I may have to wait on that free trial, Apple.
A music site, Hits Daily Double, without an Apple leak track record has an interesting claim. Apple is revving up to release a new HiFi version of Apple Music, to launch alongside the upcoming AirPods 3. A music site though? Can we really go off of this? Well, potentially, yeah. Apple partners, mostly in manufacturing, are the primary sources for Apple hardware leaks. When it comes to music, industry insiders are talking to music websites, not your typical tech websites. As a result, something about the music industry, even something Apple manages, like Apple Music, is going to get out through—quell surprise—the music industry!
However, the leak has a bit more weight to it now that the iOS 14.6 beta is out. The beta includes references to “lossless audio,” HiFi,” and, most interestingly, “high-quality stereo streaming.” While Apple Music has been able to play high fidelity tracks since it was called iTunes, that last part would be new. Apple’s streaming isn’t what audiophiles would consider “HiFi” or “high-quality.”
High-quality audio is like HDTV versus standard definition TV. Music streaming is often done with a surprisingly low quality. It’s why I don’t use it for testing headphones, using my own high-fidelity tracks instead. Tidal offers high-fidelity tiers, and Spotify has announced that HiFi audio streaming is coming to their platform sometimes this year as well. With an upcoming iOS update, likely before iOS 15 is released in beta form this summer, Apple could be entering the high-fidelity music streaming arena. It could be what Apple Music needs to compete with other streaming services.
HiFi Audio?
The higher sample rate of the purple squares obviously will capture more detail than the lower sampling rate of the orange rectangles.
Sound is made by waves of compression in the air. You can visualize that with a sine wave. Now, imagine you’re a computer and you can only store so many bits per second. This reduces sample rate and a loss of detail in audio, but it’s the only way to digitize it.
HiFi audio just means more samples per second. More detailed samples, as well, capturing more information about volume and pitch. Think of it like a digital camera. A 2 megapixel camera cannot capture the same amount of fine detail as a large sensor 32 megapixel camera. However, because it sampled less, a 2MP photo is smaller than a 32MP. The same goes for HiFi audio.
High fidelity audio captures more detail in the music, but is a larger file. This takes longer to send over WiFi or a Cellular connection. Because of the lack of high speed internet, most streaming services will vary the quality to match internet speeds. Spotify can go up to 320kbps, Apple Music up to 256kbps, and Tidal up to a whopping 9216kbps for their HiFi streams. That means Tidal streams studio-quality audio, while the rest are significantly worse than CD-quality audio (1411kbps). CDs, by the way, are still one of the best ways to get high-fidelity audio.
Putting it far more simply than it is, ignoring things like bit depth, mastering, and other recording and sampling techniques, the higher that sample rate, the higher the quality, and the larger a file is.
Possible Device Exclusion
Apple’s beta also includes text that references “route incompatible” and “route unknown compatibility.” This means that some devices simply won’t be able to play the high-fidelity audio from Apple Music. It’s likely that Apple’s own AirPods and Beats will work, but possible that others may not. Headphones using older versions of Bluetooth, for example, may not support HiFi audio just due to the dated nature of their Bluetooth version. Others may simply not support the audio codec that Apple will use to convert digital music to analog sound waves you can hear.
Most likely, if you own a newer pair of Bluetooth headphones, or headphones made for high-quality audio, you won’t have a problem here. Still, it will be worth it to test Apple’s HiFi tier before buying it because not all devices will work with it. It’s possible that Apple will go all-in on their closed ecosystem and make Apple’s HiFi work only for Apple’s headphones.
But, wow, will they ever have lawsuits on their hands if they try that.
Release Date?
Because this information was in an iOS 14 beta, instead of an upcoming iOS 15 beta, it’s possible that Apple intends to release HiFi audio before they reveal iOS 15 this June. Sometime this month, or potentially during WWDC, Apple could release HiFi audio as well as a new version of their AirPods. In 2019, Apple released the AirPods Pro by surprise, giving us the new headphones without an event or much fanfare. It’s possible they’ll do the same for their new streaming service and the AirPods 3.
If not by WWDC, reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the new AirPods will enter mass production in the second half of this year, pointing to a fall or early 2022 release for the new headphones.
Sources:
- José Adorno, 9to5Mac
- Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac
- Sami Fathi, MacRumors
- Hits Daily Double
- Preslav Kateliev, Phone Arena