Most of us never know this data is missing due to lossy compression, but the better quality your equipment is, the more noticeable the compression.Īs its name implies, Lossless refers to music files that don't lose any important information during compression. These files are compressed, which removes some of the less-critical binary data from the music, such as less audible sounds that may have no immediately obvious effect on the song's fidelity. Traditionally, digital music has prioritized file size over quality because storage space and streaming data used to be more limited. These binary numbers carry the information needed to play each song, which your audio processor decodes to play the tunes you hear in your headphones. Don't Miss: 7 Cool Features iOS 14.5 Adds to Your iPhone's Music App - For Apple Music & Your Own Libraryĭigital music, like all digital files, is made up of a large collection of ones and zeros.We'll dive into what lossless even means, what a DAC is, why you need one, and which DACs might work best for your particular setup. While the extra high-definition audio comes at no extra charge, it does require buying a DAC, which isn't necessarily cheap.

Hi-Resolution Lossless is included alongside the normal Lossless Audio playback and Spacial Audio features that Apple brings to Apple Music. Still, in the fine print, Apple noted that you wouldn't be able to listen to the best sound quality - Hi-Resolution Lossless - on your iPhone without a DAC. The long-awaited option will let users stream songs at a much higher quality than ever before. On May 17, Apple announced that Lossless Audio playback for Apple Music was finally coming to subscribers in June.

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