For a device that has always talked a good game on audio, the Apple TV 4K has left music fans wanting. Hi-Res Lossless tracks have been part of Apple Music since 2021, but the Apple TV itself stopped at 24-bit/48kHz, so anyone who’d built a hi-fi setup around it was paying for a catalog they couldn’t fully hear.
The tvOS 27 update, which landed on Sept. 14, finally closes that gap, putting the box level with an iPhone and external DAC or a dedicated hi-fi streamer, and stretching Apple Music’s lead over Spotify, whose lossless tier tops out at 24-bit/44.1kHz. Whether you’ll actually hear the difference is another story, though, and it comes down to two things Apple only partly controls, namely which Apple TV you own and what sits between it and your speakers.
What tvOS 27 changes for Apple Music
Only one Apple TV 4K actually gets the full upgrade
Apple has raised the ceiling on Apple Music playback from 24-bit/48kHz to 24-bit/192kHz, matching the Hi-Res Lossless tier iPhone owners can already reach with an external DAC (digital-to-analog converter).
The hardware is where things start to get a bit muddled, though. tvOS 27 runs on both the 2021 second-generation Apple TV 4K and the 2022 third-generation model, but most coverage since June has simply said “Apple TV 4K.” Apple’s own support page, updated Sept. 28, is more specific, stating that Hi-Res Lossless is only available on the third-generation Apple TV 4K or later. So if you have the second-gen box, you get the update but not its headline audio feature.
Apple hasn’t explained why, and it isn’t the port, since both models have HDMI 2.1. The bigger difference is inside, where the 2021 box runs on the A12 Bionic chip, while the 2022 model moved up to the A15 Bionic. My guess is the answer lies in how the newer chip handles audio at higher sample rates. It could just as easily be where Apple chose to draw the line, though, so I wouldn’t count on a second-gen update.
The quickest tell is the remote’s charging port, since the 2021 box shipped with a Lightning Siri Remote and the 2022 model with a USB-C one (Apple sells the remote separately, though, so it’s not foolproof if yours has been replaced). To be sure, go to Settings > General > About and check the model number. A2737 or A2843 means you have the third-gen box, while A2169 means you’re on the 2021 model, according to Apple’s model guide.
If you have the right hardware, you can set it in Settings > Apps > Music > Audio Quality, similar to the iPhone version in our Apple Music tips and tricks guide. Higher resolutions use more data, too, so if your internet comes with a monthly cap, I’d keep an eye on it.
Why your TV is the likely bottleneck
Yet Apple’s own instructions give the game away
Apple’s wording has been careful from the start. The announcement promised the best quality to subscribers with “compatible external speaker outputs,” and the support page goes even further, telling Apple TV owners to connect the box to an AV receiver over HDMI. It doesn’t mention TVs, soundbars, or HomePods.
That’s a problem for many living rooms, where the Apple TV plugs into the TV and the TV sends audio to a soundbar over HDMI ARC or eARC. In theory, eARC has the bandwidth for uncompressed audio at high sample rates, but in practice, the TV’s operating system sits in the middle, and as hi-fi site Darko.Audio, points out, many TVs resample all incoming digital audio to 48kHz before passing it along.
So you could have the third-gen box, the setting switched on, and a soundbar that happily accepts 192kHz, and still hear 48kHz music because the TV has pulled it down along the way. TV makers rarely publish how their sets handle this, so a spec sheet won’t tell you much.
The only reliable check is at the other end of the cable. Some streamers and DACs, like WiiM’s Ultra models (WiiM makes affordable network streamers), show the incoming sample rate on screen. If that number stays at 48kHz no matter what you play, your TV is probably to blame. As for the TV’s built-in speakers, the question is largely moot.
The setups that will actually hear it
And the ones that won’t, whatever you toggle
An AV receiver is the cleanest route, and the one Apple appears to have in mind. With the Apple TV plugged directly into the receiver’s HDMI input, the audio is handled before it ever reaches the TV, so the TV’s operating system never gets a say. If you already own one, you’re in the best position here.
A soundbar with its own HDMI input works the same way, as long as you plug the Apple TV into the soundbar, not the TV. Many popular models offer only a single eARC connection (the Sonos Arc Ultra, for one), so check the back of yours.
For stereo hi-fi setups, the workaround is an HDMI audio extractor, a small box that sits between the Apple TV and the TV and pulls the audio out to your DAC or amp, sidestepping the TV entirely. I’d pick yours carefully, though, since optical outputs often top out at 24-bit/96kHz (or struggle to hold a 192kHz signal), so for full resolution you’ll want a coaxial output or a dedicated audio-only HDMI port.
Darko calls the whole approach a kludge rather than a solution, and he has a point, since you lose HDMI ARC control. You can teach the Siri Remote to change your amp’s volume over infrared instead (it’s under Remotes and Devices in the Apple TV’s settings), but it’s one more thing to set up.
Meanwhile, a few setups won’t get Hi-Res, no matter how you configure them.
- HomePod speakers: Apple only offers a Lossless toggle for HomePod and HomePod mini, with no mention of Hi-Res, so our guide to enabling Apple Music Lossless on HomePod mini is as far as it goes.
- AirPods and other Bluetooth headphones: Apple says Bluetooth connections aren’t lossless, so headphones paired to the Apple TV mean compressed audio.
Is hi-res Apple Music on Apple TV worth chasing?
For most people, I’d say not just yet
It’s natural to treat any jump in numbers as an upgrade you can’t skip, but standard Apple Music Lossless at 24-bit/48kHz is already a genuinely excellent source. Whether anyone can reliably hear anything above it is a debate audio fans have had for years (and will presumably still be having by tvOS 28).
With the Apple TV 4K now costing $199.00 after a price rise in late June, I wouldn’t buy one, or replace a second-gen box, for this alone. If you already have a third-gen Apple TV running into an AV receiver, though, it costs nothing, and I’d switch it on tonight.
So for hi-res to reach your ears, three things have to line up, and only one of them is a setting. You need the 2022 Apple TV 4K, the Audio Quality setting switched to Hi-Res, and an audio path that keeps your TV’s operating system out of the loop (so a receiver, a soundbar with its own HDMI input, or an extractor). With a soundbar and the TV doing the routing, your first job is finding out what that TV actually does to audio.
If you’re still weighing up whether Apple’s service is the right home for your library, our Apple Music vs Spotify comparison lays out the differences.
