Bluesound has identified a limitation affecting native Apple Music playback on many third-party hi-fi streamers: integrations built with Apple’s developer tools can deliver 256 kbps AAC, but not the lossless streams included with Apple Music subscriptions. Sonos is identified as an exception.
The issue is relevant to integrators specifying networked audio systems for clients who expect the highest available streaming quality. A streamer may include Apple Music within its own control application while still receiving a compressed version of the service. That distinction is separate from the capabilities of the streamer’s digital-to-analog conversion, amplification or loudspeakers.
Apple Music lossless remains limited outside Apple’s apps
Apple has included lossless audio with every Apple Music subscription since June 2021, without an additional charge. The service’s Hi-Res Lossless tier can reach 24-bit/192 kHz. At the time of the launch, Oliver Schusser, then Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats, described the change as “Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality.”
According to Bluesound’s findings, however, third-party products using Apple’s integration tools receive AAC at 256 kbps. Those tools are likely part of Apple’s MusicKit framework, which provides access for outside developers. The limitation appears to concern the handling and decryption of Apple’s lossless audio streams, rather than the subscriber’s account or the streamer’s network connection.
“Apple’s MusicKit Framework does have lossless support, however, decryption of this audio is not supported.”
The statement was made by the maintainer of Cider, a third-party Apple Music desktop client, in April 2022. It describes the same distinction now highlighted by Bluesound: an application programming interface may expose Apple Music functionality while withholding the technical capability required to decode lossless content.
What the limitation means for system selection
Bluesound’s new native Apple Music integration therefore should not be treated as equivalent to direct lossless playback through Apple’s own applications. Its built-in service access streams 256 kbps AAC, even though Apple Music subscribers can access lossless and Hi-Res Lossless material elsewhere.
For professional audio systems, the relevant differences are:
- Native service integration: Apple Music can be accessed from a supported streamer’s own software environment.
- Stream quality: Bluesound’s integration is described as 256 kbps AAC rather than lossless audio.
- Platform exceptions: Sonos is identified as an exception among the products discussed.
- Alternative playback paths: listeners may need to use another device or connection method when lossless playback is required.
The distinction is particularly important when a project specification lists Apple Music as a required source. The presence of the service in a control app does not, by itself, establish support for ALAC lossless or Hi-Res Lossless playback. System documentation and client discussions must therefore distinguish between service availability and the format delivered to the streamer.
Apple appears to reserve its ALAC lossless streams for its own applications, while outside developers receive the more limited playback path described by Bluesound. Until Apple changes the tools or access model available to third parties, native Apple Music support will continue to vary by platform even when the same subscription is used.
