Google Pixel 8 series to get lossless USB audio upgrade soon

Published On: October 17, 2023

Pixel 8 series is the company’s latest flagship offering. The lineup, which consists of Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, brings some notable improvements to the camera hardware and also to the performance, thanks to Tensor G3 SoC. Now, in an effort to enhance the user experience further, Google is preparing to bring lossless audio quality upgrades to its latest flagships.

Pixel 8 series might get lossless audio

Dave Burke, Google’s vice president of engineering has shared that Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will get lossless USB audio.
This is certainly good news for music lovers, who can soon enjoy their favourite songs in the purest form, with no loss in quality.
Burke explains that lossless USB audio, as spotted by Mishaal Rahman, will offer “bit perfect audio” by allowing music files to bypass the usual audio processing pipeline.

The Pixel 8 series will add support for lossless USB audio in a future later release, according to Dave Burke in response to a comment from a Redditor.

Android 14 added support for lossless audio formats over USB wired headsets. pic.twitter.com/XYPyvIrzrc
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) October 12, 2023

How does lossless USB audio work?

Instead of the music being compressed and altered, the audio flows directly from your phone to headphones in its original form, which is uncompressed. This will ensure users will hear every instrument, every subtle detail, and every vocal inflexion with crystal clarity.

Burke says that lossless USB audio will be available on the Pixel 8 series and other Android phones in a future release. However, app developers need to adopt the new API for lossless audio to make the audio format available for users. There are reports that Spotify is bringing lossless audio support soon.

Lossless audio hasn’t made it big mostly because of the premium price tag, requiring customers to premium platforms like Tidal and Apple Music. Another reason is that lossless audio files are not easily accessible. Google adding lossless USB audio is not entirely a surprise considering Google added OS-level support for this audio format through wired headphones with Android 14 Beta 2.