MusicCast & Apple Music through AirPlay

TUllman

Standard Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2020
Messages
49
Reaction score
18
Points
41
Location
London
Hi all, I’ve been using Yamaha’a streamer and accompanying MusicCast app to listen to Tidal. It all works well for me and I have no complaints.

However, with Apple now offering its Apple Music in hifi resolution I’ve been tempted to switch from Tidal to Apple.

Now, MusicCast does not support Apple Music but it supports AirPlay. So my question is about how AirPlay actually works, i.e. which device is actually doing the “connecting” directly to the music service? Is it:

(1) My Apple device accessing the music and then sending it locally to the streamer via AirPlay (is that essentially Apple’s posher version of Bluetooth?)? Or

(2) Yamaha streamer connecting to Apple Music directly and my Apple device only acting as a remote control? (As is the case with Tidal built into MusicCast)

I am pretty sure it’s the first one in which case I am assuming quality loss when moving over AirPlay from my Apple device to Yamaha. And in that case it’s probably no better than simply connecting my phone to the streamer via regular Bluetooth…

Am I thinking about it correctly or have I missed something?

EDIT: I just found some information that AirPlay uses lossless compression, unlike Bluetooth. Thus, would you expect no loss in music quality when streaming music from the Apple device to Yamaha vs Yamaha connecting to the music streaming service directly?

TIA!
 
Last edited:
Hi I am also using a Yamaha streamer for Apple Music via Airplay. The quality is equivalent to CD, that is 16bit/44Hz (lossless but not hires). There is no way to cast Apple Music otherwise, through my Yamaha streamer at least (NP S303)
 
This is actually the same problem I have. I have had the Musicast setup for years now. Previously being on Spotify, but since Apple One includes Apple Music, and I have an Apple TV, Apple Music has become the main source of music for us.
However my Yamaha WXA50 does not support Airplay 2, only Airplay 1. So Im restricted to only listen in 1 room at a time.
I cannot find a comparable amp that has Airplay 2 for similar money. The WXA50 is probably the best sounding amp I have heard for a while (probably because off the ICE Power module). I had a RN303 previously and the noise floor was terrible, worse than vinyl.
Got a RXV483 downstairs, which is also not airplay 2, but can get round this problem with Apple TV being plugged into it.
I can quite honestly say, streaming via Airplay to any of the amps directly, sounds pretty good to me, having come from a recording background years ago (my ears are pretty familiar with MiniDisc, DAT, DCC all being 48Hz not 44.1Hz like CD). If that helps on the quality front.
 
Hi all, I’ve been using Yamaha’a streamer and accompanying MusicCast app to listen to Tidal. It all works well for me and I have no complaints.

However, with Apple now offering its Apple Music in hifi resolution I’ve been tempted to switch from Tidal to Apple.

Now, MusicCast does not support Apple Music but it supports AirPlay. So my question is about how AirPlay actually works, i.e. which device is actually doing the “connecting” directly to the music service? Is it:

(1) My Apple device accessing the music and then sending it locally to the streamer via AirPlay (is that essentially Apple’s posher version of Bluetooth?)? Or

(2) Yamaha streamer connecting to Apple Music directly and my Apple device only acting as a remote control? (As is the case with Tidal built into MusicCast)

I am pretty sure it’s the first one in which case I am assuming quality loss when moving over AirPlay from my Apple device to Yamaha. And in that case it’s probably no better than simply connecting my phone to the streamer via regular Bluetooth…

Am I thinking about it correctly or have I missed something?

EDIT: I just found some information that AirPlay uses lossless compression, unlike Bluetooth. Thus, would you expect no loss in music quality when streaming music from the Apple device to Yamaha vs Yamaha connecting to the music streaming service directly?

TIA!
I think you are right, it’s (1).
I connect my iPhone 12 to ethernet with a Ugreen usb-c/ethernet Gigabit connector. My Yamaha WXA-10 is also connected with an ethernet cable. I switch off the wifi-connection on the iPhone and use Apple Music to stream to the WXA-10. Lossless without use of wifi or Bluetooth.
What is an experts opinion about this work around?
 
I’d try UPnP.

The Yamaha supports it so simply download a player.

I’d suggest mconnect from the App Store.

It’ll play anything from your phones music including the new Apple lossless and Tidal.

I’ve found it less annoying than Airplay can be.

And you can try the free version (which is all I use) to see if it’s for you.

mconnect Player Lite by ConversDigital Co., Ltd.

‎mconnect Player Lite
 
@Paul7777x would you please guide me in this thing?

I have a Yamaha WXC-50 streamer connected to the LAN . I've tried wired and also wifi .
When I try to play Apple music files, that are shown in Browser/Local server/iPad, the files cannot be played and I receive this error "This file cannot be sent to the remote device".

Am I doing something wrong? Thanks
 
Last edited:

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom