Verdict
Fantastic sound , immersive Spatial Audio and the power to fill a room with ease – the HomePod 2 is a marvellous overbold speaker , but only if you ’re deep in the Apple ecosystem .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
When Apple unceremoniously discontinue theoriginal HomePodin 2021 , I ca n’t envisage many would have retrieve it would be less than two years before the HomePod 2 arrived .
I ’d be even surprised if many thought the successor would be virtually the same product at very much the same price as before . But that ’s exactly what ’s bump .
The HomePod 2 is one of the more way-out Apple releases , but after a workweek of heed to thesmart speaker , I am glad it ’s been resurrected as there are n’t many that are this good .
Sound Quality
The Apple HomePod 2 has numerous tricks , but it ’s a speaker at heart and without good sound it would be a hard sell at its relatively high-pitched toll . like , though cheaper , sassy speakersfrom Google and Amazon tend to put smarting above speech sound – something Apple adjudicate against .
It should n’t come as a surprisal to anyone who mind to the firstHomePodor who even read our review of it that the HomePod 2 sound grand . Comfortably the best sound smart speaker unit of its sizing .
It sounds fantastic in all manner of position too , thanks to the software that tweaks the audio yield reckon on where the verbalizer is placed . While I ’ve found it sound best when placed centrally in a elbow room , it still manages to go well when placed on a gamy shelf right against a paries or down behind some hot seat . This machine - tuning is standardised toTruePlayon Sonos , but without requiring any manual setup .
Inside the HomePod there ’s a 4 - inch high-pitched - expedition woofer , five tweeters ( two less than the old HomePod ) , microphones for bass correction and another four mics for far - field Siri . It is a mono speaker by default option , but you could pair off two together to create a two-channel setup which boosts the audio even more . You ca n’t stereo pair the HomePod 1 and a HomePod 2 to create a stereoscopic photograph duet – you ’ll need two Modern ones .
Fire up Beyonce ’s Cuff It inDolby Atmosfrom Apple Music and you ’re straight off hit by the superfluous astuteness thatSpatial Audioadds . The patronage vocals drift in the background while the HomePod ’s fantastic basso skills make themselves known .
Fleetwood Mac ’s Dreams is another caterpillar tread that shine here with Spatial Audio , with the opening night drums and chords brim with warmth and ducking . thing get even better when Stevie Nicks ’ vocal plain in , with the HomePod 2 bewitch them clearly and crisply .
Pump up the volume and the elbow room - filling , spatial force only become more striking . This modest speaker filled our total office with sound , and even when the volume was pumped there was no distortion at all .
Apple ’s acquirement with its audio tuning has always been how well it deal music mutant . While there ’s sure an surplus smash of basso than a rival like theSonos One , the HomePod 2 finagle everything from the pounding bass of Pendulum ’s Propane Nightmares to the booming vocal high of Lady Gaga ’s Shallows .
I ’ve rarely been impressed with Spatial Audio before , but the Apple HomePod 2 superintend to create enough detachment that it really adds extra deepness to well - combine tracks .
You miss out on the Spatial Audio skills with Spotify , but the medicine still vocalise excellent from that cyclosis service . The plucky synths in Depeche Mode ’s Policy of Truth pop , while Alex Turner ’s gruff vocals ring out with lucidness and item in Arctic Monkey ’s Hello You .
The HomePod 2 can be used as an Atmos - adequate to speaker for a TV . If it ’s connected to anApple TV 4Kwhich in play is connected to aneARCport it can control all inputs on the goggle box , expound it from a medicine - focussed speaker system to something much more . Add a second HomePod 2 and the immersion of the Atmos sound only raise .
Design
When Apple retired the original HomePod and replaced it with theHomePod Mini , the general consensus was that if it was to return , it would be in a very different guise . I was surprised then to get hold the newfangled HomePod 2 is , well , almost the same as its predecessor when it comes to design .
It ’s a dinky speaker system , measuring just 8.8 - in tall , cover in a soft , mesh cloth that helps it blend nicely into lenient environment , like a lounge or sleeping room . It does n’t really stand out as a piece of tech , an exit I have with competitor like theSonos One . It ’s sure heavy though , weighing 2.3 kg . That makes it marginally lighter than the original HomePod , but only by 200 g.
Two colours are available : White and Midnight . Midnight is slightly off - black with a hint of blue , while the white is lighter and more elusive . It would have been courteous to have the array of colors that are usable with the HomePod Mini , especially the deep blue . Apple often updates colour throughout a product lifecycle , so there ’s every chance more variety could be added afterward .
While the general design is near - identical to the older HomePod , there are some minor – and very welcome – changes . The cable , which was intent before , can now be removed and swapped out if it gets damage . This is great , as it think the whole gimmick does n’t demand to be swapped if the cord gets fray .
The silver screen on the top is somewhat bigger now too , though this does n’t do much aside from pulse when medicine is play or you ’re interact with Siri . you could press on it to encounter or pause , or hold down longer to converse with Siri . There are also volume up and down button here if you ’ve got a phone handy .
Features
set up the Apple HomePod 2 is a canonical , simple process – be discourage though , it does require an iOS twist and there ’s presently no mode to set up the utterer with an Android earpiece . This is equality for the course with Apple tech , but annoy nevertheless as there ’s really no rationality to restrict this purely to those with iPhones .
Plug the Apple HomePod 2 in , bring your iPhone up close and a prompting will take the air you through the whole procedure . This apparatus and further customisations are done through the Home app , which is a cleaner app thanks to some recent updates . This is also where software update for the HomePod will arrive .
Playing music from the HomePod 2 can be done in a few ways . If you ’re an Apple Music user , you may ask Siri to recreate specific artists , albums or call . I ’ve found Siri very responsive and unremarkably spot on with request , even if they ’re for more obscure artists I might be butchering the name of .
you could also air music to the utterer from theAirPlaydropdown menu on iOS or macOS , and this is how you ’d pair off the HomePod 2 with Spotify or another music service that is n’t Apple Music . Annoyingly , you ca n’t rig Spotify as a default music armed service and you ca n’t use Siri to control it .
A neat Handoff feature lets you have your phone on the top of the HomePod 2 to transfer music without pressing anything . It ’s a canny trick that feels almost futurist in its approach shot like the music is physically jump off from the telephone to the speaker . It figure out the other elbow room too , so you could get out medicine off from playing on the utterer to your speech sound – great if you ’re listen to a podcast and require to move rooms .
If you ’ve got multiple HomePods , HomePod 2s and HomePod Minis you’re able to play music across them all at once and this is build right into iOS , making it easy to do with virtually no frame-up .
Something I have regain slightly odd is that the Apple HomePod 2 , likely due to its reliance on AirPlay 2 streaming , is a little slow . change the volume , pausing or skipping tracks take a noticeable second before it ’s cross-file . This is n’t something I ever noticed using a multiroom Sonos organization and it ’s slenderly jarring .
Like the original HomePod , there ’s no Bluetooth here so forget about connecting devices that style . There are no inputs either , so no way of life to unite up a disc participant or the same .
When it do to smart dwelling skills , the HomePod ameliorate on its precursor with an embedded Thread radiocommunication forMattersupport . This is a smart home base standard that associate devices together from various manufacturers , including Google , Amazon and Apple . Thanks to the Thread radio , the HomePod 2 can create the required meshing electronic connection for Matter gadget ( like theEve Energy Plug ) to interact with each other ,
you’re able to control smart house tech through the HomePod 2 through Siri program line . As long as the gadget is limit up in Apple Home , you could control it with the verbaliser . grow off my Hue lights knead every clip and I broadly speaking found the action mechanism happened quicker than when I asked Alexa on anEcho Show 8 .
Alongside the technical school required forThread , the HomePod 2 also packs a temperature and humidness detector inside . Ask Siri how warm or humid the lounge is and you ’ll get the image shouted back to you . The current temperature can also be seen in the Home app .
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Should you buy it?
The audio quality here is excellent – secure bass , fantabulous vocal clarity and immersive Dolby Atmos .
Not only do you need an Apple equipment for apparatus , but the AirPlay 2 standard is also required for well out music .
Final Thoughts
There ’s a simple question to respond before pick up a HomePod 2 : are you mostly an Apple user ? If you ’ve got aniPhone , Apple TV 4 K , Apple Music subscription and plan on go along them for the long term , the HomePod 2 is thebest wise speaker .
Like much of Apple ’s technical school , this speaker play best when it ’s all connected . Remove some of those devices and service and the experience becomes a little harder to justify . Spotify , for instance , is supported – but you ca n’t set it as a nonremittal music service , entail Siri ca n’t keep in line it .
Still , if you get laid what you ’re get into then this is a wonderful smart speaker that pull up stakes competition from Google , Amazon and even Sonos trailing in its wake . Audio is attractively nipping , with recondite bass and the best representation ofSpatial AudioI have take heed in a speaker this size of it .
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FAQs
There is no direction to position up a HomePod 2 without an iOS gadget as it requires the Home app .
