Apple unveiled its second-gen HomePod on Wednesday, practically two years after it discontinued the primary HomePod. CNET was available on the firm’s occasion in New York Metropolis to listen to the brand new speaker in particular person.

So, first off, what has modified? The brand new model is a full-size good speaker with “improved acoustics” and new smart-home capabilities, together with temperature and humidity sensors and the power to inform you if it hears a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm.

Each the brand new HomePod and the present HomePod Mini depend on Siri, the corporate’s voice assistant, to hear for and execute “Hey, Siri” instructions.

Referred to as the HomePod just like the earlier mannequin, the brand new speaker is now accessible for preorder on the Apple Retailer for $299 (£299, AU$479) and will likely be accessible Feb. 3. It is available in black or white.

The design is similar to the unique full-size HomePod. At 6.6 inches tall and 5.6 inches broad, the brand new speaker is roughly the identical measurement as its predecessor too. However the brand new HomePod has a variety of key upgrades. 

Inside is a customized woofer and 5 tweeters that use beamforming to direct audio and enhance immersion, in line with Apple. You may hyperlink two HomePod audio system to create a stereo pair, though doing so requires two HomePods of the identical mannequin. You may’t mix an authentic HomePod and a brand new one to create a pair, for instance. A number of HomePods may be linked all through the house for multiroom audio with AirPlay 2. 

The speaker additionally helps spatial audio, Apple’s time period for 360-degree results that embody Dolby Atmos music accessible on Apple Music. Atmos is a surround-sound normal used each in film theaters and the house, and extra just lately has been used to remix albums.

The speaker has a few new smart-home extras up its sleeve, too. A characteristic referred to as Good Recognition, coming through a software program replace this spring, “can hear for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and ship a notification on to the person’s iPhone if a sound is recognized,” in line with Apple. The speaker additionally has sensors for temperature and humidity, and you may arrange triggers to shut the blinds or activate a fan routinely when the room reaches a sure temperature. 

The temperature and humidity sensor and Good Recognition options have additionally been introduced as upcoming for the HomePod Mini.

Along with supporting Apple’s HomeKit, the full-sized HomePod additionally helps the brand new Matter normal, an open-source protocol that works with quite a few smart-home units.

You may transfer an iPhone near the speaker at hand off no matter is producing audio, from a music to a podcast to a voice name, to the speaker. (That characteristic requires iOS 16.3.) The cellphone will even floor personalised music and podcast strategies when held close to the speaker. The HomePod helps Apple’s Discover My characteristic so you may ask Siri to play a sound on a misplaced gadget, or ask for the placement of buddies or household who share it through the Discover My app.

Homeowners of the Apple TV 4K streaming gadget could make the HomePod their TV speaker for all units related to the TV, because of eARC linking through HDMI. Siri voice instructions heard by a HomePod also can management the Apple TV arms free.

Ears-on with the brand new HomePod

CNET’s Ty Pendlebury attended Apple’s occasion and provides an in-person perspective.

It is at all times troublesome to determine a speaker’s sound high quality in a canned demo like this, and I will reserve any definitive ideas till I get a evaluation unit to check for myself. Usually, although, the music snippets I heard sounded good, and the speaker ought to enchantment to individuals who have already got, had or have been within the authentic.

The corporate started proceedings at its Tribeca loft with some pop music — together with The Weeknd — and I used to be initially stunned to listen to how small the speaker sounded. Regardless of providing 360-surround sound, I discovered the audio clung fairly carefully to the speaker itself. With the following observe Boomerang by Yebba, the corporate needed to emphasise the HomePod’s spatial audio compatibility. And whereas there was a swirling impact within the 30 seconds they performed, it wasn’t very apparent.

Probably the most spectacular a part of the demo, although, was when the corporate added a second speaker, which made it a HomePod stereo pair. When enjoying Thriller Girl by Masego and Don Toliver the pallet instantly expanded — and never simply by making a stereo area. A percussion impact could possibly be heard to the acute left exterior of the bodily location of the cupboards.

Lastly, I heard the unique HomePod again in 2017 when the corporate’s representatives used the stay model of The Eagles’ Resort California to spotlight its bass response. Nonetheless, when the bass drum entered a couple of minute into the music, the sound was unintentionally horrible. The massive drum appeared to overload the speaker and resulted in a “blet” sound. 

At at present’s occasion, there have been no such points, and the drum sounded simply as huge and deep as the corporate would have hoped for.

Getting into a aggressive market

Apple had been rumored to engaged on a “HomePod 2” since no less than June 2022, and this can solely be the corporate’s fourth speaker within the final 20 years. The corporate has solely launched three different audio system  — the iPod Hello-Fi, the unique $350 Apple HomePod and the HomePod Mini, which stays on sale for $99. 

The brand new $299 HomePod will compete straight with higher-end good audio system just like the Amazon Echo Studio and Sonos One, each of which price $200. In the meantime, the present HomePod Mini is priced competitively with Google’s bigger Nest Audio, although it’s undercut by the $49 Google Nest Mini and most Amazon Echo fashions.

Apple’s Siri voice assistant could also be dominant in cell, however the firm has struggled to translate this success into good audio system. When it comes to competitors, Amazon’s Echo sequence and Google Nest audio system jostle one another for first and second place. 

I look ahead to reviewing the brand new Apple HomePod quickly.

CNET’s Sean Keane contributed to this report.

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