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Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

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Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#321

Post by crazygringo »

afavour wrote: post #303
slownews45 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird because I've had the BEST experience with apple in terms of shared experiences. I go to share audio on my iphone, then I share with my wifes airpods. Seems to work fine.

Everyone is different, I suppose. A shared TV watching experience where we're both plugged into our own isolated audio and can't hear each other talk would be an awful experience for me.

> and can't hear each other talk

That's what transparency mode is for. You can hear each other perfectly.

You don't need noise cancellation as much when you're at home. It's more for the subway, planes, etc.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#322

Post by numpad0 »

Someone1234 wrote: post #69
alfalfasprout wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There have been tests showing we cannot hear the difference between minimally lossy audio (e.g. mp3 320kbps) and lossless. But Balvin can. And it sounds "bigger and stronger". On the contrary, you can actually do these tests yourself ( https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/... ). I and many others running good high end gear can repeatedly score well on these tests. Of course, it's not only the…

> I and many others running good high end gear can repeatedly score well on these tests. I, too, run high-end gear and cannot. The problem scope isn't simply reproduction accuracy, it is also one of taste: Different compression can elevate/alter parts of the sound, and your opinion may not lean to the highest bit rate but rather some other coloring of the music. The fact you've run this test "repeatedly" actually hur…

Been out of high end audio for few years, trying this test for past 30 minutes, and can't seem to get past 2/6 with wireless or wired or dynamic or BA or through proper amps or out of a laptop jack. Constantly falling into 320k. Maybe source isn't great in the first place, equalizer slightly suppressing low-mid and noise at the high is doing it.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#323

Post by raggi »

alfalfasprout wrote: post #38
cies wrote: post #23

From the article: > J Balvin said: [...] With Lossless, everything in the music is going to sound bigger and stronger but more importantly, it will be better quality. [...] There have been tests showing we cannot hear the difference between minimally lossy audio (e.g. mp3 320kbps) and lossless. But Balvin can. And it sounds "bigger and stronger". The extra quality of lossless is nice when mixing/remixing the sound, a…

> There have been tests showing we cannot hear the difference between minimally lossy audio (e.g. mp3 320kbps) and lossless. But Balvin can. And it sounds "bigger and stronger". On the contrary, you can actually do these tests yourself ( https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/... ). I and many others running good high end gear can repeatedly score well on these tests. Of course, it's not only the…

Test using pixel 4 xl built in speakers at 2/3 volume. You don't need high end gear, you can pick artifacts in half the test cases almost more easily on low end speakers. A few of the tracks only become noticeable once theyre busy.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bx1XZP5DKpMvvmHf8

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#324

Post by sbarre »

klmadfejno wrote: post #128
sbarre wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do wonder if in the longer term if Apple's Spatial Audio with "dynamic head tracking" isn't the next 3D TVs/3D Content i.e. a gimmick. For what it's worth, I have a pair of Audeze headphones that has 3D head tracking or whatever they call it, and I don't think it's a gimmick. When I'm wearing those and watching a movie on my TV (or playing a game on my PC), the sound really does appear to be coming from in front…

Why is that useful though? "It's like I'm really listening to a TV!". Isn't that what people try to avoid with expensive sound systems that offer surround sound?

I find positional audio is more immersive.

I never claimed this was useful, I said I found it enjoyable and having had this headset for 3+ years now, I can say that - speaking for myself - this is not a "gimmick" that I've grown tired of or turned off.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#325

Post by djrogers »

schmorptron wrote: post #152

Wow, I've been using Apple Music on trial to see how it's different from spotify and with this news + Spotify now selling pseudo-ads in the forms of playlist and recommendation algorithm placements for less artist royalties I'll stay with Apple for sure. One thing that really differentiates it is that the curated playlists seem a lot more cared for than with Spotify. I've found so many of the pre-made playlists that…

> One thing that really differentiates it is that the curated playlists seem a lot more cared for than with Spotify.

Completely agree. This was Beats Music’s raison d’etre, and Apple Not only maintained the playlist curation team/process/whatever, but have made it bigger and better.

My favorite playlists get regularly updated - seemingly by the same person, or someone with extremely similar tastes in music, and I love it.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#326

Post by numpad0 »

StrictDabbler wrote: post #136
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course, it's not only the compression that's at stake-- it's also the mastering quality. HN threads on lossless music so often descend into "well, you couldn’t hear the difference". But historically a key reason for people to prefer e.g. SACD releases of recordings is not because one can hear the extra frequencies of this format, but because the SACD release – being targeted at people with a good stereo and sile…

Absolutely agreed. People spend so much time arguing about whether we're "past the limits of human perception" on sound or video. They want to quote Nyquist and check frequencies. Spend a million dollars on audio equipment. Turn on your speakers, play some chamber music in insane multi-channel high-res audio, and invite a friend over. Your friend does not think you hired a string quartet. Your friend thinks you have…

> A/B test by actually hiring a quartet

That's easy. The one with room echos, washed out highs, and missing bass is the live.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#327

Post by taylodl »

cies wrote: post #23

From the article: > J Balvin said: [...] With Lossless, everything in the music is going to sound bigger and stronger but more importantly, it will be better quality. [...] There have been tests showing we cannot hear the difference between minimally lossy audio (e.g. mp3 320kbps) and lossless. But Balvin can. And it sounds "bigger and stronger". The extra quality of lossless is nice when mixing/remixing the sound, a…

Metallica's Death Magnetic is going to sound like shit whether you play it with lossless or lossy audio. You can't fix a bad mix. The other extreme are things I would love to hear in lossless audio and Dolby Atmos but it would have to be re-mastered and there's limits for what was captured on the original audio tape. Pink Floy'd Dark Side of the Moon is one example.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#328

Post by mistersys »

It's weird, the only reason I can't use Apple Music is because it doesn't sync between devices. Apple being the company it is, it's just crazy to me that I can't pickup listening where I left off on my phone once I open my laptop.

Aside: Also there's a ton of bugs, very poor job on the QA side of Apple Music

Spotify has designed this feature amazingly. Sometimes, I wonder why companies don't steal good ideas from each other more often, it seems like Apple has just refused to implement this terrific user experience.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#329

Post by djrogers »

PaulHoule wrote: post #74

I don't believe it. If I read that right they claim that they can deliver "spatial" audio via headphones using a multi-channel/object-based Dolby Atmos (as opposed to a binaural recording or something that else that is mixed for two channels ahead of time) For years there has been talk about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-related_transfer_function and for years I have tried demos that are unimpressive, particular…

> I invite you to test out your own "spatial audio" abilities in your environment, including: * locating sound sources within a few degrees and pointing at them

I haven’t tried the other two, but with a pair of AirPods Pro and a video source that support spatial audio, this is ridiculously easy to do, and 100% accurate. I don’t know what witchcraft they’ve employed, but I can easily pick up my iPhone with my eyes closed based on where the audio is ‘coming from’.

Also, with SA turned on, because it sounds like the audio is coming from outside your head instead of from your headphones, it’s much more enjoyable to listen to even without a bunch of surround sound stuff. Things like dialog sound much more ‘normal’.

Re: Apple Music Announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio

#330

Post by adrian_b »

jancsika wrote: post #215

Someone name an album where I'd miss something significant if the album had been recorded in mono.

While in modern music I do not remember songs with impressive stereo effects, most of the albums that I was listening when I was young, both rock music albums and classical music albums, were severely degraded when listened in mono.
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