What Audex Trace shows beyond the Apple Music badge
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.
Replies
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.
Audex Trace
@yuriko19810122
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.
Audex Trace
@lolpoprog
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.
Audex Trace
@dom7331026
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?