Apple HomePod 2 Specifications
Great sound, immersive spatial sound and the ability to easily fill the room – HomePod 2 is a great smart speaker, but only if you're deep in the Apple ecosystem.
Key features
Sound Venue Dolby Atmos music and video are supported, with excellent results
Siri lets you control music, smart home technology, and more
Streaming 2You can easily send any music from your iOS and macOS device
Introduction
When Apple unofficially discontinued the original HomePod in 2021, I can't imagine that many thought it would be less than two years before the arrival of the HomePod 2.
I would be surprised if many thought that the successor would be almost the same product at the same price as before. But that's exactly what happened.
The HomePod 2 is one of Apple's most unusual releases, but after a week of listening to the smart speaker, I'm glad it's revived as there aren't so many of these goodies.
Sound quality
Extra heavy sound
Impressive spatial vocal reproduction
Great sound for size
The Apple HomePod 2 has many tricks, but it is a speaker in essence and without good sound, it will be difficult to sell at its relatively high price. Similar smart speakers from Google and Amazon, while cheaper, tend to put intelligence above sound – something Apple decides against.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who listened to the first HomePod or even read our review of it that HomePod 2 looks great. The best smart speaker of its size comfortably.
Apple HomePod 2 Front
Image level (reliable reviews)
It sounds great in all situations as well, thanks to the software that adjusts the audio output depending on where the speaker is placed. Although I found that it looks better when placed centrally in a room, it still manages to work well when placed on a high shelf right opposite the wall or behind some chairs. This is similar to Auto Tuning TruePlay on Sonos, but without the need for any manual setup.
Inside the HomePod there is a 4-inch high-rise speaker, five speakers (less than twice as much as the previous HomePod), microphones for sound correction, and four more microphones for long-field Siri. It's a mono speaker by default, but you can pair two together to create a stereo setting that boosts the sound even more. You cannot perform a stereo pairing between HomePod 1 and HomePod 2 to create a stereo pair - you will need two new modules.
Play Cuff It from Beyonce in Dolby Atmos from Apple Music and you will be immediately impressed by the extra depth that Spatial Audio adds. Supporting voices float in the background while HomePod's brilliant bass skills make themselves recognizable.
Fleetwood Mac's Dreams is another track that shines here with Spatial Audio, where the drums and strings are filled with warmth and immersion. Things get better when Stevie Nix starts singing, with HomePod 2 capturing it clearly and clearly.
Pump out the size of the room and the spatial effects that fill the room become more noticeable. This little speaker filled our entire office with sound, and even when the sound was pumped there was no distortion at all.
Apple's skill at tuning sound has always been how it handles the diversity of music. While there's certainly more extra bass than a competitor like the Sonos One, the HomePod 2 manages everything from the sheer bass of the propane nightmares in the pendulum to the booming vocal spikes of the shallow Lady Gaga.
I've rarely liked Spatial Audio before, but the Apple HomePod 2 manages to create enough separation that adds extra depth to well-mixed tracks.
You miss Spatial Audio's skills with Spotify, but the music still sounds excellent from this streaming service. The brave blending in the politics of truth is in Depeche's mode, while Alex Turner's blunt voices sing with clarity and detail in Arctic Monkey's Hello You.
HomePod 2 can be used as an Atmos-enabled speaker for TV. If it's connected to an Apple TV 4K that, in turn, is connected to an eArc port, it can control all the inputs on the TV, expanding it from a music-focused speaker to something much more. Add HomePod 2 seconds and only Atmos audio immersion will increase.
design
Virtual is visually the same as the original HomePod
Two colors: midnight and white
Removable power cable
When Apple retired from the original HomePod and replaced it with the HomePod mini, the general consensus was that if it were to return, it would look completely different. I was then surprised to find the new HomePod 2, well, almost like its predecessor when it comes to design.
It's a sleek speaker, just 8.8 inches long, and covered in soft mesh fabric that helps it blend well into softer environments, such as the lounge or bedroom. It doesn't really stand out as a piece of technology, which is a problem I have with competition like the Sonos One. It is definitely heavy even though it weighs 2.3lg. This makes it marginally lighter than the original HomePod, but only 200g.
Play Cuff It from Beyonce in Dolby Atmos from Apple Music and you will be immediately impressed by the extra depth that Spatial Audio adds. Supporting voices float in the background while HomePod's brilliant bass skills make themselves recognizable.
Fleetwood Mac's Dreams is another track that shines here with Spatial Audio, where the drums and strings are filled with warmth and immersion. Things get better when Stevie Nix starts singing, with HomePod 2 capturing it clearly and clearly.
Pump out the size of the room and the spatial effects that fill the room become more noticeable. This little speaker filled our entire office with sound, and even when the sound was pumped there was no distortion at all.
Apple's skill at tuning sound has always been how it handles the diversity of music. While there's certainly more extra bass than a competitor like the Sonos One, the HomePod 2 manages everything from the sheer bass of the propane nightmares in the pendulum to the booming vocal spikes of the shallow Lady Gaga.
I've rarely liked Spatial Audio before, but the Apple HomePod 2 manages to create enough separation that adds extra depth to well-mixed tracks.
You miss Spatial Audio's skills with Spotify, but the music still sounds excellent from this streaming service. The brave blending in the politics of truth is in Depeche's mode, while Alex Turner's blunt voices sing with clarity and detail in Arctic Monkey's Hello You.
HomePod 2 can be used as an Atmos-enabled speaker for TV. If it's connected to an Apple TV 4K that, in turn, is connected to an eArc port, it can control all the inputs on the TV, expanding it from a music-focused speaker to something much more. Add HomePod 2 seconds and only Atmos audio immersion will increase.
design
Virtual is visually the same as the original HomePod
Two colors: midnight and white
Removable power cable
When Apple retired from the original HomePod and replaced it with the HomePod mini, the general consensus was that if it were to return, it would look completely different. I was then surprised to find the new HomePod 2, well, almost like its predecessor when it comes to design.
It's a sleek speaker, just 8.8 inches long, and covered in soft mesh fabric that helps it blend well into softer environments, such as the lounge or bedroom. It doesn't really stand out as a piece of technology, which is a problem I have with competition like the Sonos One. It is definitely heavy even though it weighs 2.3lg. This makes it marginally lighter than the original HomePod, but only 200g.
The screen at the top is a little bigger now as well, although that doesn't do much away from the pulse while playing music or when you're interacting with Siri. You can tap it to turn on or pause, or press longer to talk with Siri. There are also buttons to increase and decrease the volume here if you have a phone at your fingertips.
Attributes
Siri voice assistant
Improvements in smart home support
Temperature and humidity sensors
Setting up your Apple HomePod 2 is a basic and simple process – but beware of that, it requires an iOS device and there is currently no way to set up your Android phone's speakerphone. This is on par with the course with Apple technology, but annoying nonetheless because there is no real reason to restrict this to those who only have iPhones.
Connect your Apple HomePod 2, bring your iPhone up close and it will guide you through the whole process. This setup and more customizations are made through the Home app, which is a cleaner app thanks to some recent updates. This is where the software updates for HomePod will arrive.
Music from HomePod 2 can be played in several ways. If you are an Apple Music user, you can ask Siri to play certain artists, albums, or songs. I've found Siri to be very responsive and usually pick up requests, even if it's for more obscure artists, I might be slaughtering names.
You can also send music to the speaker from the AirPlay drop-down menu on iOS or macOS, this is how you can pair HomePod 2 with Spotify or a music service other than Apple Music. Annoyingly, you can't set Spotify as the default music service and you can't use Siri to control it.
The sleek Handoff feature allows you to mount your phone on top of HomePod 2 to transfer music without pressing anything. It's a clever trick that seems almost futuristic in its approach like music physically jumping from phone to speaker. It works another way too, so you can drag music from playing on the speaker to your phone – great if you're listening to a podcast and want to move rooms.
If you have multiple HomePods, HomePod 2s, and HomePod Minis, you can play music through them all at once and this is integrated into iOS, making it easy to do with almost no setup.
Something I found a bit strange is that the Apple HomePod 2, most likely due to its reliance on AirPlay 2, is a bit slow. Changing the volume, pausing it, or skipping it takes a noticeable moment before it is recorded. This is not something I've ever noticed with the Sonos multi-room system which is a bit annoying.
Like the original HomePod, there is no Bluetooth here, so forget about connecting devices this way. There are no inputs either, so there is no way to connect a recording player or similar.
When it comes to smart home skills, HomePod is improving over its predecessor with a built-in thread radio to support Matter. This is a smart home standard that connects devices together from various manufacturers, including Google, Amazon, and Apple. Thanks to Thread Radio, HomePod 2 can create the mesh network required for Matter devices (such as the Eve Energy Plug) to interact with each other,
You can control smart home technology through HomePod 2 through Siri commands. As long as the device is set up in Apple Home, you can control it with the speaker. I turned off the Hue lights worked every time and I generally found that the actions happened faster than when I asked Alexa in the Echo Show 8 program.
Besides the technology required for Thread, HomePod 2 also has a temperature and humidity sensor inside. Ask Siri how warm or humid the lounge is and you'll find the number screaming at you. The current temperature can also be seen in the Home app.