HomePod What sounds better: a £300 sound bar (Sony HTX8500) or 2 HomePod minis?

[Christoffee]

We will be getting a new kitchen TV soon, and I’d like AirPlay in the kitchen too. What’s the best solution: a sound bar with an Apple TV connected, or a pair of HomePod minis?

Thank you for the input.

 

[monkeybongo]

Probably the soundbar, but depends on what your setup is. I had a HomePod mini in the kitchen already so I just added another to get a fake surround sound rather than a soundbar. Once the audio sync was calibrated, I've been pretty happy with it.

Are you using the TV for other sources? HomePod mini only works with ATV, and needs to be occasionally re-enabled as it's not a default audio setting.

 

[Christoffee]

@monkeybongo

Thank you. The TV will be used or trash TV and background noise, not for anything good. The priority with the sound bar or Homepods is music and AirPlay. I sounds like you’d prefer 2x minis for this.

 

[dmr727]

I have a pair of minis in my living room, as well as a Sony soundbar with external subwoofer. Can't remember the soundbar model number, but it's about 5 years old and cost ~$300 - not sure how it compares with an HTX8500. Anyway the minis definitely sound better, but their integration with AppleTV isn't all that great yet. I'd wait until 15.0 is officially released for iOS and tvOS and see if the situation gets any better. Right now it's hit or miss whether I can get the minis to be used by my ATV.

 

[Christoffee]

I have a pair of minis in my living room, as well as a Sony soundbar with external subwoofer. Can't remember the soundbar model number, but it's about 5 years old and cost ~$300 - not sure how it compares with an HTX8500. Anyway the minis definitely sound better, but their integration with AppleTV isn't all that great yet. I'd wait until 15.0 is officially released for iOS and tvOS and see if the situation gets any better. Right now it's hit or miss whether I can get the minis to be used by my ATV.

Good info on the sound and iOS/tvOS 15.

 

[dmr727]

Good info on the sound and iOS/tvOS 15.

The good news is minis work and sound great with AirPlay (and through Siri), so I bet you'll be happy with them in that regard. It's just the integration with the AppleTV that I can't get to consistently work, but that's supposedly going to be improved in 15.

 

[haralds]

At moderate volume, it is hard to beat the Minis. AND you can answer the phone etc.

 

[Sooby]

I would take the sound bar. I don't think the Mini's get loud enough in movies on the Apple TV to be a pleasurable listening experience. I also don't like the sound of the bass because it sounds low quality. For YouTube, podcasts and music playing on the Apple TV they are ok and get loud enough for casual listening to those things. But they're not great quality speakers in general so nothing is going to sound terrific through them.

 

[JSteele]

A soundbar and sub are designed for movie and TV watching. They got signal processing and nice ones have some tricks to get surround soundish out of them. The Homepods are not built with that as the main purpose so aside from likely being a bit finicky to get running consistently, they will likely sound worse for that specific purpose.

Also if you go with a good company you can upgrade your soundbar with wireless surround speakers and a better sub later on if you decide to improve your movie-watching experience.

 

[JCCL]

I have an old mid range 3.1 Samsung soundbar (340W). There is no way two minis could match its sound for movies. Maybe two regular Homepods (I only got one) but two minis - no way

 

[AL2TEACH]

We will be getting a new kitchen TV soon, and I’d like AirPlay in the kitchen too. What’s the best solution: a sound bar with an Apple TV connected, or a pair of HomePod minis?

Thank you for the input.

don't leave us hanging which did you choose or was this a eh joke question?

 

[darthbane2k]

HomePod minis sounding 'better' than a sound bar?! Behave!

 

[perezr10]

I have a pair of minis in my office. I have a hard time believing that they could sound better than any sound bar. The frequency range is so limited and with only one speaker, lots of sounds get crushed.

 

[dmr727]

A soundbar and sub are designed for movie and TV watching. They got signal processing and nice ones have some tricks to get surround soundish out of them. The Homepods are not built with that as the main purpose so aside from likely being a bit finicky to get running consistently, they will likely sound worse for that specific purpose.

I posted an update on a different ATV/Mini thread, but now that tvOS 15 is released and the integration seems to work consistently, I did some more testing and definitely found the above to be the case. I do think the Minis sound good for music, but for television watching I ended up going back to the sound bar. The dialog was simply too muddled with the Minis - I underestimated how much a soundbar would specifically emphasize the dialog.

The good news is that the Minis don't need the ATV for music, but I was hoping to simplify the front room a bit and remove a few wires. Oh well!