HomePod mini can now be used as a speaker for your Apple TV 4K

HomePod mini can now be used as a speaker for your Apple TV 4K
Now you can use Apple HomePod mini as a speaker for Apple TV 4K. The feature, once only available on the now-discontinued HomePod, was announced at the company's annual WWDC conference, alongside iOS 15, new updates for AirPods and watchOS.8. While you can use a HomePod mini with your Apple TV 4K, you'll likely get a better sound experience by pairing two HomePod minis together in stereo. Since Apple phased out the original HomePod, we're happy to see this feature finally coming to its little brother. The Apple HomePod mini was released last year as a smaller, cheaper successor to the HomePod. It's one of the cheapest devices Apple has ever released: at $99 / £99 / AU$149, it's just about affordable for most, though it goes with devices that can sometimes cost a fifth of that price, with the Amazon Echo . Dot or Google Nest Mini are considered its main rivals. Still, if you plan to use two HomePod mini speakers instead of a soundbar, you could save a lot of money. Sure, you can buy soundbars for under $200 / £200 / AU$250, but the HomePod mini comes with plenty of quality-of-life features for iOS users that could give Apple the upper hand.

Lossless sound

Another new feature coming to HomePod mini is support for Apple Music's lossless audio streaming level. According to Apple, subscribers will be able to "hear exactly what the artists created in the studio" with Lossless Audio. To start listening to lossless audio, you can turn it on in Settings > Music > Audio quality, where you can choose the resolution of your music based on your connection (cellular, Wi-Fi, or download). The lossless level starts at CD quality (16-bit/44,1kHz) and goes up to 24-bit/48kHz and is natively playable on Apple devices. And, for audiophiles, there's Hi-Resolution Lossless, which goes up to 24-bit/192kHz. When Apple announced that Apple Music would support lossless audio at no additional cost to subscribers, many were surprised why so many of their own devices didn't support Hi-Res Audio. AirPods Pro and AirPods Max may not yet be able to provide lossless audio, but at least HomePod mini owners will be able to connect.