HomePod Noob question about mixing Sonos and HomePods: Do I understand this right??

[Abstract]

Can someone please clarify whether I understand this correctly?

I want to buy 2-3 more smart speakers, partly because I’m considering a Sonos Beam to go with a new TV purchase. Currently, we have a single Sonos One speaker for music, and no other “smart” or “smart home” products.

From my very limited understanding, mixing in some new HomePods (or Minis) with Sonos speakers in the same room would be more “future-proof” as it opens up my options for getting future “smart home” products. I could either go with Alexa/Google Home products, or HomeKit products, without negatively affecting our music listening.

I live in a house with an open plan kitchen, dining room, and living room area. If my TV is set up with a Sonos Beam and two Sonos Ones for surround, and I had a HomePod (Mini) in the dining room nearby, and a mix of HomePods and Sonos upstairs), I can play music to any speaker/room in the house.

The only downside is that I can only use “Hey Siri” commands in rooms that have a HomePod. Rooms with a Sonos wouldn’t respond if you shout “Hey Siri”, but would still receive Intercom messages because they’re linked via Airplay. I can’t control HomeKit products via Siri in those rooms.

The upside is that Sonos plays better with TVs, and that I could potentially use Sonos for “smart home” products if I decide to go with Alexa/Google Home instead. That would make my HomePod(s) somewhat useless, except for streaming music.

Is it as simple as that? Is there any benefit of going all-in on HomePods and HomePod Minis instead?

 

[Melmanoh]

Can someone please clarify whether I understand this correctly?

I want to buy 2-3 more smart speakers, partly because I’m considering a Sonos Beam to go with a new TV purchase. Currently, we have a single Sonos One speaker for music, and no other “smart” or “smart home” products.

From my very limited understanding, mixing in some new HomePods (or Minis) with Sonos speakers in the same room would be more “future-proof” as it opens up my options for getting future “smart home” products. I could either go with Alexa/Google Home products, or HomeKit products, without negatively affecting our music listening.

I live in a house with an open plan kitchen, dining room, and living room area. If my TV is set up with a Sonos Beam and two Sonos Ones for surround, and I had a HomePod (Mini) in the dining room nearby, and a mix of HomePods and Sonos upstairs), I can play music to any speaker/room in the house.

The only downside is that I can only use “Hey Siri” commands in rooms that have a HomePod. Rooms with a Sonos wouldn’t respond if you shout “Hey Siri”, but would still receive Intercom messages because they’re linked via Airplay. I can’t control HomeKit products via Siri in those rooms.

The upside is that Sonos plays better with TVs, and that I could potentially use Sonos for “smart home” products if I decide to go with Alexa/Google Home instead. That would make my HomePod(s) somewhat useless, except for streaming music.

Is it as simple as that? Is there any benefit of going all-in on HomePods and HomePod Minis instead?

Sonos would not receive intercom messages. otherwise it works as an Airplay 2 speaker. Sonos has the better sound than HomePod but Sonos cannot beat the integration with our other apple products. I have a Sonos Beam with two rears as well love them !!! Wish they had Siri built in !

 

[Abstract]

Sonos wouldn’t even act as receiver for Intercom measages via AirPlay if linked in the Home app?

This is what I’m having trouble understanding just from reading articles. Other than the inability to go “Hey Siri” and all that it allows you to do, what compatibility with Apple’s ecosystem is a Sonos speaker actually missing. I mean, what are the inconveniences that a HomePod would solve?? ?

Based on what I learn here, I’ll decide what speakers to put where. Right now, Sonos and TVs sound like a great match. One option is to just have Sonos for the TV and HomePods/Minis around the restnof of the house.

Then I’d lose the option of Amazon-compatible smart home devices.

I guess I could go all-in on HomePod and pray that Apple gets more vendors to make HomeKit-compatible hardware.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Sonos wouldn’t even act as receiver for Intercom measages via AirPlay if linked in the Home app?

This is what I’m having trouble understanding just from reading articles. Other than the inability to go “Hey Siri” and all that it allows you to do, what compatibility with Apple’s ecosystem is a Sonos speaker actually missing. I mean, what are the inconveniences that a HomePod would solve?? ?

Based on what I learn here, I’ll decide what speakers to put where. Right now, Sonos and TVs sound like a great match. One option is to just have Sonos for the TV and HomePods/Minis around the restnof of the house.

Then I’d lose the option of Amazon-compatible smart home devices.

I guess I could go all-in on HomePod and pray that Apple gets more vendors to make HomeKit-compatible hardware.

I actually came from 9 HomePods in my house to an entire house full of Sonos now. I was tired of trying to play music all over the house and it having issues trying to handle it on 9 HomePods, just didn't work well. The lack of a dedicated app didn't help with that either.

I also use HomeKit and have thermostat, garage door opener, 55 lights, rachio sprinkler, 5 vizio tv's, 5 Apple TV's, 6 wemo outlets, Eero wifi, 8 Sonos one's, 1 Sonos beam, 1 Sonos sub, 1 Sonos amp, Sonos five, and 1 Sonos move. So I have a lot set up within HomeKit. I've had google homes since they came out and also had echo devices as well, but nothing has worked as well with Siri with voice control for smart home stuff. Both google and amazon, have been extremely slow and I have to repeat stuff quite often. So I recently just got 4 HomePod mini to place around the house just for voice control for all our lights, thermostat etc.

The downside that I would say if you mix Sonos and at least a HomePod mini, is they are different size speakers, so if the volume is the same on both the mini volume sounds like it's down a few notches. They are in sync with the music, but the volume doesn't sound the same level. I don't have a big HomePod anymore to test that with my Sonos stuff, but the dedicated app with Sonos is far superior than how apple does it within the music app. Plus you can connect in multiple services etc. I went with Sonos as it is compatible with apple still, so in case I changed my mind in the future it would still work. With that said, Sonos just acts as a speaker, that's it. You won't get intercom or anything like that, it would just be for music only and you wouldn't have any voice control at all unless you turned on google or Alexa. I turned my microphone's off on my Sonos and will just use the HomePod mini's for voice control of smart home stuff. for all music, I'll just continue to play from the Sonos app. If I change my mind, I can use my Sonos with Apple Music and Siri and not a big deal. But I didn't buy the HomePod mini for music, so slightly different than others would buy them for.

Honestly, HomeKit has been the best route for me, you add the device and you're good to go. Not like google or amazon where you have to set it up with the manufacturer, then have to enable skills, sometimes refresh the skills to get stuff to fully work and it's not easy to manage your entire smart home with their app like home can. One thing I do miss is not being able to have my cameras's in HomeKit, but from my experience testing that HomeKit secure video was terrible anyways. Nest is not something I will give up, just works too well.

Hope this helps.

 

[Abstract]

I actually came from 9 HomePods in my house to an entire house full of Sonos now. I was tired of trying to play music all over the house and it having issues trying to handle it on 9 HomePods, just didn't work well. The lack of a dedicated app didn't help with that either.

I also use HomeKit and have thermostat, garage door opener, 55 lights, rachio sprinkler, 5 vizio tv's, 5 Apple TV's, 6 wemo outlets, Eero wifi, 8 Sonos one's, 1 Sonos beam, 1 Sonos sub, 1 Sonos amp, Sonos five, and 1 Sonos move. So I have a lot set up within HomeKit. I've had google homes since they came out and also had echo devices as well, but nothing has worked as well with Siri with voice control for smart home stuff. Both google and amazon, have been extremely slow and I have to repeat stuff quite often. So I recently just got 4 HomePod mini to place around the house just for voice control for all our lights, thermostat etc.

The downside that I would say if you mix Sonos and at least a HomePod mini, is they are different size speakers, so if the volume is the same on both the mini volume sounds like it's down a few notches. They are in sync with the music, but the volume doesn't sound the same level. I don't have a big HomePod anymore to test that with my Sonos stuff, but the dedicated app with Sonos is far superior than how apple does it within the music app. Plus you can connect in multiple services etc. I went with Sonos as it is compatible with apple still, so in case I changed my mind in the future it would still work. With that said, Sonos just acts as a speaker, that's it. You won't get intercom or anything like that, it would just be for music only and you wouldn't have any voice control at all unless you turned on google or Alexa. I turned my microphone's off on my Sonos and will just use the HomePod mini's for voice control of smart home stuff. for all music, I'll just continue to play from the Sonos app. If I change my mind, I can use my Sonos with Apple Music and Siri and not a big deal. But I didn't buy the HomePod mini for music, so slightly different than others would buy them for.

Honestly, HomeKit has been the best route for me, you add the device and you're good to go. Not like google or amazon where you have to set it up with the manufacturer, then have to enable skills, sometimes refresh the skills to get stuff to fully work and it's not easy to manage your entire smart home with their app like home can. One thing I do miss is not being able to have my cameras's in HomeKit, but from my experience testing that HomeKit secure video was terrible anyways. Nest is not something I will give up, just works too well.

Hope this helps.

That was incredibly helpful. Thanks for the time you took to explain all of that!

I had read somewhere that Alexa was the most compatible and well-developed with smart home items, so was arguably the “best”. I guess it’s nice to hear that HomeKit-compatible stuff works well, even if there aren’t as many options as with Amazon.

Thanks again!

 

[MacManTexas56]

That was incredibly helpful. Thanks for the time you took to explain all of that!

I had read somewhere that Alexa was the most compatible and well-developed with smart home items, so was arguably the “best”. I guess it’s nice to hear that HomeKit-compatible stuff works well, even if there aren’t as many options as with Amazon.

Thanks again!

sure, NP! it just depends on what all you want to do I guess. But even just basic commands to turn on the lights and Alexa was the worst out of all 3, IMO. It is true, amazon was first to the game, so they are the most compatible.

I was always kind of a Sonos hater (mainly bc I just loved apple stuff lol), but after having annoyances with HomePods, there was a big sale on Sonos stuff around beginning of the pandemic that I just decided to go for it. Sold all 9 HomePods and went all in with Sonos. I felt comfortable doing that as Sonos has airplay 2. If it didn't have that, I probably wouldn't have gone all in. Bc I do love my Apple stuff, so want to make sure everything works with it in some capacity. The great thing about Sonos is they position themselves to work with most all services. So even if Siri doesn't work on it, airplay 2 does work....as does google and Alexa.

One downside of Sonos, is if you get a beam and surround sounds, you're going to want to spend money on the sub LOL.

 

[DarwinOSX]

I actually came from 9 HomePods in my house to an entire house full of Sonos now. I was tired of trying to play music all over the house and it having issues trying to handle it on 9 HomePods, just didn't work well. The lack of a dedicated app didn't help with that either.

I also use HomeKit and have thermostat, garage door opener, 55 lights, rachio sprinkler, 5 vizio tv's, 5 Apple TV's, 6 wemo outlets, Eero wifi, 8 Sonos one's, 1 Sonos beam, 1 Sonos sub, 1 Sonos amp, Sonos five, and 1 Sonos move. So I have a lot set up within HomeKit. I've had google homes since they came out and also had echo devices as well, but nothing has worked as well with Siri with voice control for smart home stuff. Both google and amazon, have been extremely slow and I have to repeat stuff quite often. So I recently just got 4 HomePod mini to place around the house just for voice control for all our lights, thermostat etc.

The downside that I would say if you mix Sonos and at least a HomePod mini, is they are different size speakers, so if the volume is the same on both the mini volume sounds like it's down a few notches. They are in sync with the music, but the volume doesn't sound the same level. I don't have a big HomePod anymore to test that with my Sonos stuff, but the dedicated app with Sonos is far superior than how apple does it within the music app. Plus you can connect in multiple services etc. I went with Sonos as it is compatible with apple still, so in case I changed my mind in the future it would still work. With that said, Sonos just acts as a speaker, that's it. You won't get intercom or anything like that, it would just be for music only and you wouldn't have any voice control at all unless you turned on google or Alexa. I turned my microphone's off on my Sonos and will just use the HomePod mini's for voice control of smart home stuff. for all music, I'll just continue to play from the Sonos app. If I change my mind, I can use my Sonos with Apple Music and Siri and not a big deal. But I didn't buy the HomePod mini for music, so slightly different than others would buy them for.

Honestly, HomeKit has been the best route for me, you add the device and you're good to go. Not like google or amazon where you have to set it up with the manufacturer, then have to enable skills, sometimes refresh the skills to get stuff to fully work and it's not easy to manage your entire smart home with their app like home can. One thing I do miss is not being able to have my cameras's in HomeKit, but from my experience testing that HomeKit secure video was terrible anyways. Nest is not something I will give up, just works too well.

Hope this helps.

I've been getting off sonos and have four sets of stereo paired homepods and one set of stereo paired homepod minis. Much easier to control than Sonos and sound better. I used Alexa and google extensively and find siri much better for smart home control. more reliable and the Home app is miles ahead of the cluttered alex and google apps. I don't know why you need a dedicated app for the HomePods, its right in the airplay menus on whatever device and every streaming service does airplay. Maybe you have wifi issues.

 

[MacManTexas56]

I've been getting off sonos and have four sets of stereo paired homepods and one set of stereo paired homepod minis. Much easier to control than Sonos and sound better. I used Alexa and google extensively and find siri much better for smart home control. more reliable and the Home app is miles ahead of the cluttered alex and google apps. I don't know why you need a dedicated app for the HomePods, its right in the airplay menus on whatever device and every streaming service does airplay. Maybe you have wifi issues.

no wifi issues at all, but this was before they made changes to how they handle the controls on the lock screen. Before, if you weren't in the music app the entire time, the connection to them would go away and you'd have to connect to it again to be able to control the volume. so if you're using your phone to look at another app for awhile or to text, if you didn't keep the music app open at all times, the connection would go away and fail. the connection would not remain on the lock screen to control the volume, you'd have to open the music app again and reconnect it. maybe that's changed, i haven't used airplay with my sonos stuff or with my homepod mini's for music so. but the lock screen now looks way more advanced then it used to. it was extremely limited before that would require a constant connection. I also have a bunch of smart home stuff in homekit and so i got 4 homepod mini's to control things by voice, but that's all i use them for.

 

[BMox81]

One downside of Sonos, is if you get a beam and surround sounds, you're going to want to spend money on the sub LOL.

Haha, I’ve done exactly that. Mind blowing difference when you add the sub in.