Why this deserves attention
Streaming bit-perfect, high-resolution Apple Music to a dedicated Hi-Fi system has long involved frustrating compromises. AirPlay 2 forces streams into lossy 256kbps AAC, Apple TV caps HDMI output at 48kHz, and macOS CoreAudio requires users to manually adjust sample rates in Audio MIDI Setup to prevent automatic resampling. While dedicated hardware streamers like the Eversolo DMP-A6 solve some of these issues, they routinely cost $700 or more and rely on clumsy screen-mirroring interfaces.
According to an analysis by Darko Audio, an effective, lower-cost workaround involves tethering an iPad directly to an external DAC via USB and managing playback with a third-party app called Lysoniq ($12 on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS). iOS and iPadOS natively output audio at its original sample rate (up to 24-bit/192kHz) over USB without operating system resampling. Darko verified automatic, bit-perfect sample rate switching across 44.1kHz, 96kHz, and 192kHz tracks using the USB input on a Marantz SACD 10 DAC.
Historically, USB-tethered mobile devices suffered from a usability flaw: listening required physical interaction with the device wired to the stereo rack. Lysoniq resolves this bottleneck by decoupling the audio playback engine from the control interface. The tethered iPad handles the stream and DAC output, while an iPhone on the same Wi-Fi network acts as an armchair remote via the app’s discovery protocol. Furthermore, Lysoniq runs on Apple TV, allowing users to browse their Apple Music library and view album art on a television screen using the standard Apple TV remote—sending transport commands to the iPad over the local network without routing audio through the television’s resampled HDMI audio pipeline.
In practice, this allows listeners with an idle iPad or iPhone to assemble a high-resolution streaming transport for the cost of a USB cable and a $12 software license. However, the approach relies entirely on the continued stability of third-party Apple Music API integration, and users must dedicate a mobile device to a physical wired connection near their audio rack.