HomePod popping

One of mine popped again last night while watching Apple TV. Couldn’t tell which one it was. It’s a very loud thud. I fixed it last time by unplugging for over 24 hours and doing the factory reset by pressing the top method. I don’t know if it’s the same one acting up again or if this is another one. I was using three of them. You can try this method and see if it works for you.

I definitely suggest updating to 15.3. I have not heard a single pop out of any of my OG HomePods since updating on 1/25/22. I had not experienced this issue until the initial 15.0 update and it was driving me nuts (as were the other numerous bugs).

While everything still is not perfect, I am having far less dropping out since the 15.3 update and not a single popping sound from any of the speakers (knock on wood).

That's a fair point. I won't deny that I've noticed a lot of issues since updating to OS 15, including popping from units that have never popped before.

I have more homepods than I'll admit, lots of perfectly working ones, some I keep on older OSes, and some I have taken apart to easily swap parts around. Here's what I'm noticing

-OS 15 definitely has a popping issue. if you check your Home App, under the Analytics for your HomePod, if there is a panic log file around the time you experience popping, it's most likely a bug that Apple has identified and will hopefully be fixed in 15.3

-if you're getting loud pops and restarts without the presence of any panic logs, it's more likely you're experiencing hardware failure. Especially if you also hear a sublte pop on occasion as the homepod goes into low power / wakes up

The popping is a hardware issue.

To be clear, there are various different types of "popping" issues, ranging from the subtle standby / wake up pop, to the loud pop and restart.

In any case, I have swapped around enough parts between homepods to come to the conclusion that the amplifier board (more specifically, the woofer's amp IC) is failing. I had a particular homepod that would very frequently pop and restart, and swapping a known good logic board from a fully working homepod still resulted in frequent pops and restarts. It was only resolved by swapping the amplifier board.

The same thing goes for the standby / wake up pop, it was only resolved by replacing the amplifier board. The amplifier IC likes to send a few volts of DC straight into the woofer so as the amp goes into standby / wake it supplies or cuts this voltage and you hear the resulting "pop". outmenick diagnosed this on youtube.

I sincerely doubt Apple will be able to resolve either of these with software

While some of the popping issues may be hardware related, I find this difficult to believe for all of them. While I have seen some reports of this issue going all the way back to iOS 13, I never experienced it prior to iOS 15. And, I never experienced this issue on the AirPort Extreme network I had prior to changing to an eero pro 6 network (which I did in attempts to deal with the numerous other bugs presented by these speakers). I have 6 OG HomePods. I would find it highly irregular if ALL 6 of them "broke" at the same time, all after the upgrades mentioned. I have had the HomePods for just at a year. I didn't hear a single pop from any of them prior to iOS 15.

Seems to happen to me only when I'm using Siri to control the music, especially if I and my wife and/or daughter are speaking commands at the same time. My stereo-paired OGs become unresponsive for about 10 seconds, then the left one "pops" when they reconnect. When I listen to music via airplay, and I haven't noticed the issue. I have also not noticed it at all on my HomePod Mini.

I was having the problem consistently on two of my HomePods, and it would happen multiple times per day. I recently upgraded my wireless router, and the issue has not occurred at all since.