macOS Big Sur 11.3 Beta Adds Support for HomePod Stereo Pairs

[Populus]

Sure, disconnect the cable that goes to the wall.

Or, you know, don't buy a smart speaker if you don't want it to have a microphone. That's kind of their thing.

Someone else already gave me a less condescending answer: Asking Siri to stop listening.
You know, there are many customers that actually want an AirPlay 2 enabled speakers but don’t like having microphones listening all the time. But if I find third party speakers compatible with AirPlay 2 that could be my answer.

 

[Lerenard3000]

HomePod 2 with u1 will most certainly be able to deliver atmos surround because they will be aware of other HomePods around them? it would be great!

 

[B4rbelith]

HomePod 2 with u1 will most certainly be able to deliver atmos surround because they will be aware of other HomePods around them? it would be great!

The first Homepod already does Atmos.

 

[B/D]

What do you mean by this? I have no issues with my WiFi and I have a stereo pair connected as default audio out.

This. Is a known bug already reported to and acknowledged by Apple, happens with certain routers/networks configuration (I solved it by hardwiring the apple tv) along with the crackling and popping sounds while browsing the apple tv UI ( but not when playing content) when the homepods are set as the default audio output.

 

[phandango]

Will the update work with a pair of HomePod Minis?

 

[eoblaed]

Why would anyone want stereo?

I have a pair in my office and a pair in the basement. Having a pair really fills out the room nicely with sound. But, up until now, we've not been able to play music/etc off of our Mac and have it play to the paired set of speakers. If I wanted to use my Mac as a source of media for the Home Pods, well .. I couldn't. I'd usually find the thing on my phone and do it that way instead.

It's always baffled me that this was so long in the coming. Quite happy to hear it, though

 

[Nütztjanix]

Because of latency - this won't be using AirPlay 2 either - Airplay 2 requires a buffer for it to work properely, you can't buffer real time audio - hence why they've not bothered with AirPlay 2 in macOS it doesn't really work for real time usage.

Well, aside from audio/video conferences and system sounds there are no real time audio events on a computer I can think of. I agree that for the first a lag (or buffer) would be annoying (given that it's not already bad quality because of bandwidth or whatever), but I personally don't think a one second lag for UI sounds would be catastrophic.

 

[Kylo83]

Because of latency - this won't be using AirPlay 2 either - Airplay 2 requires a buffer for it to work properely, you can't buffer real time audio - hence why they've not bothered with AirPlay 2 in macOS it doesn't really work for real time usage.

It will be airplay 2 you can’t use stereo without it

 

[vrungel]

Wish it added support for streaming audio in FaceTime video calls.

 

[Knar]

What do you mean by this? I have no issues with my WiFi and I have a stereo pair connected as default audio out.

See HomePod Homepods as default audio output for Apple TV 4K kills my wifi speed

When the default audio is set to homepods there are wifi issues reported to the extent that videos don't play smoothly anymore. Mind that the default audio output (allows for dolby etc) is different from airplay (just stereo)

 

[Knar]

It doesn't throttle the WiFi. It uses more bandwith to ensure low enough latency to enable UI sounds. I don't even think they use enough considering it still breaks up.

It affects the speed with which the AppleTV is able to download content, in a negative way. Maybe it uses so much bandwidth for syncing audio that videos aren't able to download hence play smoothly anymore. The issue has not yet been solved.
Setting the homepods as default audio does not work as well as it should at the moment. Again default audio is not the same as airplay. When switched on, typical speedtest results drop from 300+ to 3Mbps. When switched off everything returns to normal.

 

[dannys1]

Well, aside from audio/video conferences and system sounds there are no real time audio events on a computer I can think of. I agree that for the first a lag (or buffer) would be annoying (given that it's not already bad quality because of bandwidth or whatever), but I personally don't think a one second lag for UI sounds would be catastrophic.

I mean for system sounds it would be (which is why they're excluded) but there are lots of time sensitive audio applications that require user input. Games, audio tools, music production etc.

 

[B/D]

I mean for system sounds it would be (which is why they're excluded) but there are lots of time sensitive audio applications that require user input. Games, audio tools, music production etc.

There isn´t anymore in the Apple TV (since 14.2). System sounds play through homepods. Video games play through homepods. Live TV streaming apps now play through homepods. No lag or latency. If its possible on TVOS should be doable on Mac Os. A system wide, real time audio output with the Homepods, I mean.

 

[lad_jr]

Has anyone actually downloaded the beta and tried this out? How is the performance? Are there still latency issues?

Thanks!

 

[ErikGrim]

It affects the speed with which the AppleTV is able to download content, in a negative way. Maybe it uses so much bandwidth for syncing audio that videos aren't able to download hence play smoothly anymore. The issue has not yet been solved.
Setting the homepods as default audio does not work as well as it should at the moment. Again default audio is not the same as airplay. When switched on, typical speedtest results drop from 300+ to 3Mbps. When switched off everything returns to normal.

I see no more than a 10% loss with Homepods set as default. Drops from 110 to 95Mbs

 

[dannys1]

There isn´t anymore in the Apple TV (since 14.2). System sounds play through homepods. Video games play through homepods. Live TV streaming apps now play through homepods. No lag or latency. If its possible on TVOS should be doable on Mac Os. A system wide, real time audio output with the Homepods, I mean.

I've genuinely no idea how they've done it with video games. One thing though is that on Apple TV/iOS that app takes over the entire system and you have to quit it to go to something else - in macOS it could just be a floating window and you could be alt-tabbing through all kinds of stuff. I suspect on ATV they're allowing that game to take full control of the audio to implement whatever voodoo they're doing to reduce the latency. It works different per app, there's still a lag and delay in Plex, Youtube etc as they're doing it the heavily buffered AirPlay 2 way.

For some apps on Apple TV it doesn't work at all. Twitch for instance is about 4 seconds audio/visual sync when using HomePods as the stereo output. It's a pain. Apple's app is doing something different with surround tracks - so again each app accesses the audio system in a different way by completely taking it over and that wouldn't be possible on macOS.

 

[B/D]

I've genuinely no idea how they've done it with video games. One thing though is that on Apple TV/iOS that app takes over the entire system and you have to quit it to go to something else - in macOS it could just be a floating window and you could be alt-tabbing through all kinds of stuff. I suspect on ATV they're allowing that game to take full control of the audio to implement whatever voodoo they're doing to reduce the latency. It works different per app, there's still a lag and delay in Plex, Youtube etc as they're doing it the heavily buffered AirPlay 2 way.

For some apps on Apple TV it doesn't work at all. Twitch for instance is about 4 seconds audio/visual sync when using HomePods as the stereo output. It's a pain. Apple's app is doing something different with surround tracks - so again each app accesses the audio system in a different way by completely taking it over and that wouldn't be possible on macOS.

Interesting, thank you for the detailed explaination. Apple support told me that when you make the Homepods the default audio output of an Apple TV 4K, an ad-hoc network is created between the homepods and the apple tv, that uses wifi and bluetooth and the same time. This is not regular airplay 2 casting, but an improved connection protocol with no latency and real time transmission with multi channel audio support.


However they told me that the developers, much like happened when the matching framerate feature was introduced, have to update their apps to implement and take advantage of this improvements with the homepods. This would explain the issues with Plex, Twitch, and Youtube, and why Disney+ and Tidal do not support sending Dolby Atmos to the Homepods yet.

 

[Phil77354]

. . . Apple support told me . . . an improved connection protocol with no latency and real time transmission with multi channel audio support.

That is very interesting and sounds like a game-changer.

Has this been reported someplace? It surely merits highlighting, if true.

 

[B/D]

That is very interesting and sounds like a game-changer.

Has this been reported someplace? It surely merits highlighting, if true.

Mind you, this was their answer to my question (back when IOS 14.2 was released) of how the apple tv default audio output worked with the homepods, not about the recent mac os support of stereo homepods as a default system output. Sorry for the confusion.

I was very impressed when I discovered that now the audio of the apple tv videogames was available through the homepods with no lag or latency, so I called them and asked how it was possible.


It makes sense, taking into account that homepods now support Dolby 5.1,7.1 and Atmos with the Apple TV, whereas previously, with airplay 2 casting, only stereo sound was available. In other words the connection method cant be regular Airplay 2 because Airplay 2 only support stereo, not multi channel audio.


It was reported:

HomePod gains 'Home Theater', Atmos & permanent Apple TV pairing

'Home Theater with Apple TV 4K' is coming soon

www.flatpanelshd.com

tvOS 14.2 on Apple TV 4K supports wireless game audio with HomePods

And possibly other AirPlay 2 + HomeKit speakers

www.flatpanelshd.com

tvOS 14.2: Apple TV 4K + HomePods now support Dolby Atmos, game audio

Apple has released tvOS 14.2 for Apple TV & HomePod

www.flatpanelshd.com

How to Set Up Home Theater Audio with HomePod and Apple TV 4K

If you have an Apple TV 4K and own a HomePod or a stereo pair, you can create a theater experience with Dolby Atmos or surround sound right in your...

www.macrumors.com

 

[Drababan]

I'm on MacOS 11.3 Beta and Airplay to any speakers is broken for me. I went out and bought minis to use as computer speakers and they won't work. I tried AirPlay to any of my Sonos speakers, both from system sounds and even from iTunes sound. Just won't connect to anything. Just to make sure it wasn't a network issue I fired up my other MacBook running 11.0.1 and it connected right up to my Sonos via Airplay without issue (and the HomePod minis individually). I guess YMMV. Attached is the error I get via iTunes no matter which AirPlay device I try to send audio to.

 

[B/D]

Well, its a beta after all. In the final release of 11.3 I´m expect everything to be working just fine.

This is way i never install beta software on any of my devices. Its too risky. Stuff can be broke, and data lost.

 

[talisman83]

Not entirely related to Homepod, but Airplay seems to be broken in 11.3 where Sonos devices are concerned.

I've had my Sonos One connected as an output device (though there's the persistent issue on Mac OS where if you pause a Youtube video, for instance, the connection will break and you need to reselect the device)

However, it refuses to connect now, at all.

Hopefully this will be fixed in the final release.

 

[caunn]

Has anyone actually downloaded the beta and tried this out? How is the performance? Are there still latency issues?

Thanks!

I consistently experience about 2-2.5 seconds of delay between pressing play on some media and hearing audio from either the HomePod pair or the Mini pair.

 

[caunn]

Not entirely related to Homepod, but Airplay seems to be broken in 11.3 where Sonos devices are concerned.

I've had my Sonos One connected as an output device (though there's the persistent issue on Mac OS where if you pause a Youtube video, for instance, the connection will break and you need to reselect the device)

However, it refuses to connect now, at all.

Hopefully this will be fixed in the final release.

I experience the same thing with my Homepods on this beta.

 

[Killerbob]

Funny things are going on since the upgrade...

I have two HomePods as a stereo pair - named HomePods Stereo, and before the upgrade that worked fine for Music, but of course not for macOS (sounds and apps).

Since the upgrade however, I see HomePods Stereo in the Sound Preferences/Output. They are listed as Airplay, and sound comes out on the stereo pair from apps (VLC, Safari, Chrome, etc.). That works great. There is a lot of delay to start, but once it gets going, it works. However, in Music, it only works if I select AirPlay Device as the output, NOT the HomePods Stereo as defined. It is really slow, much slower than previously, and that bugs me, but OK.

The most irritating thing is that the selections seem to revert to default (which is my headphones, every so often, for instance when my Mac Pro goes to sleep, or if I reboot...