Why does Apple Push "lossless music" which is not supported by airpods

苹果音乐受到重创。

Apple Music hit hard.

不久前，苹果宣布将为整个苹果音乐库提供"无损"音质选项，并推出基于杜比全景音响标准的"太空音频"功能。所有无损的空间音频内容将直接包含在苹果音乐订阅中，不收取额外费用。

Not long ago, Apple announced that it will provide "lossless" sound quality options for the entire apple music library, and launch the "space audio" function based on Dolby panoramic sound standard. And all lossless, spatial audio content will be included directly in Apple music subscription at no extra charge.

对于整个流媒体音乐产业来说，这和降维没什么两样。另一家公司hi-fi也提供"高分辨率无损"音乐服务tidal，每月收取20美元的"无损音质"订阅费的两倍。Spotify是世界上拥有最多用户的音乐服务，它没有无损的选择。

For the whole streaming music industry, it is no different from dimension reduction. Another company, hi fi, also offers "high resolution lossless" music service, tidal, which charges twice the subscription fee for "lossless sound quality" at $20 per month. Spotify, the music service with the largest number of users in the world, has no lossless option.

苹果音乐支持的消息引发热议。你很快就会发现，苹果自己的耳机和扬声器不支持"无损"播放，包括去年推出的airpods max，它专注于"高保真音质"。24日，苹果公司推出问答页面，详细回答有关"无损音质"的问题。它解释了为什么蓝牙耳机不能支持无损，并承诺在随后的软件更新中支持homepod扬声器的无损。

The news of Apple Music's support sparked a heated discussion. You will soon find that Apple's own headphones and speakers do not support "lossless" playback, including airpods max, which was launched last year and focuses on "high fidelity sound quality". On the 24th, Apple launched a Q & a page to answer questions about "lossless sound quality" in detail. It explains why Bluetooth headset can't support lossless, and promises to support lossless for homepod speaker in subsequent software updates.

自从iPod时代以来，苹果就对"无损"不感兴趣。苹果的产品理念强调轻浮、舒适、无负担，这与音乐爱好者"为了音质放弃一切"的做法完全相反。近年来，苹果大力推广无线产品，airpods销量超过2亿台。它们不是为了"听而不失"。

Since the era of the iPod, Apple has not been interested in "lossless". Apple's product philosophy emphasizes frivolity, comfort and no burden, which is totally contrary to music enthusiasts' practice of "giving up everything for the sake of sound quality". In recent years, Apple has made great efforts to promote wireless products and sold more than 200 million airpods. They are not designed to "hear without loss".

苹果在这个时候推出"无损"音质是不是自相矛盾？这是什么意思？

Is it a contradiction for apple to introduce "lossless" sound quality at this time? What does it mean?

"反无损"苹果

"Anti lossless" apple

苹果是一家音乐公司，但它从未做过高保真业务。

Apple is a music company, but it has never done hi fi business.

20年前乔布斯发布iPod时，他的核心关注点是"效率"。他比较了CD、flash MP3等播放器，强调iPod的核心优势是内置5g硬盘，可以存储1000首歌曲。这1000首歌绝对不是CD质量的无损音乐。

When jobs released the iPod 20 years ago, his core focus was "efficiency.". He compared CD, flash MP3 and other players, emphasizing that the core advantage of the iPod is that it has a built-in 5g hard disk, which can store 1000 songs. These 1000 songs are definitely not CD quality lossless music.

乔布斯的iPod目标很简单：让用户随身携带整个音乐库。围绕这个目标，iPod变得越来越薄，容量也越来越大。在接下来的几年里，苹果推出了最轻的ipodshuffle，只有11g，还推出了160g的ipodclassic，有40000首歌曲。

Jobs' goal for the iPod is simple: let users carry their entire music library with them. Around this goal, the iPod has become thinner and thinner, and its capacity has become larger and larger. In the next few years, Apple launched the lightest iPod shuffle with only 11g, and also launched the 160g iPod classic with 40000 songs.

从这个角度来看，很容易理解为什么苹果一直没有做高保真业务。苹果的产品应该轻便、便携、高效、易用。为了恢复尽可能多的保真度，大多数高保真设备需要大的音频文件、复杂的解码和放大电路、高阻抗耳机和大功率电源来驱动它们。最后，他们会落在产品上，这必然是繁琐的。

From this perspective, it's easy to understand why Apple hasn't been doing hi fi business. Apple products should be lightweight, portable, efficient and easy to use. In order to restore as much fidelity as possible, most hi fi devices need large audio files, complex decoding and amplification circuits, high impedance headphones, and high-power power power supply to drive them. Finally, they will fall on the products, which is bound to be cumbersome.

仅仅因为苹果注重效率和便携性并不意味着它不在乎"音质"。2003年，苹果推出iTunes音乐商店时，放弃了业界最主流的数字声音格式MP3，选择了更先进、更高效、更不受欢迎的AAC编码。整个硬件、软件和服务链都掌握在我们手中，这样苹果就可以拥抱更先进的技术。

Just because Apple focuses on efficiency and portability doesn't mean it doesn't care about "sound quality.". In 2003, when Apple launched the iTunes music store, it gave up MP3, the most mainstream digital sound format in the industry, and chose AAC coding, which is more advanced, more efficient and less popular. The whole chain of hardware, software and service is in our hands, so that apple can embrace more advanced technology.

苹果公司首先采用了128kbps的码率标准，一首4分钟的歌曲大小只有4米左右。后来，随着产品存储容量的增加，苹果逐步将宋包装的码率标准升级到192和256kbps。

Apple first adopted the 128kbps code rate standard, and a 4-minute song is only about 4m in size. Later, with the increase of product storage capacity, apple gradually upgraded the code rate standard of song packaging to 192 and 256 Kbps.

256Kbps码率，AAC编码的音乐，已经得到用户和业界的认可。在参数方面，256K AAC的理论音质甚至优于320K MP3。对于人耳来说，很难区分320kmp3和无损CD之间的音质差异，至少在消费类音频设备中是如此。只有少数爱好者，通过出色的播放设备，经过反复AB比对，才能听到两者的细微差别。

256Kbps code rate, AAC encoded music, has been recognized by users and the industry. In terms of parameters, the theoretical sound quality of 256K AAC is even better than that of 320K MP3. It is difficult for human ears to distinguish the sound quality difference between 320K MP3 and lossless CD, at least in consumer audio devices. Only a few enthusiasts, through excellent playback equipment, after repeated AB comparison, can hear the subtle difference between the two.

自2007年以来，256K AAC已成为苹果音乐生态的黄金标准。从iTunes到苹果音乐，已经14年了。

Since 2007, 256K AAC has become the golden standard of Apple Music ecology. From iTunes to Apple Music, it's been 14 years.

Aac音频编码是苹果音乐生态的核心，因此苹果也在自己的airpods、beats等蓝牙耳机上采用Aac编码传输模式。与大多数连接蓝牙耳机的Android手机相比，这种方式可以节省解码和编码过程，提高信号传输和转换效率，并尽可能提供高质量、低延迟的音频体验。

Aac audio coding is the core of Apple's music ecology, so Apple also adopts AAC coding transmission mode on its own Bluetooth headsets such as airpods and beats. Compared with most Android phones connected to Bluetooth headsets, this way can save a decoding and coding process, improve the efficiency of signal transmission and conversion, and provide high-quality and low latency audio experience as far as possible.

无论是在iPod时代让产品尽可能便携，还是在iPhone时代拥抱无线技术，苹果都是一家强调"音乐体验"而非"高保真参数"的公司。在某种程度上，你甚至可以说它是"反无损"的先驱。

Whether it's making products as portable as possible in the era of iPod or embracing wireless technology in the era of iPhone, apple is a company that emphasizes "music experience" rather than "Hi Fi parameters". To some extent, you can even say that it is the pioneer of "anti lossless".

"支持无损"苹果

"Support lossless" apple

在从事音乐行业20年后，苹果已经尝试过一两次高保真。

After 20 years in the music business, Apple has tried hi fi once or twice.

2004年，苹果推出了Apple无损编码格式，以满足当时CD观众的需求。用户可以无损地将数字CD文件转换为iPod支持的格式，并将其放在iPod上。此外，iPod和早期iPhone使用的30针接口支持模拟信号输出。用户还可以将iPod连接到音频放大器，并将其无损地输出到扬声器。

In 2004, Apple launched Apple Lossless Coding format to meet the needs of CD audience at that time. Users can convert the digital CD files to the format supported by the iPod losslessly and put them on the iPod. Moreover, the 30 pin interface used by iPod and early iPhone supports analog signal output. Users can also connect the iPod to an audio amplifier and output it to the speaker losslessly.

2006年，苹果还推出了一款售价350美元的iPod高保真扬声器，不过，高保真毕竟需求量不大。这款扬声器的定位有点"不上不下"，这不符合苹果的产品气质。最后，销售业绩并不理想。一年多之后，iPod的高保真系统就安静了。这也是苹果进军高保真领域的最后一次尝试。

In 2006, Apple also launched an iPod hi fi speaker for $350. However, HI FI is a small demand after all. The positioning of this speaker is a bit "not up or down", which is not in line with Apple's product temperament. In the end, the sales performance is not ideal. More than a year later, the iPod hi fi went silent. This is also Apple's last attempt to enter hi fi.

对苹果来说，"提供无损内容"非常简单，但没有必要将无损内容与自己的软硬件产品相结合。在过去的十年中，苹果公司对音乐进行了各种软件和硬件优化，这些优化都是基于有损AAC编码标准的。

For apple, "providing lossless content" is very simple, but it is not necessary to integrate lossless content with its own software and hardware products. In the past decade, Apple has made various software and hardware optimizations for music, which are based on the lossy AAC coding standard.

例如，苹果大力推广24位深度录制规范。从技术上讲，更大的位深度意味着声音可以有更大的总动态范围。不同大小的声音将被更准确地记录下来。

For example, apple vigorously promotes the 24 bit deep recording specification. Technically, a larger bit depth means that sound can have a larger total dynamic range. Sounds of different sizes will be recorded more accurately.

一方面，当AAC代码被抑制时，苹果有更多的处理空间。另一方面，苹果根据不同的产品特点，在硬件层面对声音进行优化也很方便。苹果的airpods、beats耳机和homepod扬声器都对音频信号执行不同的"自适应处理"，以优化频率响应，并提供适应不同场景的声音体验。

On the one hand, Apple has more processing space when AAC code is suppressed. On the other hand, it is also convenient for apple to optimize the sound at the hardware level according to different product features. Apple's airpods, beats headphones and homepod speakers all perform different "adaptive processing" on audio signals to optimize frequency response and provide sound experience adapted to different scenes.

在某种程度上，这解释了为什么几乎所有苹果自己的耳机和扬声器都不支持无损检测。因为苹果的整个音频体验都是基于AAC的。从主频段标准、编码和包装，到蓝牙传输，再到不同设备的适配和优化，计算音频的理念已经铭刻在产品的DNA中。比如airpods max，即使连接到线缆上，直接输入无损音频信号，耳机也会先将其转换成数字信号，经过单次操作优化后，再转换成声音，整个过程不可能无损。

To some extent, this explains why almost all of Apple's own headphones and speakers do not support lossless. Because Apple's entire audio experience is based on AAC. The idea of calculating audio has been engraved into the DNA of the product, from the master band standard, coding and packaging, to Bluetooth transmission, to the adaptation and optimization of different devices. For example, airpods max, even if it is connected to a cable and directly inputs a lossless audio signal, the headset will first convert it into a digital signal, after a single operation Optimization, and then into sound, the whole process can not be lossless.

如果你想提供更好的音乐体验，仅仅将主磁带打包成无损格式并发送给用户是不够的。关键问题是如何在更高的录制、制作和回放标准的基础上提升声音体验。

If you want to provide a better music experience, it's not just enough to package the master tape into a lossless format and send it to users. The key problem is how to upgrade the sound experience based on higher recording, production and playback standards.

采用无损技术的"太空音频"的推出指明了一个方向：苹果正试图用杜比将其传统的双声道立体声歌曲升级到5.1声道。

The launch of "space audio" with lossless technology points out a direction: apple is trying to upgrade its traditional two channel stereo songs to 5.1 channel with Dolby.

苹果音乐成人版

Apple music as an adult

像"Apple Music support lossless"这样的事情，苹果以前可能没有做过。

Things like "Apple Music support lossless" may not have been done by apple before.

苹果是世界上最强调"软硬件服务一体化"的公司。为了解决一个需求，苹果通常自始至终都会制定自己的解决方案。当苹果公司生产iPod时，它打算用自己的AAC编码标准让iTunes商店销售音乐。尽管苹果音乐自发布以来一直支持Android和windows，但我们都知道它可以在MAC、iPhone、airpods和homepod上获得最佳体验。

Apple is the company that emphasizes "integration of software and hardware services" most in the world. In order to solve a demand, apple usually makes its own solution from the beginning to the end. When apple made the iPod, it was going to use its own AAC coding standard to make the iTunes Store to sell music. Although Apple music has supported Android and windows since its release, we all know that it can get the best experience on MAC, iPhone, with airpods and homepod.

现在，苹果的战略似乎正在改变。苹果音乐的"无损音质"需要有线耳机和有源扬声器才能达到理想效果。最高标准192Khz甚至需要一个外部解码器。这是一款大多数普通用户都不会碰的发热设备，苹果也没有生产这种设备。

Now, Apple's strategy seems to be changing. Apple Music's "lossless sound quality" requires wired headphones and active speakers to achieve ideal results. The highest standard 192Khz even requires an external decoder. This is a fever device that most ordinary users will not touch, and apple does not make this kind of device.

2018年，蒂姆·库克在接受采访时表示，音乐不是关于"比特和字节"，而是关于人性的闪光和艺术的美丽。当时，他强调苹果音乐的音乐列表是由编辑"手工选择"的，这似乎意味着苹果无意参与音质的军备竞赛。

In 2018, Tim Cook said in an interview that music is not about "bits and bytes", but about the flash of human nature and the beauty of art. At that time, he stressed that Apple Music's music lists were "selected manually" by editors, which seemed to imply that Apple had no intention of participating in the arms race of sound quality.

三年后，市场的增量效应正在消退。苹果、亚马逊、谷歌、spotify和其他音乐服务都在放缓脚步。圈地时代即将结束，苹果并不是最大的圈地时代。截至2020年6月，苹果音乐在全球拥有7200万付费用户，而spotify的付费用户分别为3.45亿和1.55亿。苹果音乐在美国、日本等iPhone人气较高的市场取得了长足的进步，但在欧洲，其用户增长率远远低于spotify。

Three years later, the incremental effect of the market is fading. Apple, Amazon, Google, spotify, and other music services are all slowing down. The era of enclosure is coming to an end, and apple is not the largest one. As of June 2020, apple music has 72 million paid subscribers worldwide, compared with 345 million and 155 million paid subscribers at spotify. Apple music has made great progress in markets with high popularity of iPhone, such as the United States and Japan, but in Europe, its user growth rate is far less than spotify.

Spotify还试图攻击苹果帝国薄弱的防御体系。去年，该公司斥资数亿美元布局播客内容，与主播签订独家发行协议，并试图提供"一站式声音内容体验"。与此同时，自2018年以来，苹果播客在美国的市场份额已从34%降至23.8%。在上个月的春季新闻发布会上，苹果宣布推出播客付费订阅功能，以应对市场变化。

Spotify is also trying to attack the weak defenses of the apple empire. Last year, it spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the layout of podcast content, signed exclusive distribution agreement with the anchor, and tried to provide "one-stop experience of sound content". Meanwhile, apple podcast's market share in the United States has fallen from 34% to 23.8% since 2018. At last month's spring press conference, Apple announced a podcast paid subscription function in response to market changes.

从服务战略的角度来看，苹果正变得越来越开放和务实。除了苹果音乐，苹果电视还支持亚马逊、谷歌的电视盒、三星、LG、索尼的电视，以及ps5和Xbox。他们变得更加独立，不再只是苹果生态系统中的拼图游戏。

From the perspective of service strategy, apple is becoming more and more open and pragmatic. In addition to Apple Music, Apple TV also supports Amazon, Google's TV box, Samsung, LG, Sony's TV, as well as ps5 and Xbox. They have become more independent, no longer just a jigsaw puzzle in the apple ecosystem.

这种转变并非产品悖论。苹果音乐仍然与苹果自己的软件和硬件紧密结合，甚至比以前更加紧密。即将推出的"太空音频"功能需要使用苹果公司开发的H1和W1芯片。苹果仍在定义需求，但它不再垄断需求的声音。

This shift is not a product paradox. Apple music is still closely integrated with Apple's own software and hardware, even more closely than before. The "space audio" function to be launched soon needs to use the H1 and W1 chips developed by apple. Apple is still defining demand, but it no longer monopolizes the voice of demand.

正如乔布斯20年前在解释为何要制作iPod时所说的那样，"嗯，我们热爱音乐。"。但不仅仅是苹果用户喜欢音乐，还有更多的人。现在，苹果要和他们交朋友了。

As Jobs said 20 years ago when he explained why he wanted to make an iPod, "well, we love music.". But it's not just Apple users who love music, there are many more. Now, apple is going to make friends with them.

Link：https://new.qq.com/omn/20210531/20210531A0F6FA00.html

update time：2021-06-01 09:47:36