Apple Music Lossless Not Sounding Better?

The Frustrating Reality

You did everything right. You enabled Lossless in Apple Music settings. You bought a DAC that supports 24-bit/192kHz. You're paying for Apple Music. But when you A/B test, you can't hear a difference.

Before you blame your ears or question whether lossless is a scam — check one thing: What sample rate does your DAC display?

The Hidden Problem

If your DAC shows 44.1kHz while playing a Hi-Res 96kHz track, you're not hearing lossless. You're hearing resampled audio.

macOS converts all audio to whatever sample rate is set in Audio MIDI Setup. By default, that's usually 44.1kHz. So your 96kHz/24-bit Hi-Res track becomes 44.1kHz before it ever reaches your DAC.

What You're Actually Hearing

How to Fix It

The manual fix is to open Audio MIDI Setup and change your output sample rate to match each track. But this means:

• Checking each track's format before playing
• Opening Audio MIDI Setup constantly
• Switching between 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 96kHz, 192kHz...
• Forgetting to switch back and missing quality

The Right Way to Verify

1. Play a track that Apple Music shows as "Hi-Res Lossless"
2. Look at your DAC's display
3. If it shows 96kHz or 192kHz, you're getting the real format
4. If it shows 44.1kHz, you're getting resampled audio

TL;DR

• Enabling Lossless in Apple Music isn't enough
• macOS resamples all audio to one sample rate
• Your expensive DAC might be receiving 44.1kHz regardless
• Check your DAC display to verify the actual sample rate
• Sample rate switching must happen before playback