Streaming Apple Music via Airplay 2 - lossless (ALAC) or not?

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Streaming Apple Music via Airplay 2 - lossless (ALAC) or not?

There is just so much contrary and (perhaps deliberately) obfuscating material out there, but it should be a simple answer to a simple question: can an Apple device (iOS, Mac OS or TV OS) stream lossless Apple Music ALAC via an Airplay 1 or 2 device so that device itself outputs an ALAC lossless stream to an external DAC? It would be beyond ludicrous if I can listen to lossless via my iPad or iPhone’s internal speakers (feel that bass!) but not output wirelessly to an Airplay device eg Apple TV and/ or any number of streamers/ connected amplifiers.

Posted on Mar 7, 2023 02:43 PM

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Answer 1

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Jeff_W.

Community Specialist

Mar 8, 2023 01:58 PM in response to jonathanppost

Hi jonathanppost,

According to our documentation, a wired connection to headphones, receivers, or powered speakers is needed to listen to lossless audio with a Mac, iOS or iPadOS device. For tvOS, you would need a wired HDMI connection for lossless audio. The same resource with this information also points out that Bluetooth connections aren't lossless. Here is that resource, which contains further information you might find helpful:

About lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support

Cheers!

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Streaming Apple Music via Airplay 2 - lossless (ALAC) or not?

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