Apple TV 4K, Default Speakers Paired Homepods, Roon 1.8 - no sound out of Apple TV

[Glenn_Adriance]

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

Roon 1.8 (Build 764) - running on Roon Nucleus

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Linkysys Velop Mesh Network (relatively new), Ethernet to Apple TV, Individual HomePod and Paired Homepods configurations to different Apple TV 4K’s

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

Apple TV 4K, TV OS 14.4

Description Of Issue

I can’t not get any sound to come out of the Homepod(s) when I choose a Roon enabled Apple TV 4K as my Roon endpoint. The Apple TV 4K is set up with “on the same network”, requires a password and has the Apple TV output speakers set to the paired Homepods or one single HomePod. I updated to Roon 1.8 right after it came out but had not tried using an Apple TV as the output source until today. I am a long time user of Roon and Apple products so am familiar with the various setting etc but can’t seem to figure this one out. Thanks for any help.

[Ali_Shafai]

Glenn…

I am not able to stream directly to my HomePods either. It is definitely a bug with HomePod products.

[Kuryan_Thomas]

I believe you have to remove the requirement for a password. Roon Core has no way to provide that password.

I had the same issue when I first bought a HomePod and Roon support diagnosed the problem. I’ve been happily playing to my HomePod ever since.

P.S.: Roon can’t play to paired HomePod because that requires AirPlay 2. But it can play to a single HomePod as long as you allow streaming without a password.

From my Home app, I select Home Settings…

!

[beka]

Hey @Glenn_Adriance,

Good to have you back on community. Sorry about the trouble!

While our technical team gets a chance to get back to you, would you mind trying @Kuryan_Thomas’s suggestion (thanks, by the way!).

Thanks

[Jeffrey (If their lives were exotic and strange…)]

I am having a similar issue.

Roon indicates that the Apple TV is receiving and rendering the audio stream.

The Apple TV’s Now Playing screen correctly displays the album cover, artist and track name.

But the stereo paired HomePods have no sound coming from them.

Also (not sure if related or necessary) the track progress time on the Now Playing screen is slightly out of sync with what Roon displays on my iPad.

Apple Music works fine with this setup, but I would prefer to use Roon.

Looking forward to any assistance that can make that happen.

J

[Nepherte (Bart Verhoeven)]

@Kuryan_Thomas

believe you have to remove the requirement for a password. Roon Core has no way to provide that password.

If you’ve configured a password, Roon will prompt to enter one. I can confirm Roon works with a password-enabled Apple TV 4k

[Kuryan_Thomas]

I see. Thanks. I was confused. If you have an Apple Home, which you must do if you have a HomePod, then the Home settings can still block access if you set them up to only allow “members” of the home to access speakers and TVs. That was the solution I described above.

[Jeffrey (If their lives were exotic and strange…)]

Thank you @Nepherte and @Kuryan_Thomas

Today I tried setting the Apple TV’s audio to my television’s speakers. This worked.

However, as soon as I switched the Apple TV’s audio to the stereo paired HomePods…no sound.

It seems the problem is with the stereo pairing.

I did not try switching the audio to a single HomePod, but I suspect this would work.

My goal still is to get those stereo paired HomePods working.

Thanks, again, for the help!

Anymore ideas?

J

[BlackJack]

@Jeffrey

My goal still is to get those stereo paired HomePods working.

Wouldn’t that require a working AirPlay 2 implementation which is not available in Roon?

AirPlay 2 Support in Roon for Paired HomePods

With the current software for Apple’s HomePod, it is now possible to pair two HomePods for stereo sound. Without AirPlay 2 support however, Roon is unable to detect and send music to paired HomePods as a single stereo endpoint. There are some inelegant workarounds depending on whether one is using Roon on a Mac or iOS device but native support for AirPlay 2 in Roon is the ideal solution. As a lifetime member of Roon and Apple devotee, I would love to see AirPlay 2 support integrated into Roon…

[Jeffrey (If their lives were exotic and strange…)]

Thanks, Jack.

Native support for AirPlay 2 in Roon would be ideal.

Until that happens, my hope is to use the Apple TV as a bridge to the HomePods.

Roon supports Apple TV.

Apple TV supports AirPlay 2.

I was thinking that if Roon was able to deliver the stream to the Apple TV, the Apply TV would handle the AirPlay 2 to the stereo paired HomePods.

Not sure I have all the terms right, but the logic seems sound.

Still hopeful!

J

[Ali_Shafai]

Excellent! Thank you, Kuryan.

I didn’t have a password required toggled, but I did have ‘Only People Sharing This Home’, so when I switched to Anyone on the Same Network’, it worked!

[Jeffrey (If their lives were exotic and strange…)]

Glad you have it working Ali!

Can you confirm that you are running your Apple TV to a set of stereo paired HomePods?

Thank you.

J

[Ali_Shafai]

Hi Jeffrey…

I used to have HomePods in stereo pairing, but one of them died on me. So, now I have a single HomePod and 2 minis. So, I no longer have them setup as a stereo pair, but as single endpoints, and I am now able to stream to them. Thanks to you!

Also, I don’t use a dedicated Apple TV unit anymore, since upgrading my TV that runs the Apple TV app.

[Jeffrey (If their lives were exotic and strange…)]

You are welcome, Ali!

Any word on if we can get a stereo pair working @beka ?

[beka]

Hey @Jeffrey,

While I wish I had info on whether this will be implemented and if so when, what I can say at the moment is that there is a feature request thread and sharing your interest there is the best way to help move things forward:

Apple HomePod Stereo Pair Support

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

[Glenn_Adriance]

Hi @beka Sorry for my delay responding back - I haven’t had to use the Roon Community before and was not used to checking so had not logged in lately. I think this summarizes my findings:

1. For @Kuryan_Thomas - I have not found any differences regarding if I do or do not use a password. I do have everything set up as “same network”.
2. I can set up individual Homepods in Roon as endpoints and play direct to them. I have 2 sets of "paired’ Homepods but Roon only “sees” the individual Homepods and as just stated I can play direct to any of them if I enable them in Roon.
3. I used to be able to play thru an Apple TV to the Apple TV connected audio (a DAC to stereo amp or TV w/ speakers). I now have paired Homepods connected too 2 of my Apple TV’s and no audio can be heard from the Apple TV’s that have paired Homepods as their default audio out. I also unpaired the Homepods and tried one HomePod as the default audio out from the Apple TV and still no sound. I also tried Speaker Out as the default for the Apple TV and still no audio out (that seems odd to me). I did Quit and Reboot Roon in between Apple TV setting changes too.

So for me - Apple TV’s with paired or individual Homepods as the default Apple TV audio out just won’t produce any sound. Sorry for the long explanation but thought I should try to detail the options I tried. Thanks.

[beka]

Hey @Glenn_Adriance,

Actually, the detailed description is wonderful! It’ll definitely help when our technicians take a look - they’re working as fast as they can through all the posted requests.

As for being notified about the replies, you can actually set this up in your Community account:

Thanks in advance for your patience

[Glenn_Adriance]

Sweet! I have never been a big user of Communities per se so this helps. Thanks.

[Glenn_Adriance]

FYI - I perhaps should have noted that if I choose “Homepods” or “Speaker Out” in my Apple TV’s as the default audio choice then every App I have on my Apple TV works fine in terms of the audio playing out to the Paired HomePods or the Speaker Out. I have no Audio Out issues at all via Apps on the Apple TV - in the case of the Apple TV Speaker Out choice the audio plays thru the Apple TV HDMI cable attached to my Samsung TV(s) and plays out of the Samsung TV speakers.