I Hate the Slight Lag I Hear on my HomePod Mini Stereo Pair
After buying a HomePod Mini for the HomeKit functionality with occasional speaker use, I found myself using it more than occasionally for music. For it's size it is a various impressive, tight and controlled sound. I was intrigued by the prospect of a stereo pair, so having very little self-control around my spending, I decided to buy another HomePod Mini. YOLO and such.
Set up was a breeze of course, but straight away I noticed that it didn't sound.. right. High hats and sharp, brief noises sounded off, like some sort of stereo widening or spatial effect. It isn't always the case, especially at the start of streaming or after pausing and unpausing.
It is as if there is - and it probably is because of - lag or sync issue between the two speakers so they're playing a tiny fraction of a second apart. Perhaps you wouldn't notice it with them across a room from each other, but I have them either side of my bed.
Oh well, Plan B - put the second HomePod Mini in my office and use it there instead of a Bluetooth speaker.
However! All is not that simple. Using the stereo pair has re-awakened an appreciation within me for actual separated stereo sound. For too long now I've consumed music from a single speaker or pair of speakers that are very close together and I've forgotten the wonder of true stereo. With the stereo pair, for the first time in a long time, I felt truly immersed in sound; totally absorbed, plunged into the depths of auditory enjoyment, so I now have a new dilemma - I need some stereo speakers of a decent quality that I can situate either side of my bed! Ideally to use with AirPlay, but of course, that is a whole new can of worms..