nhughes

wa4321 said:

I found it interesting that my Apple TV did show up as an accessory a few days ago... anyone else see this happening also?

Hasn't happened to me yet, but that is interesting. Are you on any beta software?

usersinceos1 said:

Notsofast said:

A "foray" is defined as an initial attempt, so it was an incorrect use of that word.  It would be comparable to saying,  "Elon Musk introduced the Model 3 today as he launched Tesla's foray into electric vehicles."  

Not in my dictionary.  A foray is "a sudden attack or incursion into enemy territory, especially to obtain something; a raid."  It doesn't have to be an initial attempt.  The word "foray" seems to trace back to an Anglo-French term for "raider" or "forager".  The word probably has the wrong implication when applied to a commercial offering to the public, like the HomePod. 

The ongoing debate here is a prime example of how irrelevant comments can derail the discussion, particularly when the comment in question is one of the very first ones on the article (and thus one of the first ones everyone reads).

I'm deleting the comment and all subsequent talk of it, not because I'm particularly sensitive, but because it's not relevant to the story at hand. Readers who want to point out typos or have grammatical debates are able (and encouraged!) to contact us via email, or twitter, or elsewhere outside of the comments section.

Also, feel free to check out our handy dandy commenting guidelines while you're at it.

https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/184333/appleinsiders-updated-commenting-guidelines/p1

randominternetperson said:

The "loud, powerful, and heavy" in the headline sounds like a warning.  But since this isn't addressed in the article, can we assume that it also sounds good at low or moderate volumes?

My wife has the hearing of a bat and I have the hearing of a middle-aged person who listened to too much loud music when younger, so we always have arguments about turning up or down the TV volume. Therefore, I'd like to be sure that "it's loud" isn't really a complaint about the device. 

It sounds good at low and moderate volumes. Powerful and heavy can be used to describe both the quality of the audio and the physical speaker itself (it's dense, and it has a beefy A8 chip). Just a double entendre, not a warning.

Soli said:

nhughes said:

dick applebaum said:

AppleInsider said:

Later this year, when iOS 11.3 is made public and the HomePod is also updated, AirPlay 2 will be available. This means users will be able to stream music to multiple HomePod units at once, or even combine playback on HomePod with other AirPlay 2 devices, like the Apple TV. For now, it's one HomePod only, and I couldn't find a way to stream to both my Apple TV 4K and HomePod.

From what I've read, with iTunes running on a Mac, you can stream to multiple output speakers -- including the homePod.  Can you verify this, please?

Streaming to multiple AirPlay speakers from iTunes on a Mac has always been possible with AirPlay 1. What's unique about AirPlay 2 is it will allow multi-speaker streaming from an iOS device.

So to answer your question, yes, you can output to multiple speakers via iTunes on a Mac, but that's not new. You don't need to buy a HomePod to do that. You could do it with a couple of AirPort Expresses and any speaker of your choosing.

It’s my understanding that AirPlay 2 will being much needed audio syncing for multiple speakers.

I used to have much, much worse audio syncing issues when AirPlay was known as AirTunes. Over the years, it has gradually improved, to a point now where I don't have any noticeable "audio drift" problems. Improvements are always welcome, but this was not (for me) a problem area anymore.

dick applebaum said:

nhughes said:

dick applebaum said:

AppleInsider said:

Later this year, when iOS 11.3 is made public and the HomePod is also updated, AirPlay 2 will be available. This means users will be able to stream music to multiple HomePod units at once, or even combine playback on HomePod with other AirPlay 2 devices, like the Apple TV. For now, it's one HomePod only, and I couldn't find a way to stream to both my Apple TV 4K and HomePod.

From what I've read, with iTunes running on a Mac, you can stream to multiple output speakers -- including the homePod.  Can you verify this, please?

Streaming to multiple AirPlay speakers from iTunes on a Mac has always been possible with AirPlay 1. What's unique about AirPlay 2 is it will allow multi-speaker streaming from an iOS device.

So to answer your question, yes, you can output to multiple speakers via iTunes on a Mac, but that's not new. You don't need to buy a HomePod to do that. You could do it with a couple of AirPort Expresses and any speaker of your choosing.

OK.  When we do serious listening to music we normally use iTunes on a Mac, something like shown below:

If a homePod could be one of these speakers, couldn't 2 homePods... 3? 4?...

An Airport Express costs $100 + cable + the cost of a speaker --  a homePod costs $350, nothing else needed.

I wonder if you a homePod in this way -- can you use the iTunes Equalizer?

iTunes on your computer is streaming to multiple devices over AirPlay 1, and HomePod supports AirPlay 1, so it works fine.