Cinema effect and high-tech room analysis - This is what Apple's new HomePod sounds like

A reunion often begins with the words "You haven't changed at all". This also applies to meeting Apple's new HomePod, the successor to the first speaker generation from 2018. Apple took it off the market two years ago - and has now revived the device. Minimally smaller and lighter, but basically confusingly similar.

That doesn't have to be bad. Apple usually has a lucky hand when it comes to design. And so the new HomePod fits well into the living environment with its simple but modern appearance.

But of course that's not the most important thing. A loudspeaker must be able to be measured by its sound. The first generation had already delivered well here. The new HomePod is now going a little further.

Sound is often a matter of taste. In the new HomePod, however, Apple has done its homework: the voices are well defined, the highs sound clear and the bass is powerful but not overdone. If that's still too much bass for you, you can reduce it a bit in Apple's Home app.

But that was it with the individual setting options. There is no equalizer. Apple apparently wants to make it as easy as possible for its users – and keep them away from fine-tuning. In fact, this is done by the technology inside the HomePod.

Here, the sound is also automatically adjusted to the corresponding content, so that not only rock music but also podcasts still sound good.

In addition, four microphones evaluate the sound reflections, analyze the room in this way and adjust the sound accordingly within about 20 seconds. If the HomePod is later moved to a different location, the motion sensors will notice this and adjust the room analysis. The user doesn't notice any of this. Nor is he supposed to. Only the result counts.

If you could see inside the HomePod, which you can't, you would find a woofer and five tweeters arranged in a circle and angled upwards.

With this, Apple promises the perception of 3D audio, a three-dimensional and thus spatial listening experience, which many know as Dolby Atmos, similar to the sound in the cinema. Technically, this works in such a way that the sound is reflected from the walls and ceilings of the room and directed to the ears.

In the test, the cinema effect is hardly noticeable. A HomePod can easily fill a large room with powerful music, but it doesn't replace a surround sound system that places multiple speakers around the room.

We also tried this with two HomePods, which can be combined into a stereo pair and connected to the Apple TV box wirelessly. This makes every TV loudspeaker look old, but it just doesn't come close to the listening feeling right in the middle, in which, among other things, helicopters fly over the viewer.

So you should keep your 3D expectations in check. Nevertheless, the HomePod, especially as a pair, plays music in very high quality. In conjunction with Apple Music, this should also be possible without loss. But only the trained ear will really hear the difference to "normal" music.

As a smart speaker, the HomePod can of course do even more. When called, the digital voice assistant Siri answers and plays music – unfortunately only from the in-house Apple Music service.

A limitation from which the first generation suffered. A control center for the smart home is also built in, so that networked devices can be controlled on demand or by rules.

There are also sensors for temperature and humidity in the HomePod, which, for example, close the blinds or start the fan and humidifier from a certain room temperature.

The new HomePod also masters the new smart home standard Matter, which will significantly simplify the future networking of devices from other manufacturers. A software update is expected to add sound detection to HomePod later this year, sending a warning message to an iPhone if HomePod detects a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm.

Conclusion: The new HomePod is a high-quality and smart speaker that cannot replace a surround sound system, but is a real upgrade for many users.

Unfortunately, Apple seamlessly fits the device into its closed systems philosophy, making the speaker virtually worthless to non-Apple users. Not only that no music can be streamed from an Android smartphone to the device. It can't even be set up without an iPhone or iPad.

But if you own an iPhone, you will have fun with it. This makes it very easy to transfer music from iPhone to HomePod by simply holding your iPhone near the speaker. This also works with other music services like Spotify.

A HomePod costs 349 euros. However, Apple also offers a smaller version called the HomePod mini, which is significantly cheaper at 109 euros. Although the sound is less voluminous, the Mini masters the smart home properties just as well.

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