They tend to be used less for two reasons: the first is that these cards can only be used with the PC, while the external DAC can be used with other sources the second is that they are poorly shielded from the interference generated inside the PC. There are, in any case, high level sound cards that can avoid having an external DAC. The one installed in the vast majority of PCs is bad and risks being a heavy bottleneck for the rest of the system. Having done this, the fundamental next step is to buy a level DAC. On the software side, you'll need to remove everything you don't need for music listening for optimum performance. On the hardware side, if you want a PC designed specifically for listening to music, you'll have to resort to specific cases capable of containing the noise and vibrations emitted by ventilation.

But it is one of the least straightforward you can use, both on the hardware and software side. Using a PC as a source is, without question, the best technical solution. In the first case we'll have to rely on software to play the tracks there are many, and we'll probably go into this in a separate article, but for now we'll just mention the most popular (and free): Foobar2000. The same official Apple document specifies that the difference between the standard audio of Apple Music and the lossless audio will be 'virtually indistinguishable'. To counterbalance the disappointed customers, there are those who, legitimately, wonder how many are actually able to distinguish between standard and lossless tracks with devices that, in any case, for a significant list price, deal with high fidelity in a rather sideways way. Listening to lossless audio with iOS devices therefore requires ALAC-compatible earphones or headphones and an external DAC connected. However, due to the analogue-to-digital conversion in the cable, playback will not be completely lossless. As the official document statesThe Lightning to 3.5mm audio cable is designed to allow AirPods Max to connect to analogue sources. Apparently, it will not be possible to enjoy this new audio format via Lightning connection either. AirPods and AirPods Pro, which only use Bluetooth with AAC codec, cannot play ALAC format.

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