Apple Music offers its subscribers the option to stream music in lossless quality with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio support at no additional cost. While Tidal and selected other streaming services also offer Hi-Fi music streaming, it is Apple Music that's going to make streaming music in lossless quality mainstream.
The good thing is that you don't need an Apple device to stream lossless audio from Apple Music. You can stream lossless music from Apple Music on your Android device as well.
Sadly, streaming and listening to music in lossless quality is not as simple as you might have thought. While it is easy to change the playback settings in the Apple Music for Android app, there are a few things you must be aware of.
How to Set Up Lossless Streaming in Apple Music on Android
Firstly, you can only listen to music in lossless quality over a pair of wired headphones, receivers, or powered speakers. It is not possible to stream lossless music to Bluetooth earphones connected to your Android device.
This is because Bluetooth simply does not have enough bandwidth for streaming lossless quality music. The same limitation is also present on the iPhone. This is also why even Apple's $549 AirPods Max or the AirPods Pro don't support lossless audio in Apple Music.
If your phone does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack, you can use a USB-C to 3.5mm converter. However, make sure to buy a USB-C to 3.5mm converter that has a good DAC built-in so that you can also playback Hi-Res audio files.
There's also a Hi-Res Lossless playback option in Apple Music that bumps the audio quality to 24-bit/192kHz. However, apart from a pair of wired earphones, you'll also need an external DAC to playback music with a sampling rate higher than 48kHz.
Again, there's no way to bypass this limitation as Android itself downsamples all audio to 24kHz before playback. So, you need a DAC to work around this.
This limitation is not there when listening to music in Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio in Apple Music. If you have a fairly recent Android smartphone, it should support Dolby Atmos. The Dolby Atmos option will show up under Settings in the Apple Music app if your phone is supported.
You must enable this to enjoy listening to Spatial Audio in Apple Music on your Android device. If the option is missing, your device is incompatible, and you are out of luck.
To truly enjoy the superior music quality offered by switching to lossless or Hi-Res, you need a good pair of headphones, earphones, or a pair of speakers. You will not be able to hear much of a difference by switching to lossless music and using a pair of earphones that was bundled with your phone.
With everything out of the way, follow the steps below to stream music in lossless quality in Apple Music on your Android device.
- Open the Apple Music app on your Android device.
- Tap the 3-dot overflow menu button on the top-right corner followed by Settings.
- Tap on Audio Quality under the Audio section. Proceed to enable the Lossless Audio toggle.
- Now, select the audio streaming quality when on mobile data and Wi-Fi. You can stream music in Hi-Res Lossless even on a mobile network, but note that it will consume significantly more data.
- You can also set the quality of the music you download separately from under the Downloads option.
Lossless and Hi-Res music files take up notably more space than regular audio files, so select the download quality depending on the free space available in your device.
You can store up to 3,000 songs in High Quality in 10GB of space. In Lossless quality, you can store about 1,000 songs in the same amount of space. With Hi-Res Lossless, downloading 200 songs will take up 10GB of space.
Your mobile or Wi-Fi data consumption will also shoot up by a significant margin if you set the audio quality to Lossless or Hi-Res Lossless. If you do want to enjoy superior audio quality, make sure you have access to unlimited mobile data or Wi-Fi.
How to Listen to Spatial Audio in Apple Music on Android
- Open the Apple Music app on your Android device.
- Tap the 3-dot overflow menu button on the top-right corner followed by Settings.
- If Dolby Atmos playback is supported by your device, the option should show up in the Settings menu under the Audio section. Enable the toggle to enjoy Spatial Audio in Apple Music.
- To download music with Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio support, enable the Download Dolby Atmos toggle under the Download Options section.
Remember that the Dolby Atmos option in Apple Music will only show up in supported Android phones.
Lossless Music Is a Delight for Audiophiles
If you are an audiophile, streaming music in lossless or Hi-Res quality is almost a no-brainer. Apple Music offering lossless streaming and Dolby Atmos support at no additional cost, even for Android users only further sweetens this deal.
Just make sure to have the right pair of headphones or speakers and DAC to enjoy all that Hi-Res music goodness.