pdnoble

About

Username
pdnoble
Joined
Visits
19
Last Active
Roles
member
Points
66
Badges
0
Posts
34

Reactions

30Like4Dislike8Informative

  • Inside Apple Music: how you can get the most out of Apple's music streaming service

    pdnoblepdnoble
    For anyone interested, there is an excellent book: ‘How Music Got Free by Stephen Witt’ that recounts the development of MP-3 and AAC audio compression at the Fraunhofer Institute in the 1980s. Turns out Philips put pressure on them to support MP-3 because it included their patents. AAC was considered a slightly more refined algorithm, which Apple adopted. 

    These ‘good enough’ standards were developed due to the need for radical file compression requirements due to storage and transmission bandwidth limitations at the time. Today we are downloading and storing hi-res lossless tracks on our iPhones so storage is not an issue and bandwidth on one’s own WiFi network for hi res streaming isn’t either. There is no cost to you (or Apple) for using more WiFi bandwidth. 

    Thus, there seems no good reason not to allow lossless audio transmission from Apple Music to personal sound systems, even if many of these systems and most of their owners couldn’t objectively differentiate. 

    Arguably some do and some can. 
    williamlondonlotonesdewmeneoncatFileMakerFeller

  • Inside Apple Music: how you can get the most out of Apple's music streaming service

    pdnoblepdnoble
    Apple Music is a wonderful service, delivering hi res content, but if you want to stream this hi res content to a high end audio system that will actually allow you to HEAR the hi res content, YOU CAN'T! Nearly four years after Apple upgraded its Apple Music content, AirPlay 2 still streams hi res content as a distinctly low res AAC 256kbps stream.

    There is one wired work around, connecting a USB-C iOS device (or Mac) to a coax cable, allowing full 24/192 courtesy of ArkLove, which you can buy on Amazon. (There is also a USB-C to optical cable available, but the Toslink standard does not consistently deliver 24/192, from what I understand.)

    So for anyone investing thousands or tens of thousands in wireless streaming capable audiophile systems, such as KEF (e.g. LS60) wireless speaker systems and NAD streaming amplifiers - where high end audio is heading, you are stuck between low res wireless streaming and wired hi res. This is an Apple confined issue with no work around, from what I understand. None. KEF, NAD and others have solutions for other streaming services, such as Tidal. (NAD BluOS does allow a Mac to be integrated as a wireless source, I believe, but the value of wireless is being able to use an iOS mobile device as a source.)

    Hello, Apple! We can stream Apple Music losslessly to a HomePod but not to our high end audio systems where we can actually hear and appreciate hi res audio! 
    neoncatScot1lotonesdecoderringwilliamlondonappleinsideruser

  • TV star turns losing his Apple Watch into a game

    pdnoblepdnoble
    Someone on the cleaning crew could be a plausible explanation for why it might have ended up later in Newark. 
    22july2013

  • Apple's next HomePod could be a desktop or TV sound bar

    pdnoblepdnoble
    The killer product would, from my POV, be a high performance sound bar with Apple TV and FaceTime camera and microphone. 
    williamlondondewmewatto_cobraAlex1NDavidArgento

  • Apple Vision Pro one month review: a new reality is setting in

    pdnoblepdnoble
    hmlongco said:
    pdnoble said:
    The other content consumption category with great spacial potential is live sports. 


    Would a football game be great if the players were on the other end of the field? Or do you switch seats? Not sure the experience would be better than the closeups and multiple camera angles one gets now. Personally, I think front row concerts and plays have as much potential (or more).

    I agree that some sports would be more complex to effectively cover than others and an NBA game would certainly seem easier than a football game. But this is from Apple's own press release two weeks ago:
    • Coming soon, all Apple Vision Pro users can experience the best of the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs with the first-ever sports film captured in Apple Immersive Video. Viewers will feel every heart-pounding moment in 8K 3D with a 180-degree field of view and Spatial Audio that transports them to each match.
      I also agree that concerts have great potential and a perfect fit for Apple. It's seems crazy that every major play/musical isn't captured in high def before it closes as a matter of course, and a single spacial camera would be a simple and effective approach. I suspect the issue is union related. 

      I was at the Metropolitan Opera in New York on Monday and the opera, Verdi's La Forza del Destino, was being simulcast to movie theaters using multiple cameras including, seat mounted, boom mounted and a remote controlled stage mounted camera zipping back and forth on a track. A single Apple spatial camera could fully capture the audience experience without all the multi-camera switching. 
      watto_cobra