OctoMonkey

JFC_PA said:

Leather doesn’t block radio waves (RFID) that takes conductive metal. Which some leather cases incorporate just for that privacy feature. 

There are also non-metallic materials which block radio waves.  For example, graphite (and its variants) is an exceptional radio frequency insulator.

mike1 said:

OctoMonkey said:

AppleInsider said:

That said, multiple HomePod mini and HomePod units can be linked to form a connected whole-house system. Users can ask Siri to play different songs in each room or play one song throughout the home, with sound synchronized across all speakers.

This is the bit I find does not work.  My setup is a bit different in that I am using wired Airport Express units to drive in wall speakers (via Griffin Twenty amplifiers).  When I stream music from my computer to both the AE and the HP, the HP will lose it's connection to the Music app.  If I play to just the HP, everything works fine.  Perhaps Apple is simply deprecating the AE in an attempt to not have to deal with them.  This is fine, but I definitely need a wired speaker solution - I don't want my house to be littered with HPs.

Then why are you even commenting on this story???

Because it bears mentioning that while you might be able to connect multiple HomePods to create whole house audio, adding something else (even if manufactured by Apple) might break that system...  This potentially limits the value in going with the HP.  I replaced my HP with a Sonos unit and now everything works fine, although the audio quality is not as good.

Rayz2016 said:

Not that I'm a strategic expert on this kind of stuff, but I still reckon they're missing a trick by not building a router into these things.

Still, might move the larger one down to kitchen and get a smaller one for the office.

I think the bigger mistake is not including a wired option.  If nothing else, a wired ethernet connection eliminates wireless interference or access point issues as a potential source of problems.

Like elijahg, I used to love my HomePod but have fallen out of love with it.  For me the issue is it no longer works well.  I upgraded the HP (13.3.1 to 13.4.5) a few months ago and it immediately started having playback issues.  I have a very simple setup and ONLY use(d) the HP to play audio which I streamed from my Mac.  No Siri, no other music sources.  Playing music consistently caused an interruption with the audio stream.  I mean consistently:  The same two songs played in succession caused the audio to fail at the same point...  Every single time.  Hours and hours of troubleshooting with Apple support resulted in a complete denial of an issue at Apple's end.  Replaced the HP with a Sonos speaker and voila!  The problem went away!  The audio quality is not nearly as good as the HP (not even close), but - it - works!

I do miss the quality of the audio, but the inability to roll back the OS, the lack of a fix, and the denial of responsibility have caused me to bail on the HP.  After 30+ years, perhaps this is the start of my abandoning the Apple echo-system.  Time to break out the C-64!

Does anybody need a large, black paperweight?