HomePod and HomePod mini users are in for an audio treat, as Apple had added Lossless Audio support. This allows both HomePod speakers to take advantage of higher-quality streaming on Apple Music, enabling a more immersive listening experience than previously available.
Lossless Audio first came to Apple Music this past June as a free upgrade for all subscribers. Where Apple Music previously maxed out at 256Kbps using the AAC standard, Lossless Audio added two new options for more detailed playback — including 24-bit/48kHz Lossless and 24-bit/192kHz High-Resolution Lossless. At launch, unfortunately, this improved streaming quality didn't work with HomePods. It seemed like an odd omission for such a big feature of Apple's music service to not work with an Apple speaker, leaving many users understandably frustrated.
Thankfully, that's starting to change. As reported by 9to5Mac, Lossless Audio support is now starting to roll out to the HomePod and HomePod mini. The functionality is currently limited to beta 3 of HomePod Software 15, which is available after downloading the iOS 15 beta onto a connected iPhone. The good news is that anyone can now download the iOS 15 beta for free, and for folks that would rather wait for the final release, it'll be available sometime this fall.
How To Enable Lossless Audio On A HomePod
For HomePod users running iOS 15 on their iPhone, enabling lossless audio takes just a few taps. Open the Apple Home app, tap the home icon in the upper-left corner, tap 'Home Settings,' and tap 'Apple Music' under the Media section. From there, tap the toggle next to 'Lossless Audio' to turn it on. As Apple describes in the Home app, "Lossless audio files preserve every detail of the original file. Turning this on will consume significantly more data." That last point is worth noting, especially for someone whose internet provider has a monthly data cap. For example, a 3-minute song uses 6MB of data in High-Quality mode compared to 36MB on Lossless.
Now that Lossless Audio has arrived for the HomePod, it'll be interesting to see if this has any influence on Apple's HomePod strategy going forward. The $99 HomePod mini delivers excellent sound for its size and price, though the now-discontinued $299 HomePod is still objectively better in every way. A higher-end HomePod paired with Lossless Audio on Apple Music sounds like a dream come true, so here's to hoping that's an area the company is willing to explore in the future. Until then, anyone that still has the original HomePod or is rocking the mini can look forward to a significant audio upgrade with this latest update.
Source: 9to5Mac