HomePod Another original HomePod or two minis?

[nelson1457]

Okay, I live in a studio apartment - small. I would love stereo sound when listening to shows on my Apple TV. I have an original HomePod.

Do I buy another original for $300 (or maybe less on a discount soon) or do I buy two minis?

 

[Itinj24]

Okay, I live in a studio apartment - small. I would love stereo sound when listening to shows on my Apple TV. I have an original HomePod.

Do I buy another original for $300 (or maybe less on a discount soon) or do I buy two minis?

For a studio, definitely a second full size HomePod for the Home Theater feature.

 

[Semiopaque]

I agree on just getting a second full size one. If there are good sales in the next few weeks like there were last year at this time, you might be able to pickup a full HomePod for the same price as two minis.

 

[jzuena]

The full size was available for $199 all summer (got ours at that price from Best Buy) but maybe now that the mini is out Apple won’t feel the need to offer discounts through the sales channel any more.

 

[Itinj24]

The full size was available for $199 all summer (got ours at that price from Best Buy) but maybe now that the mini is out Apple won’t feel the need to offer discounts through the sales channel any more.

Or maybe the full size HomePod won’t sell as well anymore because of the Mini and they will have to offer the discounts again to move units. Could go either way.

 

[jzuena]

Or maybe the full size HomePod won’t sell as well anymore because of the Mini and they will have to offer the discounts again to move units. Could go either way.

I like the way you think! Unfortunately we never got the full size for our bedroom because it is just too big and heavy. If there are no reports of widespread problems once they hit the wild next week, we will get a mini to use with our smart TV there. Our full size is in the living room where it can do Dolby Atmos but there is no TV, and the mini will be in the bedroom where we can hook it to a smart TV but it won't support Atmos!

 

[nelson1457]

Thanks, folks, after listening to you, I've decided I'll get another HomePod Max. I'll wait until I see if anyone discounts them between now and Thanksgivingish, and if not I'll pay the full boat.

Really appreciate your help.

 

[symphony]

I replaced my HomePod with two minis and they sound phenomenal!!! It sounds just as good at 80% volume! Incredibly impressed.

I’ve never went over 50% on my original HomePod in stereo because it’s way too loud and thumping for my condo. I’m satisfied with my stereo mini for my bedroom and the bass is perfect to my liking.

 

[happypappy]

I replaced my HomePod with two minis and they sound phenomenal!!! It sounds just as good at 80% volume! Incredibly impressed.

I’ve never went over 50% on my original HomePod in stereo because it’s way too loud and thumping for my condo. I’m satisfied with my stereo mini for my bedroom and the bass is perfect to my liking.

Great to hear! But I heard you can‘t use two minis as surround sound for Apple TV. Do these work with Apple TV when paired together for stereo?

 

[symphony]

Great to hear! But I heard you can‘t use two minis as surround sound for Apple TV. Do these work with Apple TV when paired together for stereo?

Yes, you can stream anything to HomePod mini via AirPlay. But you would have to connect to it from Apple TV every now and then. Unlike the original HomePod, you can’t set these HomePod as the default output and play Dolby Atmos.

 

[palemonkey]

Yes, you can stream anything to HomePod mini via AirPlay. But you would have to connect to it from Apple TV every now and then. Unlike the original HomePod, you can’t set these HomePod as the default output and play Dolby Atmos.

When you say stream anything, can I watch a film on my Apple TV and have the audio come out of the HomePod mini?

 

[symphony]

When you say stream anything, can I watch a film on my Apple TV and have the audio come out of the HomePod mini?

Yes. You can stream video and audio to a HomePod.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I have the opposite situation: I already have a HomePod Mini and I’m trying to figure out whether to purchase a full-sized HomePod (possibly even two if they go on sale for $199 again soon) or an additional HomePod Mini.

Admittedly I wasn’t super impressed with the sound quality of the HomePod Mini on first impression but it’s growing on me. I think I set my expectations too high for the sound quality of a $99 smart speaker since it’s designed by Apple. While it misses the lowest bass frequencies and tends to get too busy on tracks with a lot going on, it can get deceptively loud and room-filling.

I think at times the vocal needs more room to stand out in a mix, so a stereo setup could potentially solve that. The bass isn’t necessarily lacking, but it won’t fix the lack of deep sub-bass that a full-sized HomePod could likely reproduce with authority.

Still, considering the sound quality HomePod Mini packs in a form factor that’s so tiny I think the HomePod could potentially be perfect — even more so if Apple were to release a second generation.

 

[throAU]

Great to hear! But I heard you can‘t use two minis as surround sound for Apple TV. Do these work with Apple TV when paired together for stereo?

As the owner of a couple of HomePods since release and multiple Apple TVs....

If you're planning to use HomePod(s) instead of a proper sound bar for your TV...

Don't. It's a total pain in the ass. Every time you play something to the HomePod (e.g., from your laptop/iPhone/iPad/etc. or by asking siri to play) or the ATV restarts or whatever you need to duck into settings to re-set the output to the HomePod.

Spend the money on a sound bar instead. As a bonus, you'll get the ability to stream audio to said sound bar via the appleTV anyway. And the sound quality will be better/louder than a HomePod if you get an equivalently priced sound bar setup.

By all means get multiple HomePods for the house if you want sound in multiple rooms, or stereo or whatever; just don't go expecting the appleTV -> HomePod experience to be good, because it totally sucks imho.

 

[MICHAELSD]

As the owner of a couple of HomePods since release and multiple Apple TVs....

If you're planning to use HomePod(s) instead of a proper sound bar for your TV.

Don't. It's a total pain in the ass. Every time you play something to the HomePod or the ATV restarts or whatever you need to duck into settings to re-set the output to the HomePod.

Regardless, how’s the sound quality? I’ve heard that Dolby Atmos, which was added via a firmware update impressively enough, works really well at producing sounds above and behind the listener.

 

[throAU]

Regardless, how’s the sound quality? I’ve heard that Dolby Atmos, which was added via a firmware update impressively enough, works really well at producing sounds above and behind the listener.

I've been pretty happy with HomePod sound quality for what it is. Like I said above though, an equivalent priced sound bar sounds better - but its not the same product. I haven't set up a stereo pair with the HomePods though; they're in different rooms.

I"m considering some minis to put in other rooms of the house. I do like the HomePod in general. I just think that as a sound-bar replacement for an AppleTV, its a bad choice that's all. I just found in infuriating with the constant need to go into the AppleTV settings.

 

[MICHAELSD]

I've been pretty happy with HomePod sound quality for what it is. Like I said above though, an equivalent priced sound bar sounds better - but its not the same product. I haven't set up a stereo pair with the HomePods though; they're in different rooms.

I"m considering some minis to put in other rooms of the house. I do like the HomePod in general. I just think that as a sound-bar replacement for an AppleTV, its a bad choice that's all. I just found in infuriating with the constant need to go into the AppleTV settings.

I do think HomePod has a lot of potential if Apple can work out the software kinks (I’ve had my iPhone crash a few times already when sending audio to my HomePod Mini). They could create an entire ecosystem in people’s homes if they can convince them to use HomePods with their TV, and a bunch of HomePod Mini’s in each room.

 

[okieoutwest]

As the owner of a couple of HomePods since release and multiple Apple TVs....

If you're planning to use HomePod(s) instead of a proper sound bar for your TV...

Don't. It's a total pain in the ass. Every time you play something to the HomePod (e.g., from your laptop/iPhone/iPad/etc. or by asking siri to play) or the ATV restarts or whatever you need to duck into settings to re-set the output to the HomePod.

Spend the money on a sound bar instead. As a bonus, you'll get the ability to stream audio to said sound bar via the appleTV anyway. And the sound quality will be better/louder than a HomePod if you get an equivalently priced sound bar setup.

By all means get multiple HomePods for the house if you want sound in multiple rooms, or stereo or whatever; just don't go expecting the appleTV -> HomePod experience to be good, because it totally sucks imho.

They changed the audio output settings in Apple TV so you can now set a sticky default output. For example, you can now set homepods to always be the default output, instead of the tv speakers. It sticks even after the ATV sleeps and wakes again, or going from an app that supports audio output selection in contextual menus vs one that doesn’t (like YouTube).

 

[throAU]

They changed the audio output settings in Apple TV so you can now set a sticky default output. For example, you can now set homepods to always be the default output, instead of the tv speakers. It sticks even after the ATV sleeps and wakes again, or going from an app that supports audio output selection in contextual menus vs one that doesn’t (like YouTube).

Will have to give it another look.

Already have a sound bar for the living room, but have another appletv elsewhere that is not hooked up to anything decent...

 

[perezr10]

They changed the audio output settings in Apple TV so you can now set a sticky default output. For example, you can now set homepods to always be the default output, instead of the tv speakers. It sticks even after the ATV sleeps and wakes again, or going from an app that supports audio output selection in contextual menus vs one that doesn’t (like YouTube).

Yeah, it’s improved significantly in the last few weeks.

 

[okieoutwest]

Will have to give it another look.

Already have a sound bar for the living room, but have another appletv elsewhere that is not hooked up to anything decent...

It was in one of the recent OS updates so very new and easy to miss!