Immersive, intelligent assistant
The Apple HomePods (2nd Gen) is a powerful way to control your smart home
The Apple HomePod 2nd Generation is a smart speaker that delivers powerful, high-fidelity sounds that exceed expectations. With a compact, cylindrical shape and a mesh fabric covering, the HomePod is available in Midnight and White colours, making it a stylish addition to any room. This speaker not only delivers exceptional audio quality but also functions as an intelligent assistant and home hub. It can connect and control all smart home devices and recognizes the voices of each family member in the home. In this way, it offers an immersive experience that makes it ideal for movie nights, listening to music, or simply using it as a smart home hub.
As an avid Apple user, I was delighted to find that setting up the HomePod was a breeze. HomePod works seamlessly with my Apple devices. Handoff lets me transfer what’s playing on the iPhone to the HomePod — and the other way around — without skipping a beat. As a home hub, the HomePod can connect and control all of my smart home devices.
The HomePods are compact and fit easily into my rooms, almost making a home theatre. I placed both Homepods together to create a stereo pair for wider and more immersive sounds. The bass is richer and the sounds fill up the space in the room more. I connected it to my Apple TV and was blown away by the immersive, high-quality sound. A powerful woofer and bass-EQ mic are designed to deliver rich, deep bass, while a beamforming array of five tweeters produces stunning high frequencies. Its powerful motor drives the diaphragm a remarkable 20 mm, while its bass‑EQ mic dynamically tunes low frequencies in real-time. I watched a few action movies and was thoroughly impressed with the audio quality, as it really made me feel like I was right in the middle of the action. Its 4-mic array also detects “Hey Siri” requests from across the room or when music is playing.
I also enjoy using Apple Music with Spatial Audio in Apple Music, where I can listen to tracks from my favourite artists and playlists with even more detail and layering, and a greater sense of envelopment in the music. Their automatic room sensing and advanced computational audio ensures brilliant sound, no matter where HomePod is placed. Using feedback from the all-new system sensor, it runs complex tuning models in real-time to preserve dynamic range and maximise acoustic performance.
The Homepod is also my intelligent assistant. Saying “Hey Siri” or touching and holding the top of the HomePod allows me to play the same music on various HomePod speakers, different songs on separate HomePod speakers, or even use the HomePod speakers as an intercom to broadcast messages to neighbouring rooms using multi-room audio with AirPlay. Siri can also recognise the voices of each family member in my home. If you have other smart home devices that are compatible with Apple’s HomeKit, you can control them with Siri on both the HomePod and HomePod Mini.
Overall, I am impressed with the sound quality of the HomePod. They delivered powerful, high-fidelity sounds that exceeded my expectations. Whether you’re using them for movie nights, listening to music, or just want a smart home hub, both of these speakers are definitely worth considering.
Rating: 4/5
We say: The HomePod 2nd generation is great for any Apple user who is looking for a high-quality smart home hub that delivers exceptional audio quality and seamless integration with other Apple devices and services.
S$429
www.apple.com
Technical specifications
Size 142mm (W) x 168mm (H)
Weight 2.3kg
Sensors Sound Recognition, Temperature and humidity, Accelerometer, Touch Controls
Features Touch Accommodations, Siri, VoiceOver, Home app and HomeKit, Intercom transcriptions
Wireless 802.11n Wi-Fi, Peer-to-peer discovery, Bluetooth 5.0, Thread, Ultra Wideband chip
Audio Technology 4-inch high-excursion woofer, Array of five horn-loaded tweeters, Internal low-frequency calibration microphone, Advanced computational audio, Room sensing, Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos, Four-microphone design, Multiroom audio with A
