0In this overview, we will learn what is lossless audio, where to find it, and which services to use. Almost all music on the internet sounds worse than it could. This happens because, in the absolute majority of cases, audio is compressed with quality loss to save space and bandwidth. However, it is possible to listen to music without losses. So, what does lossless audio mean?
What is Lossless Audio Quality?
It is an audio format where sound undergoes compression with the removal of redundancy in the original data for convenient storage, but with complete restoration. Unlike lossy formats that compress with quality loss, lossless takes up a lot of space but preserves the pristine quality of the original, which is crucial for a true audiophile.
Where do the losses come from?
Music is a collection of sounds, vibrations propagating through the air (as well as in water or solid objects, and other mediums). Sound information can be recorded either in analog or digital form. To avoid delving into physics, let's use an analogy to understand the difference.
Imagine you have a simple drawing in front of you, and you need to redraw it. You take a pencil and, to the best of your abilities, replicate the picture, altering the pressure and tilt of the pencil, applying cross-hatching—this is analogous to analog sound recording.
Now, envision that instead of a pencil, you have a needle, with which you can't draw anything. However, the needle can make holes in the paper. By leaving several dozen holes, you get an approximate outline of the image from the original drawing. This represents digital sound recording—digital technology can only operate with zeros and ones, either "making holes in the paper" or "not making holes."
Why Compression Matters
Digital audio is needed not just to listen to songs or podcasts on a PC or smartphone (in fact, that's a consequence). More importantly, digital recordings, which are essentially sets of symbols, are much more convenient to store. For example, on a microSD card, you can fit hundreds of gigabytes of music, while on a vinyl record, only a dozen songs. Another equally important reason is the degradation of analog media over time. Records and discs get scratched, tapes demagnetize and tear. In contrast, digital recordings preserve their original and unchanging quality. This is convenient for both musicians and listeners.
But we listen not to numbers but to sounds. Therefore, to listen to music, digital recordings need to be converted into analog sound using a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). It is a chip that generates an electrical signal from the digital data stream for headphones or speakers.
Since the mid-20th century, scientists have been gradually developing the technology to convert analog sound into digital representation and its reverse transformation from digital to analog. The first timid attempts to spread digital music on then still magnetic tapes began in the 1970s.
The digitization of music has been the most significant revolution in sound recording since the invention of gramophone records. Previously, the quality of sound was influenced by the limitations of analog media (think of the "flat" dull sound from magnetic audio cassettes and the crackling of worn-out vinyl). However, "digital" mathematically preserves absolutely all the details that microphones in the studio or at concerts can capture. One problem, though, is that a file with digitized music takes up a lot of space, and by the standards of the late 1970s, it's incredibly large — 50-60 megabytes, equivalent to a whole hard drive.
So, the challenge arose to reduce file sizes, leading to the development of compression. MP3 algorithms compress sound with minimal loss of audio data, meaning a slight loss in quality. Initially, redundant and "unnecessary" frequencies and details are discarded from the music, the loss of which the vast majority of listeners won't notice. For example, all sounds at frequencies above 16 kHz, which very few people with highly trained hearing can perceive. Then the file is compressed, much like using an archiver — a whole compact disc can be compressed to 60-70 MB without a noticeable loss of sound quality when converted to MP3.
Since then, the capacities of computer hard drives have increased by 20,000 times, but music continues to be compressed with losses. Why? Again, it's for saving space, but now it's not on personal computers but in the data centers of streaming services. Additionally, it aids in saving traffic (which also costs money) and speeding up loading times in slow internet conditions.
On the other hand, true music enthusiasts were unwilling to accept the idea that music might be losing its quality. This brings us to the answer to the question, "What is lossless music?"
Importance of Bitrate: Technological Aspects
In the description of music files in stores and streaming services, you will likely see mentions of bits, Kbps, and kHz. What does lossless audio do? For instance, the standard and minimally acceptable specifications for lossless music are typically 16 bits, 44.1 kHz, and 1411 Kbps. However, some services entice listeners with higher figures. To understand the significance (or insignificance) of these impressive numbers and bold promises, it's essential to delve into them.
- Bitrate: Measured in kilobits per second (Kbps), it indicates the maximum data volume used to store one second of sound. The higher the bitrate, the larger the file size and the more details of the music can be preserved. For example, an MP3 file with a bitrate of 64 Kbps will sound like radio broadcast, and a track with a bitrate of 256 Kbps might be challenging for an expert to distinguish from a lossless recording. Genuine lossless typically starts at a bitrate of 1411 Kbps, akin to music compact discs.
- Sample Rate: It indicates how many "holes" are made to record one second of sound. A higher sample rate allows for more precise conversion of digital to analog, bringing the recording quality closer to the original. However, in practice, if you halve the sample rate, you get the maximum sound frequency that can be embedded in the music. For example, a recording with a sample rate of 44.1 kHz, standard for music compact discs, can contain sounds up to 22 kHz. Streaming services offer lossless content with sample rates up to 192 kHz. Still, a sample rate of 48 kHz provides a maximum sound frequency of 24 kHz, and for 192 kHz, it goes beyond an extravagant 96 kHz. The caveat is that sounds with frequencies above 20 kHz cannot be heard by the human ear, making a sample rate of 44.1 kHz redundant. Recordings with higher frequencies can introduce parasitic distortions into the audible range below 20 kHz, except for the DSD format, which, despite an extremely high sample rate expressed in megahertz, does not negatively impact sound quality.
- Dynamic Range: Measured in bits, it indicates the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds in an audio recording. The higher the bit depth, the more intermediate values there can be between these two extremes. The standard 16 bits for compact discs provide a range of 96 dB and 65,536 steps. It's crucial to note that this is the range, not the maximum volume, which can be as high as 120 dB, harmful and dangerous to hearing. A 16-bit range is the consumer audio standard, even for lossless. A 24-bit range might be used by musicians for more convenient sample manipulation in audio editing software, but it offers no advantages to listeners over 16 bits.
What is uncompressed audio: Popular Formats
In the quest for music in lossless quality, you may come across files in various formats, such as FLAC, WAV, MQA, and DSD. There are also other, less popular formats (like APE), but you're unlikely to encounter them in stores and streaming services. FLAC, WAV, and DSD differ in the methods of encoding and storing sound, but all equally contain lossless music. Regardless of the format you come across, it will sound exactly the same in all cases. At this point, experienced audiophiles might launch into an impassioned tirade that there is still a measurable difference, but unless you've assembled an audio system worth a decent car and honed your hearing through years of listening to lossless, you can safely not dwell on this.
- FLAC — Free Lossless Audio Codec, meaning "free or open-source lossless audio codec," was created as a free algorithm for compressing music with open-source code. Thanks to this, music distributors can use FLAC without permission and licensing fees to developers. Therefore, the vast majority of online stores and streaming services store lossless content in FLAC.
- DSD is used in relatively rare Super Audio CD (SACD) musical compact discs. The super version differs from regular music discs in having a higher bitrate and supporting multichannel sound. DSD files can exist separately from the disc — copies of Super Audio CD are often released in this format. DSD files are rarely found in stores, but enthusiasts readily share content in this format.
- WAV stores music not only without loss but also without compression. Lack of compression doesn't make the sound noticeably better, but it significantly increases the file size: 1 minute of sound in WAV takes up around 10 MB, and one song can be 40–50 MB. In the era of fast internet, cloud storage, and terabyte drives, such a size is no longer daunting, but WAV is almost unused in streaming services, yet frequently used in music stores.
What is lossless audio Apple Music? As for Apple devices, there's ALAC — an open-source codec for compression developed by Apple.
Comparison of Streaming Services
To listen to lossless music, you can subscribe to streaming services that offer such content. Among them, several popular services stand out:
- Apple Music. What is lossless audio on iPhone? Since 2021, Apple Music offers 90 million tracks in lossless quality. The standard lossless format is ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec), which is the proprietary equivalent of FLAC, with specifications of 24-bit/48 kHz. Additionally, there is Hi-Res Lossless with extraordinary specifications up to 24-bit/192 kHz. Apple emphasizes that to fully experience Hi-Res Lossless, additional equipment, such as a DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter), connected to your smartphone or computer, is required. Apple Music is available by default on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and it also has clients for Android and Windows.
- Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music HD: These services, offering over 100 million tracks in High-Resolution, share similarities. Tidal's basic HiFi subscription provides streaming in FLAC 16-bit/44.1 kHz with a bitrate of 1440 Kbps. The HiFi Plus tier streams music with a bitrate of up to 9216 Kbps and specifications of 24-bit/96 kHz. Qobuz Studio subscription grants access to FLAC 24-bit/192 kHz. Amazon Unlimited subscription offers FLAC with specifications ranging from 16-bit/44.1 kHz to 24-bit/192 kHz. All three services have their mobile apps and are compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS.
User Experience: what lossless audio need
To listen to lossless audio, regular earbuds, smartphones, or laptops may not be sufficient. It is recommended to use a portable DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter). This device converts digital data into analog signals. The built-in converter in a phone is not ideal, as it is situated close to other hardware components, potentially degrading the sound quality. Modern external DACs can reproduce signals with a sampling rate of 192 kHz and a dynamic range of 24 bits.
If you've overlooked the existence of dedicated music players, it's worth reconsidering, as HiFi players can also be used for lossless audio. However, if you plan to use streaming services, you should choose devices with Wi-Fi support, as otherwise, you'll need to download and store files on the device's memory, consuming its storage capacity.
Careful consideration should also be given to the choice of headphones. It makes sense to invest in models from reputable brands such as Sennheiser, Sony, AKG, Audio-Technica, Beyerdynamic, and others.
As for wireless Bluetooth headphones, they may not be suitable for truly high-quality music playback because this transmission method often involves energy-saving measures, reducing the bitrate and compressing audio with losses. However, in 2021, Qualcomm released the first Bluetooth codec for lossless signal transmission - AptX Lossless, supporting a 16-bit dynamic range, a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, and a bitrate of up to 1200 Kbps.
Conclusion
Now you know what does lossless audio do. But if you are inspired by this information and ready to invest in special equipment, as well as subscribe to streaming services, there is one nuance to consider: you may simply not hear the difference, and it all comes down to individual perception. Scientists have proven that humans hear frequencies in a very limited range, and this ability tends to decrease with age.
On the other hand, this is more about self-perception and engagement with aesthetics, which can add pleasure to the listening experience. Music perception involves not only technical specifications but also emotions, atmosphere, and art. So, if visual and emotional experience is important to you, not just the sound, investments in high-quality audio and equipment can be justified.
Also, don't forget that the audiophile experience is primarily about enjoyment, and investments in equipment should align with your preferences and capabilities.
