It didn’t take long, from Apple Music teasing a change was coming to the announcement today, fans of high quality music are in for a treat with Apple Music adding Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio next month.
Spatial Audio with support from Dolby Atmos will allow artists to create more immersive sound stages with a multi-directional sound working across Apple and Beats headphones that feature the H1 or W1 chip.
As of next month, there are “thousands of songs” (from the tens of millions available) will be available with Spacial Audio, of course, that will grow as songs are remastered or released.
Dolby Atmos will play by default on any Apple or Beats headphones running the H1 or W1 processor, as will the latest iPhones, iPad and iMac.
Kevin Yeaman, Dolby Laboratories’ president and CEO said “Today marks the introduction of Dolby Atmos on Apple Music — a new music experience that is transforming how music is created by artists and enjoyed by their fans,”
Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter, and composer Giles Martin said: “Since recording began, artists, producers, and engineers have tried to paint pictures with sound, transporting listeners to worlds they never knew existed, even when the sound came from a single speaker. Now with the dawn of immersive audio, we can take the music lover inside the music. From the feeling of hearing your favorite artist in the same room as you, to the experience of sitting directly in the middle of a symphony orchestra, the listening experience is transformative and the possibilities for the creator are endless. This is a quantum leap in technology – I have so far had the pleasure of mixing some of the greatest artists in history in Dolby Atmos. With this work I have found myself falling into albums I love. There is a unique experience of being able to fully immerse myself in music that, although is familiar, suddenly sounds new, fresh, and immediate. As a creator, it is beyond exciting that we can now share this incredible experience through Apple Music.”
Perhaps more importantly, given the competition in this space, will be the availability of Lossless Audio.
And it’s not just a few songs, Lossless Audio will be available across the Apple Music catalog of 75 million songs.
If you want to try Lossless Audio, head to Settings then Music then Audio Quality.
Lossless for Apple starts at CD quality (16 bit at 44.1 kHz), and goes up to 24 bit at 48 kHz.
If you’re a proper audiophile, you can also get Hi-Resolution Lossless up to 24 bit at 192kHz.
No Airpods in this announcement, perhaps that’s to come still.
