I believe the general consensus is that, at least until now, Apple made it too difficult to get an actual CD quality or higher resolution audio into our stereo systems. The software would always resample everything to 48KHz and spit it out. Apple was seen more as "music for the clueless masses" than for audiophiles.
But now we have some streamers based on modified Android operating systems that let you install the native Apple Music app, and they’ve done some software tricks to get the Android operating system to not resample the files to 48KHz.
EverSolo is one of the brands. I believe the FiiO R7 and R9 streamers are similar except they keep the "cellphone" orientation of the native Android apps instead of trying to shoehorn them into a more "horizontal" looking screen.
The main thing as Soix wrote is that given Apple’s extremely deep pockets, why isn’t there an "Apple Music Connect" app? It really makes no sense other than that Apple just doesn’t care about sound quality thinking the majority of their customers are fine with lossy Bluetooth AAC codecs or Chromecast and other Android based devices (even TVs) resampling everything to 48KHz.
I would think that if Steve Jobs were still around an Apple Music Connect app would have been around a long, long time ago.
Apple Music on iOS 26
I uploaded iOS 26 Beta on my iPhone 16 Pro Max yesterday. Along with my iPad I use this phone in conjunction with the EverSolo DMP-A6 Signature Edition (as streamer) feeding the digital signal via USB or Coax to an Auralic Vega DAC or Denafrips Pontus DAC. My hi-fi is transparent enough to allow me to experience subtle (or not so subtle) changes in associated upstream-downstream hardware and the music streaming service sound quality easily. As standard, I use both Qobuz and Apple Music streaming services. To date, I have found the sound quality of Qobuz to be, in general, a bit higher than Apple Music. I have two choices to stream either service, first is using EverSolo’s Control app therefore engaging EverSolo’s unique sample bit-rate algorithm. The iPhone / iPad has the EverSolo Control app which serves as the music selection interface, then signaling the streamer to retrieve the music from Cloud-based servers via Ethernet. Again, note that with this method everything is selected and controlled via EverSolo’s app.
The second alternative is to search and select via the Qobuz app or Apple Music app directly, then select sound out using wi-fi to connect to DMP-A6 streamer.
I am greatly impressed with the evolved Apple Music streamer experience. Most important to me is that sound quality seems to my ears clearly better, or I should more correctly say, more musically engaging. The sound is subjectively bigger and soundstage more layered with greater separation (less homogeneous sound presentation) or as they say, more fully fleshed out. Dynamics are better. Overall a major step forward for Apple Music in my book. Important to note the sound I describe is only to be had by accessing music direct from the native music streaming app on mobile device, and not through EverSolo Control app. I am confident that this will be duplicated by the EverSolo team in a future software and firmware upgrade.
Why does it sound better? Not sure, but it could have something to do with a more universal adaptation of the Spatial Sound technology? What I can say is that it sounds better streaming Apple Music in my hi-if system now.
in addition to sound improvement another very compelling feature is the Dj-like mixing of one song into another. Just brilliant! So engaging.
Anyone else had a chance to try this out?
By the way, huge appreciation for the EverSolo DMP-A6 Signature Streamer / DAC. It is superb both as a streamer and a DAC.
Peace, out.
Aki