Apple has announced that it is bringing Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos to its subscribers of Apple Music service. Spatial Audio gives artists the opportunity to create immersive audio experiences for their fans with true multidimensional sound and clarity. Apple Music subscribers will also be able to listen to more than 75 million songs in Lossless Audio.
These new features will be available for Apple Music subscribers starting next month at no additional cost. By default, 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 versions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
The service will be adding new Dolby Atmos tracks constantly and will even be curating a special set of Dolby Atmos playlists. In addition, albums that are available in Dolby Atmos will have a badge on the detail page so listeners know that the track supports Dolby Atmos.
At launch, Apple Music users will be able to play thousands of songs in Spatial Audio from some of the world’s biggest artists and music across all genres, including hip-hop, country, Latin, pop, and classical. “Apple Music is working with artists and labels to add new releases and the best catalog tracks, as more artists begin to create music specifically for the Spatial Audio experience”, said Apple.
Apple is also making its Apple Music catalog of more than 75 million songs available in Lossless Audio. Apple uses ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) to provide the high quality audio. This means Apple Music subscribers will be able to hear the exact same thing that the artists created in the studio as per Apple’s claims.
To start listening to Lossless Audio, subscribers using the latest version of Apple Music can turn it on in Settings > Music > Audio Quality. You can choose different resolutions for different connections such as cellular, Wi-Fi, or for download. Apple Music’s Lossless tier starts at CD quality, which is 16 bit at 44.1 kHz, and goes up to 24 bit at 48 kHz and is playable natively on Apple devices. Apple Music is also offering Hi-Resolution Lossless all the way up to 24 bit at 192 kHz.