Apple HomePod: how to activate Dolby Atmos or lossless audio?

Since 2021, Apple Music has offered songs in lossless and Dolby Atmos (spatial audio) format. Lossless is enough to delight purists looking for almost lossless music (24-bit, 48 or 192 kHz). However, there is nothing to panic ordinary mortals (most modern wireless equipment, such as AirPods, does not support lossless). Dolby Atmos plays on a 3D effect to bring songs to life.

HomePod speakers, like the latest model released in February 2023, are compatible with Apple Music Lossless and Spatial Audio. However, to activate these options, you really have to want them. Apple seems to have done everything to make it complex to do so.

Hidden settings in the Home app

In a logical world, enabling spatial or lossless audio on a HomePod would be easy. One could imagine that these options are in the settings of Apple Music or in the settings of the speaker on which you want to activate them. This is not the case.

For some reason beyond us, Apple offers this option in the settings of its home application. To activate lossless on your HomePods, you must:

• Open Home.
• Go to the house in which the HomePod(s) that you want to make lossless compatible are located.
• Touch the button with the three dots at the top right.
• Select “Home Settings”.
• Choose the profile corresponding to the connected Apple Music account.
• Go to “Apple Music”.
• Activate “Lossless Audio” and “Dolby Atmos”.

Since these settings apply to the whole house, it is impossible to have lossless on the living room speaker and a compressed version on the HomePod mini in your bedroom. It’s a shame, since lossless songs are heavy. It is not uncommon to have micro-cuts when you are far from your Internet box.

How to check that lossless or Dolby Atmos is activated? Ask Siri to play a song and go to the app Music. Normally, a “lossless” or “Dolby Atmos” logo will tell you what you’re listening to.

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