I recently moved and promised my long-suffering wife that this time I wouldn’t fill the living room with speakers. The lounge in our last spot was home to eleven speakers and a subwoofer, and while the whole family appreciated the sound the system produced, it’s been decided we’ll be a little more subtle this time (the deal is that I’m on a one day the garage can turn into a home theater, but that’s a story for a future blog).
For that reason, we’ve been living with the Sonos Arc for the past few weeks, a truly excellent Dolby Atmos soundbar that I’ve had the pleasure of using in various comparison tests over the years. It is also really a pleasure to live with. Wide but low, it’s a fairly discreet partner for a large OLED TV (especially compared to a dedicated 7.1.4 system), and its ability to fill a room is very impressive for a single-unit system.
The Arc packs a punch for what is a very compact speaker system overall – its ability to spread sound quite far to the sides and above the TV, while still delivering dialogue with focus and clarity makes it a pleasure to and really well suited for a whole range of content.
All in all, the Sonos Arc seemed like the perfect compromise for the new family-oriented lounge. But then, as part of the team responsible for the HomePod 2 review, I was tasked with trying out a stereo pair as an AV system, and I must say I’m very impressed.
A pair of HomePods may not seem like an obvious alternative to a soundbar. In fact, it isn’t, at least not until you add an Apple TV 4K. If two HomePod 2s plus an Apple TV 4K sounds like an extravagant sound system, consider that it costs £847 / $727 / AU$1656 in total, while a Sonos Arc currently costs £799 / $899 / AU$1499. And with the Apple system, you also get the best video streamer money can buy right now.
A new setting in the Apple TV 4K’s menus that allows it to act as a sound output device for all sources is another key component that contributes to the HomePod’s suitability as a soundbar replacement. Plug it into your TV’s eARC (or ARC) port and all audio will come from the HomePods, even if that’s a Sky box, Blu-ray player or games console connected to one of the other HDMIs.
Setup is a breeze, as you’d probably expect – use the Home app to create the stereo pair, then set the HomePods as the output device for the Apple TV 4K. You don’t even have to calibrate the sound for your room like with the Sonos ARC. Instead, the HomePods use several integrated microphones to analyze the sound they make and automatically adjust to the environment.
And the sound? it’s really good. It is even more open, spacious and Atmos-like than the Sonos Arc. Playing some of our favorite Dolby Atmos test scenes, the HomePod 2 system fills the room even more effectively than the Sonos soundbar. During the first race in Le Mans ’66, an overtaking car is positioned farther left of the listening position, and a shot where a group of cars cross the finish line in quick succession feels bigger and more atmospheric, with one car almost sounding like it’s doing a fly-by behind the seat. Dialogue isn’t as focused as it is from the Arc, but overall it’s still clear and direct and a bit of loss here feels like a fair compromise for that extra vibe.
While the HomePod 2 is bassy for a relatively affordable wireless speaker, even the stereo pair can’t go as deep as the Sonos Arc. Still, it does a good job of chapter two’s extremely bassy start Blade runner 2049. The soundtrack’s deepest notes don’t reach down as far down as they could, but they’re still solid, textured, and impactful.
Needless to say, this new HomePod-based AV system has held up well with the rest of the family, and I’m seriously thinking about keeping it, though there are still some things I need to consider (aside from the fact that I currently have one in white and the other in black).
The first is that the TV stand I’m currently using means the HomePods block small areas of the screen, but I’m planning to change the stand anyway, so that’s no big deal. For some setups, the HomePods may even be a little easier to place than a soundbar.
The second is that I’ve run into a few minor bugs, such as one of the HomePods cutting out from time to time (fixed by a reboot through the Home app), and occasional sound from other sources not automatically getting through the speakers will play as it should. That last issue is forgivable considering the specific feature is currently in beta – but maybe that tells me to wait until it’s not.
While the HomePods will mainly be used for movies and TV shows in this setup, music is still important and I’ll need to move to Apple Music if I want to get the most out of this Apple system. Not that there’s anything wrong with Apple Music per se, but the thought of starting from scratch with my playlists and recommendations makes me sweat.
Finally, but perhaps most crucially for me, there’s currently no way to extend the Apple system beyond two speakers, so you can’t add dedicated surrounds like you can with a Sonos system. Granted, that helps keep the overall speaker count down, but any hi-fi and AV hobbyist knows that the prospect of upgrading and expanding a system is a big part of the fun. But who knows, maybe Apple will add this option in the future.
So I’m still not quite there, but that doesn’t stop me from being seriously impressed with the HomePod 2’s ability as a soundbar replacement. If you’re looking for a Sonos Arc or similar, I’d suggest considering this as well, especially if you’re already deep into the Apple ecosystem.
MORE:
Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars what you should keep in mind
And the best wireless speakers which the HomePod 2 runs into