HomePod Help me understand how my HomePod works with Apple Music & Lossless

[nickosbad]

Hiya, I have an OG HomePod which I love and so far I have been using it with Spotify.

I don't like "asking" my speaker to play music, I'd rather browse what I want too listen to on my iPhone then use Handoff to play it from the HomePod.

Lately I have encountered unreliable connection and audio drop outs on Spotify so am thinking of trying Apple Music.

My question is...if I want to take advantage of Apple Music Lossless on my HomePod, can I simply browse on my iPhone and use handoff to play on the HomePod or do I have to "ask" Siri to play music for it to stream directly?

If I use Handoff is it streaming from the iPhone to HomePod or directly from Apple Music?

Thanks

 

[ouimetnick]

I don't have an Apple Music subscription, so when I play songs stored locally on my iPhone, handoff starts AirPlay. Lossless should work regardless if you use handoff or ask Siri.

 

[subjonas]

I’m pretty sure playing audio from your iPhone via HomePod is only done via Airplay, and that Airplay supports lossless audio—just not “hi res” lossless, nor spatial audio. But I can’t back that up, sorry. Someone who knows better would need to confirm.

Sort of a sidebar- I looked up this Apple support article just now and noticed at the bottom it said only wired CarPlay supports lossless audio, which appears to mean that wireless CarPlay does not. If so, then I’m surprised because I thought wireless CarPlay was basically Airplay. So either it’s something else, or Airplay doesn’t support lossless. ?

About lossless audio in Apple Music - Apple Support

Learn about lossless audio in Apple Music and how to turn it on or off for your device.

support.apple.com

 

[sorgo †]

I use my OG and mini HomePods for pretty much nothing but lossless music streaming and they work pretty excellently. Sounds punchier, crispier, more “hi-def” and dynamic (particularly on big HomePod) than standard 320kbps in my subjective opinion.

I make sure my phone isn‘t “forwarding” (AirPlaying?) music to the speaker and that it is streaming on its own by tapping “Control other speakers and devices” or whatever it says in English under the main Now Playing widget in Control Center and selecting the HomePod(s) I want to use.

They also sound and work great, for the most part, linked together.

 

[waw74]

to your Spotify problems....
have you rebooted your router recently?
Airplay requires a pretty solid network connection, and rebooting can help if the router is starting to slow down.
also make sure your antennas are pointing up (if you have them) and the router is away from other electronics if possible.

to your other question....

with Apple Music, you can either play on the phone and airplay to the HomePod, or play directly on the HomePod.

handoff will transfer to the player in the HomePod when using Apple Music, or if you're using a different streaming service it will continue to play on your phone but start airplaying to the hompod (like you're currently doing with Spotify)

your experience and the sound is basically the exact same for both local play on the homepod and airplaying to it, the only difference is at the bottom of the music app one will say "iPhone -> living room" and the other will say "Living Room"
I just tried it, playing a song locally on the homepod it registered as atmos*, but the same song as airplay showed lossless.
all that being said, your ears probably won't be able to tell a difference between regular and lossless audio, especially on a HomePod mini.

playing directly on the HomePod might be a bit more stable, since it's not also having to jump the stream to your phone and back on wifi before it sends it out on wifi again to the HomePod.


*atmos is pretty much just a marketing buzzword when you only have a single speaker location, and barely more than that when you have 2.