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Upcoming 17.1 Software Brings Enhance Dialogue to Original HomePod and HomePod mini
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I have experienced a proper home theater a couple times at other peoples' houses, and it truly is a thing of beauty.
These days I can't really identify a specific area where anyone cares enough to invest in the speakers to work well in that one spot. No one actually uses the living room. Everyone just watches on iPads or small TVs in ancillary rooms.
I keep rearranging my office, so with the HPs in a stereo pair I have to find exactly the sweet spot to sit in.
All this is to say at this point having picked up the brand new AirPods Pro 2 With USB-C Charging Case (H2 UWB Ultra Pro Max) I tend to just use those as they simulate surround sound remarkably well compared to the peasantry of built-in speakers I've been using for just about everything.
I do have a Samsung Soundbar I picked up years ago that I've moved from TV to TV. I don't know if I'm not using it just right or it was just cheap or both but it's not much of an improvement and has no channel controls.
I might actually look into some speakers for just center channel. Let me know if you have any specific recommendations.
Well, accidentally at first. On tvOS (TVOS? TvOS?) 17 long press the menu button and go to the AirPlay menu and select a HomePod Stereo Pair. In my case, the TV remained checked as an output device. So they were both checked at the same time and I could independently select or unselect them. I thought it sounded odd, turned the volume up and it turned up the TV volume as usual but not the HomePod volume, and soon I could distinctly hear the TV ever so slightly (less than 5ms for sure) out of sync with the HomePods.
But it actually kind of helped with the vocal range. Watching a football game, the crowd noise was fantastic coming from the HomePods and had a bit of a surround feel, while the announcers and the helmet crunching high end came mostly from the TV. Probably wouldn't work well for most watching but for football, when I also separately cranked up the HomePod volume from the on-screen menu, it actually sounded remarkably like being there. For a two speaker plus TV setup which combined was way cheaper than any surround system.
I'm not sure why people are so ready to believe that these artificial limitations Apple puts into place are driven by anything more than marketing.
I was foolishly excited when seeing this headline thinking they were enhancing SIRI’s dialogue options LOL
Exactly, I also “enhance my dialog” by just always having subtitles.
Sometimes shows go crazy: there’s noise, explosions, people talking and a tiny radio on the background broadcasts something important. All the main characters go: “Did YOU hear that?!”… NO, no I didn’t!
The Minis are underwhelming. The sound is pleasant enough but quite thin. I have a pair on my desk for when I'm sitting at my desk and want some background music. But they pale in comparison to my HomePod 2s, which are paired to my Apple TV and saturate the room with sound.
i switched to using older active near field monitors for my tv speaker set. it sounds incredible, besides the awful surround mixes. I "fixed" this by changing the format of audio within Apple TV settings to stereo. This always ignores surround mixes. Then at night, I turn on reduce loud sounds. it is a far far better experience than my previous denon "dolby atmos" sound bar.
This is what I do with my single HomePod. It sounds pretty good.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
That last request is a hard one. The best advice is head for some big box A/V stores and listen to them with your own ears. Bring your own music/video/etc so you can listen to your own stuff vs. their demos. Read (objective) reviews. If reviews point you to some that are not stocked at big box stores (and as quality goes up, that is often the case) use the manufacturers website to locate what will likely end up being a smaller, speciality retailer within 100-200 miles. Contact them to schedule a demo session.
Mine is now about 9 years old and is a Goldenear SuperCenter XL but that one just won the just-referenced contest for my ears. Your room, your acoustics, your ears, your sources could all lead to some other one that is better for you. They didn't have it when I purchased but if I was buying again now, I'd probably buy the new, improved center from them called SuperCenter Reference... but again, this one just won the judgement contest for me, my ears, my sources, etc. Your own ears are the ultimate judge... though objective online reviews can help filter down the hundreds- to maybe thousands- of possibilities to a handful that need a lot of retail scrutiny, demos, listening to pick a favorite.
Take the purchase VERY serious. Speakers can last 10-30 or more years... longer than any Apple stuff on which people tend to spend much more money. When buying something to last decades, it deserves- IMO- more time investment to get it as right as you can get it. Get this right and it will sound as good many iPhones or Macs from now.
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Yes software support needs to be long - or you just need to stick to the last iOS update you are getting for as long as possible - I hear those old iPhone on older iOS are still working fine?
I mean even if you buy a traditional surround system - you kind of have to buy a new AV receiver every couple of years
I’m wondering why I’m instantly opposed to any kind of 3rd party system - I have no idea what Sonos is offering - will need to take a look
"Here's what I found on the web about 'enhancing Siri's dialog options LOL'..."
Not for me then, OG's have not been able to play movies in Atmos for me for close to a year (with all apps)... Apple is aware but still haven't fixed it
@elgipsy
They got back to me yesterday about this... (I opened a case with them about this after talking to you, I´m Branagh/Doyle on reddit).
They said that when viewing the internal A/V stats of the Apple TV while playing Atmos content it says "EAC3, 16 channels" which is DD+ Atmos. So Atmos is in fact playing correctly then, and the Atmos logo not appearing in the swipe down menu while playing something is just an UI bug. So there is nothing to fix, really.
I´m very disappointed, because the sound is clearly different (worse) compared to the temporary output. Something is wrong here.
.I installed the tvos 17.1 and I initially saw the setting in the menu, then it disappeared. I´m still at 17.0 on my first gen Homepod. Is it because of that? Can’t jump in to the beta anymore on my Homepod.