Photo credit: Apple Music
Apple Music is bringing support for lossless audio and spatial audio through Dolby Atmos support to India.
During the WWDC 2021 keynote address, Apple confirmed that these new technologies would be launched on that day. However, Apple Music subscribers in India have been waiting for the feature since it was announced. According to the Apple Support Twitter account, subscribers in India will be able to use the new technology soon.
Some subscribers to the service report that they see options for lossless audio from Apple Music and Dolby Atmos in the Settings app. However, those options have since disappeared and have not returned. Apple first announced lossless quality audio in May, but confusion quickly arose.
After the announcement, there was some confusion as to whether the HomePod and AirPods Max speakers will support the hi-fi formats. Apple has since cleared up that confusion by saying that HomePod speakers will receive an update to support lossless audio at some point in the future. Meanwhile, AirPods Max will not be able to stream in lossless audio quality, even if they are connected.
While lossless audio has made the biggest impact in the music industry, spatial audio is the true frontier of audio.
Ask any gamer how important spatial audio is in recreating an experience and you’ll hear myriad reasons. Apple executives know that spatial audio is important for an immersive experience. Eddy Cue says he believes that everyone except a small group of people can tell the difference between lossy tracks.
“The reality of lossless is that if you take 100 people and take a stereo lossless song, and you take a song that’s been on Apple Music and it’s compressed, I don’t know if 99 or 98 can’t tell the difference, Cue said in an interview.
Zane Lowe of Apple Music says the focus on spatial audio will change the way people listen to music. He compares it to a progression of mono, stereo, and spatial.
“Spatial is an immersive experience in which sound moves around you in different directions. We’ve only had that kind of experience before in the movies. Have you ever wondered how that would work with music? I’ve done it, ”Zane said in a recent interview.
A key feature of 3D spatial sound is that it focuses exclusively on sound positioning simulation. That’s closer to building a soundstage for a gaming environment than any previous type of music creation. It gives artists control over sound design such as attenuation or even the creation of realistic Doppler effects.
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