How to Actually Listen to Apple Music’s Lossless Tracks on Your iPhone

When Apple brought lossless tracks to Apple Music at no extra cost, it was a huge deal. Not only did it turn what was already the world’s most popular music streaming service into the most popular lossless streaming service overnight, but it also has since forced every other legacy lossless streaming service, like Tidal, Deezer and Quboz, to lower their subscription fee. In an instant, higher-quality audio became more accessible than ever.

But for most people with an iPhone who also subscribe to Apple Music, listening to these lossless tracks isn’t as simple as toggling a switch. Apple’s lossless files can’t be streamed over Bluetooth (it can’t handle the high bitrate streams) for starters, meaning many of Apple’s most popular products including every model of AirPods (save for AirPods Max, but only when wired) can’t play these lossless tracks.

Instead, Apple Music’s lossless tracks are optimized for two scenarios: streaming music over Wi-Fi to wireless speaker that supports lossless streaming. Or through an analog connection, like a pair of wired headphones or earphones.

The further wrinkle is that Apple’s Lightning connection doesn’t support lossless streaming, which is problematic because most new iPhones don’t have a 3.5mm connection anymore. There’s a simple fix, or course, and that’s to buy Apple’s Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter ($9), which has a built-in DAC that supports lossless or CD-quality audio (up to 24-bit/48 kHz). So you plug in the adapter, connect a nice pair of headphones and listen to the best quality audio that Apple offers, right? Not exactly.

That’s because there are levels to lossless streaming on Apple Music (and on most other services). There are lossless tracks which are CD-quality (up to 24-bit/48 kHz) and then there are even higher-resolution audio tracks that Apple calls “Hi-Res Lossless” (up to 24-bit/192kHz), the latter of which you need an even higher-quality DAC — because not all DACs are created equal.

Portable DACs come in all different shapes, sizes, weights, prices and and many of them don’t support Apple Music’s highest quality Hi-Res Lossless tracks; support those those tracks is mostly reserved for high-quality desktop DAC/amps, stereo receivers and active speakers. However, most portable DACs do support CD-quality lossless tracks and will definitely elevate the sound of your wired headphones.

(Note: When shopping for a portable DAC to pair with your iPhone, you’ll likely need a Lightning-to-USB adapter ($29). This is because in addition to adding a 3.5mm jack, some portable DACs also draw power from your iPhone.)