There’s a scene in movie called Once, where they are producing/recording their music in the studio and decided to get it out and play it on the car stereo. Most people will never hear that studio quality (unless you have the same setup), but it is important to also listen if it will sound good on regular or lesser setup. Chris Nolan didn’t understand that not everyone can enjoy his films on an IMAX due to geography, access, or financial reason. He just made the experience worst for the regular moviegoers.
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Ahhh, the Loudness wars! My SoundMatters speaks thank you for distinguishing between music that is just loud and music with dynamic range!
For anyone confused — I was — this article provides an excellent explanation that explains the differences between “Spatial Audio” — Apple’s implementation of Dolby Atmos — and “lossless” and “hi-res”: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/nf6jds/understanding_lossless_hires_and_dolby_atmos_audio/.
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I use it to connect mine to the PS5 controller 
I’ve turned on lossless audio for my two basic home theatre set-ups. I figure we’re back to 1980s technology now and, while my hearing is presumably worse than then, CD-quality is a baseline standard when you have speakers capable of reasonable reproduction. This is a theoretical position.
I see no point in higher resolution formats. And for AirPods and the like, lossless is pointless because of the limitations of the reproduction hardware. Noise-cancellation and wireless convenience are the important factors here.
(I’m sure you can get a nice digital filter to give you the “warmth” of vinyl from whatever you are listening to. Cracks courtesy Portishead )
Spatial/Dolby is interesting and adding it to music intended for stereo consumption means that choices will be made that the original producers might not have approved of. I find many tracks more immersive and enjoyable. It’s culture, not science.
I note as an aside that some tracks on Apple’s Spatial playlists weren’t playing as Atmos on my Sonos setup. Resetting the system solved that, but there are issues.
Last comment: Some months back, I compared Diana Krall songs played from (trial lossless) Tidal and (lossy) Apple Music. Tidal sounded more neutral with instruments easier to hear – almost clinical – while Apple Music sounded warmer. I think this is all about mastering. The Apple Music tracks seem to have the equivalent of the speaker “smiley face” where mid-ranges have been boosted for crowdpleasing effects.
Apple may have found a sweet spot with Spatial Sound. We’ll see.
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