Apple Confirms HomePod's Supported Audio Sources in Tech Specs

[erinsarah]

Why would you connect an AppleTV to an HomePod? It'd be best to spend a bit more and get a decent Home Theatre system. Most likely, you'd get more use out of the HomeTheatre.

To each his own, my friend, to each his own. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. For example, I've got a TV in my bedroom. I have zero interest in putting a home theatre in my bedroom, but the TV speakers suck so I need something. If I had this it could sit near the bed and broadcast the sound from the TV, which is a good 20 feet away, without the volume being up so loud that it wakes the kids.

Of course that being said, my own complication is that I don't ONLY use the AppleTV in there...I also have a Tivo Mini and the built-in apps on the TV itself (for Netflix and Amazon). currently I have an external bluetooth transmitter sending sound to a Bose Soundlink near the bed...if the HomePod doesn't also do Bluetooth then it would not work in this scenario.

 

[nrose101]

It has Siri built in, I'm not sure what you're confused about...

Not one thing has been mentioned about home kit support or any feature other than music. Basically, I want to just replace the word Alexa with the word Siri and do the same things. That is why I preordered one.

 

[xjavontax]

I genuinely can't believe how anyone didn't expect it to be able to play audio from any AirPlay source. The Apple TV is an AirPlay source. Simple logic would've given any of you your answer a long time ago.

Bluetooth is going to be used for HomeKit devices. Elgato stuff relies heavily on Bluetooth. August locks too. I'd say there's about a 40% chance of them allowing audio to go through Bluetooth, and if they do it's not going to be multi-room Bluetooth capable. It's not their focus. AirPlay is.

 

[falainber]

Just make new friends.

If you limit your friend selection only to Apple fans the choices in many countries would be very limited (like 2% of the population). But that's OK, that's what Apple wants you to do.

 

[the future]

Perhaps 'biased' is a bit strong but I was referring to iMore which has a reputation for being one of the most fanatical Apple sites on the net.

„Fanatical“ is quite strong as well. iMore in general like Apple stuff for sure; I would expect that from a site covering mostly Apple. On the other hand, I‘m reading a lot of (constructive) criticism there as well. And many of their arcticles/reviews are really quite in depth and, dare I say so, more useful for readers than the pure news/rumors reporting on macrumors. Conicidentally, most (all?) of the now confirmed by Apple HomePod music sources were researched and reported by Serenity Caldwell on iMore days ago.

 

[nrose101]

I want to use this primarily in the bedroom as just a speaker and alarm clock. Home theaters deserver Dolby Atmos and at least 7 speakers. So I honestly do not get most of these posts. If it cant set an alarm or do basic functions as turn on hues lights..it is being marketed wrong.

 

[erinsarah]

What am I missing here? Why are people concerned with the current lack of Bluetooth connectivity?

I actually have a scenario that would serve as an example. TV in the bedroom, and I want an external WIRELESS speaker for it, because the TV is pretty far from the bed and a soundbar would be too loud with kids sleeping in the next room. The TV has an AppleTv, a TV mini, and built-in apps. Currently I have an external bluetooth transmitter plugged into the optical out of the TV, broadcasting to a Bose Soundlink BT speaker sitting on our headboard.

If I understand the specs right, we could watch something on the AppleTV and it would successfully send to the HomePod (instead of the Bose soundlink) but we could not broadcast from the Tivo Mini or the TV's apps to a HomePod.

 

[Shlooky]

I'm not sure why people are asking for Bluetooth, it's the lowest form of audio quality due to it's limited bandwidth.

 

[Fozziebear71]

Homepod threads seem to have a lot of comments for a product that supposedly no one is going to buy and will spark the demise of Apple.

 

[Phonephreak]

It hasn't got a battery either.

That I knew. Kinda of a fail right there. BT should have been included.

Might as well just use a set of powered speakers and get true stereo. Not pseudo stereo.

 

[ersan191]

To each his own, my friend, to each his own. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. For example, I've got a TV in my bedroom. I have zero interest in putting a home theatre in my bedroom, but the TV speakers suck so I need something. If I had this it could sit near the bed and broadcast the sound from the TV, which is a good 20 feet away, without the volume being up so loud that it wakes the kids.

Of course that being said, my own complication is that I don't ONLY use the AppleTV in there...I also have a Tivo Mini and the built-in apps on the TV itself (for Netflix and Amazon). currently I have an external bluetooth transmitter sending sound to a Bose Soundlink near the bed...if the HomePod doesn't also do Bluetooth then it would not work in this scenario.

Another HUGE benefit of connecting Apple TV to your HomePod is that the HomePod knows what audio is playing, so it can do microphone noise cancellation based on what is playing on the TV. This means that it should hear you 1000x better when you try to talk to it while the TV is on - it's also going to mute the TV audio while you're talking to it. This is a big annoyance with using Alexa, if the TV is too loud it won't hear you so I find myself waiting for a break in the TV voices to ask for something. Often times you'll start talking to it and it will hear voices on the TV and screw up your request as well.

There's a very good chance that they will add features to HomePod to control your Apple TV playback also - for instance when you say "Hey Siri" and a video is playing it will likely be able to pause the video until you're done talking to Siri (if that isn't something they added at launch I'm sure it will arrive eventually). You'll also probably be able to ask it to skip forward, pause, etc. Eventually I'm sure it will be able to use the Apple TV to respond visually to HomePod commands without needing to use the ATV Siri Remote, and you'll be able to ask it to play things the same as you would if you had asked the Apple TV directly.

This also means if someone says something that sounds like "Hey Siri" on TV, your HomePod isn't going to try and respond - which happens a LOT with the Echo. I remember one South Park episode driving me particularly insane.

 

[Mark Booth]

Did you try to train Apple Music to your likes and dislikes?

Yep, for 3 months. Gave up when the trial ended.

And I've never "trained" Pandora. When I create a 'Frank Sinatra' channel on Pandora not all of the music is Frank Sinatra but all of the music *is* similar in style, pace and tone. 99% of what gets played is exactly what I'm looking for.

I had NO such luck trying to use Apple Music. It sucks.

Mark

 

[foxcub6]

...or Spotify without doing it through a phone/tablet.

Valiant effort, Apple, but it won't be appearing in my home anytime soon. Voice control of Spotify would sell me, but bleh.

What’s this obsession with Spotify un less your getting it free of course, Apple Music is better in my opinion

 

[ersan191]

What’s this obsession with Spotify un less your getting it free of course, Apple Music is better in my opinion

I have a better time with Apple Music recommendations than I ever did with Spotify as well, and I think AM is a better service overall - especially if you have a lot of iOS devices. Everyone has a different experience and different priorities though.

 

[fhall1]

Is this on a Mac? If so, just use iTunes on the Mac to play to the HomePod via airplay.

Thus the crappy workaround I mentioned of using Airplay through a third device

 

[Mike MA]

Why would you connect an AppleTV to an HomePod? It'd be best to spend a bit more and get a decent Home Theatre system. Most likely, you'd get more use out of the HomeTheatre.

I just want to have some decent sound quality when sometimes streaming music at home. So why not using a pair of HomePods to also enhance the Apple TVs audio out? It makes perfect sense as it‘s embedded, wireless, a very lean setup and your kids won‘t pull out the wires all the time.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Not one thing has been mentioned about home kit support or any feature other than music. Basically, I want to just replace the word Alexa with the word Siri and do the same things. That is why I preordered one.

"These are not the droids you are looking for."

 

[deanthedev]

That's odd, someone who was present at one of the demo sessions said the opposite.

Then they’re a perfect example of a placebo effect. It’s simply not possible for the Google Home Max to have a wide soundstage.
[doublepost=1517514149][/doublepost]

You are defending Apple so hard that you make ridiculous statements. Not only the distance between the tweeters is too small to be stereo but also the speaker does not even know where the listener is so how would it even know how to assigns channels to tweeters.

Nothing but truth in what I’ve stated so far.

The L & R channels are bounced off the rear wall which is why the separation ends up being far greater than the actual distance between the tweeters by the time the sound reaches the listener.

The HomePod doesn’t need to know where the listener is. It knows its own location to allow it to best determine where to direct the sound.

 

[JamesMay82]

I like the idea of a Apple home speaker but why can't they incorporate streaming a music library from a Mac? Not everyone has made the switch to streaming. I have a fairly large collection of CD's that are imported into my iTunes and I don't listen to enough new music to justify Apple Music. I'd be paying a monthly fee to listen to stuff I already own.

iTunes Match sounds good on principal but it's been a mess every time I've tried it and its majorly messed with my artwork in the past etc.

I have a full Sonos system which is great but recently its always skipping tracks or pausing.. Think I need my old CD player back

 

[itzak37]

Apple today updated its HomePod tech specs page with a new Audio Sources section that lists all of the ways in which the speaker can stream audio, setting the record straight on some conflicting information.

o Apple Music: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any of over 45 million songs available on Apple Music. A subscription is required.

o iTunes Music: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any songs, albums, or audiobooks purchased from the iTunes Store.

o iCloud Music Library: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any songs uploaded to a user's iCloud Music Library, including songs imported from other sources such as CDs, with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription.

o Beats 1: HomePod users can ask Siri to play Apple's official radio station.

o Podcasts: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any podcast episodes from the iTunes podcast directory.

o AirPlay: HomePod users can use AirPlay to play other audio from an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac. AirPlay 2, coming later this year, is only required to stream audio from these sources to multiple HomePods.
Earlier this week, iMore's Serenity Caldwell put together a useful breakdown with more detailed information about how the HomePod works with Apple Music, iTunes Match, iCloud Music Library, AirPlay, and more.

HomePod orders began last week ahead of the speaker's official launch on February 9 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Article Link: Apple Confirms HomePod's Supported Audio Sources in Tech Specs

 

[mookc1]

can't make music with bluetooth speaker! legacy is always a problem.

Yup, just like the headphone jack!

 

[Machead2012]

Apple today updated its HomePod tech specs page with a new Audio Sources section that lists all of the ways in which the speaker can stream audio, setting the record straight on some conflicting information.

o Apple Music: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any of over 45 million songs available on Apple Music. A subscription is required.

o iTunes Music: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any songs, albums, or audiobooks purchased from the iTunes Store.

o iCloud Music Library: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any songs uploaded to a user's iCloud Music Library, including songs imported from other sources such as CDs, with an Apple Music or iTunes Match subscription.

o Beats 1: HomePod users can ask Siri to play Apple's official radio station.

o Podcasts: HomePod users can ask Siri to play any podcast episodes from the iTunes podcast directory.

o AirPlay: HomePod users can use AirPlay to play other audio from an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac. AirPlay 2, coming later this year, is only required to stream audio from these sources to multiple HomePods.
Earlier this week, iMore's Serenity Caldwell put together a useful breakdown with more detailed information about how the HomePod works with Apple Music, iTunes Match, iCloud Music Library, AirPlay, and more.

HomePod orders began last week ahead of the speaker's official launch on February 9 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Article Link: Apple Confirms HomePod's Supported Audio Sources in Tech Specs

No Bluetooth? I'll pass. Looks sexy great but sadly no pun intended does not "put out" and Apple Music IMHO is awful.
Spotify support might have made me reconsider and I don't want to hear that you can stream Spotify via AirPlay. Backdoor entrance just does not cut it.

 

[doelcm82]

To each his own, my friend, to each his own. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. For example, I've got a TV in my bedroom. I have zero interest in putting a home theatre in my bedroom, but the TV speakers suck so I need something. If I had this it could sit near the bed and broadcast the sound from the TV, which is a good 20 feet away, without the volume being up so loud that it wakes the kids.

Of course that being said, my own complication is that I don't ONLY use the AppleTV in there...I also have a Tivo Mini and the built-in apps on the TV itself (for Netflix and Amazon). currently I have an external bluetooth transmitter sending sound to a Bose Soundlink near the bed...if the HomePod doesn't also do Bluetooth then it would not work in this scenario.

I have the Netflix and Amazon apps (as well as YouTube and Hulu) built into my TV, but I also have the apps on Apple TV. I like the Apple TV versions better, as I can search them with the Siri Remote. And if the HomePod means I have better sound from using the apps on Apple TV, then it's one more reason to prefer to access them that way.

This brings up an interesting question. Can you interact with the Apple TV by using the HomePod? I'd like to say "Hey, Siri, search for OK Go on You Tube" and have the Apple TV show me the results in the You Tube app. Asking about the weather could bring up a weather app on the TV. Even if it's not possible on Day 1, I can see Apple TV and HomePod being very complementary in the future. Add a camera, and you can do the FaceTime video conferencing thing, too. With Augmented Reality to turn your home into a palace, or at least clean up the mess a bit.

 

[Phonephreak]

„Fanatical“ is quite strong as well. iMore in general like Apple stuff for sure; I would expect that from a site covering mostly Apple. On the other hand, I‘m reading a lot of (constructive) criticism there as well. And many of their arcticles/reviews are really quite in depth and, dare I say so, more useful for readers than the pure news/rumors reporting on macrumors. Conicidentally, most (all?) of the now confirmed by Apple HomePod music sources were researched and reported by Serenity Caldwell on iMore days ago.

Yet your on macrumors posting

 

[lazard]

What’s this obsession with Spotify un less your getting it free of course, Apple Music is better in my opinion

thanks for your opinion

/s