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Apple Releases New 11.4.1 Update for HomePod

I reset my HomePod and its all updated now :) No idea what was up with it, didnt install any beta profiles on it that im aware lol
 
I'm on the latest iOS 12 beta as well, and it won't update. I see the update, but when I click download and install it just spins briefly and goes back to download and install. Ah well, it will do it eventually I guess
 
Ted13 said:
I’ve had no trouble with the stereo pairing, but talk (podcasts, NPR, etc) on the stereo HomePods via AirPlay 2 sound weird - out of synch
Click to expand...

Yes this is definitely a bug, I filed it with Apple. If you use them as a stereo pair with Apple TV and then watch a TV program with a stereo audio track (eg not something with a dedicated central vocal channel) then it does really weird stuff to voices, they phase and move all over the place - it's obviously trying to over process stuff which it's seeing as a singing vocal (the processing Apple told us about) when it should be doing nothing at all...they probably need to be told where you're sitting to for things like that so they can just through the sound out the front.
 
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I still get the same damn audio delay when streaming simultaneously on Apple TV 4K and Homepods. o_O
 
dannys1 said:
Yes this is definitely a bug, I filed it with Apple. If you use them as a stereo pair with Apple TV and then watch a TV program with a stereo audio track (eg not something with a dedicated central vocal channel) then it does really weird stuff to voices, they phase and move all over the place - it's obviously trying to over process stuff which it's seeing as a singing vocal (the processing Apple told us about) when it should be doing nothing at all...they probably need to be told where you're sitting to for things like that so they can just through the sound out the front.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the additional TV info - I haven't really tried it there as I have a very good quality existing receiver/wired speakers 5.1 sound setup for my TV/AppleTV

In the case of podcasts/radio I'm not sitting at all - most of often I've been listening to something on my way home on my AirPods, then take them off when I get home at transfer my iPhone sound to the HomePods and walk around the house as I'm doing various things. It shouldn't matter where you are, if we are talking about talk, L/R channels should be identical, which is how it sounds via my receiver/regular speakers.
 
ipedro said:
Happy to see this update. Siri on my HomePod has gotten noticeably slower in the past couple of days. Issuing a HomeKit command used to be instant. Now, Siri says "just a second", sometimes multiple times, before the command is executed.

That is likely to be something in the Siri server since the problem came on spontaneously, but maybe it was an incompatibility from an update made to the Siri server to work with the OS update that has now been released.
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I found the same thing to happen, sometimes even ending with a response like no internet connection was available, which was purely nonsense. So I’m curious if this improved.

Yet I still wait for some update providing HomePod’s Siri the same quality or reliability compared to other iOS devices. In this regards I still struggle to understand why I can dictate huge messages on my iPhone with no issue at all while the same message on the HomePod is full of missunderstood content - even though the HomePod can utilize a fair number of microphones compared to an iPhone.
 
I've had problems bouncing the HomePod from my AppleTV to my iCloud music library and back. First tries seem to have fixed them. I'll be trying to break it over the next couple of days.
 
MacRumors said:
"general improvements for stability and quality"
Click to expand...

Apple for "bug squashing, but we'd rather not tell you which bugs because it's too embarrassing."
 

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Improvements

  1. Definitely louder.

  2. I can now say "Hey Siri play something I like" without having to disconnect the HomePods from the apple tv which is huge for me. Play something I like works really well for me and it was hassle never knowing if I needed to disconnect.

  3. New graphic that shows a stereo pair when I turn volume up or down.
 
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DarwinOSX said:
Improvements

  1. Definitely louder.

  2. I can now say "Hey Siri play something I like" without having to disconnect the HomePods from the apple tv which is huge for me. Play something I like works really well for me and it was hassle never knowing if I needed to disconnect.

  3. New graphic that shows a stereo pair when I turn volume up or down.
Click to expand...

Improvements compared to 11.4 or 11.3?
 
ipedro said:
Yes! It fixed it! HomeKit commands are now instant again.

My HomePod also had an issue with it going hard of hearing for no reason. Sometimes my HomePod could hear me whispering from across the room, other times I would have to shout at it while standing a couple of metres away. Both of these problems are now fixed.
Click to expand...

That's good to hear. I've had the same issues since the previous update, along with false triggers. I also felt the sound quality degraded and I'm not as happy with it.
 
Ted13 said:
which is how it sounds via my receiver/regular speakers.
Click to expand...

The difference is your regular speakers don't throw out sound 360 degrees all around, they already have a singular point to output - that's where the weird phasing is coming from as it's trying to process multiple streams of the same thing and enhance the parts it thinks it should in different directions.

It needs a spoken word/stereo TV source where it just send them out in one direction - forwards (the opposite side of the power point)
 
penajmz said:
Thought I was the only one that noticed this very welcomed change.

I haven’t tried playing a movie from Apple TV but I hope that’s louder too.
Click to expand...

I need to figure this out as well but I doubt. Audio out on the Apple TV generally is an issue when speaking about decent volume, also try using Bluetooth headphones for example. So I guess this actually is not a HomePod issue.
 
ipedro said:
Happy to see this update. Siri on my HomePod has gotten noticeably slower in the past couple of days. Issuing a HomeKit command used to be instant. Now, Siri says "just a second", sometimes multiple times, before the command is executed.

That is likely to be something in the Siri server since the problem came on spontaneously, but maybe it was an incompatibility from an update made to the Siri server to work with the OS update that has now been released.
Click to expand...
I’ve noticed the “just a second” (i.e. 30 seconds) only happens when paired in stereo with another HomePod. Unfortunately, this continues to happen after updating both HomePods.
 
DarwinOSX said:
Improvements

  1. Definitely louder.

  2. I can now say "Hey Siri play something I like" without having to disconnect the HomePods from the apple tv which is huge for me. Play something I like works really well for me and it was hassle never knowing if I needed to disconnect.

  3. New graphic that shows a stereo pair when I turn volume up or down.
Click to expand...
Is the bass the same? Don’t want to update if they changed the bass.
 
I’m trying to find out is the bass the same for HomePod with 11.4.1 as it was for 11.4? Need to know before I update my HomePods.
 
delo said:
I’m trying to find out is the bass the same for HomePod with 11.4.1 as it was for 11.4? Need to know before I update my HomePods.
Click to expand...
My opinion is it’s just slightly more bass (so essentially the same).
 
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I literally can't comprehend how people want more bass on this thing. I had to return it because it shook the **** out of my apartment even on low volume. :D
 
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Happy to note that a new release of iTunes is enabling stereo pairing from the Mac now. Tonight i’ll Pick up a second HomePod and give it a try.
 
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