HomePod supports Apple Music's lossless playback.I listened to the "difference" and compared it

The latest software for Apple's smart speaker "HOMEPOD" "Version 15."1" was provided, and HomePod was compatible with spatial audio by Apple Music Dolby Atmos.Both HomePod and HomePod mini support Apple Music's lossless playback.HomePod mini's lossless playback is up to 48kHz/24bit this time, let's introduce how to set up Loseless playback with HomePod mini.■ The HomePod series is up to 48kHz/24 -bit "lossless regeneration" by Apple Music Apple Music's lossless playback on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV 4K, and Android devices are realized first.With this software update, the HomePod series caught up.Apple Music has a CD quality encoded with the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC), an audio codec of Apple's unique repression format, CD quality = 44..The technology that distributes at 1kHz/16bit or more is called a roseless audio. Apple TV 4K and HOMEPOD roseless audio playback limit is 48kHz/24bit. Apple TV 4K has not yet supported high -resolo speech playback as of early November 2021, when I wrote this article. The setting of the "Music" application of iOS/iPados is used as an example. When you enter the "quality of the audio" in the "audio" menu, you will find a menu that enables roseless audio. Loseless audio can be enabled when streaming by mobile communication, but it has been alerted on the same screen that the amount of data usage increases. In Apple Music, more than 75 million works are distributed with lossless sound quality. As of November 2021, the content and music videos provided in live broadcasting and on -demand format as Apple Music 1 radio services are not eligible for lossless regeneration. ■ How to set the lossless playback. Listen to the differences. The following settings are required to enjoy the Loseless playback of Apple Music using HomePod Mini. First, open the "Home" app and tap the home button at the top left of the screen. Enter the "home setting" in the list, and select the user's own account name for the members as the owner. Open the Apple Music, which is lined up as a media on the next page, allows you to turn on the effect of "Loseless Audio". There are also toogur buttons that enable Dolby Atmos regeneration, but at this time HomePod mini does not seem to support spatial audio playback by Apple Music's Dolby Atmos. While switching on / off from the home app, I checked the lossless regeneration with HomePod mini. At the beginning of Billy Irish's song "BAD GUY", the rhythm of the base with snaps becomes tightened and muscular. The three -dimensional effect of the vocals increases, and the gradation of the lingering sound is more detailed. There is also a response that is clearer than when playing with AAC codecs. In addition to increasing the amount of information with the lossless playback, the vivid difference was felt as if the real -time analysis of computational audio with the "Apple S5" chip add some "work". For updates related to the sound quality of HomePod, you may need to find an opportunity and make more detailed interviews. From HomePod's software version 15, you can now select HomePod mini, which is set alone or as a default speaker that outputs the audio of Apple TV 4K. Note that if the default audio output is selected from TvOS 15 to HomePod mini, and if the outlet of the Apple TV 4K is removed, the music playback will not be performed by HomePod mini, including Handoff and AirPod playback from iPhone to HomePod.

Atsushi Yamamoto