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16 points

HomePod Popping Noise

Not really a question but an observation. I have two HomePods setup in stereo mode and have occasionally experienced the loud popping sound. It has occurred in both of the HomePods, although not at the same time. To me, this rules out a hardware issue because the likelihood of both units being bad is small. It does not matter if I stream from a music service like Pandora or use music files stored on my laptop. The sound, sometimes very loud...kind of like door slamming occurs and the the HomePod in question comes back on in about 20 seconds and picks up playing in its usual mode. It seems to occur more in the stereo pairing than in the stand alone format. My condo has a very high level broadband bandwidth through out the building, so it is not a capacity issue but could be related to the way the router is sequencing the information. I am going to try a mesh router setup so that I can isolate network connection to these devices. This is definitely an issue, you can check beyond the Apple Community, several people are having similar problems that hopefully will be addressed in some future software-firmware update. These are really great sounding units, so its a shame that issues persists.

HomePod, 15

Posted on Oct 30, 2021 7:19 AM

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tonyclerico Author

Level 1

16 points

Posted on Dec 7, 2021 8:10 AM

I switched my router about 10 days ago. My condo association provides TV, VoIP, and Internet through Hotwire Communications. I emailed them and indicated that I believed my existing router was not handling music streaming efficiently. They came and installed a new mesh router and this issue has all but totally disappeared. 🤞The tech informed me that other customers had reported similar issues, not specific to HomePod, but drop offs, buffering problems, and issues of that nature.

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tonyclerico Author

Level 1

16 points

Jan 14, 2022 7:16 PM in response to carmadmate

Sorry to hear about that; I know how annoying this can be. Since I have changed routers, this issue occurs only occasionally. I sometimes still experience the "loud pop" while playing and also a much lower level "pop"about ten or so minutes after I have disconnected from streaming. I am also using software v. 15.2.

NielsTH

Level 1

0 points

Jan 24, 2022 8:29 AM in response to greg06611

From my experience, the panic-full logs are only kept for about a month and are then deleted.

I only experienced a few such full kernal panics but did check the Analytics data after hearing pops. The first one was on the day I set up my HomePods (December 11, 2021), then two on New Years Day and two more on January 21. The one from December 11 is nog longer in the list of Analytics Data.

Bgnmarty

Level 1

95 points

Jan 25, 2022 10:04 AM in response to tonyclerico

Does anyone know how to see which WiFi SSID the HomePod's are connected to? I know I can go into my router and look but am wondering if it shows up anywhere in the Home app, though if it does I have not been able to find it.

tonyclerico: If there is a latent hardware defect in these HomePod's, sooner or later most owners will get that failure. This is what I am hoping is not the case but I have seen it before...one Apple example is with their AMD 6000 series graphics cards that went into thousands of 2011 iMac's. Apple offered a free replacement after receiving complaints and opened a program to do so but mine decided to fail long after that replacement program ended. However, Apple offered to replace mine anyway :-)

I'll report back after updating both of my routers firmware and doing a factory reset on both HomePod's and then using them awhile.

Bgnmarty

Level 1

95 points

Jan 27, 2022 11:02 AM in response to greg06611

Tell us your configuration:

How many do you have that are now on 15.3?
Are any connected in a stereo pair?
Do you have Reduce Bass turned on?
Do you have Siri turned on?
Etc

I ask these because some said they only had the popping under certain config/conditions if you read all the posts in this thread. Of the 24 hrs since the update, how many hours of actual run time under 15.3 do you have?

Thanks!

Bgnmarty

Level 1

95 points

Jan 31, 2022 7:25 AM in response to turingtest2

How can this be explained? All who posted here that they updated to 15.3 said the "pops" are gone. I have not yet updated and am still on 15.2 and my "pops" are also gone. I updated my routers firmware, factory reset the two HomePods and Apple TV, deleted and reinstalled the Home app six days ago.

Anyone want to try and explain this?

Jan 31, 2022 1:33 PM in response to Bgnmarty

That is helpful information Bgnmarty. I think if I have any wifi issues it is probably that I have too many routers (I have four) throughout the house. More is not always better where these things are concerned... However, what you describe is one of the reasons why I considered (and still am if Apple doesn't get the HomePod's sorted) a Sonos system. Sonos has wifi extenders that are specific for their speaker system in case of weak zones. I have conducted such tests myself regarding wifi strength throughout the house, and it's all pretty good. I can tell what routers the speakers are using in my eero app as well, and they all connect to the 5ghz band. I only saw one of them connecting to the 2ghz once and when I restarted it, the OG speaker went back on the 5ghz.

I think many of the problems though actually are arising from the HomeKit app itself. I've only had around 5 glitches since updating to 15.3 (detailed earlier), which is way, way, way, way less than what I had prior. I'm actually beginning to enjoy the speakers for quite literally the FIRST time since I've owned them.

Jan 28, 2022 2:27 PM in response to Bgnmarty

I have an original HP and one towards the tail end of its production. Both updated to 15.3 and are both working MUCH better since the update.

tonyclerico Author

Level 1

16 points

Nov 3, 2021 6:00 AM in response to markfromstaten island

Thanks for the feedback. I cannot say if it is more frequent, but if I stream for four hours, it will occur at least once in each of my two speakers. Pop…then full return of music in 20-30 seconds. Apple should at least do a workaround so that when a buffering issue occurs, the unit goes silent until the buffering catches up instead of activating the amps, that is what I believe is contributing to the noise. My other airplay compatible speakers behave like this. Did all the usual, soft reset, hard reset, removed from Home app and reinstalled, rebooted the router etc.

tonyclerico Author

Level 1

16 points

Nov 11, 2021 9:21 AM in response to oleksii168

Thanks for the post. Well, you can never rule out hardware issues. I have owned other powered speakers that will make a noise when they are plugged into an electrical socket. The HomePod also incorporates a microphone and self adjusts to the room space which kind of complicates the issue...did it "hear" a sound or adjust for room acoustics...this could be software. In my particular case, the problem is intermittent, and the speaker returns to normal function in about 20 seconds after the initial "pop" the loudness of which corresponds to the volume setting that I am using. It also seems to occur more frequently in stereo mode. I updated to 15.1.1, the latest update that supports spatial audio and adjustable bass, and the issue has occurred only once in the past few days. These speakers routinely stream for about 4-6 hours each day. Others have reported the noise even while the units are on standby or not streaming. This has not happened to me as of yet.

DTOLF

Level 1

8 points

Dec 30, 2021 3:58 AM in response to tonyclerico

Just checking in to report the same problem. I’m using two HomePods as stereo pair and they both suffer from the popping problem alternately. Tried resetting them via Home App as well as manually.

It does seem to be a widespread hardware issue which would be unfortunate. The problem occurred shortly after the warranty for both expired.

Jan 17, 2022 8:15 AM in response to tonyclerico

Has anyone disabled lossless and still experienced the issue? I seem to think the issue started around the time lossless was released on the HomePods. Hopefully a fixable bug, the HomePods are wonderful sounding.

Jan 24, 2022 8:21 AM in response to Bgnmarty

This happens to me as well in addition to the HomePods randomly stopping play. They sometimes come back or need to be restarted via the home app (or unplugging).I believe its some software glitch. It seems to have started when Apple released support for Lossless.

Bgnmarty

Level 1

95 points

Jan 25, 2022 5:29 AM in response to tonyclerico

tonyclerico: Well, I was hoping you were going to say the popping did not occur until after OS15 because then there would be hope Apple could solve it. Until a root cause is known, it is still possible that a s/w solution can be found but I am really hoping its not a hardware issue. I was about to buy two more till mine started popping, I've now put that on hold and may start looking at Sonos instead.

My two HomePod's sit no more than 10' from the WiFi router but I think I will reboot the router "again" and do a factory reset on the HomePod's and this time will not pair them into a stereo pair. I did remove the stereo config last night but then one of them refused to connect even though it let me put a checkmark on its settings thereby telling it to play.

I find the entire Home app to be extremely buggy and so is anything connected or managed by it. Its really been a disappointing experience from Apple. Where's Steve Job's when you need him?

tonyclerico Author

Level 1

16 points

Jan 25, 2022 7:05 AM in response to Bgnmarty

Good luck troutbeshooting through this. I am not inclined to believe that this in fact a hardware issue. You can never rule that out, but far too many people have experienced this issue but very few report totally bricked units. I am thinking that these "pops" can be mitigated somehow down the road with a software default that silences the speaker for the 20-30 seconds instead of the "pop". I also have a Sonos Move and it works just fine with the HomePods. I use the Apple Music app and sometimes there are quirks with the Sonos app over which app is controlling the AirPlay stream. It's a glitch that really just an annoyance, you just quit the app and reopen and it is fixed. The Sonos performs well; I do prefer the HomePods overall especially from a design/sound perspective but alas they have been discontinued. ☹️

turingtest2

Level 10

278,091 points

Jan 25, 2022 10:09 AM in response to Bgnmarty

I made a Siri Shortcut called Network Info on my iPhone which can also run on my HomePod:

Get Wi-Fi network's Network Name

Set variable Details to Network Details

Get current IP address

Add Current IP Address to Details

Speak Details

tt2

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HomePod Popping Noise