Although it can't be used, Apple AirPlay 2 offers 24-bit lossless audio

One of the finest methods for streaming music from an Apple device to a wireless speaker is using AirPlay, Apple's wireless platform for audio and video streaming. It operates better than Bluetooth when connected to a Wi-Fi network at home because of its larger bandwidth. It has long been believed that AirPlay imposes a strict limit on audio quality: iPhones and other Apple devices can only send lossless CD-quality audio, at 16-bit/44.1kHz, to an AirPlay-enabled speaker, making the technology unable to support the higher-res streams currently being offered by Apple Music and others. AirPlay appears to be capable of 24-bit audio, though. Kind of. Photo Credit: ZDnet Using its own Wi-Fi connection to the internet, the new second-generation HomePod that Apple announced in January can stream lossless 24-bit/48kHz audio directly from Apple Music. It's not news: In 2021, Apple added Dolby Atmos capability to the original HomePod and HomePod mini, as well as 24-bit lossless playback (using Apple's ALAC codec). I was shocked to discover that the HomePod can also use AirPlay to deliver this better-than-CD quality 24-bit/48kHz audio. I looked to see if the specification had changed after being so surprised by Apple's apparent increase of the capabilities of AirPlay. Not at all. What kind of a scenario is this? It turns out that the HomePod uses AirPlay in a subtle way. It is still true that the stream's maximum resolution is 16-bit/44.1kHz when it is sent from a device like an iPhone to an AirPlay speaker. But if a HomePod downloads an Apple Music stream natively, it can share that stream with one or more other HomePods (for the purposes of multiroom or stereo-pairing). It can accomplish this at up to 24-bit/48kHz utilizing AirPlay. Photo Credit: idownloadblog The fact that two HomePods can wirelessly share audio at 24/48 is not surprising in this case. In this way, the same stream may be played simultaneously by numerous HomePods without any quality degradation. It's surprising that they do it with AirPlay. As a result, there is still some mystery. Why can't AirPlay do the same thing from an iPhone to an AirPlay speaker, even if the speaker in question is a HomePod, if it can handle better than CD quality when streaming from one HomePod to another? There has never been a physical reason why AirPlay should be restricted to only CD quality as a Wi-Fi-based streaming system. After all, DTS Play-Fi and Chromecast have both long claimed to be able to support up to lossless 24-bit/96kHz. You might be asking yourself why we even care about 24-bit audio. The CD quality is excellent, right? CD quality is without a doubt exceptional, even in the eyes of some of the most fervent audiophiles. Though many people consider so-called hi-res audio to be noticeably superior than standard CD quality, this hasn't stopped the industry from making the switch. Photo Credit: OSX Daily Numerous variables will affect whether you can truly hear the difference or not. I won't engage in that discussion here. I'll only note that there is a discrepancy between the quality level Apple has decided to support on its own streaming music service (Apple added 24-bit lossless tunes to its Apple Music collection in 2021) and the quality level supported by its other audio technologies, including AirPlay. People will be able to hear what they (may have been) missing if Apple decides to expand AirPlay beyond its current CD quality limitations, which it appears to be capable of accomplishing.