Skip to main content

Apple AirPlay 2 supports 24-bit lossless audio, but you can’t use it

Apple’s wireless platform for audio and video streaming — AirPlay — is one of the best ways to play music from an Apple device to a wireless speaker. When at home, on a Wi-Fi network, it outperforms Bluetooth thanks to its wider bandwidth. The conventional wisdom has always been that AirPlay sets a hard limit on audio quality: iPhones and other Apple devices can only transmit lossless CD-quality audio, at 16-bit/44.1kHz, to an AirPlay-enabled speaker, leaving the technology incapable of supporting the higher-res streams now being offered by Apple Music and others.  But it seems that AirPlay can actually do 24-bit audio. Sort of.

Handoff between Apple iPhone and Apple HomePod second-gen.
Apple

The new second-gen HomePod, which Apple released in January, can stream lossless 24-bit/48kHz audio directly from Apple Music, using its own Wi-Fi connection to the internet. This isn’t news: Apple added 24-bit lossless playback (via Apple’s ALAC codec) to the first-gen HomePod and HomePod mini in 2021, along with Dolby Atmos support.

Related Videos

However, I was surprised to learn that the HomePod can also stream this better-than-CD-quality 24-bit/48kHz audio using AirPlay. I was so struck by Apple’s apparent expansion of AirPlay’s capability, I checked to see if the specification had changed. It hasn’t. How is this even possible?

It turns out that there’s a nuance to the HomePod’s use of AirPlay. It remains true that when you stream from a device like an iPhone to an AirPlay speaker, the stream is limited to 16-bit/44.1kHz. However, when a HomePod grabs a stream natively from Apple Music, it can share that stream with one or more additional HomePods (for the purposes of multiroom or stereo-pairing). It does this using AirPlay and can do so at up to 24-bit/48kHz.

Apple HomePod 2023
Zeke Jones/Digital Trends

The surprise here isn’t that two HomePods can share audio wirelessly at 24/48. That’s how multiple HomePods can play the same stream in sync with no loss in quality. What’s surprising is that they use AirPlay to do it.

So we’re left with something of a mystery. If AirPlay can manage better than CD quality when streaming from one HomePod to another, why can’t it do the same thing from an iPhone to an AirPlay speaker, even when the speaker in question is a HomePod?

As a Wi-Fi-based streaming protocol, there’s never been a physical reason why AirPlay should be limited to just CD quality. After all, Chromecast has long been able to support up to lossless 24-bit/96kHz, and DTS Play-Fi makes a similar claim. Denon’s Wi-Fi-based HEOS system can go as high as 24-bit/192kHz.

Why, you may be wondering, do we even care about 24-bit audio? Isn’t CD quality perfectly fine? No question about it, CD quality is generally considered excellent, even by some of the most ardent audiophiles. And yet, that hasn’t stopped the industry from shifting to so-called hi-res audio, a level of quality that many regard as being noticeably better than good ol’ CD quality.

Whether you can actually hear the difference or not will depend on a wide variety of factors. I won’t get into that debate here. Instead, I’ll simply point out that there’s a disconnect between the quality level Apple has chosen to support on its own streaming music service (Apple added 24-bit lossless tracks to its Apple Music catalog in 2021) and the quality level supported by its other audio technologies, including AirPlay.

If Apple sees fit to expand AirPlay beyond its current CD quality constraints, which it looks like it is capable of doing, it will go a long way to helping people hear what they (may have been) missing.

Editors' Recommendations

Spring sales make now a great time to buy a Bluetooth speaker
JBL Xtreme 2 in Beach

Can't wait until summer to buy a new Bluetooth speaker? The bright sun and the urge for margaritas might be a summer event, but buying the Bluetooth speaker that provides the soundtrack to those summer days is best done right now. That's because there are a ton of great deals on brands like Sony, JBL and Bose. The best Bluetooth speaker deals are happening right now because the devices aren't quite in demand yet -- it's still snowing in half the country after all. We've picked out the best deals we can find on our favorite brands. Check them out below.
Sony SRS-XB13 Extra Bass -- $50, was $60

The Sony SRS-XB13 Extra Bass Bluetooth speaker is as compact as they come, but it's got what it takes to breathe life into a party with its sound diffusion processor that spreads the music over a wider area, and a passive radiator that gives bass a boost. The Bluetooth speaker is waterproof and dustproof with its IP67 rating, and it's even got a UV coating for extra durability against the elements. It can run up to 16 hours on a single charge, and it comes with a multi-way strap to make it easier to travel with.

Read more
This 77-inch LG OLED TV just got a massive $1,000 price cut
lg 77 inch a2 series oled 4k smart tv deal best buy march 2023 lifestyle feature

One of the craziest OLED TV deals we've seen in a long time is live at Best Buy this weekend. Right now the 77-inch LG A2 OLED TV is $1,000 off, bringing the price down to $1,800. It's still expensive, but it's great for a TV that rivals some of the best OLED TVs out there (we love it's slightly more expensive brother, the LG A1). You even get three free months of Apple TV+ and 30 days of FuboTV when you buy it. Head over to Best Buy before this fantastic deal is over.

Why you should buy the LG 77-inch A2 Series OLED 4K Smart TV
QLED and OLED TVs are the cream of the crop when it comes to modern television picture quality, with OLED TVs able create stunning images by way of self-lit pixels. With this LG 77-inch 4K Smart TV, OLED brings all of your favorite content to life with infinite contrast, perfect blacks, and over a billion colors that make everything you watch beautiful and lifelike. This TV seems made for almost anyone, as movie lovers will love the picture quality, sports lovers will love the immersive experience, and gamers will love the inclusion of a 120Hz refresh rate and LG Game Optimizer technology.

Read more
Save $200 on this 86-inch LG QNED 4K TV with this flash deal
70 inch lg 4k tv deal um6970 walmart football season sale

LG is one of the best OLED TV manufacturers out there right now, so we love seeing big discounts on their best TVs. This 86-inch LG 80 Series 4K TV is a unique one. It uses QNED technology, which is similar to QLED and OLED, but has its own advantages. The best thing about it today is probably its discount -- it's $200 off, making it only $1,800. That's not cheap, but it's a very good price for a TV this massive. You even get three months of Apple TV+ and 30-day FuboTV trial for free when you buy. Read more about QNED below then check out the deal at Best Buy.

Why you should buy the 86-inch LG 80 Series 4K QNED TV
While OLED TV and QLED TV picture technology likely remain the best picture quality you can get in a television, LG has stepped into the picture with its QNED picture technology. The major difference when it comes to QNED is in the dimming zones. QNED can’t quite reach the deepest, darkest blacks that you’ll find in the best OLED TVs because it utilizes dimmable light bulbs, but picture quality could remain unnoticeable to many viewers, as this LG QNED TV packs its own punch with Quantum Dot NanoCell color technology. This delivers rich, accurate colors that create a lifelike viewing experience no matter what you may be watching.

Read more