This is hilarious. People are worried about audio quality on a Homepod, and it doesn't even have an EQ. I still can't believe they removed it. Homepod sounds awful in large (flat) and small (boomy) rooms.
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HomePod Will Support Spatial Audio for Apple Music, But Not Lossless Audio
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It’s interesting Apple is promoting just Dolby atoms, Spatial Audio on Apple Music. Lossless is just an added bonus if you have the right hardware.
I wonder if this will push me back to listening to music on my appletv connected to my home theater over my homepods and Sonos speakers
What a half-baked product announcement this Apple Music lossless is. This is not the Apple I used to root for and work for. Who can figure out all these intricacies. Whatever happened to It Just Works? What a joke this is.
That’s kinda what I thought. Like your computer can get lossless right. If
No wonder no one bought the HomePod. I really thought Apple was considering that hifi and that’s how they justified the price.
Funny how my $15 Chromecast Audio from 6 years ago can stream Tidal lossless (CDQ FLAC) no problem.
So, twice as expensive as a Sonos One for less features AND no good DAC? if true, wow.
The irony here is that the best Apple hardware to take advantage of lossless is the one that they discontinued. HomePod.
I‘ve been streaming lossless to my HomePods from Deezer for a few weeks now and they really are great speakers.
Glad Apple Music has upped its game to catch up with Deezer and Qobuz when it comes to audio quality but why would they hobble Homepod’s ability to do lossless when Deezer, Tidal and others have no problem doing so?!
I‘ve been streaming lossless to my HomePods from Deezer for a few weeks now and they really are great speakers.
Glad Apple Music has upped its game to catch up with Deezer and Qobuz when it comes to audio quality but why would they hobble Homepod’s ability to do lossless when Deezer, Tidal and others have no problem doing so?!
i'd be betting some decent larger Bluetooth speakers sound better than $20 wired ones.
All the people getting so caught up in this probably using their 5.1 384kbs surround systems and thinking how good their movies sound
it's a free upgrade that will benefit some people.
take it at that.
I can see why they didn’t include this in the keynote last month. It’s the most underwhelming announcement from Apple.
it’s like their departments aren’t talking to each other and everyone at Apple was caught by surprise as well.
it’s like their departments aren’t talking to each other and everyone at Apple was caught by surprise as well.
Based on the seemingly lacklustre support and success of the first generation I have my doubts.
Perhaps they didn’t list the OG HomePod as being lossless capable, not because it can’t, but simply because it’s discontinued and there’s no reason to tout the capabilities of a device they no longer market??
As much as Apple tried to promote the HomePod as HiFi and Sonos tries to market their offerings as HiFi, they're not. They're great products with great audio quality, but not HiFi.
The Sonos Five is hi-fi, especially in a stereo pair. They sound simply stupendous.
This really makes no sense.
I have tons of CDs converted to Apple Lossless in iTunes and all of them play just fine with Homepod.
Homepod was supposed to support ALAC, and it does.
No one ever suggested that the Homepod converts any ALAC iTunes content to AAC on the fly.
But I can try to do an A-B test with Homepod to see if my ALAC iTunes content sounds different to an AAC converted version. To double-check whether Homepod playing iTunes ALAC content is in fact internally merely AAC content...
I have tons of CDs converted to Apple Lossless in iTunes and all of them play just fine with Homepod.
Homepod was supposed to support ALAC, and it does.
No one ever suggested that the Homepod converts any ALAC iTunes content to AAC on the fly.
But I can try to do an A-B test with Homepod to see if my ALAC iTunes content sounds different to an AAC converted version. To double-check whether Homepod playing iTunes ALAC content is in fact internally merely AAC content...
Apple Lossless includes bitrates much higher than CD quality that the DAC in the HomePod apparently does not support is my guess.
I'd disagree. Lots of hi-fi enthusiasts and reviewers disagree with you on that assessment.
Are you sure? Both HomePod and HomePod mini already support Apple Lossless and FLAC, so what is the reason you are saying they won't support Apple Lossless Music? A reference in one footnote? I agree it is not clear, but if they support lossless and they are airplay 2 which supports it, I just don't think there is enough information to draw your conclusion with anymore than a maybe
I could understand that Homepod does not support Hi-Resolution Lossless.
But Apple reportedly lets the user choose to select "Lossless" or "Hi-Resolution Lossless". The former should be supported by Homepod. There is no reason other than software not being written properly.
Or Homepod never actually supported ALAC from the get go, only on paper but internally converted it to AAC always...
Hmmm...
Ok guys, I’m getting seriously mad now. I know AirPods could be limited in some ways about lossless audio but HomePods?! It’s still very advanced piece of tech with Wi-Fi! I’m so disappointed
HomePod's use Airplay2 and airplay2 uses a lossless codec so maybe someone has no idea what they are talking about. It is possible that they aren't supporting Audio quality above CD audio simply because they may have chosen not to include those codec's. But lossless 16/44 I'm betting will be supported.
we will see!
Echo Studio already has that covered. Glad I have a pair of those too I guess.
I'm dumbfounded about this statement too. We've been able to stream lossless to HomePods from Macs all this time, no?