Apple Shows Off HomePods’ Immersive Spatial Audio With Billie Eilish’s Voice
Image via Billie Eilish
Apple’s HomePod and HomePod mini speakers are getting the spatial audio and lossless playback update via Apple Music, which seems to be coming over the next few months.
Spatial audio is described by Zane Lowe, Apple Music radio host, as an “immersive experience with sound moving around you in different directions.” Apple Music had launched the feature in early June for AirPods, but this update marks the full integration into the HomePods system.
“It’s not even just about the way it’s going to end up sounding,” he writes. “It’s very much how songs are going to feel.”
In HomePod 15 beta 5, some users have spotted the options to enable lossless audio and Dolby Atmos playback in the Home app, found under Media and Apple Music. However, not everyone will see the toggles, as reported by 9to5Mac.
Apple explains briefly, under the toggle, that lossless audio preserves “every detail of the original file.” This means that the quality remains in its highest form and nothing is sacrificed, hence the name.
This update comes after Apple has said that lossless streaming would come to the HomePod speakers in a software update, but the company didn’t provide a date. With the options now integrated in beta, it’s safe to say that it will be coming soon.
To promote the spatial audio features and Dolby Atmos integration, Apple has paired up with teenage pop star Billie Eilish to create a short video introducing the features. Eilish invites her fans to listen to her new album Happier Than Ever in spatial audio on Apple Music, a technology that promises the ability to “hear sound all around”.
The next dimension of sound is coming.
— Apple Music (@AppleMusic) May 17, 2021
Announcing #SpatialAudio, featuring #DolbyAtmos. pic.twitter.com/np8UjNusmF
[via Engadget, image via via Billie Eilish]
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