I own one single HomePod Mini that is fine for listening to music in mono. If I were to purchase a second unit, I'd be able to play the same music in stereo. If I were to upgrade to the non-mini version of the HomePod, the experience might be even better, but I fail to see how one or two HomePods can possibly equal a true 5.1 sound system. For those of you old enough to have experienced quadraphonic records or tapes back in the 70s, would you be able to play any of that old media on a couple of HomePods? I don't think so. But I can certainly play my quadraphonic and 5.1 music library on my 5.1 Home Theatre. So, what's the edge of the HomePod for muti-channel playback? Mere presence? Some reverberation? That, in my book, is nothing more than stereo with airs. Please, enlighten me if I'm mistaken.
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Hands-On With Apple's Second-Generation HomePod
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Go for a real home cinema set up like
yeah you can’t get good home cinema without a true 5.1 or better set up no 2 speakers will ever give you atmos or surround sound I brought the Samsung q990b soundbar and it’s epic for music these HomePods really are not worth it it’s better just get a mini for Siri and a good sound system
There is frequency response for HomePod 2 starts in 30hz
Got two today. A bit about setup.
I had two of the originals paired with new AppleTV in our media room. Step one was to remove the OG pair as the AppleTV defaults. This done in AppleTV Settings. Next I unpaired them in the Home app on my iPhone. I then moved them to their new locations -- one in the living room and the other in the bedroom. Plugged them in, and renamed them to HomePod Original 1 and HomePod Original 2. (Will probably rename them something else later.) Also changed their Home locations in the Home app. Tested and found Apple Music did not work on one unit. Back to Home app and had to log back into my Apple account. Step 1 complete.
Next I unboxed one of the new HomePods, placed it on the right side of the TV, plugged it in and iPhone took a few seconds to recognize it. Quickly went through setup UNTIL the end when new software began to download automatically. Download and install took about 20 minutes. (Note that during setup I was asked if it would be paired with another HomePod. I selected Yes.) When complete, the new right unit showed up in the Home app and respond as expected.
Next I unboxed unit 2 and repeated the setup process. Again, no glitches and again about 20 minutes to update. When complete I tested and the Home app showed it had not been paired withe the first unit. Did that and them went to Apple TV Settings and set the pair as the default.
A couple of notes.
* The power cord length was no issue in my setup.
* The pair sounded great playing Wakanda Forever. Need more testing.
* Biggest surprise was the excellent music playback quality on the single Original units in the bedroom and living room. Didn't expect that -- and that may be their single-unit design strength assisted by the additional tweeters and microphones (for tuning).
I had two of the originals paired with new AppleTV in our media room. Step one was to remove the OG pair as the AppleTV defaults. This done in AppleTV Settings. Next I unpaired them in the Home app on my iPhone. I then moved them to their new locations -- one in the living room and the other in the bedroom. Plugged them in, and renamed them to HomePod Original 1 and HomePod Original 2. (Will probably rename them something else later.) Also changed their Home locations in the Home app. Tested and found Apple Music did not work on one unit. Back to Home app and had to log back into my Apple account. Step 1 complete.
Next I unboxed one of the new HomePods, placed it on the right side of the TV, plugged it in and iPhone took a few seconds to recognize it. Quickly went through setup UNTIL the end when new software began to download automatically. Download and install took about 20 minutes. (Note that during setup I was asked if it would be paired with another HomePod. I selected Yes.) When complete, the new right unit showed up in the Home app and respond as expected.
Next I unboxed unit 2 and repeated the setup process. Again, no glitches and again about 20 minutes to update. When complete I tested and the Home app showed it had not been paired withe the first unit. Did that and them went to Apple TV Settings and set the pair as the default.
A couple of notes.
* The power cord length was no issue in my setup.
* The pair sounded great playing Wakanda Forever. Need more testing.
* Biggest surprise was the excellent music playback quality on the single Original units in the bedroom and living room. Didn't expect that -- and that may be their single-unit design strength assisted by the additional tweeters and microphones (for tuning).
Oh good Lord, It’s been all over the tech news, Mac Rumors even covered it. A simple search inquiry will lead to hundreds of results. Here’s one, and in case that’s not a credible enough source for you, I’m sure if scroll down far enough, you’ll find a link to The View.
PSA: HomePod Software 15 beta leading to overheating and other bugs for some users - 9to5Mac
For the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch, Apple offers both developer betas and public betas, allowing users...
9to5mac.com
Psychoacoustics. Same way sound bars work. Time delays and sound processing in the digital realm. Personally I don’t give a crap about most of it. I listen to two channel. I have two Minis, placed in different rooms.
I had a Panasonic receiver that had a quadraphonic 8-Track tape deck years ago. I have never owned an 8 track recorded in quad, nor have I ever seen one. Never recorded anything in quad either.
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Yeah, I really don't think Apple's closed ecosystem always works to Apple's advantage.
I'd have bought several iMacs over the years if the screen had included an HDMI-in for my Xbox
I'd have bought two OG HomePods and maybe two of these if I'd been able to connect my Xbox
But as it is, my desk only has room for one shared monitor and one shared pair of speakers, so Apple ones they ain't.
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Don't overthink it! It's two long copper wires enclosed in insulation with a standard plug on either end. Electrons move along one wire, then back along the other. It doesn't matter who makes it, what colour it is, whether it's braided or smooth, it does the same core job. It's a bit like worrying that changing your hosepipe will damage your lawn
Except I want background music in another room. So I put a Samsung sound in my other room and say “ HeySamsung play C.W. McCall.” Will it magically start playing Convoy ?
HomePod isn’t meant to compete with multi thousand dollar systems.
I bought a couple of HomePod Minis @ $99 bucks a shot. It comes with Apple Music for 6 months. Now I have Apple One. I’m satisfied with the mini. Will I buy a big one or two ? Probably not. Will I buy a couple more Minis ? Of course.
For what it is it’s great. I speak to it, and it plays whatever I ask, whether it be bad music, good music, a podcast, or an internet radio station. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, haven’t even touched automation and freaking your wife out because you test intercom while you’re out and about.
I wonder. I returned a pair of the original ones after a week, because they sucked as TV speakers. Honky and diffuse. Easily beaten by a pair of old Wharfedale speakers that I paid AU$250 for.
This was the reason I got them and it’s great. I was using two HomePod mini’s before this, and I had a lot of trouble hearing dialogue without cranking it. The new HomePods are much better, especially with the highs and clairity.
Thanks for that. The peak around 1600Hz looks concerning. Our hearing is quite sensitive to irregularities in that range.
I never owned quadraphonic hardware back in the day, but I knew how it worked. Decades later, I was able to successfully play back all QS and EV-4 vinyl records I had access to. My AVR plays all that natively. As for other matrix and discrete systems, they can be decoded or demodulated on my computer and burned to data DVDs as multi-channel FLACs or to music DTS CDs. They all play perfectly on my Home Theatre.
It’s okay for me, vocals are more “clear” for me, even highs are clear. More clear than mine OG stereo HomePods.
You are right. I haven't.
I just don't see the HomePod having a need to "break in." If we were talking about $2 - 3k + equipment and the manufacture noted the need, I would certainly understand. With the HomePod, we are talking about possible software based adjustment, in regards to getting the room unit(s) properly positioned as it conducts bounce back in determine the size of the room etc.
What I said is accurate as to the HomePod. Apple has never stated directiy or indirectly in support documents, that the non-wood based units need a physical "breaking in" period. Any adjustments the HomePod may make, is software based. Your guitar analogy and trying to equate the HomePod to such a scenario is way off base as was the condescending post you made to me.
Bought two and used them to compare with my bose soundbar 900. I do not have a sub but homepod does not sound superior. Make sure you update the firmware of your homepods. It was super buggy but became much better after an update. This was my first homepods and there was no wow moment. I would pick bose’s soundlink over this.
I have atmos turned on, but didn’t see where to turn on spatial audio?
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Today’s the day, 4 midnights arriving by this afternoon. Will post my thoughts on their sound as a self-proclaimed audiophile.
The newest HomePod uses a standard C7 connector available in many lengths. I swapped out a longer one I had purchased for my printer. Glad I have dark model, it would be weird to have a black cable into a white HomePod.
I'm not an audiophile but given the heated controversy around the reduction of tweeters and microphones I have been carefully comparing the sound of my new HomePod 2 to my old HomePod 1 using music of various genres (pop, heavy metal, country, etc.). They sound exactly the same to me except for three things:
Based on my experience with it so far as a layperson I'd say if you already own a HomePod 1 and don't need any of the new features, it's probably not worth the upgrade. On the flipside, if you don't own one yet I see zero reason to go fishing around eBay trying to find the original one on the grounds that it's somehow better. The HomePod 1 is overall insignificantly worse than the new one. Just get a HomePod 2.
As for me, I am happy with my purchase.
- Singer's voices are very slightly clearer on the HomePod 2.
- Bass seems to have a more palatable kick to it on the HomePod 2 but only barely.
- The HomePod 2 has this very subtle resonance problem to it, a bit like you are hearing the sound echo from inside a metal box, but that description makes it sound a lot worse than it is. I had to really listen hard to notice this, and I'm not sure I can tell at all unless I am standing over the speakers. HomePod 1 sounds relatively more "open" and unimpeded. I'm not sure what I'm actually hearing here or what the correct terminology for it is.
- You need to turn the volume significantly higher on the HomePod 2 to get the same loudness as the HomePod 1 (40% volume on 1 and 55% volume on 2 sound about the same), but I don't notice any quality loss after adjusting for this.
Based on my experience with it so far as a layperson I'd say if you already own a HomePod 1 and don't need any of the new features, it's probably not worth the upgrade. On the flipside, if you don't own one yet I see zero reason to go fishing around eBay trying to find the original one on the grounds that it's somehow better. The HomePod 1 is overall insignificantly worse than the new one. Just get a HomePod 2.
As for me, I am happy with my purchase.
Quoted this because I feel like this question should be answered, but I purchased a white one this time so I'm not the one to answer it. Anyone with both a Space Gray HomePod 1 and a Midnight HomePod 2 who'd comment on how noticeable the color difference is? It seems really weird to me not to offer a neutral dark color for a speaker.
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One thing with the OG homepods and I assume these as well - if you ever re-arrange your room but don't move your speakers, pick them up while they're on and playing music and roll them around gently (but substantially, like horizontally then vertically) then put them back down, the accelerometer will notice the change and it will re-run the tuning algorithms. It makes a big difference if you pay close attention. I'd suggest doing this for each one if in a stereo pair, and after you set it down get out of the room for a minute so you aren't blocking the sound waves and it can learn the room shape without your body in the way. You need to do this with both speakers in a stereo pair when major changes are made to the room, or if you're just not happy with the out of the box performance maybe give this a shot and it will re-run the algorithm.
No clue if the HomePod 2 does this periodically (which would be smart), but I haven't seen a single comment about this in any reviews. The OGs do NOT do this based on my own testing with multiple pairs. I am extremely happy with my OG HomePods though, I have a component stereo that costs ~15x+ more than a stereo pair of HomePods and it is not even close to that much better, outside of input flexibility.
Looking forward to picking up a pair down the road. Speaker break-in is also definitely a thing, but I don't know how relevant it will be with these since:
1. the speaker drivers are SMALL so they won't have much 'play' in the physical movement
2. the DSP will probably correct things if they aren't broken in, see long comment above.With this in mind it might be worth rocking them around after a month or two of use to re-run the calibration since the Bass driver might respond a little differently than it did initially.
The platform and resonance of it also makes a huge difference especially with HomePod minis. I have thick glass tea container holding up my mini in the kitchen and it sounds a lot better on that than on the counter, but conversely I've used other things to prop up a mini that sound horrible. Those long stick stands I think are a terrible idea and probably harm the performance a lot since the sound needs to bounce off of a surface below the foot.
No clue if the HomePod 2 does this periodically (which would be smart), but I haven't seen a single comment about this in any reviews. The OGs do NOT do this based on my own testing with multiple pairs. I am extremely happy with my OG HomePods though, I have a component stereo that costs ~15x+ more than a stereo pair of HomePods and it is not even close to that much better, outside of input flexibility.
Looking forward to picking up a pair down the road. Speaker break-in is also definitely a thing, but I don't know how relevant it will be with these since:
1. the speaker drivers are SMALL so they won't have much 'play' in the physical movement
2. the DSP will probably correct things if they aren't broken in, see long comment above.With this in mind it might be worth rocking them around after a month or two of use to re-run the calibration since the Bass driver might respond a little differently than it did initially.
The platform and resonance of it also makes a huge difference especially with HomePod minis. I have thick glass tea container holding up my mini in the kitchen and it sounds a lot better on that than on the counter, but conversely I've used other things to prop up a mini that sound horrible. Those long stick stands I think are a terrible idea and probably harm the performance a lot since the sound needs to bounce off of a surface below the foot.