Guide

Bit-perfect Apple Music on a Mac

Last updated: October 18, 2026 · By Taha Bozdemir, who builds EQBase

On a Mac, the Music app plays every song at whatever sample rate your output is set to, so a 44.1 kHz album on a 48 kHz output is resampled before it reaches your DAC. Bit-perfect playback means matching the output's rate to the song, by hand in Audio MIDI Setup or automatically with a switcher app, and then leaving the samples alone: no equalizer, no Sound Check, no software volume below 100%. EQBase doesn't switch rates for you. What it adds is a live line that says whether the path is bit-perfect right now, and it never claims it when it can't prove it.

What bit-perfect means

Bit-perfect means the samples in the file reach your DAC unchanged: the same values at the same sample rate. Anything that does arithmetic on them breaks it, however good the arithmetic is: converting the sample rate, an equalizer, a software volume below 100%, levelling, crossfading, or mixing another app's sound into the stream. Whether you can hear a high-quality conversion is argued about endlessly. Bit-perfect playback simply takes the question off the table, which is why it is worth checking rather than assuming.

Why Apple Music isn't bit-perfect on a Mac by default

macOS runs each output device at one sample rate at a time, the one shown in Audio MIDI Setup. The Music app doesn't change that rate to match the song, so every song recorded at another rate is converted on the way out. Apple Music's catalog mixes rates (Lossless goes up to 24-bit/48 kHz and Hi-Res Lossless up to 24-bit/192 kHz), so on a fixed output some albums play at their own rate and the rest are converted. That gap is the reason switcher apps such as LosslessSwitcher exist.

Lossless, and your hardware's limit

First make sure the Music app is sending lossless at all:

1. In the Music app, choose Music › Settings and click Playback.
2. Select Enable Lossless Audio (it needs an Apple Music subscription).
3. Set Streaming and Download to Lossless or High Resolution Lossless.

Then know where your hardware stops. Apple's lossless article says the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro play up to 96 kHz natively, that other Macs need an external DAC for anything above 48 kHz, and that Bluetooth connections aren't lossless, AirPods included (AirPods Max can play lossless over a USB-C cable). The highest rate your output lists in Audio MIDI Setup is the ceiling: a 192 kHz song on a 96 kHz output is converted however you set things.

Match the sample rate

By hand, with nothing to install:

1. Open Audio MIDI Setup (in Applications › Utilities).
2. Select your output in the sidebar.
3. Choose the song's rate from the Format pop-up menu.

It works and costs nothing, and it is tedious: the rate has to change every time an album at a different rate starts. In EQBase, the Sample rate card in the Output Device pane is the same picker for the active output, and the whole processing chain follows it, so you don't need a second app open. It is still by hand.

Automatically, with a switcher app that watches the Music app and changes the output's rate when a song at a new rate starts:

• LosslessSwitcher is free and open source (GPL-3.0). It reads the Music app's logs to learn the song's rate and switches your output to match. Its own notes: playback may be interrupted briefly while the rate changes, it assumes an administrator account, and switching bit depth too is possible but not recommended because it makes detection less accurate.
• MusEQ is a paid menu-bar app built around Apple Music. It switches the output's rate per song and adds a parametric equalizer ($2.99 a month or $19.99 a year at its introductory prices, with a 14-day trial).

We haven't tested either switcher alongside EQBase's Audiophile mode, so we don't claim the two combine.

Keep it bit-perfect after that

A matched rate is only half of it. Everything below also changes the samples, so for bit-perfect playback each one has to be off or neutral:

• In the Music app: the equalizer (Window › Equalizer) off, and in Music › Settings › Playback, Sound Enhancer, Sound Check and Song Transitions (AutoMix or Crossfade) off. Keep the Music app's own volume slider at the top. Dolby Atmos versions are rendered for your speakers or headphones on the way out, so for the stereo lossless file set Dolby Atmos to Off in the same settings.
• An equalizer anywhere else: any active curve changes the samples by design, EQBase's included. With every control flat or bypassed, EQBase's processing chain passes the samples through bit for bit. In EQBase, also leave the True-peak limiter (Settings › General › Playback) off: it holds the audio back 2 ms to catch peaks, so the output is no longer the input at the same moment.
• Volume: on an output with its own hardware volume control, EQBase turns that control and keeps the samples at full level, so lowering the volume doesn't cost you bit-perfect playback. On a fixed-volume output (HDMI, optical and many USB DACs), volume can only be arithmetic on the samples, so it holds at 100% only.
• Other apps: silence from them changes nothing, but a notification sound mixed in changes the samples for as long as it plays. With Exclusive device access on (EQBase Settings › General › Playback), no other app can open your output directly while EQBase is on, so everything that plays goes through the one path you can check.

How to check

Most of the steps above are settings you trust rather than results you can see. EQBase shows the result. In the Output Device pane, the Sample rate card carries two live lines while EQBase is on:

• Clock says whether EQBase itself converts anything between capture and your output: a rate with "bit-exact" when it doesn't, "Converting 44.1 kHz → 48 kHz" when it does.
• Pipeline reads "Bit-perfect: EQBase is adding nothing to the audio" only while the clock is bit-exact, every stage is settled at neutral and the capture path is one EQBase can prove. Otherwise it names what is shaping the sound.

The capture path is the part people skip. By default EQBase reads the Mac's mix through a Core Audio process tap, which installs nothing, but macOS converts app audio on its way into a tap. We measured that and will not call it bit-perfect, so in the default mode the Pipeline line never says it. Audiophile mode (EQBase Settings › General › Audio capture) installs EQBase's small user-space audio driver, with no kernel extension, and reads the samples straight from it: measured 100% identical, and checked in our tests bit for bit at every rate from 44.1 to 192 kHz. It is part of the free tier. Run EQBase from your Applications folder when you turn it on.

What this proves, and what it doesn't: that EQBase hands your output exactly the samples it received. It can't see inside the Music app, so the rate match and the Music settings above are still yours to get right.

Which one to use

If you want Apple Music at each song's own rate and nothing else, LosslessSwitcher does that one job for free. If you want an equalizer as well, remember that any active curve ends bit-perfect playback by definition, so the useful question becomes whether the path is clean when the curve is off, and for every app rather than one. That is what EQBase answers. Automatic switching per song is not something EQBase does today.

Common questions

Is Apple Music bit-perfect on a Mac?

Not by default. The Music app plays every song at the sample rate the output is set to, so a song at any other rate is resampled before it reaches the DAC. Matching the output to the song's rate, by hand in Audio MIDI Setup or with a switcher app such as LosslessSwitcher, and keeping the equalizer, Sound Check and software volume out of the path makes it bit-perfect.

Does EQBase switch the sample rate for each Apple Music song?

No. EQBase sets the output's rate from its Output Device pane, but it doesn't follow the song playing in the Music app. What it adds is a live statement of whether the path is bit-perfect: in the opt-in Audiophile mode it reads the samples untouched and says so, and in the default mode it never claims it, because macOS hands it a converted copy of the mix.

Which sample rate should I set for Apple Music on a Mac?

The song's own rate: 44.1 kHz for a CD-quality master, up to 192 kHz for a Hi-Res Lossless one, and no higher than your output supports. One fixed rate means every song recorded at another rate is resampled. Apple says the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro play up to 96 kHz natively, and that other Macs need an external DAC above 48 kHz.

Related

Apple Music equalizer on a Mac · Mac equalizer latency · Headphone correction on a Mac · Does macOS have a built-in equalizer?

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