When Apple last week launched Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio for Apple Music, it said that the new features would be "coming soon" to Android. Now, the company has released a new Apple Music beta for the rival mobile platform that brings support for both features.
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As per the changelog for the release, spotted by 9to5Google:
In this update, Apple Music adds spatial listening on compatible devices, with thousands of tracks in Dolby Atmos available at launch.
Other updates include Lossless Audio, a new way to experience un-compromised sound, with bit-for-bit accuracy.
In the app's Settings menu, there is a new "Audio Quality" sub-menu to enable Lossless Audio, and users can choose between the different tiers where applicable.
The beta release for Apple Music 3.6 for Android also includes automatic crossfade and enhancements to the library in-line search function.
Note that lossless audio files preserve every detail of the original file, and enabling the feature will consume significantly more data. For example, 10GB of space should store around 3,000 songs at high quality, but 1,000 songs with lossless, and just 200 songs with hi-res lossless.
Getting access to this version requires users signing up for the beta channel in the Play Store, but the fact that they are included suggests the wider Apple Music user base on Android won't have to wait much longer to get these features, too.
Apple has not specified which Android devices might be compatible with Spatial Audio, but a wide range of Apple devices can access the feature including the iPhone 7 and later, all iPad Pro models, the 6th-generation iPad or later, the iPad Air 3 and later, the fifth-generation iPad mini and later, the 2018 or later MacBook Pro/MacBook Air, and the 2020 or later iMac.
Top Rated Comments
Whether the adapter's DAC is good or bad, I'll leave that to the end user. I don't think the built in DAC in iPhones/iPads with regular audio jack is "Hi-Fi-grade" in comparison. Maybe a little bit better. I don't know because I can't make a comparison – I never used that adapter.
Apple lossless is definitely enjoyable even in hi-res with a proper setup (via USB DAC). You just have to know how to do it.
Admittedly, the whole Apple Music lossless launch was confusing, even for those who are into this kind of stuff, let alone for the regular users.
AirPlay is messy right now. Hope Apple will fix it.
It's so confusing that I thought to prepare a cheat sheet:
And you are assuming that the main listening of Apple Lossless will be done of mobile devices with headphones. I doubt it. In fact, you have to manually enable lossless in settings, and I don´t think the vast majority of people will care that much about audio.
Those who do, I think they will listening to Apple Music lossless on a dedicated hi-fi stereo system connected to an Apple TV 4K, or in a setup like this:
Many Android users will never convert to the iPhone or iPad, so why pass up an opportunity to collect revenue?