Apple HomePod Stereo Pair Support

Feedback Feature Suggestions
23

Hello,
May we have a feedback from Roon team please.
Thank you.
Philippe

6 Likes
24

any movement on this issue guys ??

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25

Hi there, new to Roon and thinking of subscribing to it for my home set up, one of them is a pair of Homepods … any updates for stereo pair compatibility?

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26

Not that we have heard for some time, though no confirmation from the Roon team on whether it is being worked on. We believe [hope] that it is. :crossed_fingers:t4:

1 Like
27

I have just tried the Trial of Roon, loved it apart from I notice it doesn’t sound so good, then I released that Airplay 2 is not supported… I won’t be subscribing, until this is something that happens…

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28

Airplay 2 has little in the way of sq improvements over airplay it just adds multiroom. Expecting great things from any airplay client is asking a lot.

29

Isn’t there something to be gained when Roon supports AirPlay 2 and that fact that AirPlay 2 supports stereo paring for the HomePod? Also, I think I read that the protocol has improved its ability to transfer data, which can attribute to SQ.

1 Like
30

I completely understand your comment, however the stereo experience with the homepods make a real difference to the sound, with Roon you don’t get the stereo experience, and for me that important, also airplay 2 plays at at higher sample rates.

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31

I’m with you Richard. When I added the 2nd HomePod and paired them to stereo mode, the sound quality and expansion improvements was remarkable.

I am looking very forward to the implementation of AirPlay 2 on Roon. :smiley:

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32

Airplay 2 plays at the same old sample rates it’s only added multiroom and a larger buffer to improve streaming dropouts. Yes I imagine having them as a stereo pair would improve them.

33

I’m looking at room but will not buy until AirPlay 2/ Paterson HomePods are supported. That’s the setup in my home office so is a requirement

Roon, pay the licensing and get on with it.

2 Likes
34

I’d love this as well - for now one can enable iPhone playback and then Airplay from there to stereo pair but not as elegant of course.

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35

I’d like to add my vote to getting AirPlay 2 into Roon! I just got my 2nd HomePod and paired it for stereo with the one I already had. These are very capable speakers and I’d love to hear my high resolution library on them.

3 Likes
37

For those of us using Roon with a Mac – I put the following in #tinkering :slight_smile:

2 Likes
38

I tinkered and it works great! Thank you for posting this. Really appreciate it!

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39

@Marcus_Guerrero How do you know that you are getting true stereo output to the stereo-paired HomePods, as you would if AirPlay 2 was natively supported by Roon?

40

Great question. Honestly, just used my ears first and did back and forth comparisons. Nothing scientific. Also, in the comments section of the original Reddit post someone suggested this test on YouTube. I tried it and it was enough for me. It’s a workaround that sounded great to me and I didn’t want to spend my listening time trying to debunk it. It’s just Airplay to HomePods.

I would add that it’s very easy to distinguish. Just unpair the two HomePods, listen to a track, and then listen to the same track with the workaround in stereo pair. It was easy for me to tell the difference in soundstage and separation.

1 Like
41

Thanks, Marcus. I just tried it and had success with it as well.

There is a track that I played via Roon before to the HomePods as a test, because it does extreme panning from Right to Left, and it was easy to tell that Roon wasn’t really taking into account stereo separation the way it is when you natively stream to the speakers from a music app like Tida, Qobuz, etc.

However, with the work-around, after seeing your message, I played the same track and though nothing scientific either, it sounds very different from before and it (seemed) to be handling stereo separation like it should or at least good enough for my ears! :blush:

Thanks again for re-awaking this topic, which led me to setting it up. :pray:t4:

1 Like
42

You’re welcome! But I can’t take the credit for anything but my curiosity. It’s a community collaboration. That said, I hope that Roon implements Airplay 2. It’s an important addition to the feature set.

I have dedicated Roon listening in my living room/home theater and guest room/office areas, but I also own a pair of HomePods in my bedroom and a pair of Sonos Ones in my garage gym and they are set up as stereo pairs.

1 Like
43

That is not accurate at all.