Subscribers will receive Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio with no extra cost
Apple Music subscribers rejoice – you’re about to get a big upgrade in music quality for no additional cost.
Apple has announced that it’s bringing Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos to Apple Music. This is an immersive audio feature that allows producers to mix music so that the sound comes from all around the listener, including from above.
Launched next month, subscribers will be able to listen to thousands of tracks in Spatial Audio, with new tracks added continuously.
The music will cover all genres, including hip-hop, country, Latin, pop and classical, and Apple is working with artists to create new music specifically for the Spatial Audio experience.
Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, said, “Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic.
“The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible. Now we are bringing this truly innovative and immersive experience to our listeners with music from their favorite artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd, and so many more.”
Albums that are available in Dolby Atmos will have a badge on the detail page, and Apple Music will automatically play Dolby Atmos tracks on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, as well as the built-in speakers in the latest iPhones, iPads and Macs.
In addition, Apple will be making its catalog of more than 75 million songs available in Lossless Audio, which uses ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to preserve the original audio file – meaning you’ll hear the track exactly as it was recorded.
To turn this on, Apple Music subscribers will need to head to Settings > Music > Audio Quality, then choose from different resolutions for different connections.
Apple Music’s Lossless tier starts at CD quality, which is 16 bit at 44.1kHz, and goes up to 24 bit at 48kHz, all playable natively on Apple devices.
Apple Music also offers Hi-Resolution Lossless all the way up to 24 bit at 192kHz, but this requires external equipment and must be opted into.
Apple Music Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio will both launch next month.
Hot on the heels of this announcement, Amazon revealed that its HD Music service would now be included as standard with no extra cost.