APPLE HOMEPOD 2ND GENERATION

After cancelling its HomePod smart speaker, Apple has revived it in a new, but highly familiar, version with new features and gently tweaked sound.

It still has better sound than rival smart speakers and the new features including sound recognition could prove useful. B

The design hasn’t changed and it’s still of very limited value to Android users. Five tweeters, down from seven.

Apple’s second version of its full-size smart speaker offers stunning audio and a voice assistant that’s increasingly clever and useful. And the faster processor and extra sensors provide new features.

When Apple released its first smart speaker, the HomePod, back in February 2018, it was praised for its audio quality, which was better than rivals. But it was pricier, too, which ruffled feathers. Putting the smart into smart speaker also sparked controversy: Apples’ virtual assistant, Siri, lacked some of the skills that the Amazon and Google speakers boasted. It wasn’t the biggest success and Apple discontinued it in early 2021, though not before it launched a smaller and much cheaper speaker, the HomePod mini (£99). This also outaudioed similarly priced smart speakers, though not the HomePod itself.

Now, the bigger speaker is back, at a slightly lower price, $299/299, in a largely similar casing. So, how does the new HomePod stack up?

Familiar On The Outside

The design of the HomePod is unmistakable, a squat drum of mesh material with curved edges and a touch-sensitive display on top. What’s new this time around? Not much that’s visible; the changes are almost all inside. It’s a little lighter in weight (2.3kg), a smidge shorter at 168mm, and it comes in a new Midnight colour which is darker than the Space Grey that preceded it. A white option is also still available. Beyond that, the biggest difference in the look is that the touchscreen is now illuminated to its edges, not just in the middle, and the mesh rises higher above it, to help prevent accidental touches.

IT’S MEANT FOR APPLE USERS

Actually, you rarely need to touch the screen at all: mostly, you interact through voice or a companion device like an iPhone.

Like with previous HomePods, you need an Apple device to set this up. And while a visitor’s iPhone can transfer the music playing on it to the speaker just by tapping one against the other (Apple calls this procedure Handoff), Android users are not invited to the party. As usual with Apple, this walled garden means that set-up and use are sublimely simple. When you turn on the HomePod for the first time, it links to your iPhone or iPad, say, and to the Apple ID on the device.

The set-up also includes your first experience of how the HomePod sounds. The speaker uses its first music playback to tune its output to its surroundings by listening for sound reflections with its four internal microphones. Its automatic room sensing is very good, even though there are fewer microphones in this new model than the original.

Audio Quality

If you’re familiar with how the first HomePod sounded, this is similar and the switch from seven to five tweeters has not had a negative effect. To my ears, the new model has a wider, more open feel to it, though with the same neutral tone Apple likes. If you’ve never heard a HomePod, it aims for a pure, detailed sound that is faithful to the track, with decent, not emphatic, bass. An internal microphone monitors and adjusts bass in real time.

Vocals are crystal clear, mid notes are sounded strongly, and bass is present but not overpowering. Music playback works best with Apple Music (surprise, surprise), which has a huge number of spatial audio tracks which are being updated weekly. Older tracks now feature the spatial logo for easy identification too. You can make it even better for twice the price. Two HomePods can be wirelessly joined as a stereo pair, and here the audio quality leaps from great to peerless at the price. Note that you can’t pair a new HomePod with a HomePod mini or a first-gen HomePod.

The HomePod can also connect to an Apple TV to provide excellent home cinema results and since the latest Apple TV 4K supports eARC, you can connect it up to play other content through your HomePods.

Smart Features

The new HomePod, like the HomePod mini, includes a temperature and humidity sensor. This helps with smart home automations, so you can set compatible heating systems to launch into life when the room temperature drops below a certain figure, for instance. Or just to idly say, “Hey, Siri, what’s the temperature in the living room?” This is useful, perhaps, in arguments with your significant other about how how you’re not wasting money on central heating, thank you very much.

There’s one downside worth noting which may irritate UK customers. You can play thousands of radio stations, but not the BBC. You have to use the Handoff workaround: launch BBC Sounds on your iPhone and then tap the phone against the HomePod.

Verdict

Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, is still not quite as knowledgeable as Alexa or Google Assistant. But maybe that’s not the point here: it’s a music-focused speaker and, after all, Siri can get smarter through an upgrade on Apple’s servers at any time, while the audio hardware is fixed when you hand over your cash.

When the first HomePod launched, it was head and shoulders above other smart speakers in terms of sound. A lot has changed, with higher-end speakers with virtual assistants built in. Even so, the new HomePod still holds its own. The HomePod mini, for smaller rooms, is a legitimate and cheaper alternative, but the bigger speaker sounds better.

The HomePod continues to be the best-sounding smart speaker, unless you want to spend a lot more money.