Millions of Android owners set to receive free phone upgrade that music fans will love

GOOGLE has been quietly working on an Android software update that makes music sound much clearer, according to a Google executive.

The free upgrade will make every instrument, including vocals, stand out better than before.

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In a Reddit post, Google’s vice president of engineering, Dave Burke, announced that lossless USB audio is coming to the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, and other Android handsets. 

With this feature, the audio essentially becomes less compressed, by bypassing the traditional processing pipeline.

It means Android owners will be able to hear everything that usually gets lost in a compressed mix.

USB lossless audio will be coming to the Pixel 8 line-up in an upcoming iteration of the Android 14 update, which was released at the beginning of the month.

Burke appears to have long championed the upcoming feature.

“I may have personally asked the team for this quite a while ago,” he wrote in a comment responding to another Redditor.

“Basically what it does is ensure ‘bit perfect audio’, so audio bypasses the audio mixer, any processing effects etc.”

With support for lossless audio added to Android 14, Google will need to work with phone manufacturers and app developers to support the feature, according to Burke.

“We’ve added OS support – so the next step is for support from device makers and app developers,” he said.

Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Tidal are among the music streamers that already stream lossless audio.

Spotify has promised a lossless audio tier, although, it is more than two years late from arriving.

It’s great news for music lovers.

However, it is important to note that listening to lossless audio on your phone eats up more mobile data than the regular audio setting.