Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Releases New 13.3.1 Software for HomePod
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I hope this helps, ours has been a little nutty lately. The TV will set it off sometimes and it will just start talking or playing music no one asked it to. Multi-user support has not worked well for us either; "I'm not sure who is speaking." UGH
Hi,
I own three HomePod and they are terrible.
Some examples:
- I asked HomePod to play the album 'Sleep' by Max Richter.
Instead of playing the first title of that album it starts in the middle (Path 3 (7676) [Pt. 3]).
Before you ask: No. It's not set to random play. Background noise is around 35 dB. So it should be able to understand correctly.
-Similar issue with Radio Stations. One example: Asking Siri to play radio station ‘Radio Veseljak’ Siri answers ‘Ich kann damit keinen Radiosender erstellen’ (I can’t crate a radio station.). But that one exists on TuneIn and I can choose it directly in Apple Music on my iPad to play on HomePod. When I ask HomePod which radio station it’s playing, it answers exactly with that name and pronunciation. So there’s no issue with my pronunciation. Very very seldom it works. But it’s not reliable. That is the case with lot’s of other stations that we’ve tried out so far. Impression is that it usually works with standard radio stations. Rarely chosen ones are not known to Siri.
- Sound: Meanwhile we’re using HomePod mainly for background music with low volume up to level 16.
Higher volumes lead to way too heavy bass that one can sense even outside the flat.
We’re still waiting for an option to reduce bass to an acceptable level.
Till then we’re using our Sonos play 3, AV receiver and direct output on iPads. The latter with bad sound but still better than HomePod.
- Siri pronunciation on HomePod: Sometimes we’re using HomePod for entertainment during Parties.
Not because of the good music or sound but because of the funny pronunciation.
Everybody laughs about HomePod when it’s trying to tell what’s playing (E.g. ‘Bed gee’ instead of ‘bad guy’ or you need to try on your own ‚Everyone Else’ by ‚Lilly among clouds‘). 😂
It’s funny but really bad reputation for Apple. None of our friends that experienced this would ever buy a HomePod.(Language is set to 'German').
- Very often Siri on HomePod doesn't understand my wife or just ignores her.
- If you ask HomePod to play non mainstream music it usually doesn't understand. Or it plays just 'something'.
I own several Apple products and I’m an Apple fanboy. But for sure to me HomePod is the worst Apple product so far. I don’t like amazon products. But I have to admit that Alexa and Echo handle those things much better.
I'm in contact with Apple Support to sort out the issues. But I don't expect any solution.
Andy
I own three HomePod and they are terrible.
Some examples:
- I asked HomePod to play the album 'Sleep' by Max Richter.
Instead of playing the first title of that album it starts in the middle (Path 3 (7676) [Pt. 3]).
Before you ask: No. It's not set to random play. Background noise is around 35 dB. So it should be able to understand correctly.
-Similar issue with Radio Stations. One example: Asking Siri to play radio station ‘Radio Veseljak’ Siri answers ‘Ich kann damit keinen Radiosender erstellen’ (I can’t crate a radio station.). But that one exists on TuneIn and I can choose it directly in Apple Music on my iPad to play on HomePod. When I ask HomePod which radio station it’s playing, it answers exactly with that name and pronunciation. So there’s no issue with my pronunciation. Very very seldom it works. But it’s not reliable. That is the case with lot’s of other stations that we’ve tried out so far. Impression is that it usually works with standard radio stations. Rarely chosen ones are not known to Siri.
- Sound: Meanwhile we’re using HomePod mainly for background music with low volume up to level 16.
Higher volumes lead to way too heavy bass that one can sense even outside the flat.
We’re still waiting for an option to reduce bass to an acceptable level.
Till then we’re using our Sonos play 3, AV receiver and direct output on iPads. The latter with bad sound but still better than HomePod.
- Siri pronunciation on HomePod: Sometimes we’re using HomePod for entertainment during Parties.
Not because of the good music or sound but because of the funny pronunciation.
Everybody laughs about HomePod when it’s trying to tell what’s playing (E.g. ‘Bed gee’ instead of ‘bad guy’ or you need to try on your own ‚Everyone Else’ by ‚Lilly among clouds‘). 😂
It’s funny but really bad reputation for Apple. None of our friends that experienced this would ever buy a HomePod.(Language is set to 'German').
- Very often Siri on HomePod doesn't understand my wife or just ignores her.
- If you ask HomePod to play non mainstream music it usually doesn't understand. Or it plays just 'something'.
I own several Apple products and I’m an Apple fanboy. But for sure to me HomePod is the worst Apple product so far. I don’t like amazon products. But I have to admit that Alexa and Echo handle those things much better.
I'm in contact with Apple Support to sort out the issues. But I don't expect any solution.
Andy
Same. I love the sound of it in the living room but the one in the bedroom is going to get my neighbour to call the police. I always have to keep it on very low volume to offset the heavy bass. I'd love it if I could take the bass down a notch.
Voice recognition still not working for my partner, despite having tried different workarounds multiple times...
What a joke.
What a joke.
well this is the 2ND HomePod I’ve owned, currently only one one (stupidly sold the first time get a Sonos One), I updated remotely with no issues on Home app or in sound quality or voice recognition whatsoever!
your thought could be applied to laptops, smartphones and smart watches and smart bulbs, yet we’re not living in dark ages any more. Still I see what you mean.
3wks Avi I read an article that Sonos could potentially be purchased by another company which if we’ve learned anything from other smart web AI device companies being bought their existing devices become garbage. So I fully see your worry. But appple is less likely to be bought by another company and with airPlay2 support it’s likely I can still use it some 10yrs from now more than Sonos.
I agree with 1 to 3. I've never watched WWE, so can't confirm that one.
This exact same thing happens with "single" homepod/airplay speakers. It doesn't seem isolated to stereo pairs. Unbelievable really. We suffer through this exact same scenario every time we watch TV.
I don't own a HomePod but can you not adjust the EQ preset on your iPhone and play it through the HomePod? I used to do that with my Bose.
Like this.
How to adjust the EQ (audio levels) on your HomePod
If you think the HomePod puts out sound that's too bass-heavy, you can make adjustments to the EQ ... if you're listening through AirPlay.
www.imore.com
You can, but every time I get in my car and connect to CarPlay or Bluetooth, or put in my headphones, I’d have to go to settings and change it back. Also it requires restarting the music app, and something like disconnecting/reconnecting, and it’s way to big of a hassle to be doing every time I get home. Also, if you use Apple Music straight from the HomePod, it won’t honor your phone’s settings. I was surprised they didn’t make it customizable for people with different sound preferences, or people like me who live in an apartment where I’d get complaints from neighbors with bass that high.I don't own a HomePod but can you not adjust the EQ preset on your iPhone and play it through the HomePod? I used to do that with my Bose.
Like this.
How to adjust the EQ (audio levels) on your HomePod
If you think the HomePod puts out sound that's too bass-heavy, you can make adjustments to the EQ ... if you're listening through AirPlay.
You’d have to change it back every time you reconnected. Or deal with little/no bass in your car and headphones. Plus when you adjust it in your settings you have to close apps and reopen, and it is tricky to get the HomePod to honor those settings (I had one for one day). Also if you play music straight from the HomePod (“Siri, play pop music”, etc), it will not honor your phone’s eq settings. Trust me, I am a big Apple fan and not one to trash talk their stuff, but I don’t know what they were thinking making something with so much technology in it and not allowing people to set the sound how they like it. If they ever release one that I can adjust (or if I ever move into a house), I’d love to have one again.
crashed one of my HomePods..but I was able to finally update it...had to factory reset a few times and move it to another room before it finally finished...other 3 where just fine
Well I also live in a small apartment ... but my neighbours have other sounds, noises and phrases in non-normal speaking volumes to complain about without my HomePod
lol. The closest is a singer and loves music as much as I do so I don't play mine very late or too early on the weekends and we're just cool. The other noise that occur, well it's a form of 'music' being made and reaches 5 apartments down the hall to the elevators which is quite embarrassing, just not for me though
HomePod and Bass all the way for me!
I like having the multiple profiles so my HomePods can differentiate between myself and my partner however issuing commands while home alone can be trying with, "Who is this?" after just completing a request to Siri. I've even responded, "Siri! I'm your Administrator!" It's all good, Siri's AI will improve in time and I love my HomePods audio quality, volume plus access to any Music.
It's all good, Siri's AI will improve in time and I love my HomePods audio quality, volume plus access to any Music.Attachments
I'm from the Netherlands and there is no Homepod!! So i buy them in Germany, and have already 5 of them and i love them. What i find so stranges is that there is siri for the Iphone in Dutch but there is no Siri for the homepod why dies apple don't release the Siri in Dutch.
I did not write Apple bricked devices. Sonos did. I was just unaware that any music equipment could just stop work not because it breaks but just because the manufacturer decides so. I am an old school guy, owning 30 and more years old guitars, owning a 40 years old Technics turntable, a 2 few 20 year old Sony headphones, 20 year old Yamaha monitors and so on. I still use my beloved 12 years old iPod Nano for the kids. So if a perfectly fine music equipment like a speaker is not broken then Sonos should let the users still use it at least as a dumb speaker or they could sell it if it is not supported anymore. But no Sonos remotely bricked them. As a user I would go ballistic! What a waste of money and resources in todays world!
Where I brought in Apple is that the Home Pod lacks any cable inputs. There is no way you can use it as a dumb speaker to connect it to your AirPort Express or existing sound system. So there is the danger that it could become useless one day just because the support will end and there is no other way to connect it to a sound system.
In a similar way I was totally caught off guard when I suddenly realized last year that my AirPods are a disposable piece of music gear. I noticed that they needed to be reloaded more and more often as they could hold less and less power. When I bought them I was thinking as a musician, like how do they sound, how do they fit, how easy do they connect. I did not ask how long I could use them before I have to throw them away. It never ever crossed my mind that in four or five years of daily use the batteries would wear down to an usable state and perfectly fine earphones would be junk.
So seeing Sonos pull this move caught me off guard as well and made me aware that the consumer music gear world is not what it used to be. It's disposable and it's dependent on software to function properly.
This! Siri seems to have gone nuts recently - it used to work much better.
Me: "Hey Siri, play Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto"
Siri: "Playing piano concerto K123 by Mozart"
Me: "Hey Siri, play Piano Concerto number 3 by Beethoven"
Siri: "Playing Piano concerto number 2 3rd movement by Beethoven"
etc, etc. For me it's barely usable with Siri & Apple Music these days. Most of the time I have to use it to play music that's in my playlists.
Oh dang. That sucks.
I mean, I get it. Our use case isn't exactly what Apple intended for the HomePods, but at the same time, they gave it the ability to do so, and when they worked, they worked beautifully.
You're saying that even AirPlay speakers aren't working properly as well, not just a HomePod?
[automerge]1580304796[/automerge]
I agree with 1 to 3. I've never watched WWE, so can't confirm that one.
lol, fair enough. For what it's worth, when it launched it was the best streaming service around. Setting aside the content itself, the WWE nailed every aspect of the service. GUI, live streaming, on demand, and practically their entire back catalog, spanning decades. I feel like they set the standard for what every other service since has tried to be.
Was hoping for the same - the HomePods understand my wife perfectly fine, but for my own voice it's about 50:50. I've had the firmware on for a couple of hours - so far, voice recognition has been as crappy as before.
Keep it up and she'll start calling the guys with the white long sleeve sweaters on ya.
