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Automated Apple Music Lossless Sample Rate Switching for Audio Devices on Macs.

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header image with app icon

LosslessSwitcher switches your current audio device's sample rate to match the currently playing lossless song on your Apple Music app, automatically.

Let's say if the next song that you are playing, is a Hi-Res Lossless track with a sample rate of 192kHz, LosslessSwitcher will switch your device to that sample rate as soon as possible.

The opposite happens, when the next track happens to have a lower sample rate.

Installation

Simply go to the Releases page of this repository or via link to latest release

Drag the app to your Applications folder. If you wish to have it running when logging in, you should be able to add LosslessSwitcher in System Settings:

> User & Groups > Login Items > Add LosslessSwitcher app

App details

There isn't much going on, when it comes to the UI of the app, as most of the logic is to:

  1. Read Apple Music's logs to know the song's sample rate.
  2. Set the sample rate to the device that you are currently playing to.

As such, the app lives on your menu bar. The screenshot above shows it's only UI component that it offers, which is to show the sample rate that it has parsed from Apple Music's logs.

app screenshot, with music note icon shown as UI button

If you wish, the sample rate can also be directly visible as the menu bar item.

app screenshot with sample rate shown as UI button

Do also note that:

  • There may be short interuptions to your audio playback, during the time where the app attempts to switch the sample rates.
  • Prolonged use on MacBooks may accelerate battery usages, due to the frequent querying of the latest sample rate.

Bit Depth switching is also supported, although, enabling it will reduce detection accuracy, hence, it is not recommended.

Why make this?

Ever since Apple Music Lossless launched along with macOS 11.4, the app would never switch the sample rates according to the song that was playing. A trip down to the Audio MIDI Setup app was required. This still happens today, with macOS 12.3.1, despite iOS's Music app having such an ability.

I think this improvement might be well appreciated by many, hence this project is here, free and open source.

Prerequisites

Due to how the app works, this app is not, and cannot be sandboxed. It also has the following requirement, due to the use of OSLog API:

  • The user running LosslessSwitcher must be an admin. This is not tested and assumed due to this Apple Developer Forums thread.
  • Apple Music app must have Lossless mode on. (well, of course)

Other than that, it should run on any Mac running macOS 11.4 or later.

Disclaimer

By using LosslessSwitcher, you agree that under no circumstances will the developer or any contributors be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities whatsoever or any other consequences suffered by you or incurred by you directly or indirectly in connection with any form of usages of LosslessSwitcher.

Devices tested

Here are some device combinations tested to be working, by users of LosslessSwitcher. Regardless, you are still reminded to use LosslessSwitcher at your own risk.

CPU Mac Model macOS Version Beta macOS? Audio Device
Intel MacBook Pro 13 inch (Early 2015, Dual Core i5) 11.6.2 No Denon AVR-X4400H
Intel Mac mini (2018) 12.2
12.4
No Denon PMA-50
Intel MacBook Pro 13 inch (2018) 12.3.1 No Denon PMA-50
Intel MacBook Pro 13 inch, four Thunderbolt 3 ports (2016) 12.3.1 No Topping DX7 Pro
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 13 inch (M1, 2020) 12.3.1 No FX Audio DAC-X6
Intel MacBook Pro 15 inch (2016) 12.4 No Topping D30Pro
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M1, 2020) 12.4 No Meridian Explorer 2
Intel Hackintosh (XPS 9570, i7-8750H) 12.4 No Universal Audio Apollo X4
FiiO Q3
FiiO M5 (DAC mode)
Intel MacBook Pro 13 inch (2016) 12.4
12.6.1
No AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M1, 2020) 12.4 No iFi Zen DAC V2
Intel MacBook Pro 15 inch (2018) 12.4 No PS Audio Sprout
Apple Silicon MacBook Air 13 inch (2020) 12.5.1 No Shanling M8
Apple Silicon Mac Studio (M1 Max, 2022) 12.6 No Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 (2nd Gen)
Intel MacBook Pro 16 inch (2019) 12.6 No Mytek Brooklyn+ DAC
Intel Mac mini (Late 2014) 12.6.3 No NAD C658
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M1, 2020) 13.0 22A5286j Topping D50s
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M1, 2020) 13.0 No iBasso DC06
Khadass Tone 2 Pro
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 14 inch (M1 Pro, 2021) 13.0
13.0.1
No Topping D10 Balanced
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M1, 2020) 13.0.1 No Fiio K7
Fiio K5 Pro (AKM DAC)
Topping EX5
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 14 inch (2021) 13.0.1 No AudioQuest Dragonfly Black v1.5
Apple Silicon MacBook Air (M1, 2020) 13.1 No Schiit Bifrost 2
Intel MacBook Pro 15 inch (2018) 13.1 No Apogee Groove
Apple Silicon iMac 24 inch (M1, 2021) 13.1 No SMSL PO100
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 14 inch (2021) 13.1 No Chord Mojo
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M1, 2020) 13.2 No RME ADI-2 DAC FS
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 16 inch (M1 Max, 2021) 13.2 No M-Audio Fast Track
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 14 inch (M1 Pro, 2021) 13.2 No Topping D10s
Apple Silicon Mac Studio (M1 Max, 2022) 13.2.1 No RME ADI-2 PRO FS R (Black Edition)
Intel 27-inch iMac (2017) 13.2.1 No Chord Hugo M Scaler + TT2 Combo
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M1, 2020) 13.2.1 No Moondrop Moonriver 2
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 13 inch (M1, 2020) 13.3.1 No Gustard X18
Intel 27-inch iMac (Late 2014) 13.3.1 (a) No SMSL M500
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023) 13.5 No FiiO K5 Pro
Apple Silicon Mac mini (M2 Pro, 2023) 13.5 No JDS Labs Element III MK 2
Intel Mac mini (Late 2014) 13.5 (Opencore) No VLink192 to Rega DAC
Intel MacBook Pro 16 inch (2019) 13.6.4 No VMV D1SE
Intel MacBook Pro 16 inch (2019) 13.6.4 No Denon AVR-X6700H
Apple Silicon MacBook Pro 16 inch (M1 Max, 2021) 14.0 23A5328b Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen, Internal MacBook DAC
Intel MacBook Air 13 inch (2020 i5 1.1 Ghz Quad-Core) 14.0 23A5328d PreSonus Studio 1810c
Apple Silicon Mac Studio (M1 Max, 2022) 14.4.1 No Hidizs S9 PRO
Apple Silicon MacBook Air 13 inch (M2, 2022) 14.4.1 No Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS

You can add to this list by modifying this README and opening a new pull request!

Do note that Steven Slate Audio VSX software may not be fully compatible with LosslessSwitcher, and both software may interfere with each other. Please refer to discussion vincentneo#100 for more information.

License

LosslessSwitcher is licensed under GPL-3.0.

Love the idea of this?

If you appreciate the development of this application, feel free to spread the word around so more people get to know about LosslessSwitcher. You can also show your support by sponsoring this project!

Dependencies

  • Sweep, by @JohnSundell, an easy to use Swift String scanner.
  • SimplyCoreAudio, by @rnine, a framework that makes CoreAudio so much easier to use.
  • PrivateMediaRemote, by @DimitarNestorov, in order to use private media remote framework.

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Automated Apple Music Lossless Sample Rate Switching for Audio Devices on Macs.

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