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Apple Releases New 13.4.5 Software for HomePod

tfigs said:
Been thinking of getting one, is it worth it?
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I really, really like my HomePod but only because I run AirFoil so I can set the EQ. If Apple hadn't killed this off and decided to tell us all how we like our music, I'd have been recommending this to everyone who'd listen for the past however long it's been since it was released.

However. I really love my Sonos system throughout my home. Knowing what I know now, I would replace a single HomePod with two Sonos One SL units in a heartbeat.

I only own one HomePod so I can't speak to running them in a pair or set.
 
5 HomePods updated without issues.

Improvement:
- Change default account. Finally able to it on my daughter’s HomePod, as opposed to having to create a new “Home” so her Apple ID could be the default account.

No change:
- Multiuser Voice Recognition. HomePod still unable to recognise my partner’s voice, has always recognised mine. Apple Support has been calling me a couple of weeks after the last 2-3 updates to see if anything has changed, sad to say it still doesn’t work... maybe on HomePod 2 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
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CamiMR said:
5 HomePods updated without issues.

Improvement:
- Change default account. Finally able to it on my daughter’s HomePod, as opposed to having to create a new “Home” so her Apple ID could be the default account.

No change:
- Multiuser Voice Recognition. HomePod still unable to recognise my partner’s voice, has always recognised mine. Apple Support has been calling me a couple of weeks after the last 2-3 updates to see if anything has changed, sad to say it still doesn’t work... maybe on HomePod 2 🤦🏻‍♂️
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You could always change default account; at least you could before this update. I'm still having issues with multiuser as well.
 
BF1M said:
You could always change default account; at least you could before this update. I'm still having issues with multiuser as well.
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I known the option was always there, but I would always get an error when trying to change it... until this update! 👍🏻
 
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I would just love it if some day they released an update so that I don’t have to unplug-plug them back in every week or two. They seem to lose internet connection every 10-14 days. Super annoying. Factory resets, updates, etc - nothing has worked... yet!
 
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decypher44 said:
I would just love it if some day they released an update so that I don’t have to unplug-plug them back in every week or two. They seem to lose internet connection every 10-14 days. Super annoying. Factory resets, updates, etc - nothing has worked... yet!
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Most likely a WiFi problem. What router/AP do you use and what firmware version is it on?
 
CamiMR said:
I known the option was always there, but I would always get an error when trying to change it... until this update! 👍🏻
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Oh I see. Be honest with you I never tried to change it until few days ago. All the HomePod in my house mysteriously\magically were switched to my wife's account off of mine. Had to switch it back.
 
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kissmo said:
Ah wow... This update worked and it fixed one big issue I had: Stereo was balanced more towards left now it's even.
It's not placebo because my wife came in the room while testing some songs and she asked me how did I fix the balance.

Maybe it ran some calibration after the update, I don't know but for now I am very happy with this.
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Wait, you can't even balance the stereo by yourself? One thing (besides a lot of others actually but a big one) that makes me avoid the HomePod is its lack of an equalizer. I knew you couldn't set anything on the HomePod but not even the stereo balance? Wow.
 
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I was hoping this update would fix my HomePod’s access to my iTunes Match library, but alas it hasn’t. Is this a problem with my iCloud account?

I recently ditched Apple Music and have had limited success getting Siri on my HomePod to play an album in my actual iTunes Match collection, with the common response being “I couldn’t find” this or that in your collection.

I can play music from my collection via the Home app but I’m reminded that the music will stop playing when my iPhone is out of range, basically saying the music is coming from my phone - that it’s tethered to the HomePod - and not playing from my Homepod’s access to my matched music in the cloud. Very disappointing!!
 
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BlueParadox said:
I was hoping this update would fix my HomePod’s access to my iTunes Match library, but alas it hasn’t. Is this a problem with my iCloud account?

I recently ditched Apple Music and have had limited success getting Siri on my HomePod to play an album in my actual iTunes Match collection, with the common response being “I couldn’t find” this or that in your collection.

I can play music from my collection via the Home app but I’m reminded that the music will stop playing when my iPhone is out of range, basically saying the music is coming from my phone - that it’s tethered to the HomePod - and not playing from my Homepod’s access to my matched music in the cloud. Very disappointing!!
Click to expand...

I have the same issue and was hoping the fix was in. Bummer!!
 
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tfigs said:
Been thinking of getting one, is it worth it?
Click to expand...
I'm a new user who is delighted. In very short order I bought a second one for stereo pairing.

Just beware that updating the OS, from whatever is preloaded, will probably be the first thing you do after setup. My second one (purchased after the recent stock outage) had 11.2.5, which is too old to even think about stereo. An update of that magnitude will take quite a while. This leads me to believe that Apple's stock was replenished by inventory shuffling, not "fresh from the factory." But hey, they're all the same hardware. :)
 
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Still waiting for that breakthrough feature -- you know, the one where the HomePod work as well as every other BT speaker on the market, streaming anything to any device. Forget Siri -- I stopped talking to her long ago. :)
 
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Kylo83 said:
My stereo pair sounds exactly the same what are you noticing
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Nope!
In our 4-HomePod-spatial setting the microphones of both stereo partners recognize each other. The ingenious DSP-system creates a room sound, which is well balanced by Apple's ingenious sound engineers. In perception it is so to speak stereo wide in 4-channel technology, but taking into account the geometrical conditions of the room.
This effect comes to light to varying degrees, especially synthetic sound elements seem to be able to benefit from it, but even piano is transferred into a spatial dimension.

Apple does not advertise this feature yet, it will take some time, because there are comparatively few stereo users even these days due to cost reasons, which surprises me very much.

Apple has integrated an impressive sound-OS and high processing power into its speakers, so sound engineers can now turn their ideas into reality. I used to have 5 SONOS speakers, but I quickly realized what other possibilities Apple was looking for. Really breathtaking.

'My stereo pair sounds exactly the same what are you noticing'
Kylo83, what makes you think that?
 
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Anyone have Siri pause after you make a request, then stall by saying: Just a moment then immediately execute the request? Shouldn’t the stall happen before the pause? Siri on my HomePod has been doing this stalling for several months now, sometimes saying “just a sec” or ”one moment” after virtually every request. It’s driving me mad and it hasn’t been fixed in this update.

EDIT:

ApostolisApo said:
Did they fix the “one moment” stupidity?
Click to expand...

Oh there you are. Hi neighbour!

Answer: No. They did not. It’s f’ing driving me up the wall.
 
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SBlue1 said:
Wait, you can't even balance the stereo by yourself? One thing (besides a lot of others actually but a big one) that makes me avoid the HomePod is its lack of an equalizer. I knew you couldn't set anything on the HomePod but not even the stereo balance? Wow.
Click to expand...
No you cannot set the balance on a pari of homepods which blows....
They advertise that they sense themselves and sycn but they did a bad job about setting the volume levels. I’ve seen on forums many complaining about it.

With this update is seems that the HW made some calibration, or I don’t know what and they sound more equal now....
Apple needs to allow some level of tuning on these:
- Balance
- Bass levels - even if it’s Low, Medium and High

I live currently in a rented house. The bass is not so problematic but if I were to live in a flat I could never use them because neighbors would kill me.
 
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These devices are designed to tether to apple music. I found that out in short order after buying one. I'm not going to pay for apple music. I think that service should be a lifetime inclusion to this expensive product if it is significantly disadvantaged without apple music. It is abluetooth speaker without it.
It also sounded awful with no high treble and muddy distorted mid bass that was rattling its plastic enclosure. It seemed to fail to equalize for the room acoustics...not processing the feedback from its mics.
So I bought another one on discount. Now the sound is vastly better with more driver control and not dropping too low for the bass driver. Still an overhyped product though. Still not keeping a set volume level, but listenable .
Downloading this update at this time; hope it doesn't mess them up.
 
BlueParadox said:
I was hoping this update would fix my HomePod’s access to my iTunes Match library, but alas it hasn’t. Is this a problem with my iCloud account?

I recently ditched Apple Music and have had limited success getting Siri on my HomePod to play an album in my actual iTunes Match collection, with the common response being “I couldn’t find” this or that in your collection.

I can play music from my collection via the Home app but I’m reminded that the music will stop playing when my iPhone is out of range, basically saying the music is coming from my phone - that it’s tethered to the HomePod - and not playing from my Homepod’s access to my matched music in the cloud. Very disappointing!!
Click to expand...
I had the same issue and fixed it by doing the following. Reset all settings on HomePods by removing from Home app and set up as new. Had to toggle personalised requests off and on a couple of times until eventually it finally found my library. However, I can only request music in the follow ways:
Hey Siri, play album name.
Hey Siri, play artist.
Hey Siri, play song name.

If I say Hey Siri, play song name by artist name it tells me it can’t find it every single time.

Also, if you have other members in your home, turn off their personalised requests as Siri is still garbage at detecting who is speaking and will then try and play stuff from the wrong iTunes Match library, and not find your specific music.

Siri is such a poor, buggy product. It’s pathetic really.
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jgonzo said:
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I have the same issue and was hoping the fix was in. Bummer!!
Click to expand...
See my post above.
 
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