How to use two HomePod mini speakers as your Apple TV's default audio output
Plus, what the experience is like, and who should (and should not) do this.
Apple’s HomePod mini speakers seem to be the hit that the full size HomePod never was. At $99 they’re much more affordable than their larger cousins (which retailed for $349 at launch). And they now come in five different colors, so you can really find a HomePod mini that matches the look of your room. As of the release of tvOS 15 last month, you can now use two HomePod minis (joined via software as a stereo pair) as your Apple TV’s default audio output. But should you?
First off, though you can do this with a single HomePod, I think you really want to have two of them to make this remotely worthwhile. Apple has an easy to follow guide that will walk you through the process of creating a stereo pair out of two HomePod minis. Make sure your Apple TV is running tvOS 15 or later, and that your HomePod minis are fully up-to-date as well. (You can verify that your HomePod minis are up-to-date in the Home app.) If all goes according to plan, your Apple TV may ask you if you want to use your HomePod mini pair as its default audio automatically after updating to tvOS 15 or after adding the HomePod minis to the room, whichever comes first. If that doesn’t happen, you can go to Settings > Video and Audio > Audio Output on your Apple TV to set this manually.
As an aside, I had a lot of trouble getting this to work initially. I do run tvOS betas, so that could have had something to do with it, but every time I tried setting my HomePod minis as my Apple TV’s default audio I got major glitches and it would eventually give up trying. The solution for me was to reset both of my HomePod minis, set them up as a stereo pair again, and then set them as my Apple TV’s default audio speakers. After doing that I haven’t had a single problem with them, but it was a painful onboarding experience to be sure.
The sound quality is shockingly good for such small speakers, but that context is important. Music will sound very good, and the audio is perfectly well suited to YouTube videos. TV shows and movies are mastered for larger speakers with a higher volume ceiling and this is where you’ll likely run into trouble. When I’m watching a show or movie I usually have my HomePod minis cranked up all the way or nearly so, and I always wish I had more volume headroom. It’s adequate, but only just. To their credit, the HomePod minis never sound distorted, even at full volume. When playing a YouTube video there’s a brief delay between when you hit play and when the video actually begins. I don’t notice this with any other app, so it may be a YouTube specific problem, or maybe it’s an issue that is just more noticeable there since you tend to jump right into someone speaking to the camera on YouTube. It’s almost like it takes a moment to synchronize the audio to both HomePods. Not an annoying problem, but noticeable.
Then there’s price. At $200 for a pair of HomePod minis, these aren’t ridiculously expensive, but you can get a decent sound bar/subwoofer combo for $150 that will sound much louder and fuller. So does it make any sense to go the HomePod mini route? It all depends on what you value.
The HomePod minis are attractive products that will look good in any environment, and they take up far less space than a sound bar/woofer combo. In particular I think these make a ton of sense in a bedroom. Built-in TV speakers are generally terrible, and you probably don’t have room for a fancy sound rig on your bedroom dresser anyway. These would also make a ton of senses in an apartment or dorm room where you might not want to push a lot of volume for fear of annoying your neighbors.
They also integrate very well with your Apple TV, as you might have expected. I find that adjusting the volume via the Siri Remote is much quicker and smoother with my HomePod mini pair than with my sound bar connected via HDMI-ARC. Your mileage may vary, but my sound bar has lots of tiny volume increments, so it takes forever to make any modest volume adjustments. The HomePod minis have larger volume adjustment increments. So you might be less likely to dial in the volume precisely, but it’s much quicker, and the on-screen volume animation is quite pleasing.
It’s also worth pointing out that if you use other devices connected to your TV like a Blu-ray player or a game console, HomePod minis aren’t a good speaker option since they’re limited to working with your Apple TV. So I would only consider this option if your Apple TV is your one and only device you use with your TV.
I’ve been using this setup for a few weeks now, and despite the lower maximum volume and less dynamic audio range compared with my sound bar and subwoofer, I find myself really liking the HomePod minis as my default speakers for my Apple TV. We’ll see if this sticks over the long run, but I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoy this.