HomePod HomePod 2nd Gen BUGGY AF

[Scott-n-Houston]

I bought 2 and was hoping to transition from Sonos over to Apple. My life is mostly Apple and the outliers are Sonos and Alexa.
I have 11 Sonos speakers including 2 Play Bars and 9 Plays 3's and 1's.

Challenge, my main TV is an older Samsung and not HomeKit compatible. It has a Sonos Sound Bar (not the Beam) under it and attached with HDMI/CAT6. I have an ATV 4K gen 1 attached to it. My current setup is sound output from TV to the Sonos Play Bar and other speakers setup from there.

Our main room is big. Tall ceilings, hard floors. And the TV and sound bar are tucked into a nook. As a result, the acoustics SUCK. We can't hear the vocals/spoken sound. I want to use CC a lot as a result. It's terrible.
I am hoping the 2 HomePods would fix it. They can sit out farther and have the tech to map the room.

So, I setup the ATV with the 2 new HomePods in stereo. I set them up as AirPlay from the ATV. I had to turn off the HDMI sound connection to Sonos/Tv from the ATV to use only the HomePods. At first, for ATV, it was great! But...over time. Damn. Bugs.
The volume control from the remote App and the physical ATV remote stopped working. I couldn't lower or raise volume on the HomePods unless I put my iPhone up to them and changed it, or used the HomeKit app and did ti from there.
Also, hand-off stopped working all together.
It was a mess. Misc other issues crept up with AirPlay from my MacBook (m2 air) as well as my iPad (M1 Pro). All OS's were up to date.
Just a giant mess of bugs. I rebooted EVERYTHING from my router to each Apple Product. It would be ok for minute then bad again. But the hand-off never went back to normal.

I'm venting and brain-dumping hoping to be ripped apart for something I missed because I'm an idiot. Please let it be me. I want these things to work, but Im about to return them. Bummer.


EDIT: it appears the bug is in Ventura from my iMac. AirPlay to the Pods stops working until I reboot the iMac. Rebooting the Pods doesn't fix it and they'll work from another device like my MacBook or phone.

 

[Itinj24]

I bought 2 and was hoping to transition from Sonos over to Apple. My life is mostly Apple and the outliers are Sonos and Alexa.
I have 11 Sonos speakers including 2 Play Bars and 9 Plays 3's and 1's.

Challenge, my main TV is an older Samsung and not HomeKit compatible. It has a Sonos Sound Bar (not the Beam) under it and attached with HDMI/CAT6. I have an ATV 4K gen 1 attached to it. My current setup is sound output from TV to the Sonos Play Bar and other speakers setup from there.

Our main room is big. Tall ceilings, hard floors. And the TV and sound bar are tucked into a nook. As a result, the acoustics SUCK. We can't hear the vocals/spoken sound. I want to use CC a lot as a result. It's terrible.
I am hoping the 2 HomePods would fix it. They can sit out farther and have the tech to map the room.

So, I setup the ATV with the 2 new HomePods in stereo. I set them up as AirPlay from the ATV. I had to turn off the HDMI sound connection to Sonos/Tv from the ATV to use only the HomePods. At first, for ATV, it was great! But...over time. Damn. Bugs.
The volume control from the remote App and the physical ATV remote stopped working. I couldn't lower or raise volume on the HomePods unless I put my iPhone up to them and changed it, or used the HomeKit app and did ti from there.
Also, hand-off stopped working all together.
It was a mess. Misc other issues crept up with AirPlay from my MacBook (m2 air) as well as my iPad (M1 Pro). All OS's were up to date.
Just a giant mess of bugs. I rebooted EVERYTHING from my router to each Apple Product. It would be ok for minute then bad again. But the hand-off never went back to normal.

I'm venting and brain-dumping hoping to be ripped apart for something I missed because I'm an idiot. Please let it be me. I want these things to work, but Im about to return them. Bummer.


EDIT: it appears the bug is in Ventura from my iMac. AirPlay to the Pods stops working until I reboot the iMac. Rebooting the Pods doesn't fix it and they'll work from another device like my MacBook or phone.

It’s not just the HP Gen 2. All three models suck and it’s not the hardware either (well, the OG has its issues with that). The bottom line is, Apple’s software has been a heaping pile of fresh, warm, moist elephant dung. And they somehow manage to make it worse with every new update year after year.

Two options, really. Return it or stick with it a pray that the next update will miraculously fix everything (long shot).

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

I'm returning. Having paid nearly $700, I expect a LOT more. I may buy two minis instead, and when/if they start working well, I'll buy the HomePod 2's again. Until then, I'll stick with Sonos for the TV, etc. and Echos for home automation. What a disappointment.
I've had some challenges with Apple products in the past, as nothing is perfect, but this is just utter garbage. If the price point wasn't so high, it would be more forgivable.

 

[pup]

Since you’re sticking with the Sonos, you could try two things: pair a set of Ones to the sound bar to spread out the sound; or switch to a Port or Amp with separate speakers that you can place for better sound.

Right now, I use a port with the TV connected to the line in. Works well and switches reliably on its own from TV input to music and back. I’ll eventually upgrade to a surround setup but this is good enough for now that I’m in no hurry to do so.

 

[Scott-n-Houston]

Since you’re sticking with the Sonos, you could try two things: pair a set of Ones to the sound bar to spread out the sound; or switch to a Port or Amp with separate speakers that you can place for better sound.

Right now, I use a port with the TV connected to the line in. Works well and switches reliably on its own from TV input to music and back. I’ll eventually upgrade to a surround setup but this is good enough for now that I’m in no hurry to do so.

Appreciate that. I have paired 2 Ones to it and that helps some, but a lot has to do with the room itself. The automatic "tuning" apple does was to be my savior. lol.
The Sonos 'tuning' doesn't do anything.

When the HomePods worked, they did sound a lot better than the Sonos setup, but the bugs aren't worth the hassle at this point.

 

[pup]

In that case, I'd say take the money from the HomePods and buy a big, plush rug for the room. Honestly, if the room's that difficult, that would probably help more than any new speaker.

 

[benoit79]

It’s not just the HP Gen 2. All three models suck and it’s not the hardware either (well, the OG has its issues with that). The bottom line is, Apple’s software has been a heaping pile of fresh, warm, moist elephant dung. And they somehow manage to make it worse with every new update year after year.

Two options, really. Return it or stick with it a pray that the next update will miraculously fix everything (long shot).

I agree. I have multiple HomePod minis and two new HomePods. They are all terrible since Apple released OS 16 in September 2022. I cursed the day I updated to OS 16 I guess our only hope is to wait for Apple the HomePod OS. In the meantime you can swear and be angry every day at the poor stability of the OS.

 

[benoit79]

I'm returning. Having paid nearly $700, I expect a LOT more. I may buy two minis instead, and when/if they start working well, I'll buy the HomePod 2's again. Until then, I'll stick with Sonos for the TV, etc. and Echos for home automation. What a disappointment.
I've had some challenges with Apple products in the past, as nothing is perfect, but this is just utter garbage. If the price point wasn't so high, it would be more forgivable.

You will have issues with HomePod minis too. Since September 2022 I have to restart them pretty much everyday and even then, they work for only for some time until. It's sad. They sound very good, but only when they work, which is not that often!