Yes this is exactly what I mean.
Is there still a significant delay? Or has Apple fixed this issue in the last 2 years?
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Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
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Is there still a significant delay? Or has Apple fixed this issue in the last 2 years?
Yes for me there is still a delay. I don’t do a ton of video watching on my Mac these days, but I recall having to delay the video in IINA app to make it line up.
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So you want just a bookshelf speaker? Why not just, you know…buy some bookshelf speakers?
One feature I'd really like to see is the ability to pair more than two HomePods for a more immersive Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos set-up. Many people have side that they'd like to be able to add a pair of Home Pod minis as surround speakers to complement a stereo pair of HomePods. But what I had in mind goes beyond that. I'd like the paired Homepods - whether it's two, three, or even six -- to be able to detect the location of each speaker in the room and adjust the stereo image or surround image accordingly. For example, if you paired three HomePods together and set them up in the front of the room, the stereo image would automatically be spread out across the three speakers. And then if you added two additional HomePods in the real of the room, the soundfield would expand further to include surround imaging. This isn't a new idea -- the Syng Cell Alpha wireless speakers, which were designed by someone on the original HomePod design deal -- do something like this.
In what universe would reducing the number of tweeters lead to better sound?
But you could play local music over the local network with Siri on the homepod using home sharing. Should be no problem at all.
Thank you. In my mind, I actually meant to say that I want to access my Mac iTunes/Music library using Siri.I But you can Airplay from the Mac Music app too.
Apple Music User Guide for Mac
Learn to use Apple Music on Mac to listen to all the music in your collection, discover new artists, and add more songs to your library.support.apple.com
You'll have to watch the video for the details of how MKBHD did the comparisons. He tracked some things like accuracy and history (i.e. did the recent query remember the last query for context).
As for pairing, I've only tried pairing the OG HomePods, not the minis. The OGs work flawlessly with never a hiccup and they sound as good as my soundbars (I have two, one Samsung that cost more than $1000 and a $500 Sonos). I've had to reboot one occasionally after a power spike caused my equipment to reset (power outage that lasts less than 2 seconds), but they don't ever fail when the power is steady. I have them hooked up to an AppleTV 4K using eARC to a Samsung TV. It works nicely. Even when the AppleTV is off, the Samsung still plays audio out of the HomePod pair.
As for HomeKit, they work just as well as any other device does. I have no complaints about any of my HomePods. I do have 3 minis in various areas of the house, but they aren't attached to anything.
Apple now has its own in-ear headphones (normal and Pro version), studio over the ear headphones, mini speaker, larger speaker, so they are clearly want to expend their audio portfolio. My guess is that they will now release a large soundbar for 1,299$ that will provide the Dolby Atmos and lossless audio support needed for home usage.
Tempted to pick this up for the sensors to be honest to have this in every room would be ideal Witt the humility issues I’ve had with my house lately. Use it in lounge for my music and podcasts
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If Apple does that, then they should figure out a way to pair two HomePods with the soundbor to serve as surround speakers.
This has become a severe problem lately, especially with owners of McMansions. 😂
Yeah I wish for that as well. Perhaps one could use Hey Siri on an Apple device that is set to Airplay to a HomePod. But that’s not as convenient.Thank you. In my mind, I actually meant to say that I want to access my Mac iTunes/Music library using Siri.
Same. Been using the airplay 2 support on an rpi for over a year now, been rock solidIt is Airplay2. For audio, it works and I have used that for almost 2 months without any issue.
Audio is perfectly synced when I play Youtube on Mac and use Pi as Airplay receiver.
GitHub - mikebrady/shairport-sync: AirPlay and AirPlay 2 audio player
AirPlay and AirPlay 2 audio player. Contribute to mikebrady/shairport-sync development by creating an account on GitHub.github.com
I had the same question - been waiting years for Apple to support the use of Siri to directly access my local library on Homepod without subscriptions. Using your phone to airplay to the Homepod doesn't make sense. The whole point of a smart speaker is to be well 'smart' and convenient, should not have to unlock the phone just to listen to music.Thank you. In my mind, I actually meant to say that I want to access my Mac iTunes/Music library using Siri.
I don't think Apple will ever add this, so it's a hard pass for me.
Does your phone have access to your local music library? I would think you would need your Mac to do that. Unlocking your phone just to listen to music does seem like a pretty low bar, though.
I do listen to music from sources outside of Apple Music's library, but I have added those to Music by adding the mp3 files from my laptop and then they are uploaded to my library in Apple Music. Then I can listen to them on my HomePod. these are mostly captures of live performances and not in any public library.
When I got my first HomePod, I already had an Echo Dot, so I used it and AirPlay to send audio from my main library to the HomePod. There were ways to do this with both Plex and J River ( probably others, but had both programs on hand to test).
You would setup the Plex skill on the Echo to control audio on Plex Media server and then use Airplay to send to HomePod. Not ideal, but worked for me. At this point, there are probably other solutions, but it made it possible to use the HomePod with my main library using voice ( though I much prefer just using Apple Music without getting the Echo Dot involved).
Sound quality is not directly related to the number of tweeters. It only takes one good tweeter, oriented correctly relative to the listener, to sound great. The HomePod design uses many tweeters so that it can be place in almost any location or orientation and soud good. Chances are that this change doesn't alter the sound profile in any substantial way.
It will be interesting to see comparisons. Personally, we use the HomePod between rooms, so it seems like more tweeters would create better sound as we moved from the kitchen to the living room. Hopefully, Stereophile does a real review rather than the fluff piece linked earlier. However, I think most reviews on the OG were from the ideal listening position, so I wonder if anyone will report the possible differences as you move around the space.
In any event, I am happy to see this back on the market, I just wish they had listened to consumers and made a few changes to make it work with more stuff.
I noticed how this release pretty much coincides with the collapse of amazons Alexa/echo division. Turns out selling hardware at a loss hoping people will order Amazon products using Alexa didn’t happen. Most people just want to play music, set alarms and control a smart home which Siri does just fine. No one asks their smart speaker for baseball scores - except the chattering tech media. Apple timed this rerelease perfectly.
The “collapse” hasn’t really had any effect on Echo device users that I am aware of. They are still selling them and many of the devices don’t compete with HomePod because they have an aux out to connect to an existing setup or they have screens.
Not sure what sports scores have to do with anything. Amazon, from what I have read was selling them at cost ( and sold a ton of them) and were somehow expecting people to use it for shopping. I don’t think the device is any good for that. I mean, try to order something with a paragraph long description… you need a visual interface for that… which I guess they tried to fix to some extent by putting screens on them, but might as well pick up your phone to be sure you are ordering the right thing. I will admit that it reminds me to order dog treats and coffee, so it has some use, but not enough to make up for it being a loss leader.
My guess is that they think the HomePod Mini is in a lot more homes and this may get the converted to upgrade to get much better sound in bigger spaces. I am still surprised that they barely changed its feature set, but here we are.
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