HomePod 15 Beta Software Adds Lossless Audio Support

[MacRumors]

Apple today released a new beta version of the HomePod 15 software, and it appears that the update introduces Lossless Audio support for the HomePod and the HomePod mini.

Back in June, Apple added higher-quality Lossless Audio and Spatial Audio support to Apple Music, but at launch, Lossless Audio was not available on the HomePod or the HomePod mini. Apple in a support document clarified that Lossless Audio would come to the HomePod and HomePod mini in the future, and it appears the higher quality audio will be available this fall when the new HomePod 15 software is available to the public.

According to 9to5Mac, those who have the HomePod 15 beta software can enable Lossless Audio by opening up the Home app, tapping the Home icon in the upper left corner, selecting "Home Settings" and then tapping the user profile.

From there, scroll down to "Media" and select the "Apple Music" tab, toggling on "Lossless Audio." When playing a song that supports Lossless quality, the Apple Music player will feature a Lossless icon to make it clear that you're listening to the Lossless tier.

It is not clear if there are other features in the HomePod 15 beta, but the prior updates have led to complaints about sudden failures and overheating, which may have been caused by the new software.

The HomePod 15 beta is available on an invite-only basis from Apple and it is not widely available to developers or public beta testers.

Article Link: HomePod 15 Beta Software Adds Lossless Audio Support

 

[B/D]

I thought this was already present in the Homepod OS 15 beta 1...

 

[danny1305]

Great news. And even with this…there will STILL be people complaining all in the comments.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Given Apple's QC on released software, I can't even imagine wanting to run their beta software.

 

[samwelburn]

Not there for me, just updated. Was there on b1 though

 

[t0pher]

Great news. And even with this…there will STILL be people complaining all in the comments.

I’d be complaining if an update killed my HomePod. HomePod money doesn’t grow on trees and they are hard to come by new.

 

[ArcyltheRed]

This may be an odd place to ask this question, but has anyone had issues with playing the new lossless audio songs over car bluetooth speakers? My 2014 Toyota Corolla apparently doesn't like lossless audio and songs will just stop after a few seconds of playing it, so I had to switch back to downloading normal audio songs so that I can actually play them through my car. Not sure If the bluetooth in my car can be updated to support the new audio or if I have to upgrade it somehow.

 

[Khedron]

Is this just for the sake of compatibility and feature listings? Can you actually tell the difference between lossless or not using a HomePod mini?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗]

RIP HomePod!

 

[cww5336]

The only usefulness of HomePods are playing playing music from Apple devises and nothing else. Siri is just useless whenever you ask it to do something or search for something, a $35 google mini is more useful in my opinion. Apple really need to step up their game with Siri's usefulness/Ai.

 

[kalafalas]

I thought this was already present in the Homepod OS 15 beta 1...

the toggle was there (only for some), but even when enabled it wouldn't play lossless audio directly, only over airplay (and over airplay it is down-sampled to 16/44.1 ALAC)

Now it seems to actually be working!

edit: just updated and I still don't have the toggle... (didn't have the toggle is b2.1 either)

 

[danny1305]

I’d be complaining if an update killed my HomePod. HomePod money doesn’t grow on trees and they are hard to come by new.

But did it kill yours? I bet not…
And as is the case with ALL beta software, that is a risk that literally everyone knows about with anything. By installing beta software, you are willingly taking that risk…no one is making anyone download it

 

[B/D]

the toggle was there (only for some), but even when enabled it wouldn't play lossless audio directly, only over airplay (and over airplay it is down-sampled to 16/44.1 ALAC)

Now it seems to actually be working!

Interesting. Lossless Airplay from Apple Music DRM´d content is currently downsampled to AAC 256 in 14.6

 

[B/D]

But did it kill yours? I bet not…
And as is the case with ALL beta software, that is a risk that literally everyone knows about with anything. By installing beta software, you are willingly taking that risk…no one is making anyone download it

The problem here is that many homepods with 14.6 are also overheating and dying.

 

[B/D]

the toggle was there (only for some), but even when enabled it wouldn't play lossless audio directly, only over airplay (and over airplay it is down-sampled to 16/44.1 ALAC)

Now it seems to actually be working!

Have you tried it?.

 

[kesenwangs]

Ummm, no. That was Beta 1. There’s no such option in this Beta, Do you guys even check sourcing? It’s one thing to verify if lossless is happening, another to not even check and see if an option is there. The article says definitively Lossless is here, then the opening paragraph immediately starts off saying how it “appears to be” added.

Edit: After running the same logs all day, and still seeing AAC being called for all Lossless songs, finally am actually now getting Lossless. Both through Apple TV, Homepod independent of Device. and Macbook. That being said, the Toggle option referred to in the Article is actually present from Beta 1 on many Reddit posts as it was there during that time. This could not be reproduced with the Homepods as a Stereo Pair, As default Audio for Apple TV, nor separately.

oCntentItemChange for path origin-Space Grey-468769720/client-com.apple.Music-29/player-Music <MRContentItem: 0x13de74910> {
    identifier = "NHe4lklnw\U2206HXHFl4SpH";
    metadata =     {
        activeFormat =         {
            audioChannelLayoutDescription = Stereo;
            bitDepth = 24;
            bitrate = 0;
            channelLayout = 6619138;
            codec = 1634492771;
            groupID = "audio-alac-stereo-44100-24";
            multiChannel = 0;
            sampleRate = 44100;
            spatialized = 0;
            stableVariantID = b2337035c1573664a9aacf67d9cab3e7cc4bd40a55ad006bf00707e18ab81cc8;
            tier = 2;
        };
        activeFormatJustification = 100;
        alternativeFormats =         (
        );
        formatTierPreference = 4;
        preferredFormat =         {
            audioChannelLayoutDescription = Stereo;
            bitDepth = 24;
            bitrate = 0;
            channelLayout = 6619138;
            codec = 1634492771;
            groupID = "audio-alac-stereo-44100-24";
            multiChannel = 0;
            sampleRate = 44100;
            spatialized = 0;
            stableVariantID = b2337035c1573664a9aacf67d9cab3e7cc4bd40a55ad006bf00707e18ab81cc8;
            tier = 2;

[0xE0C1] Created compression source 0x5C34. input=PCM,  48000 Hz, 32-bit, Stereo, Float, output=ALAC, 48000 Hz, 24-bit, Stereo, 352 samples/packet, layoutTag=0650002, vbr=256000, codecQuality=CodecQualityMode_Medium

ACAppleLosslessEncoder.cpp:755   (0x10920fe40) Output format:  2 ch,  48000 Hz, alac (0x00000003) from 24-bit source, 352 frames/packet

[0x05C3] New Cached Fmt Desc for ALAC, 48000 Hz, 24-bit, Stereo, 352 samples/packet

 

[nrose101]

This may be an odd place to ask this question, but has anyone had issues with playing the new lossless audio songs over car bluetooth speakers? My 2014 Toyota Corolla apparently doesn't like lossless audio and songs will just stop after a few seconds of playing it, so I had to switch back to downloading normal audio songs so that I can actually play them through my car. Not sure If the bluetooth in my car can be updated to support the new audio or if I have to upgrade it somehow.

Bluetooth can't handle lossless audio. Not enough bandwidth.

 

[kesenwangs]

The only usefulness of HomePods are playing playing music from Apple devises and nothing else. Siri is just useless whenever you ask it to do something or search for something, a $35 google mini is more useful in my opinion. Apple really need to step up their game with Siri's usefulness/Ai.

The only point of the speaker is to play music?

 

[foxcub6]

This may be an odd place to ask this question, but has anyone had issues with playing the new lossless audio songs over car bluetooth speakers? My 2014 Toyota Corolla apparently doesn't like lossless audio and songs will just stop after a few seconds of playing it, so I had to switch back to downloading normal audio songs so that I can actually play them through my car. Not sure If the bluetooth in my car can be updated to support the new audio or if I have to upgrade it somehow.

As far as I know you can’t play it over Bluetooth

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

Homepod and Home mini can't handle lossless, they are already experiencing latency issues when they are in stereo.
it takes time to airplay and controls go out of sync.

 

[B/D]

Bluetooth can't handle lossless audio. Not enough bandwidth.

Starting with losless files you avoid lossy to lossy transcoding over bluetooth, which is a terrible thing. So, there is a benefit.

 

[nutmac]

What about Dolby Atmos (Spatial Audio)? Can HomePods (not paired with Apple TV 4K) play Dolby Atmos from Apple Music?

 

[B/D]

Homepod and Home mini can't handle lossless, they are already experiencing latency issues when they are in stereo.
it takes time to airplay and controls go out of sync.

Have no problems whatsoever with an original pair in stereo mode. No latency, at least with apple music, but i dont airplay, i remote control them (they access and playback apple music content by themselves)

 

[B/D]

What about Dolby Atmos (Spatial Audio)? Can HomePods (not paired with Apple TV 4K) play Dolby Atmos from Apple Music?

Currently, no, you need to pair them with an Apple TV 4K

 

[jjudson]

Sorry, but I can't imagine that lossless audio wouldn't be wasted on a HomePod...