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Apple Music Hi-Resolution Lossless won’t work on iPhone (natively), AirPods Max or HomePod

Home News (Image credit: Apple) Good news: Apple Music is adding lossless audio. And not only is it significantly upping the audio quality, offering high-resolution audio right up to 24-bit/192kHz, but it is also doing so at no extra cost to subscribers. Over to you, Tidal, Qobuz et al. However, it’s not all plain sailing… Read more

Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable

Our Verdict Astell & Kern’s digital expertise comes good in this entertaining USB-C cable DAC For Notable improvement to audio Clean, precise character Nicely made Against No iOS device compatibility No MQA support For a relatively simple product, Astell & Kern’s first portable DAC has a rather convoluted moniker. ‘Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual… Read more

Best Bluetooth speakers 2021: portable speakers for every budget

Home Best-buys Best Bluetooth speakers Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s round-up of the best Bluetooth speakers you can buy in 2021. Finding the best Bluetooth speaker for your particular needs isn’t the cake walk it might at first seem. It’s nothing to do with shortage of options – every online manufacturer from Apple to… Read more

Grado updates Award-winning, entry-level headphone range with Prestige X Series

Home News (Image credit: Grado) Grado has taken one of the most celebrated open-back headphone designs in What Hi-Fi? history and improved it once more. The Brooklyn-based brand has announced the Prestige X Series, successor to the Prestige E range from which the multi-Award-winning SR325e and SR80e belong. This new generation of the Prestige Series… Read more

Apple Music Spatial Audio will work with all headphones

Home News (Image credit: Apple) Apple’s just announced that it’s adding lossless, hi-res and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos tracks to the Apple Music service. Not only are these benefits being added without the subscription price going up, we’ve also now discovered that you won’t even need to use Apple’s own headphones in order to… Read more

Apple Music adds support for hi-res audio and Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos – and at no extra cost

Home News (Image credit: Apple Music) As has been rumoured for the past week or so, Apple Music is adding support for lossless audio, as well as and Dolby Atmos-powered 3D audio (aka Apple’s Spatial Audio). The service’s 75 million-strong catalogue will be available in CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) or hi-res (24-bit/48-192kHz). There will be 20… Read more

Amazon stops charging extra for lossless music as Apple enters the fray

Faced with new competition from Apple, Amazon today announced that it will no longer charge an added fee for the “HD” tier of Amazon Music that lets customers stream audio at CD quality and above. From now on, lossless audio will be available to all Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers at no extra charge. Billboard was… Read more

Apple Music Hi-Fi to launch with two lossless tiers and Dolby Atmos, teasers suggest

Barely two weeks after strong suggestions of an Apple Music Hi-Fi tier began circulating – an Apple offering to combat the hotly-anticipated Spotify HiFi – it seems we may not have to wait much longer. Apple is said to be planning a new HiFi tier for its Apple Music streaming service (which some sources claim will coincide… Read more

Apple teases major Music announcement as lossless streaming rumors mount

Apple is teasing a major Apple Music announcement. “Get ready,” a post in the service’s Browse tab reads, “music is about to change forever.” Tapping the image reveals an animated video, though it just consists of the music streaming service’s logo spinning in place. The teaser, first reported by MacRumors, is believed to refer to… Read more

Austrian Audio looks to build on five-star success with open-back Hi-X65 headphones

Home News (Image credit: Austrian Audio) Austrian Audio is a relatively new kid on the headphones block, and it has already made a great impression with its debut Hi-X50 on-ears and Hi-X55 over-ears. Both models, which we awarded five stars to earlier this year for their precise, analytical sound, are closed-back designs. And now the… Read more

Master & Dynamic MW08 review: Approaching perfect

(Pocket-lint) – The true wireless earphones market is getting pretty saturated these days. That means it’s becoming harder and harder for any audio company to stand out. So how does one make a pair that people will notice and care about? Master & Dynamic’s approach for the past couple of years has been to build… Read more

Apple Music for Android reveals lossless audio could be imminent

Apple might have bigger plans for next week than initially thought. The new iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV 4K are all set to start shipping to early preorder customers on or around May 21st, but now it seems there could be two surprise announcements: a hi-fi streaming tier of Apple Music, and maybe even… Read more

Amazon updates Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 5 smart speakers

Home News (Image credit: Amazon) Amazon has updated its Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 5 smart speakers. The main improvement is better cameras for enhanced video calling, but there are some other changes, too. The Echo Show 8 now has the same 13MP camera as seen on the Echo Show 10. While the device… Read more

B&W and Abbey Road Studios extend partnership to focus on in-car audio

Home News (Image credit: Abbey Road) Abbey Road Studios and Bowers & Wilkins have announced an extension of their existing partnership into automotive entertainment. Building upon B&Ws experience with in-car speaker technology, the two companies are hoping to recreate the historic studio’s unique acoustics within the car environment. While we’ve seen brands like Sonos, Naim… Read more

HTC Vive Pro vs HTC Vive Pro Eye vs HTC Vive Pro 2

(Pocket-lint) – The HTC Vive Pro was revealed as the successor to the HTC Vive, back at CES 2018 in Las Vegas. Since then the company has launched the HTC Vive Pro Eye and HTC Vive Cosmos. In 2021, at Vivecon, the company the revealed the HTC Vive Pro 2. While Oculus is focussing on making… Read more