Amazon HD Lower Price

What Apple is doing is readily available and has been used by people mixing with headphones for quite a long time. Some of it is really quite good too. 

Amazon already announced support for Atmos and other spatial audio formats.

In order to experience 'Spatial Audio'. This means you need an I-phone with IOS 14.6.  and an Apple device using either the H-1 or W-1 chip.

Important to understand... in order to experience Apples new 'Lossless' music at high resolution it will still require using a DAC. You don't get the HD quality when streaming on Bluetooth. (320kps) So, the Spatial audio is actually streamed at a lower resolution.

Here's the question... which sounds better? Lossless music through a DAC at 24bit @48 kHz or even as high as 196kHz OR "Spatial Audio" at a lower resolution?  IMO... The sound of the standard rate Spatial audio is a whole new listening experience and is superior...by far. 

So... for $9.99 a month I'll use Apple lossless on my main system and regular headphones using a DAC. For the immersive experience I'll use my Airpods for the spatial effect. More toys = more better!

Tidal or any of the other music services can't give me all advancements that Apple offers. Amazon, my current service, did give me a discount yesterday that equals that of Apple. However, Amazon doesn't have the Spatial Audio for my Airpods that I'd get included with Apple music.

It's nice to see for a change, while it lasts, the consumer benefit from competition, stimulating both lower prices, and technological innovation.

What @redwoodaudio said. Except i will go one further. I will not give bozo’es the clown one penny. I will pay 10 x the price for quobuz to keep them going.

Interesting news about Apple jumping into what seems like a small piece of the music streaming pie. I’m wondering if streamer makers, like Lumin and the like, will include Apple or Amazon in their native apps. Can this be done with a firmware upgrade? If not, how many audiophiles would go with either.For those who don’t mind shelling out money to Apple, the new Apple TV that came out this month, has Dolby Atmos. But if It can only be realized going into a SSP that has Dolby Atmos, that’s not me. I have an Apple TV and use it with Apple Music. I run it into my Oppo UDP-205 - HDMI in.  For non HD, it sounds ok. I’ve been wanting to go with Qobuz or Tidal, but haven’t had the dough to get the streamer/DAC I want. I have literally a hundred playlists that I’ve spent a lot of time curating, so staying with Apple Music would be nice in that regard. Plus I listen to all kinds of music that may not be offered on Tidal.