Just tried it again.
"Hey Siri, play Virgin Radio UK from Tunein"
"Here's Virgin Radio UK provided by Tunein"
It works. Every time.
Poll: ** The Official Apple HomePod/HomePod mini thread **
- Thread starter Feek
- Start date
Just tried it again.
"Hey Siri, play Virgin Radio UK from Tunein"
"Here's Virgin Radio UK provided by Tunein"
It works. Every time.
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Sep 2020
- Posts
- 4,184
Sigh, tried that.
Tried again a bit later and it was fine. Ah well, at least it’s working.
Don
At the moment, I have six Amazon Echo devices dotted around the house. I have a fairly large home automation setup using Hassio with the vast majority of devices in the house connected as smart in some way.
I'm considering replacing the Echos with Apple Homepods mainly due to the fact that we only have Apple devices in the house (apart from 1 gaming PC and a few one-job Raspberry Pis) and I'm becoming increasingly concerned with general internet privacy.
So, any gotchas for someone in my situation? We're users of Apple Music and so there's no issues with that side of things. Just wondering if there's anything I need to think about before making the switch. I'll probably just buy one of the for now and see how well it works.
I'm considering replacing the Echos with Apple Homepods mainly due to the fact that we only have Apple devices in the house (apart from 1 gaming PC and a few one-job Raspberry Pis) and I'm becoming increasingly concerned with general internet privacy.
So, any gotchas for someone in my situation? We're users of Apple Music and so there's no issues with that side of things. Just wondering if there's anything I need to think about before making the switch. I'll probably just buy one of the for now and see how well it works.
You should be perfectly good, we've got six minis and a stereo pair of full size ones - I've got multiple zones set up and one of the great things is being able to play exactly the same thing on all the speakers and have them playing exactly in sync.
Don
I've discovered something that isn't going to work. I use a Logitech Harmony Hub to control all of my AV gear and it appears that this doesn't work with HomeKit. It's never going to work with HomeKit either due to Logitech canning the Harmony products.
There appear to be some steering apps that can make the two things talk to eachother but they seem to be Mac only, which is a problem as I don't have a Mac that is powered on all the time.
There appear to be some steering apps that can make the two things talk to eachother but they seem to be Mac only, which is a problem as I don't have a Mac that is powered on all the time.
Don
Scratch that, found a bridge that runs on a Raspberry Pi. I have 25 of those doing various things around the house so it's no bother to get one of them to do what I need.
Soldato
Really wish they’d continue the full size one. Anyone know how the minis compare to Sonos 1?
A Sonos One will sound better than a Mini, but if you’re wanting the Apple experience then I suspect the Mini will be fine for the most part.
Soldato
Yes, I assumed so - I’d just seen some comments about them being surprisingly close.
the Sonos tempts me as I could build out a surround system. As I said, wish apple had kept the bigger speakers.
I sold our HomePods in favour of the Sonos gear for the reason you mentioned, plus Sonos plays nicer with other services/assistants. Very happy with the decision.
Had something strange going on with my stereo pair of HomePods over the last few days. I noticed that music was only coming out of the left speaker.
When I checked the pair and tapped L or R, they both pinged correctly. I unpaired them and one of them showed as unresponsive in HomeKit. Ended up having to remove it from HomeKit, manually reset it and then add it back in. It's all good now.
When I checked the pair and tapped L or R, they both pinged correctly. I unpaired them and one of them showed as unresponsive in HomeKit. Ended up having to remove it from HomeKit, manually reset it and then add it back in. It's all good now.
Does anyone use these as Mac speakers? I understand that they can't be used as system speakers and can't replicate plugged in speakers. I mainly use AirPod Max but sometimes I want to watch something on YouTube etc without using my headphones. I have some Edifier E25HD and while they are lovely speakers, they're on the large side and require quite a bit of cabling. I was thinking of getting a pair of HomePod Mini's which look to be quite small.
EDIT, just watched some YouTube videos and it seems that the 2 second delay is still there, even with macOS Ventura. That's both comical and really, really frustrating.
EDIT, just watched some YouTube videos and it seems that the 2 second delay is still there, even with macOS Ventura. That's both comical and really, really frustrating.
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Soldato
Yeah, I bought one of the original HomePods to do exactly this, because this is something 'User experience' that Apple would normally have nailed down, and I was astounded to find the delay, when other Bluetooth speakers do not have it. I just use the AirPods Max now, otherwise or audio geeks will judge me here, the Studio Display speakers for Teams/Zoom sessions.
Well yesterday one of my original homepods decided to die on me it was part of a stereo setup I was using with my AppleTv.
Made a couple of calls yesterday about getting it repaired, but to be honest I didnt really think it was worth shelling out £250 for something that only had a 3 month warranty on it (I have had both homepods since their launch 4 years ago)
I bit the bullet last night and went to my local John Lewis & purchased a couple of Homepod Mini's for £89 each, set them both up and added them to my AppleTv, I must say I am impressed with the sound from such a small pair of speakers.
Oddly enough I was having problems with video playback stuttering from itunes when using the og Homepods but the playback was perfect when using a pair of Airpod Max headphones, these mini's seem to have fixed the issue.
Cheers all
Made a couple of calls yesterday about getting it repaired, but to be honest I didnt really think it was worth shelling out £250 for something that only had a 3 month warranty on it (I have had both homepods since their launch 4 years ago)
I bit the bullet last night and went to my local John Lewis & purchased a couple of Homepod Mini's for £89 each, set them both up and added them to my AppleTv, I must say I am impressed with the sound from such a small pair of speakers.
Oddly enough I was having problems with video playback stuttering from itunes when using the og Homepods but the playback was perfect when using a pair of Airpod Max headphones, these mini's seem to have fixed the issue.
Cheers all
I get this at least once or twice a month. Have to do exactly the same to get them going again. My two minis in the Kitchen have never done it…
Soldato
Ios16 has screwed up “hey siri” on the HomePods.
If I request music it can’t find anything, despite having Apple Music sub, I say an artist and it says it can’t find anything in my Apple Music library.
Looking on macrumours and various sites seems like a widespread issue, 16.1 beta apparently fixes it.
If I request music it can’t find anything, despite having Apple Music sub, I say an artist and it says it can’t find anything in my Apple Music library.
Looking on macrumours and various sites seems like a widespread issue, 16.1 beta apparently fixes it.
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Soldato
I tried that, perhaps I rebooted them too quick though, a reset fixes it apparently, I will try a reboot again, if not I will just wait to see if 16.1 fixes it.
We had something similar with ours and I fixed it by logging out of the HomePod account....it just uses our personal requests so I guess it uses our individual Apple Music accounts instead?