HomePod 15.1 update adds lossless and Dolby Atmos support to Apple’s smart speakers

Apple announced lossless support for Apple Music back in May and promised that the feature will also be brought to its smart speakers, HomePod and HomePod Mini. While Apple Music users on iOS and Android were able to benefit from spatial and lossless audio since June, HomePod users had to wait until October to get these features.

The latest HomePod 15.1 update brings lossless, spatial and Dolby Atmos support for both HomePod and HomePod Mini smart speakers (via 9to5mac). Not only that, but the update also fixes some issues with the pairing and adds a brand-new “Reduced Bass” option, which comes in handy when you want to avoid waking up your neighbors.

Lossless audio highly improves the quality of the music you're listening to. Also, automatic crossfade is another improvement included in the update, which blends each song into the next for a better experience.

Unfortunately, while lossless will play back normally on Bluetooth speakers and headphones, Bluetooth connections don't support lossless audio, so AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, and Beats aren't compatible with the lossless tier.