I recently decided to give Apple Music a shot due to getting an iPhone 15 Pro Max soon. I really like the service and with the preview App, I can even stream lossless, which is awesome. But I was wondering if there is a way to force exclusive mode on Windows? Or have something like lossless switcher?
Windows being windows sometimes fucks up and makes the music skip around due to the bit rate and such not matching my windows settings on my Bifrost 2.
Does someone know of a solution for windows or should I just consider getting a cheap mac mini or something for proper streaming.
Thanks!
The only way I can think of to do what you want would require using either an Audio Router or a Virtual Sound Card solution. You might need both.
Unfortunately I can’t recommend anything specific, as I don’t use Windows anymore.
I doubt Apple will support Exclusive Mode in their Music application; it was never something they supported in iTunes.
so the closest i can get to exclusive mode is either your suggested solution or something something macos with lossless switcher?
When I must use Windows and experience such issues, I go into Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DELETE, then click on Task Manager) to see what’s active and using resources. Then, I unload/delete/stop using things one by one. It works sometimes, but not always.
You might buy a basic MacOS or iOS device for use as a streamer. I’ve used phones, tablets, and Macs. Apple software functions best on Apple devices, and music streaming involves low demands.
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That I know of, yes.
At least if you want to use a computer as your Apple Music source.
Another option is to buy a basic iPad (ideally one with USB-C) and use that as your Apple Music player. iOS and iPad OS don’t need to mess about to get rate switching to work seamlessly; they do bit-perfect output by default.
Is this the “Lossless Switcher” you’re referring to?
If so, I can’t comment on how well that will work for you. I tried it out when it initially popped up, but it didn’t work well enough for me - sometimes doing things like switching rates after the track had started playing (usually less than a second in), which was extremely annoying.
I haven’t really looked at it again since I wrote my own tool to do a similar thing.
As much as I like Apple Music I pretty much only use it when traveling, which means 99% of the time it’s playing through an iPhone or iPad (and very occasionally a MacBook Pro or Air) and usually just to AirPods Pro 2. Though, again, if I am driving a dongle DAC/amp the rate-switching isn’t a problem from iPad or iPhone.
At home, everything plays through Roon.
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I do have an iPad 8th gen. Good to know about that. Thank you! Will look into a way to feed my Bifrost 2 USB with the iPad then. Thanks!
Shouldn’t require anything more than a USB-C to USB-B cable. Or if you prefer (or experience ground loops), USB-C to an S/PDIF interface and then either COAX or TOSLINK to the Bifrost 2.
It should also work with a hub, if you want to be able to keep the iPad charged at the same time as using it to play.
My genius is almost frightening. accessory from my ifi dongle which turns lightning into type c + type c to female A adapter from my portable blu ray burner = Exclusive mode and glorious Bifrost clicking noises
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I use Lossless Switcher with Apple Music, and it works pretty well now, much better than the initial release(s).
You want to get the latest beta, and click on “assets” for the zipped file.
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Useful info for others, for sure.
No reason for me to use it, though.
The tool I built for this isn’t reliant on post-facto reading of log files to work, so it doesn’t have any latency or interruption. All switching is done before the first sample plays.
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