audioOS 27.2 beta 3: Almost at surround, with a new light trick

[u/pdfu]

Mighty update today, as Apple continues to ship more parts of the new HomePod/Apple TV puzzle, while trying to keep many details hidden.

As a recap: * 4-HomePod surround and Party mode, * New Siri AI lights on HomePod, * OS 27.2 b3 has new 4-speaker icons (via @avstorm on Twitter).

Here’s what’s new:

• Siri has new code to match a speaker to its surround system. Code includes the diagnostic “Accessory X is a speaker in surround system Y.” Relies on HomeKit exposing the surroundSystem interface, which the current HomeKit group classes don't.

• HomeKit can now trace an existing Home Theater group using its audio destination identifier. (homeTheaterSystemForAudioDestinationIdentifier:)

• HomeKit also has a new API to request speaker-group updates. It's mostly a stub and fails with an “Invalid” or “Unsupported” error, like the Home Theater group rename function added in previous betas. (HMMediaGroupUpdateRequest and updateGroupWithRequest:completion:)

• When HomePod is part of a Home Theater group for an eligible Apple TV, it can now use a new special proxy-activation API for Siri that appeared in beta 2. A separate, older path still forwards microphone audio to Apple TV. (AFSiriActivationOdeonProxyVoiceTrigger)

• HomePod has a new speaker-measurement processing configuration. Varies a bit from the existing stereo-processing graph because it removes some controls and has a fixed measurement volume. Might be used internally for testing or calibration. (speaker_measurement.dspg)

• HomePod and Apple TV can now refresh each speaker’s real-time AirPlay audio transport (RTAPAT) capability in the group summary. A speaker group will report support for the internal RTAPAT mode only when all speakers in the group support it. (RTAPATAudioFeatureSupported, RTAPAT is not new.)

• There’s a new code-based animation for rejecting touch events on HomePod, shown in the video. In the demo video, you can see an example of rejecting touch events while Siri is in thinking mode. (ShakeCircleAnimation)

[u/rkennedy12]

Now they need to allow us to adjust mic sensitivity so 1 of the 8 HomePods in my house can respond and it not be the one 3 rooms over.

Very excited for the surround though. Been holding out on a couple purchases in anticipation.

[u/IcyAdvertising6813 → u/rkennedy12]

You could work around that by disabling the mic on the other three devices. Downside is having to reenable it when you’re done.

I only do it when I have parties because people keep asking for their Siri, and my HomePods will pick up the request instead

[u/woswoissdenniii → u/IcyAdvertising6813]

That is another can of worms from my Perspektive. Why do you allow your Siri to be interacted with, by people outside your Home? Do you have smart locks?

[u/IcyAdvertising6813 → u/woswoissdenniii]

It’s not that deep to me. I don’t use smart locks. I only do manual.

[u/One-Cell-7377 → u/rkennedy12]

That seems to have improved for me with the OS 27.0 update.

[u/ogni65]

i run out of minis as they are all dying by the ghost touch disease…

[u/doggtcat → u/ogni65]

Oh wow, I didn’t know that was a thing. My minis are also having the same problem.

[u/seppelicous → u/doggtcat]

There are a couple of tutorials on YouTube. No repair helped so I use them without touch.

[u/lastbeer → u/seppelicous]

I reached out Nic’s Fix and even he didn’t have a cost effective repair. If he can’t fix it, no one can.

[u/seppelicous → u/ogni65]

Mine too! I unplugged the touch cable and now at least I can use them via voice or phone

[u/Budget_Quote432 → u/seppelicous]

Wish I knew that was a thing before throwing mine away.

[u/Hades2k → u/ogni65]

After my second one started playing music at night I just opened up all of mine to remove the ribbon cable to the touch sensor. Now I don’t have to fear the night that the one in our bedroom starts playing metal :D

[u/ogni65 → u/Hades2k]

Might do the same as i need them at least for home automation

[u/king_nomed → u/Hades2k]

you may try add a automated task which mute the speaker at 11pm then unmute it at 10

[u/Hades2k → u/king_nomed]

Sometimes the touches touch the play/pause and sometimes they also hit the volume up/ down 😅

[u/Yuri_Ligotme → u/ogni65]

damn I didn't know about that. I have seven throughout the house.

[u/tylercreative → u/ogni65]

I lost my only 2 and don’t think I could ever buy any again

[u/ogni65 → u/tylercreative]

I did remove now the cable inside on all of them. This cures the touch problem but they still seem to work otherwise as expected. The videos concerning the process are a bit simplified as you can still break stuff. You can also replace the touch screen by doing so, but you pay about 30-40,- on Aliexpress and that’s not worth it i find.
One got into the bin, as i couldn’t unscrew 2 of the 4 screws which had been to tight to remove.
Give it a try!

[u/lastbeer → u/ogni65]

Can we get a class action on this already?

[u/rainofterra → u/ogni65]

Is this why my garage one just kept resetting itself in a loop until I unplugged it?

[u/lastbeer → u/rainofterra]

Yes. The touch surface is basically registering a permanent long press. Happened to mine a few months ago.

[u/bluesky420]

Awesome! I like it…I think…can we get a user level translation of those program notes?

[u/pdfu → u/bluesky420]

• Siri playback-control code now knows to check for a surround system so it can potentially play music on all of them, lower volume, etc.
• More surround/speaker group infrastructure.
• More surround/speaker group infrastructure.
• HomePod has a new backchannel to send Siri requests to Apple TV. Could mean a lot of things, from powerful ATV enabling Siri AI everywhere to just a new implementation, which is why I didn’t make any conjecture in my OP.
• Some new calibration process, who knows how they’ll end up using it.
• More surround/speaker group infrastructure.
• Some fun lights?! And a touch event rejection, which already exists, but seems to have gotten some new attention.

[u/bluesky420 → u/pdfu]

Nice. Thanks. 👍

[u/Emotional_Garage_950 → u/pdfu]

the touch event rejection is intriguing, i wonder if they are working on/improving that as as a software fix for the ghost touch

[u/Emotional_Garage_950 → u/[deleted]]

it’s a hardware issue but i’ve already worked around it by setting the option where you have to touch it for 3 seconds for it to register…

[u/Emotional_Garage_950 → u/[deleted]]

I have one and it was doing the boot loop... I got it running long enough to set the touch setting and it's been fine since then

[u/DisastrousCause9481 → u/Emotional_Garage_950]

It will get worse. Its a fact

[u/Emotional_Garage_950 → u/DisastrousCause9481]

alright, that’s fine i guess, it’s like 6 years old

[u/DisastrousCause9481 → u/Emotional_Garage_950]

I swear if i hear this supposedly “fix” again amma loose it! 💀

[u/Emotional_Garage_950 → u/DisastrousCause9481]

idk what to tell you but it improved the situation for me

[u/blisstaker → u/pdfu]

> More surround/speaker group infrastructure

> More surround/speaker group infrastructure

> More surround/speaker group infrastructure

the fact this was repeated so much had to make me laugh at what a siri like reaction would be like

[u/MarvinBarry92 → u/pdfu]

You are the man. Thank you for your efforts.

[u/doxxingyourself → u/bluesky420]

Apple is doing developer things that might mean surround but also might not and might not ever be used in a product at all

[u/HeartyBeast]

Fantastic write-up thanks. Any indication as to whether any of this will be supported by OG HomePods?

[u/pdfu → u/HeartyBeast]

So far we’ve only seen 4 HomePod (2nd gen) or 2 HomePod (2nd gen) + 2 of some new HomePod hardware configs for surround. It’s not that easy to tell about the rest of the features.

[u/HeartyBeast → u/pdfu]

Appreciate it. 

[u/augustya15]

So will this surround sound will not work on older HomePods like the first generation and the second generation??

[u/coffee-cozy → u/augustya15]

Fingers crossed, I have so many of them

[u/jamesbretz → u/augustya15]

I’m putting my money on only gen 2 speakers and likely also only the new Apple TV.

[u/SurrealBolt → u/augustya15]

I would put money on Apple gating the surround sound feature to new hardware, sadly.

[u/That_guy_will → u/SurrealBolt]

Makes sense but Apple has surprised us occasionally

[u/pdfu → u/augustya15]

So far we’ve only seen 4 HomePod (2nd gen) or 2 HomePod (2nd gen) + 2 of some new HomePod hardware configs.

Now, more could exist, for example 4 of the new hardware.

[u/thedonhudson01 → u/pdfu]

Do you think it’s possible that the 1st gen HomePod could support this feature? It did receive AutoMix and we had no indication of that in the earlier betas.

[u/gewappnet]

So does this mean with four or more HomePods we will get real Dolby Atmos playback?

[u/BlankStarBE → u/gewappnet]

That’s what it seems like. We’ll have to wait for the next keynote (Oct 13th?) to see what Apple has in store for us.

[u/truthfulie]

they should add an option for center. center is arguably the most important speaker in a surround setup. really good imaging stereo can give you good phantom center but it's not always perfect for all seats and as good as these speakers for the size, it's not the best. so it's a bit odd they don't offer it as an option. i mean aesthetically the center homepod might look a bit odd but yeah...

[u/psmusic_worldwide → u/truthfulie]

Sure for movies/TV but it's pretty unimportant for music.

[u/Dschulien → u/truthfulie]

I could Imagine a HomePod mini as a center two big left and right and a pair of minis in the rear

[u/Heavy_Team7922 → u/Dschulien]

a mini as center would be horrible

[u/Startyger → u/truthfulie]

I hear you, although the stereo paired HomePod (OG) make a great Center by shooting the sound at the screen, for me. All tests I’ve ever done have had a good, solid “center”.

[u/infobhan]

All I want is a setting so it won't start playing music every time someone accidentally touches the HomePod.

[u/Portatort]

I literally never see the tops of my homepods eh

[u/creationofthee]

Is it just me who thinks that red shake is hella creepy? It’s like my homepod is sentient 💀

[u/Zara899]

That is why it became more stupid

[u/Miserable_Gazelle182]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/1x2bslq/homepod_1_and_4speaker_surround_i_compared_both/