbook is not bit-perfect, as it will resampled by whatever fixed setting at Audio MIDI Setup.

Using other player, for example Roon, which has "exclusive" mode will ignore sampling rate setting from Audio MIDI Setup and play tracks matching the material sample rate, up to the max supported bitrate of your DAC.


Playing on iOS, on the other hand, is bit-perfect, aka, no resampling. I've tried connecting my iPhone 11 Pro Max to an external DAC and the DAC displaying matching bitrate of the track.

Which is a shame on Apple how they have missed this on the MacOS Apple Music app.

It is not a OS level issue, they just need to upgrade the Apple Music App to have an "exclusive mode" just like what Roon has MacOS App.


Audio Midi Auto Switching

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