HomePod mini

SauRoNZA said:
Weird.

I’m not a big bass head but reckon I can still judge when it’s lacking or overbearing.

Also played my MacBook output to the HomePod Mini all day and didn’t have a single issue or disconnect.

In fact I was surprised every time I stepped away and came back confused about why it wasn’t coming from where I was expecting.

Should have done my Slack Huddle with it too. Missed opportunity.
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These konk out so hard that twice they've gone into full glitch mode with the same sound repeating over and over again. Nothing to do but reboot them.

If I haven't used them in a while I usually can't select them from my Mac. The icon just spins and spins, no connection. I have to ask Siri a question and then I can select them.

The audio frequently cuts out for a second or two, sometimes almost on a minute-by-minute basis.

At this point I'll probably reconnect my previous speakers to my dock, ungroup the HomePods and find two random spots in the house for each to live. They are quickly becoming too irritating to have in my study. And I'd prefer audio anyway that has some low-end. Not sure how you can hear any bass. The difference in overall balance going from AirPods Pro 2 (notwithstanding general quality) to the HomePod Minis is super jarring.

AfricanTech said:
Do you have access to another MacBook to test?
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Yeah, there are three M1 MacBook Airs lol. I've tested with one and it's no better than with my M1 Pro MBP.
 
Bryn said:
Yeah, there are three M1 MacBook Airs lol. I've tested with one and it's no better than with my M1 Pro MBP.
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You tried just resetting them again and trying one at a time?

Tested a friends recently and none of the issues you mention

Tried with a phone ?
 
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Bryn said:
These konk out so hard that twice they've gone into full glitch mode with the same sound repeating over and over again. Nothing to do but reboot them.

If I haven't used them in a while I usually can't select them from my Mac. The icon just spins and spins, no connection. I have to ask Siri a question and then I can select them.

The audio frequently cuts out for a second or two, sometimes almost on a minute-by-minute basis.

At this point I'll probably reconnect my previous speakers to my dock, ungroup the HomePods and find two random spots in the house for each to live. They are quickly becoming too irritating to have in my study. And I'd prefer audio anyway that has some low-end. Not sure how you can hear any bass. The difference in overall balance going from AirPods Pro 2 (notwithstanding general quality) to the HomePod Minis is super jarring.


Yeah, there are three M1 MacBook Airs lol. I've tested with one and it's no better than with my M1 Pro MBP.
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I can honestly say I’ve never experienced any of this with the HomePods.

With my AirPods I’ve had trouble where I have to manually go connect them under the Bluetooth menus.

Only time I’ve ever rebooted my HomePods was with this language change business in the last week.

Is it possible there’s some equaliser in play somewhere? Does it sound different from your phone?
 
Pho3nix said:
You tried just resetting them again and trying one at a time?

Tested a friends recently and none of the issues you mention

Tried with a phone ?
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Yeah, also had issues with my iPhone being bunted by the HomePods.

I'm on holiday from tomorrow. I'll reset them tomorrow morning and set them up again.

SauRoNZA said:
I can honestly say I’ve never experienced any of this with the HomePods.

With my AirPods I’ve had trouble where I have to manually go connect them under the Bluetooth menus.

Only time I’ve ever rebooted my HomePods was with this language change business in the last week.

Is it possible there’s some equaliser in play somewhere? Does it sound different from your phone?
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I've rebooted my pair at least 4 times today. Most recently a few seconds ago. Nothing would connect to it, except the iPhone which played music for a few seconds and then got kicked out too.

I don't have any equaliser stuff installed. Audio seems the same from any device, or when using them standalone.
 
Bryn said:
@greg0205 @SauRoNZA

Really appreciate you guys testing them. The comments were pretty unambiguous on Reddit but they could have been commentary from overly fussy people.

On the basis of your comments, I picked up two HomePods from iStore just now:

Home-Pods-Minis.jpg


So if they turn out to be a bit rubbish, I will smite you both. :p

(Early impressions are rather positive though. Especially the setup process.)
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Completely off topic question (apologies all), hows the battery life of you Nuphy keyboard?

Quoted time is 48h, but I assume that’s with backlighting. Can’t seem to find any info about how long it would last without.
 
Supercarfan said:
Completely off topic question (apologies all), hows the battery life of you Nuphy keyboard?

Quoted time is 48h, but I assume that’s with backlighting. Can’t seem to find any info about how long it would last without.
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I keep the backlight off because I find it distracting, and the battery life is comparable to the Magic Keyboard 2. Basically, godlike. No clue when I last charged it and it's currently at 70%.
 
This is what the experience of owning these HomePods has been for me, 80+% of the time:


It's now been a while since I first bought them. They have solid Wi-Fi, are on my only home network that everything is on, have been set up twice, rebooted multiple times a day, and are being used in an exclusively Apple ecosystem. And with new gear like an M1 Pro 16" MBP and iPhone 14 Pro Max, with all firmware updates applied to all devices incl. the HomePods.

I well and truly f**king despise them.
 
Bryn said:
This is what the experience of owning these HomePods has been for me, 80+% of the time:


It's now been a while since I first bought them. They have solid Wi-Fi, are on my only home network that everything is on, have been set up twice, rebooted multiple times a day, and are being used in an exclusively Apple ecosystem. And with new gear like an M1 Pro 16" MBP and iPhone 14 Pro Max, with all firmware updates applied to all devices incl. the HomePods.

I well and truly f**king despise them.
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Return for another pair? [mention]TedLasso [/mention] returned a problematic ATV and the replacement is better. Maybe you’ll have the same luck
 
Bryn said:
This is what the experience of owning these HomePods has been for me, 80+% of the time:


It's now been a while since I first bought them. They have solid Wi-Fi, are on my only home network that everything is on, have been set up twice, rebooted multiple times a day, and are being used in an exclusively Apple ecosystem. And with new gear like an M1 Pro 16" MBP and iPhone 14 Pro Max, with all firmware updates applied to all devices incl. the HomePods.

I well and truly f**king despise them.
Click to expand...

If you run one only does it do the same thing?
 
Bryn said:
This is what the experience of owning these HomePods has been for me, 80+% of the time:


It's now been a while since I first bought them. They have solid Wi-Fi, are on my only home network that everything is on, have been set up twice, rebooted multiple times a day, and are being used in an exclusively Apple ecosystem. And with new gear like an M1 Pro 16" MBP and iPhone 14 Pro Max, with all firmware updates applied to all devices incl. the HomePods.

I well and truly f**king despise them.
Click to expand...

Do you run some kind of hardcore firewall on your local network?

I wonder if there’s some issue with the mDNS/Bonjour service.
 
Pho3nix said:
Return for another pair? [mention]TedLasso [/mention] returned a problematic ATV and the replacement is better. Maybe you’ll have the same luck
Click to expand...
The fact that there are two makes it seem impossible that two units are busted. I guess it could be one of them, but I mean how likely is it that Apple sells a defective product...

AfricanTech said:
If you run one only does it do the same thing?
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Haven't tested them individually. I guess that's the next step.

SauRoNZA said:
Do you run some kind of hardcore firewall on your local network?

I wonder if there’s some issue with the mDNS/Bonjour service.
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Nope.

AfricanTech said:
or a VPN in the mix? Sometimes I forget to switch off Nord on my phone and get all sorts of strange behavior.
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I have a work VPN, but that's only for when I'm on public Wi-Fi networks. The VPN doesn't connect automatically and I haven't run it in months.
 
Nimz said:
@Bryn any update on those HomePods?

Looking at buying them soon
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Yeah. I reconnected my Logitech computer speakers and I have an infinitely renewed appreciation for their bass, lack of issues and lack of output lag.

Not sure yet what I'll do with those useless HomePods. What a waste of money. They're still glitchy af and only connect half the time or if I reboot them, or sometimes if I first connect with my iPhone and then my Mac.
 
Bryn said:
Yeah. I reconnected my Logitech computer speakers and I have an infinitely renewed appreciation for their bass, lack of issues and lack of output lag.

Not sure yet what I'll do with those useless HomePods. What a waste of money. They're still glitchy af and only connect half the time or if I reboot them, or sometimes if I first connect with my iPhone and then my Mac.
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^ Can't get my head around any of this.

The worst possible thing I can say about mine is that Siri used to get 'hot' and 'heart' confused when I asked her to play a radio station... I sorted that with a very specific shortcut instruction... oh, and that recently, Eskom has only been allowing us to listen to ours for half a day... a problem that involves a more complicated fix, but one we made the decision to go ahead with today.
 
Bryn said:
Yeah. I reconnected my Logitech computer speakers and I have an infinitely renewed appreciation for their bass, lack of issues and lack of output lag.

Not sure yet what I'll do with those useless HomePods. What a waste of money. They're still glitchy af and only connect half the time or if I reboot them, or sometimes if I first connect with my iPhone and then my Mac.
Click to expand...

I’d wager you have something interfering with the wifi on those HomePods that for some reason their design makes them prone to. Or their Wi-Fi chip doesn’t speak well to your Wi-Fi setup.
Still it is weird.
 
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Is anyone else having issues with Siri not recognising voices since switching it to South African English?

On both ours it can’t tell who’s speaking anymore, so all personal requests get executed on the default profile and my SO can’t add things to her lists or ask it to find her phone anymore.

Have switched it back to US English and it works again.
 
9to5mac.com

Apple unveils new full-size HomePod with refined design, $299 price, more

Apple has announced the second-generation HomePod, a successor to the full-size model that was discontinued without a clear replacement two years ago. The new HomePod has a $299 starting price, improved smart home features, temperature and humidity sensors, and more. New HomePod features and...
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
 
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