Can you really tell the difference between high-resolution audio and lossless audio?

The fact is that most people can’t even tell the difference between normal audio and lossless audio, and if you go beyond lossless to Hi-Res Lossless, the only way to tell the difference is to be surrounded by thousands of dollars’ worth of audio equipment. Otherwise, as golden as you may think your ears are, they’re probably not as refined as you think. There are also several shades. Most people use wireless headphones like AirPods to stream music, but wireless headphones are not capable of lossless streaming over Bluetooth.

Additionally, while a regular three-minute song takes up around 6MB of storage, a lossless song uses six times as much space (36MB), and Hi-Res Lossless uses up to 145MB. A 12-track album would then take up around 1.7GB of storage, which would not only take up a ton of space on your phone but would also eat up a lot of data from your internet plan without providing any relevant improvement to the music experience, as you wouldn’t be able to make a difference.

Streaming services typically offer songs at a bitrate of 256 kbps. To be considered lossless, an audio file must be streamed at 16-bit/44.1 kHz – Apple Music offers its lossless songs at 24-bit/48 kHz and Hi-Res Lossless at 24-bit/192 kHz. Basically, these numbers indicate how compressed or uncompressed the song is; the larger the file, the more information you’ll get from it. While technically you might think, “OK, now I only have the highest quality audio files,” this doesn’t automatically translate into an optimal experience out of the box.

If you want to stream lossless with your iPhone, for example, you can use compatible USB-C headphones that support lossless mode, along with a streaming service that supports it. The song may sound clearer, the instruments may be more distinctive, and you may be able to hear nuances you never heard with a regular file.

However, even Apple Music’s vice president recently told Billboard that most people can’t actually hear the difference between normal and lossless songs, which is why he’s betting on Spatial Audio. If you want to stream Hi-Res Lossless, you need a suitable DAC, a device that converts the data between the audio provider and your headphones or speakers. Still, this experience is much more expensive, and the gains are less obvious because human ears are generally not that good.

I’ve been lucky enough to experience true Hi-Res Lossless twice in my life. In a Dolby Atmos-certified studio in Brazil and at Apple Music headquarters in Culver City, California. In both experiences, I heard Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” and it really felt like I was listening to a song for the first time. In reality, though, I don’t think I’d be able to reproduce this at home, and neither should you, unless you plan on spending thousands of dollars on proper speakers, a really good DAC, and getting those huge lossless high-res files.

In addition, please ensure everything is correctly positioned. You’ll need a room where the sound focuses on you and isn’t lost on the walls, etc. In this scenario, yes, you would be able to hear high-resolution lossless audio and even distinguish it from lossless audio. In all other cases, it would be surprising to see the differences between the two.

With the recent release of the AirPods Max 2, which finally supports lossless wired mode, many reviewers have been running tests, including blind tests, to see if they can really hear the difference, and most can’t. Considering how much data you have to store on your iPhone and the effort required to enjoy even basic lossless quality, it’s probably not worth spending so much money when you can turn on your AirPods Pro 3 and listen to songs in a range you can actually hear.