Image credit: Apple

Apple has today officially announced that they will be bringing HiFi quality streaming to their platform at no extra cost from the beginning of June.

Rumours have been firing worldwide in recent months regarding Apple Music’s HiFi streaming, and today Apple has officially launched it. In addition to this, they have also announced spatial audio through Dolby Atmos, again a feature that will be totally free to Apple Music subscribers. 

Apple has said that it will have 75 million lossless audio songs in its catalog by the end of the year and 20 million to start. 

To turn on lossless audio, subscribers must run the latest version of Apple Music and can go to Settings > Music > Audio Quality. Here they will be able to opt into different resolutions for different connections, such as cellular, Wi-Fi, or download.

Apple Music’s lossless audio starts at CD quality, which is 16 bit at 44.1 kHz, going up to 24 bit at 48 kHz natively on Apple devices. Topping out at 24 but at 192 kHz for the highest quality “High-Resolution Lossless” experience, however, you will need a DAC for this. 

The lossless audio is a major move by the company but their secret weapon may be the Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos audio. This provided more immersive mixes for anyone listening through recent AirPods or Beats Headphones that have the H1 or W1 chip. Spatial audio also plays through the in-built speakers of the latest iPhone, iPad, and Mac versions as default. 

Speaking on the announcement in a statement Oliver Shusser, Apple’s Vice President of Apple Music and Beats said: “Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality” Adding: “Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic. The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible. Now we are bringing this truly innovative and immersive experience to our listeners with music from their favorite artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd, and so many more. Subscribers will also be able to listen to their music in the highest audio quality with Lossless Audio. Apple Music as we know it is about to change forever.”

It appears as we predicted that lossless audio is to become the standard for the biggest music streaming apps. Today Amazon announced that it will make Amazon Music HD available for free to Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers. In addition to this Spotify also plans to launch their own HiFi tier but is yet to announce the price. Although recent news may force them to consider making it available for free.