Audex Trace
See real time codec, bit depth, sample rate for Apple Music
Start new thread

What Audex Trace shows beyond the Apple Music badge

by•

Thanks for checking out Audex Trace.

Trace is a small macOS app for Apple Music that shows what’s actually playing — not just the badge.

It can show:

  • The actual playback format: AAC / ALAC / Lossless / Hi-Res / Dolby

  • The Mac output sample rate

  • Whether playback and output are matched

  • Playing Next quality estimates

  • Skip warnings before a queued track may fail or skip

A few people pointed out that concrete examples make the value much clearer, so I’m improving the page around cases like:

  • Lossless badge, but output sample rate mismatch

  • Dolby / AAC / Lossless route surprises

  • Queue items that may skip before they play

You can download it for free and run Compatibility Check before buying Pro.

I’d love feedback from anyone using Apple Music Lossless, Hi-Res, Atmos, or an external DAC on macOS.

75 views

Add a comment

Replies

Best

This little Mac app is a dream come true for Apple Music high-fidelity listeners! It’s annoying when Apple’s badge falsely marks songs as lossless, yet Audex Trace lets me check real playback codec, sample rate and audio matching instantly.

 

Thanks, that’s exactly the kind of listener I built Trace for.

The badge is useful, but I wanted a way to see the actual playback codec, sample rate, and output match instantly.

I’ve long struggled with hidden sample rate mismatches even when Lossless is displayed on Apple Music. Plus the skip warning for queued tracks solves another annoying playback headache I’ve had for ages.

 

Thanks! That’s great to hear.

Hidden sample rate mismatches were one of the main reasons I kept building this - it’s hard to unsee once you notice it.

I’ll start with the free version to test compatibility on my Hi‑Res & Atmos setup with an external DAC. If it works smoothly for my audio gear, I will definitely purchase the Pro version later.

 

Thanks, that’s exactly the flow I had in mind.

I’d love to hear how Compatibility Check works with your Hi-Res / Atmos / DAC setup if you try it.

I've been focusing on mobile-first for a while, but I've noticed desktop users are less forgiving with janky interactions FID especially. How do you prioritize fixes when both platforms show different bottlenecks?


 

For Trace, I’m mostly focused on macOS desktop quality, since it’s a native Mac app rather than a mobile-first product.

I usually prioritize fixes by user-visible impact: playback correctness and output matching first, then interaction issues, then visual polish.