Apple HomePod Stereo Pair Support

Hey @support … I searched the community forums but could not find a definitive answer. Does Roon currently support streaming to two HomePods configured as a stereo pair using AirPlay2? If not, is this functionality on the roadmap?

Thanks in advance.

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Hey @Wakajazz,

Thanks for reaching out to us, we appreciate your report. The team is currently looking investigating this behavior.

Regarding Airplay 2 support, we currently have no announced plans.

Thanks,
Dylan

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You could make it work by using the DSP mixer and making each homepod one of the stereo channles mixing just the left output to one and the right to the other then group the zone. If you want to ungroup them turn off the DSP.

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You can play Roon on your iPad or iPhone and then use the airplay function of the phone (swiping up from bottom of screen) to send the signal to a paired HomePods. They have to have been paired with iPhone Home App.
You are now streaming to the paired Home Pods in Roon app on the phone of iPad,
You lose some functionality however

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Oh nice!.. yep that works. Thank you…

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I tried this but doesn’t work if the it’s grouped as a stereo pair- it fails on trying to play to group. I was able to stream to one of the pair using the DSP to cancel out the unwanted channel but I haven’t tried ungrouping them and trying that; although that would lose the apple pairing so you’d have to re-pair every time you want to go back to Apple Music or Airplay 2.

Don’t know if it’s worth it at this point, at least for me - only have HomePods in the kitchen (for now) and doing fine with Apple Music, and Siri shortcuts which allows for streaming radio stations, etc. And using Roon through Airplay via iPhone works fine if I’m craving some Roon action.

THANK YOU! This works lovely! Sounds great too!

Hi, @Dylan

It has been a few months since this topic came up, so I wanted to ask once more. I am a new subscriber and have 2 HomePod’s in a stereo setup and would love to be able to use Roon to stream to the HomePod’s.

Any more conversation about AirPlay 2 support?

Thanks.

Ali

Nothing to announce right now.

Thanks, @mike. I have a pair of HomePod’s setup in stereo mode and the current Roon streaming workaround
to them is not so great.

It would be great to get that from the backlog into an upcoming sprint.

Ali

Hi, @drdaveol… I tried this, but the sounds is echoed and the stereo separation doesn’t happen. It seems to play on the paired HomePods independently, as if they are not paired as a stereo pair.

Anything more you can say about how you have done it?

You may be right.
I tried to assess if they were playing in stereo and I couldn’t confirm they were.
Mine don’t echo.
Using airplay on the iPhone to send Roon to HomePods is not that stable at times.

I have Apple Music which is what I use them for until Roon upgrades to Airplay 2.
Given the number of companies that have, I assume Airplay2 will come soon???

Hello,

Apple HomePod stereo is a MUST HAVE for Roon.

This is even more urgent / mandatory that QOBUZ can be accessed through Roon now.

Please be kind to take this long awaited request into account.

Philippe

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Hello Roon team,

I’m a “ lifetime member of Roon and Apple devotee ” as well.

So… where do we stand with this URGENT request please?

Thanks beforehand for your feedback.
Philippe

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Hello Everyone!

I bought an Apple HomePod speaker for my kitchen and have been using Roon to play music through it, no issues.

I got another HomePod for Christmas and used the Home App to pair them into stereo. This seems to work fine in ITunes, but Roon seems to still recognize them an separate entities: Kitchen 1 and Kitchen 2 in Mono.

Any suggestions, or am I stuck using iTunes for stereo?

Thanks,
Ryan

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Quick search of the forum and

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That’s right. Until AirPlay 2 is supported by Roon, you will not be able to use the HomePod in stereo mode. iTunes will be your only option for now.

You can [send] music via the Roon app on your iPhone/iPad to your stereo paired HomePods, but it doesn’t work well and you will not get stereo separation. I have even experienced ‘hollowness’ with the music after a number of tracks have played in this manner.

You’re of luck until Airplay2 support arrives, assuming it does. Currently unannounced.

As an aside, Samsung and other TV manufacturers are adding Airplay2 support to their TAvs. (i presume new ones, no idea if any existing models will be upgradeable.)

Hello Roon team,

I’m a lifetime member of Roon and Apple devotee.

So… where do we stand with this URGENT request please?

Thanks beforehand for your feedback.
Philippe

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+1 to this request. Very interested to see where it is, we have HomePods in all rooms except the living room where our main system is. Would really appreciate an update on expected timeframe.

Thanks

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