HomePod HomePod minis and Mac - Don’t do it!

[gimmesomemo]

So after hearing (and really liking) some HomePod minis in real life, I had the seed planted in my head to get a stereo pair for my desk, and started to keep an eye on deals on eBay.

I got a pretty good deal, in superb new like condition, and now have them sitting on my desk, and Im quite blown away by the absolutely dismal performance when using with a Mac…

I can’t understand how something can be so bad in 2022.


Disclaimer: I know they are second hand - it is not the issue. They work fine with a phone / tv. They are fully up to date. Every time I have issues I restart them, or my Mac. I am also very close to my very good Router. And these issues are basically out in the open everywhere I look (I wish I did the proper research before pulling the trigger 😭)


The first absolute deal breaker is using in video conferencing for my work, which I need to do basically all day on and off. There is a 1-2 second lag - which makes them 100% unusable.


Starting/pausing/skipping any media (Apple Music, YouTube, local movies etc) has a 1-2 second warm up time.


Every so often one of the HomePods, whichever one is in the mood will disconnect, and sometimes come back, sometimes not. And in the really special occasions come back on playing a song which I last listened to a month ago whilst the other blissfully continues to play what it’s supposed to…wtf?!


Don’t get me wrong, I am a hopeless Apple fanboy in most cases, but this is seriously bad.


I have used cheap bluetooth speakers which don’t have any issues with lag or any weird behaviour.


Is this the future? 🫠

edit: P.S - They sound absolute great, which makes it more infuriating 😖

 

[haralds]

I am mainly using mine to play tracks from Music. I have also seen the misbehavior where one channel (often the left) does not come on and then behaves oddly.
Not ready for prime time after two years?
AirPlay often has longer delays than even BT.

 

[BrownyQ]

I have a pair on either side of my M1 iMac, and the only real use I have for them is music from the stock Music app (local library, not the service).

There's a really high chance, almost 1 in 2, that the Music app will simply refuse to connect to the Homepod mini stereo pair. It tries for about 10 seconds, then gives me the little exclamation point notice on the app that it cannot connect to the pair. The only solution at that point is a reboot of the iMac; rebooting the Homepods, the router, the Music app... none of it fixes the issue.

Rather infuriating when all I want to do is stream some music to them to relax.