The HomePod and HomePod Mini won’t be compatible with Apple Music’s coming Lossless offering, but a software update will fix that.
“HomePod and HomePod mini currently use AAC to ensure excellent audio quality,” An Apple support document explains. “Support for lossless is coming in a future software update.”
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The news isn’t as good for Apple’s wireless headphones and earbuds, however.
“AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and Beats wireless headphones use Apple’s AAC Bluetooth Codec to ensure excellent audio quality,” the same document says. “Bluetooth connections don’t support lossless audio.”
Apple announced this past week that it is adding lossless and spatial audio playback capabilities to Apple Music at no additional cost. But fans were outraged to discover that lossless music isn’t compatible with its HomePod speakers, including the original model that Apple recently discontinued, or the expensive new AirPods Max headphones. Hopefully, there’s a coming solution for that latter product, which retails for an astonishing $549.