Static and crackling sound on HomePod Mini

I updated all HomePods of all versions to OS 18.1.

I have been playing for about 2 days now and notice no static; the music stays synchronized across stereo pairs and non-paired HomePods. There also appears to be less latency when a) starting to play music when HomePod needs to exit sleep. Another improvement is that volume control doesn't show latency, so it's easy to increase/decrease volume for multiple HomePods.

Unless the problem recurs, I'm assuming that my issues are fixed with HomePod OS 18.1.

I can confirm exactly what you have stated and thought it was my UI network except my HomePod is using 5ghz without issue but becomes super static and cracking after a few minutes of play then quits playing and has a huge delay in getting the wide to play again. This has been happening from 17.6

UPDATE: It's Nov 30 2024 and the crackling and static have stopped but now when I play same playlist is different rooms, they get out of sync within a few songs and if the Homepods 2 cut in and out like they are struggling to find the signal. I restart my router and all 7 minis and 2 Homepods all the time but most often there's no change.

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With the current updated, the crackling got marginally better, but we rarely have a full evening without our HomePods out and becoming unusable. I don't know what else to do. I have reset our router and the HomePods multiple times.

In addition, I have terrible latency when playing blue rays. With a bluetooth speaker everything is ok. Anyone having a solution to that?

The HomePods sound great when they work, but overall they have been a major disappointment so far.

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I agree with all the comments about the quality of recent Apple software releases, but getting back to this issue...since updating to iOS 18.1, I no longer have any static/popping issues since HomeOS 18.1 ; However, playback on iOS 18.2 across paired stereo HomePods (all types: Gen1, Gen 2 and Minis) is so bad that I can no longer use AirPlay.

The problem is that the music stutters and then plays out of sync which makes it impossible to enjoy playback.

I checked my network and have a single 5Ghz SSID to which all the HomePods are connected. Whenever I play from your iPhone, the problems start within 10 minutes. PREVIOUS to iOS 18, I could play across all devices in multiple rooms on multiple floors. My up/down rate is about 300-600 (fiber in France!) so there should be no latency issues. All 5 access points are hard-wired by home runs to the router.

The problem does NOT SEEM to occur when playing from my MacBooks running Sequoia 15.2.

I would recommend you return them if under warranty. There is no fix in sight that I am aware of. Mine are out of warranty, so at the Genius Bar, I was told, the only option was to log an issue with the Australian govt on fare trade…and see if I get any kind of refund, being about $20 off a new pair. And Gen 1 are NOT able to pair with a Gen2, not compatible. That’s $1000 AUD down the drain as I needed a Stereo pair. I’ve recently discovered an incredible BT alternative, for 1/5 the price.

It WORKS!

I have been having this issue for months with my setup of 3 HomePods and 2 HomePod minis over an extended wifi across the house on different floors. A disaster scenario pretty much :D

So, I feel so stupid to promote a non-Apple platform when I am a subscriber of their Apple Music but I downloaded Qobuz yesterday and it works perfectly across the whole **** system with hi rez 192kHz Miles Davis beautifully flowing thru these amazing speakers.

I am going to keep on testing this the rest of the day but it's been now playing for 30 mins with no hiccups, hisses or crackling. Pretty much as it is suppose to work. I am so happy now.

I am using the iPhone App for this, the desktop version has not been optimised for multi speaker use although there are instructions how to get them work.

Ended up returning both gen 2 HomePods. For a “premium” product it was not worth the hassle and headache to constantly chase bugs and troubleshoot. It was definitely the right decision to return. If nothing else I hope it’s a demonstration of my frustration via dollars in revenue lost.

Getting a ton of intermittent crackling noise when using Stereo Pair HomePods as TV Audio, connected to my LG B6 OLED TV via ARC. Even when setting my Xfinity Xi6 TV Box audio type to Stereo.

i just purchased these two HomePods too. Very disappointed. Hoping a firmware update to fix this comes soon. The 18.1 update did nothing to fix my issue.

Mine has magically quit having the static sound. I did report it to Apple via the feedback email address.

Since I swapped places with my HomePod Minis I haven’t had any static. That’s 4 full days. Now that I’ve posted that I fully expect the static to start again. 😉

It’s interesting to me that it doesn’t happen on every HomePod. I have two minis and it happens on one, but not the other.

This also has started - specifically with audio from Spotify - on one of my two original HomePods. Running iOS 18 most recent releases across the board as of 10/27/24.

My HomePods have all been updated to HomePod software version 18.1 and are performing well now, so far the previous problems haven’t reappeared so I’m hoping that’s fixed it !

Same for me on HomePods (minis and regular) after installing iOS 18. Crackling and even just had music get stuck on a skipping sound like it used to do when listening to a CD. This is happening when playing Apple Music.