HomePod 2nd Gen distorted sound after 2 days

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Level 1

47 points

HomePod 2nd Gen distorted sound after 2 days

Hi,

since a couple of days I experience some issue with 2 HomePods 2nd Gen. Both are in a stereo pair and having iOS 18 installed. After approx. 2 days, both are starting to create a distorted sound during audio playback. Stopping and starting the playback does not solve the issue. Only restarting the HomePods stops the audio distortion, until they start again after 2 days.

The distorted audio is produced from both of them. Sometimes the distortion jumps back and forth between both, or they are doing it in parallel.

If I use AirPlay with other HomePods, then it usually starts the way, that a delay in the audio playback between the HomePods is starting. Shortly after this, the distorted sound happens.

I did not experienced the "popping sound", where a couple of HomePod Gen 1 were affected in the past.

Has someone experienced a similar issue, or is there maybe already a community thread about this issue which I missed?

Unfortunately, I cannot attach the audio capture I have.

Thanks a lot in advance for feedback/ideas.

Posted on Sep 27, 2024 11:33 PM

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Answer 1

AppSmack Author

Level 1

47 points

Oct 26, 2024 4:38 AM in response to AppSmack

Some more updates on this topic. Since end of September, there is a case open at Apple about this issue. The problem also appears on HomePods 2nd generation which are not in a stereo pair.

Support from the case tries to help and wants to pull some extended diagnostics from the HomePods when the issue happens. Unfortunately, you cannot pull this data by yourself. This needs to be done by the support with the help of a rolled out profile on your iPhone, or iPad, exactly at the moment the issue appears. As you might already can image, hard to hit exactly the time the issue appears and having the support on the phone.

But here some background information about the WiFi environment and strange behaviour I see from the HomePods:

I'm using network equipment from Ubiquiti: 1x UDM SE (SW: 4.0.21), 2x U6 Pro (6.6.77) and 1x U6 Plus (6.6.78)
5GHz + 2.4GHz Wifi with automatic channel and transmit power selection
All APs serving 3 WiFi SSIDs
All Apple devices are in the same Wifi SSID
All HomePods are spread across the 3 APs.
Mesh has been turned off system wide
mDNS is turned on for 2 VLANs (Apple devices, HomeKit and Matter are in the same VLAN, some other smart home stuff is located in a different VLAN)
Multicast enhancement and IGMP snooping is turned of, because it disturbs Thread device communication
Band Steering and BSS transition is turned on for all Wifi SSIDs (all APs have the setting to Prefer 5GHz)
Security Protocol is WPAs/WP3
For 2.4GHz the Wifi channel width is 20MHz
For 5GHz the Wifi channel width is 40MHz

I used Ubiquities Wifiman App to validate the RSSI and it was looking good. The HomePods usually having between -42dBm and -65dBm (depending on which AP they are using).

When the stereo pair starts to make the distorted sounds, they usually also start to generate a playback delay between each other and getting completely out of sync.

All of the time the HomePods (2nd Gen and also Minis) using the 5GHz Wifi, but very often they are using 20MHz channel width, instead of the offered 40MHz. From what experienced, the problems usually started to happen in such situations. If they are using 40MHz channel width, as offered by the APs, then I could not experience the issue. I'm not yet 100% sure about it, because I cannot force the HomePods to use the 40MHz.

If someone has a similar setup and no issues, or had similar issues in the past and was able to solve it, I'm happy to get any feedback, or suggestions.

Thanks in advance for your constructive reply.

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Answer 2

Nov 18, 2024 1:21 PM in response to AppSmack

I just started experiencing this too but for me it seems to be tied to sending audio (via AirPlay) to two sets of stereo HomePods at once – and perhaps because the two stereo pairs are different generation models of the HomePod. I'm guessing that some recent software update on either the HomePods or my iPhone is causing trouble here since these HomePods used to work fine even when sending to more than one pair at a time.

For me, it's the first generation HomePod stereo pair that is generating the distorted audio while the other stereo pair (second generation) continues to produce clean audio. Rebooting the troubled set (the first gen), causes the problem to go away for a little while (maybe half an hour) but it comes back. I find that I can avoid the distorted audio with the first gen pair as long as I don't also send the audio to the second pair. I was able to repeat this test (send to one pair or both pairs) repeatedly to verify that it only happens when sending to both pairs. In other words, it's completely reproducible. Mind you, this all used to work fine just a month or two ago so I think it's a recent software update.

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