like the features, setup was difficult for some of my devices (August Door lock, ru-vid.comUgkxhB5YOMNj04GuoAosExygP4cH-dKeb4aB Bose speaker)... but all switches and outlets (5), thermostat, tankless water heater. Unfortunately all I can do is turn on/off Bose. It doesn't support volume or changing channels, but I believe that is due to the particular speaker I have.... Worth getting if you already have other devices to use it with... I don't sit around and ask Alexa questions much so that doesn't really matter to me....
It would be cool if Apple had a “night light” feature that uses the U1 chip in your iPhone or Apple Watch to connect to next gen lights with U1 chips in them and have the lights nearest you turn on a subtle glow in a warm tone that will follow where you are in the house and only light the nearest light to you. That way if you wanted to use the potty on the other side of the house you would just have to walk there and not think too much about turning on switches or talking to Siri because that could break you out of your sleeping cycle.
this is magical though i bet the power consumption on your iPhone/Apple Watch. probably the lights will be the one that "follows" and Apple devices as the U1 reciever
I have a small Sony Dolby Atmos soundbar connected to my Apple TV 4K. The sound is ok but it could be better. Is it possible to connect two additional HomePod minis to my Apple TV4k + Soundbar ?
I have both. Two HomePods and two minis. And i agree. Get two minis instead of one HomePod. Or if you have the money, geht two HomePods. That’s still best.
Apple is crazy if they are not giving this guy a kickback! 😂 I ordered both last night (...Adding a 2nd Apple TV from HD w/ 2 HomePods.) So obviously I’ve been overthinking this for awhile... But Erfon’s efforts have pushed me over the edge... What the hell, I am already more than half way there. As it’s been said, ‘...No more half measures.’
Love all ur vids! I absolutely love that the homepods can be default now. Whenever I’d fast forward on my Apple TV the audio would cut out and take a while to catch up. Now that it’s the default audio source it doesn’t do that anymore. Love it
Now 1 year later that is possible on the latest Apple TV 4K 2nd Gen. It has eARC pass through which allows anything on the TV to be heard on the HomePods.
Hi 😁 can you tell me what sounds better? two HomePod’s mini or one HomePod ?? I will be using this just as speaker to play music. I can’t decide myself what options get 🙈 Btw. I love your videos 🔥
Quick question, see if I’d have two HomePod minis and I’d go “Hey Siri” would I get Siri coming from both in stereo or you can prioritise which speaker Siri prioritise?
My homepods mini always priorize the first one that I configure on my iPhone, I don’t know why… even if I am close to the second I configured, the colorful light comes from the first one…
Okay so I’m looking to buy some homepods and a new Apple TV for a theater set up in my room to do a movie night with friends. I’ve been doing some research on this and now I’m curious about a few things. One being what color I should get. I noticed you have the white ones. Does it get dirty easily? Like does it show a lot of dust??? The second being did Apple ever release an update that now makes the homepods the default audio output for the Apple TV?
@Erfon Elijah now that they original HomePod is discontinued, what are your thoughts on the version 2 like you mentioned? I love my HomePod, I’m undecided 🤷♂️ if I should buy another or hold out and hope there is a version 2. With Apple going in on the streaming, music and fitness and games, 🤞 I can’t see Apple leaving the audio space to them mini.
Can this only be done with content viewed from an Apple TV ? Or can I stereo pair and use the minis in replace of a sound bar for all content (cable, fire stick ect)
Love the channel. However, I have the 2 original HomePod set up, everything is updated to the latest iOS and tvOS and HomePod OS, but I am not getting any Atmos, I’m not hearing sound coming from behind me or above me. I followed apples recommendations of having each HomePod 10 inches from the wall, and 4 feet apart. Is there something I’m missing? Why am I not able to get the same experience that you are obviously getting?
I watched your videos and you were correct with your comparison of the differences in audio between the HomePod and MiniPod. Spot on. I went ahead and got 2 MiniPods and a HomePod. I tested them. I’m returning the HomePod. The only problem with this setup is that there is an assumption (by Apple engineers) that people all live in detached homes, as opposed to multi-family homes, 5 miles and 1 year away from anyone. The HomePod is not suitable for urban living. The HomePod mini, or MiniPods, could also be a challenge for urban living. You completely understate the level of bass in the HomePod. The bass is so deep that my neighbors in my last place heard it - 5 miles away and 10 years ago. It literally breaks a hole in the fabric of space and time and travels backwards. That’s how much bass resonated from that thing. I guess these were designed where everyone lives in ranch homes with acres of land between them and their nearest neighbor? They are not suitable for apartments that don’t have a concrete subfloor or plaster walls. (Basically any apartment building from the early 1900s) The MiniPods have a lot of bass too but I would not even say these are apartment safe. Not unless you want nosy neighbors coming over and banging on your door. I live in a condo built ~1918 with exposed brick and wood floors. I admit they didn’t have much in the way of sound proofing back then so I’ve done some upgrades. My living room is 14’x17’ and opens to a 11’x9’ kitchen. The stereo MiniPods filled this area and was still loud enough (at 66% volume) to be heard in my bathroom, on the other side of my unit, while taking a shower. The MiniPod bass is a bit much, but I do like them. So they are not going back. I think maybe why Apple didn’t sell many of the bigger HomePods is due to the bass being so much. Let’s face it, a majority of the world lives in cities. They really needed to add a “night listening mode” / “light listening mode” or something. Also, churning my lights on? What do you mean by churning? /snark 😉
Great video!! For me, the number one feature I am looking for with TV sound is to be able to understand spoken word content. It is SOOOOO frustrating to watch a movie and not understand what's being said because of all the other competing sound effects. So, my question is, how good a job do the HomePod Minis do with spoken word content? And if you have a suggestion for the best sound solution for rendering spoken word TV content would you share it? Thanks.
@@Jasper-mu8yz Yes, but you will not like my answer. I simply gave up on soundbars. I could not find any that did a commendable job teasing out speech, which is almost exclusively contained in the center front channel of the multichannel signal being fed into the soundbar. So I now have a receiver to which I have only connected a front left, front right, and center channel speaker. All three speakers are very modest in size. The receiver will automatically push the missing speaker's channel content to those existing speakers. At this point, I had complete control over speech by adjusting the level of the center channel speaker. I just raised the level of the center channel till speech was easy to hear. I could add a sub to the system. But the speakers I used produce enough base for my needs. I hope this helps.
@@MrLuigi-oi7gm wow, thank you so much for taking so much time to explain what you did! will look into it more deeply when i have the time to. it´s such a weird topic that no one seems to really talk about. especialy living in a building with neighbours around you its so frustrating having to constantly adjust volume while watching a movie.
@@Jasper-mu8yz Well, wow right back at you for such kind recognition! Modern movies seem to challenge dialog much more than older movies because they pack more and more loud, non-dialogue sound effects into the overall sound experience which drowns out the dialogue. I guess I'm old school, but I much rather clearly understand what the actors are saying than have a machine gun or jack hammer rattle my windows. Good luck with your set-up! Kind regards, Luigi
Hey, I bought two full-size home pods after watching your atmos video...pretty cool. They should be paying you. Anyway, we have kinda high vaulted ceilings, the room only has three walls, and is not huge but on the large side...and the volume is just barely sufficient. For the most part, it is really hard to get the volume "too loud"...is that your experience also? That they are plenty loud, but for the rare time you may want them really cranked up that they just aren't THAT powerful?
@@levels1937 I don't think this is totally right. If you use iTunes or music, tv or podcasts as it now is you can select the pair like you would on an Apple TV. If you use any other audio via airplay you are correct.
Apple had a chance to do something amazing for the home theater market but they dropped the ball…at least so far. They may have backed off of any additional effort due to their relationship with Sonos.
Hey, I noticed you use Plex. Do you get the Dolby Atmos on the pair of original HomePods from content through plex? Most of my content on Plex is 5.1, is the 5.1 on a stereo pair of big homepods good?
@@ErfonElijah I would rather the HomePods. But in Australia despite a clearance sale last year of >$300, those who brought them want between $400 and $700 for one, making them crazy expensive. My thought was that 2 HomePod Mini's would be better than my built in HiSense speakers, and better than a cheap $200 soundbar. If my budget is $250 (cost of 2 HomePod Mini's in Aus) would I better with the 2 Mini's or a soundbar? Cheers.
Hmm, I guess it depends on your listening preferences. To me, the HomePod Mini is MISSING high end frequencies. They are just completely gone. To you, it’s nicer. I think most people have such crappy speakers, that they are used to missing out on the high end sounds. So when they get a nice 7 tweeter speaker system like the HomePod, it sounds “off”.
my 2 HomePods with Apple TV 4K (all by the book OS14.2), but I don’t see Dolby Atmos in the default audio menu, does it still show Dolby Atmos in there ? or apple changed it to Auto ?
It turns on when it’s available in the content, but they don’t tell you it’s on. I think they’re going to add a feature in the future that makes it clear what audio signal you’re using 🍻
@@ErfonElijah Thanks buddy ! can’t tell you just how much I appreciated it ! I was looking for Dolby Atmos the entire day in the menu. long story short 5 hours of re-setting HomePods, Apple TV 4k, almost reset my iphone LOL. By the way, I bought 2 HomePods and Apple TV 4K because your review video! LOVE your videos! 😁
I have my TV in a bit of weirdly shaped corner of my room. I tried the mini's but they sounded dreadful, I think because of the shape of the walls causing reflections with the 360 audio. They sound super in my bedroom.
Have 2 minis set up stereo pair.. It worked for about an hour now only one plays. I have heard that this is an issue. Hopefully Apple will push out firmware update.
Forget the rest, I subbed 15 minutes ago while watching the amazon Echo studio review, i blasted past all the other tech guys on you tube to get here, entertaining AF. Hope you get a million subs this year 👍🏼🍺
Fantastic video, thank you. I agree with you that the HomePod is shrill in its delivery of higher notes - this was part of the reason why I sold my stereo pair. I've purchased a HomePod mini and I'm considering buying a second one so it's good that it seems that a stereo pair of minis is better in its delivery of high notes.
I bought two of these (HomePods, not mini) based on this. I wasn’t expecting 7.1 sound or anything but I think these are SUPER quiet. I have a larger room than that, but only in height. Not in depth. Fairly shocked at how quiet they are, unless I’m not setting them up right, but I watched your demo and the sound field was completely front facing, so all firmware is complete, so 🤷🏼♂️.
Make sure everything is up to date and you have the audio format set to auto in Apple TV. With this new setting working they are basically like when using two homepod at full volume for music. Before the update they were half the volume so I think it's not setup right.
@@richarddcrossley well, I think it’s just a difference in distance from wall, and a multitude of other unforeseen ‘room’ issues, I like the sound from a range standpoint and a dynamics standpoint, but from a sheer volume I think the mini is as you say more pleasing because I honestly need to see if a mini is louder, because it sure seems that way to me...and the wow factor from a ‘loudness ’ simply isn’t there for me. The entire ecosystem has already made my life better and 2 more HomePod minis are enroute as we speak for a total of 5, and don’t even get me started if they go for HomePod 2 soon. Thxs for replying! I’m sure if I placed these in my basement fun-room they would be plenty stunning. So it’s a ME issue I’m sure and not an Apple issue
For those of you who have a HomePod, don’t want to buy another, and don’t want sound coming from one side of the TV: www.amazon.com/dp/B000VY8PI4/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_awdb_imm_t1_K3UYFbEREFPD6?psc=1 Bought this adjustable stereo stand to go behind/underneath my TV. To ensure stability I used some command strips to keep it from tipping over should someone ever bump the TV stand. It doesn’t have to be this stand as long as it’s tall enough to reach above your TV so you can set your HomePod just above your TV. I feel those of you that live in apartments, one HomePod is all you need. I used to have stereo HomePods and the bass was a little much so I gifted it to a family member.Thought I’d share this because it’s been working out great for me and with the new update, I love not having to pair the HomePod to the 4K Apple TV every time I use it. Hope this little hack helps some of you out.
Erfon. Love your stuff on Cultcast. The only thing keeping me from going this route is PS4/5. wish the released a version of the Apple TV that acted as a receiver with inputs for other sources. Not holding my breath though.
I’m not talking about the Apple TV I’m talking about using any a iPhone or iPad to connect stereo HomePods and stereo HomePod minis via airplay for Apple Music
@@davidmuhling9106 i was thinking i could have a stereo HomePod mini pair in the front and stereo HomePods in the back but i should be able to play music through both pairs like any other airplay speakers
You already made me purchase two original HomePods now it's time for mini, I would really like them to go behind for better sound separation in Dolby theatre mode and I hope, very soon Apple may release an update to enhance what they did with HomePods.
Hard to say. It could be 1-2 years before new ones come out. I don’t think Apple is going to replace them any time soon. If you can get them for $200 each I’d git’er done.
I am using 4 HomePods connected to an AppleTV 4K - 2 in front connected as Default Speakers stereo pair and 2 additional HomePods in the back as a stereo pair.
Erfon Elijah I agree, currently using it in my bedroom front and center and I got some really good separation, you won’t believe this but it still pairs to the 3rd gen ATV. I have a 4K in the living room for my stereo pair as well.