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HomePod Sick and Tired of Homepod OG Cutting off from Stereo?

M

marcusalwayswins

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 23, 2021
442
83
Hi Guys,

Someone please help me out of this, As much as I love the Sound Quality that the Homepods OG produce, it is giving me problems one after another and I am getting sick and tired of it. So I have had this Homepods Pair which I use in Stereo for 2 years now, but ever since I remember right from the begining it has been given me problems. first, the Homepod sound would automatically in between would get very low, once that was fixed after turning off the Sound Check Option in the Home App I am back to the original problem which I used to face even before the earlier problem zo mentioned.

When I play the Homepod in Stereo the second unit would suddenly stop playing and only one unit would play. Some days back I had asked help for this problem and there was this intellectual who told me that the Homepods do not work well on the 5GHz Wifi Bandwith so rather Switch to the 2.2 gHz and also only have the 20mHZ option enabled not 20/40 and that seem to have worked initially but it is not longer helping.even on a 2gHZ with only 20mhZ enabled The second unit of Homepods still keeps cutting off and stops playing entirely.

Sick and Tired of Homepod OG Cutting off from Stereo ?

Has anybody found any solution to this once and forever ? Please help me with this ?
 
It's most likely the WiFi network (Nothing to do with internet speed - this is about your WiFi equipment)

Apple recommends a single SSID for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks (see https://support.apple.com/en-us/102766) so my recommendation is to not restrict your HomePods at all - Run both bands with same SSID and let them decide which is best, but also make sure your WiFi network is configured not to restrict mDNS / Airplay from being passed between the two.

My personal experience has been that ISP-provided WiFi equipment, for example, struggles to handle AirPlay. It's a chatty protocol. Having good WiFi equipment makes a huge difference. If you mention what you're running for gear, others may have the same equipment and can offer additional tips. Hope this helps...
 
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dotme said:
It's most likely the WiFi network (Nothing to do with internet speed - this is about your WiFi equipment)

Apple recommends a single SSID for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks (see https://support.apple.com/en-us/102766) so my recommendation is to not restrict your HomePods at all - Run both bands with same SSID and let them decide which is best, but also make sure your WiFi network is configured not to restrict mDNS / Airplay from being passed between the two.

My personal experience has been that ISP-provided WiFi equipment, for example, struggles to handle AirPlay. It's a chatty protocol. Having good WiFi equipment makes a huge difference. If you mention what you're running for gear, others may have the same equipment and can offer additional tips. Hope this helps...
Click to expand...

I have the Asus RT-AC58U Router.
 
Looks like a very powerful setup - Which is great but there are a ton of screens and settings. I checked the manual and the one thing I'd suggest looking at first is under Advanced Settings - Wireless - Wireless Professional

For both bands (drop down at the top) I'd make sure "Set AP Isolated" = OFF and "Enable IGMP Snooping" = ON


Section 4.1.5

That's about all I can come up with - and since I don't own that model, I'm bowing out now... but I hope you get it working. If that's your only WiFi router, it should be perfectly capable of handling AirPlay to a stereo pair of HomePods. Maybe Asus has a forum/community where you could post for help as well. Good luck!
 
Back up your router settings, erase it and reload your settings. That's helped me in the past when I was fiddling with the settings on my RT-AX86U and somehow made my HomePods problematic.
 
kitKAC said:
Back up your router settings, erase it and reload your settings. That's helped me in the past when I was fiddling with the settings on my RT-AX86U and somehow made my HomePods problematic.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by reload your settings ?
 
I am suddenly having stereo issues as well. I’ve been using eero for years with no issues like this, so I tend not to think it’s a router issue. Any ideas beyond the router?
 
Suddenly? Or after updating to OS18?

AirPlay seems "troubled" under 18 - I can't push audio to more than two stereo pairs without one pair developing a radio-static or buzzing sound. Different pair every time.

They were all fine under 17 - I could AirPlay to 5 rooms, each with a stereo pair, and I've made no network changes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/1fobxd2

Recent reports are surfacing on Reddit too. I'd report trouble using Apple Feedback and maybe if they get enough reports, someone will look into it.
 
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dotme said:
Suddenly? Or after updating to OS18?

AirPlay seems "troubled" under 18 - I can't push audio to more than two stereo pairs without one pair developing a radio-static or buzzing sound. Different pair every time.

They were all fine under 17 - I could AirPlay to 5 rooms, each with a stereo pair, and I've made no network changes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/1fobxd2

Recent reports are surfacing on Reddit too. I'd report trouble using Apple Feedback and maybe if they get enough reports, someone will look into it.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I can’t say exactly when it started, only that I first noticed it yesterday. I’ll have to do some testing.
 
dotme said:
Suddenly? Or after updating to OS18?

AirPlay seems "troubled" under 18 - I can't push audio to more than two stereo pairs without one pair developing a radio-static or buzzing sound. Different pair every time.

They were all fine under 17 - I could AirPlay to 5 rooms, each with a stereo pair, and I've made no network changes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/1fobxd2

Recent reports are surfacing on Reddit too. I'd report trouble using Apple Feedback and maybe if they get enough reports, someone will look into it.
Click to expand...
This static sound just started happening to me a few weeks ago (prior to the 18.0 update) and Apple shipped me two new HomePods under warranty and of course they have the exact same issue. I only have this issue with one stereo pair in my living room and my other two stereo pairs elsewhere never have the problem. I'm not sure if it's where they the two HomePods are placed (beside other tv speakers and near the receiver and ISP modem). So far unpairing them as a stereo pair has fixed the issue for now.
 
sure would be nice if HomePod and HomePod mini were PoE or at least supported Ethernet.


what they hell were they thinking with a captive, long (but never long or short enough!) usb-c cable... ill never know
 
dotme said:
Suddenly? Or after updating to OS18?

AirPlay seems "troubled" under 18 - I can't push audio to more than two stereo pairs without one pair developing a radio-static or buzzing sound. Different pair every time.

They were all fine under 17 - I could AirPlay to 5 rooms, each with a stereo pair, and I've made no network changes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/1fobxd2

Recent reports are surfacing on Reddit too. I'd report trouble using Apple Feedback and maybe if they get enough reports, someone will look into it.
Click to expand...

I've got this issue after updating to 18 as well but it only happens to the single HomePods that I AirPlay to, the stereo pair are fine.
 
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