While AirPods may not benefit from Apple Music's new lossless audio tier (at least for now), another product in Apple's audio hardware line is being upgraded to take advantage of it

The company has released new support documentation indicating that both the original HomePod and the recent HomePod mini will be updated to support Apple Music's new audio tier in the future" HomePod and HomePod mini currently use AAC [Advanced Audio Codec] to support superior audio quality" the FAQ section states" Lossless support will be provided in a future software update"

No release date for the update was given, but this is a pleasant surprise and remains a departure from what Apple had previously said: we had heard that Apple Music's new spatial audio would be supported on the HomePod, but it is not clear whether Apple will be able to provide smart there was no indication that they would take steps to support lossless on their speakers

For the original HomePod, this is a rather impressive show of support, considering the speaker was officially discontinued just two months ago Apple also updated the HomePod earlier this week to allow it to be used as a speaker for all TV input sources if you have a second-generation Apple TV 4K This suggests that the discontinuation of this large speaker is not the end of the road, and that products utilizing the same technology will be available in the future

Returning to the support documentation, Apple clarifies which other devices can enjoy the new lossless hierarchy First, the Apple TV 4K "does not support high-res lossless at this time" and only supports audio up to 48KHz

The document also confirms that the reason AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and Beats do not support lossless is thanks to their reliance on Bluetooth connectivity, not hardware weaknesses The company writes, "We use lossless audio compression to deliver music to your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV" Lossless plays fine on Bluetooth speakers and headphones" However, Bluetooth connections do not support lossless audio"

The company also notes that "Bluetooth is not a lossless audio compression technology

With that in mind, there is good news for those who don't mind wires For example, the official Lightning to 35mm headphone jack adapter includes a digital-to-analog converter that supports lossless audio up to 24-bit/48KHz Sadly, the AirPods Max can benefit somewhat from the wire attachment, but it is not perfect Apple writes, "AirPods Max can connect to devices that play lossless and high-res lossless recordings with exceptional sound quality" However, given the analog-to-digital conversion in the cable, playback will not be completely lossless"

Apple Music's lossless tier will launch in June at no additional cost to those with a $999/month subscription At launch, there will be over 20 million songs in lossless quality, reaching 75 million by the end of the year