Apple kind of jumped the gun when it announced lossless-quality audio was coming to Apple Music next month. The announcement seemed a little premature because the company doesn’t actually have any hardware that supports it, but that will fortunately change thanks to a future software update.
According to a new support page on their website, Apple has confirmed the HomePod and HomePod mini will both support lossless streaming… eventually. That software update doesn’t have a precise release date, nor is there any indication in the latest round of betas from the company that the feature’s on the way.
Still, it’s nice that Apple will be adding support for the format on one of its own devices without requiring extra equipment. In order to listen to lossless Apple Music on your iPhone or Mac, you’ll need an external hi-fi DAC, adding a bit of inconvenience to the experience.
Notably, Apple says the difference between its new ALAC format for lossless music and AAC files people have used for years is “virtually indistinguishable.” That means even though your HomePod will be able to play it, you shouldn’t expect a huge difference in quality if you choose to switch your library over to lossless audio.
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