HomeKit Looking for a HomePod Replacment [that works great with HomeKit]

[SoCalHotMess]

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm deeply wedded to the Apple ecosystem (as far as devices; even have a few mini's in the house). I create (and use) a LOT of scenes (I just find Apple's setup easier than the Alexa/Google routines). I currently have one Echo Dot, though, that I use for brown noise (to chill). It has a nice big sound to it, but let's be honest... Alexa sucks. I planned on getting the HomePod (the big one)... until I realized that Apple doesn't make it anymore. So I'm stuck. I want to get rid of the Echo, but what can I replace it with that will work great with HomeKit (whether creating scenes or automations; nice big sound). I don't want another mini (too tiny for what I'm wanting to do), nor do I want a stereo pair. Just something like the HomePod, really. It's just for my bedroom.

I guess my question is... does anything work well? Sonos? I tried the Roam and absolutely hated it, but I know people seem to love Sonos. I like the Bose sound signature, but they're hit or miss as far as connectivity. Sometimes it finds the device, sometimes it doesn't (granted, my Bose speaker is older). Actually... this may be a moot point. I'm going to be buying a TV soon... and will likely want to get a soundbar. The soundbar would then act as my main bedroom speaker (replacing everything else). At least that's the hope.

So... (sorry for the novel) whether it's Sonos or Bose (or some other brand), whatever works best with Apple's setup (no lag). The mini's don't produce the booming sound I want from a stereo pair (if I went with a stereo setup; I think a soundbar will work nicely).

TL;DR I need a good sounding smart speaker (probably a soundbar) for my bedroom (other than the HomePod Mini's) that works flawlessly with Apple HomeKit. Where I can set it up without hassle and it just... works.

Thanks, in advance. My apologies if I didn't tag things the right way. Happy to edit/update.

 

[SoCalHotMess]

Sorry, guys. I guess I was just going off the fact that Amazon doesn't sell it. I see it on Apple's site.

I can't figure out how to delete this, sorry. I'll probably still get a soundbar, though... so whatever you think is best.

 

[waw74]

homepods and third party speakers aren't really homekit, Apple has just built some airplay and playback controls into the home app. So don't expect the same level of control that you get with something like a hue bulb. You do need an Apple Music subscription to add music playback to a scene. There are ambient sounds like waves or thunder storm that don't require a subscription. There is white noise, but no brown in the ambient sounds.
Having them in the home app with assigned rooms also helps siri with "play this in the living room" when air playing from your phone.


when adding a speaker to a scene, You can select music to play, set a volume either for the music you selected, or just set the volume without chaining playback, or make a speaker pause.

for non-apple speakers, You're still limited to Apple Music or Ambient sounds even if they support other services natively. And you still need a HomePod or aTV to act as a playback device, the HP or aTV will airplay to that other speaker. The HP or aTV doesn't need to be making the sound locally, but there's a chance your TV may turn on if you're using an aTV and it wakes up to play the music. You can't control which device is used as the source. Third party speakers also don't update playing status in the home app. So the tiles never change, they're just placeholders.

With Sonos, you can use the voice assistant on the speaker to start music. It supports Alexa, google, and Sonos' own voice assistant. There are third party apps that let you control Sonos using shortcuts on your iPhone. You can trigger those shortcuts with an icon on your phone's Home Screen or using siri. With either of these methods you are not limited to Apple Music. It's also possible to make a shortcut that triggers Sonos and a homekit scene, so they both happen with one voice command.

 

[JulianL]

…
With Sonos, you can use the voice assistant on the speaker to start music. It supports Alexa, google, and Sonos' own voice assistant. …

Disclaimer. What follows is my experiences with a Sonos One. I have no experience with the newer Sonos Era 100 that has now replaced the Sonos One nor do I have any experience with any other Sonos voice-enabled devices.

Having said the above, a while ago before the Era 100 was launched I purchased a Sonos One for my office (2 in fact to create a stereo pair). My thinking was that I could have one less device on my desk by having my voice assistant (at the time a Google Mini smart speaker) live in the speakers I used to play music. On setting up the Sonos Ones I was (and still am) delighted with the sound when playing music but was very disappointed with the voice assistant capabilities to the extent that I re-introduced the Google smart speaker (now replaced by an Amazon Echo Show 8) onto my desk.

My issue was that for a relatively expensive piece of kit designed to run a smart assistant I had expected Sonos to put in a high quality microphone array but what I found was that, for whatever reason (low quality or badly designed mic array? Bad software?), the Google Assistant in my Sonos One was much worse than the $50 Google Mini when it came to recognising a softly spoken wake word or even a fairly loudly spoken wake word in a somewhat noisy environment. That made the smart assistant experience very frustrating for me which is why I re-installed the Google Mini on my desk.

The other issue I had with running a smart assistant on my Sonos One (I’m guessing I would have had the same problem with Alexa) was that there was no way to set different volume levels for the smart assistant and music playback so if I had been listening to music at even moderate volumes (I don’t listen at particularly high volumes any more) the at some point later (after I had stopped playing music) asked the voice assistant something the reply would be at an uncomfortably loud volume as if it was shouting at me. It was really jarring and the only solution was to keep resetting the volume up to play music and then down afterward so that subsequent smart assistant interactions wouldn’t startle me.

It is entirely possible that Sonos has resolved these issues with the Era 100 and other devices and/or firmware updates but on the basis of my entirely unsatisfactory experience of using the built in smart assistant feature on a Sonos One I would advise anyone considering it to make sure that they have a good return policy for the Sonos device they buy and that they test out particularly the quality of the mic array and how well it hears you before deciding to keep it. (The volume issue will be apparent pretty immediately if that hasn’t been fixed.)