Built from published evidence: the second-generation HomePod is the best-sounding smart speaker for Apple households — rich room-filling sound, superb Dolby Atmos, Apple TV pairing. The cost is lock-in: no native Spotify, no Bluetooth audio, Siri trailing Alexa and Google, and an S7 chip that will never run Apple Intelligence. Buy it for the sound; skip it for the smarts.
— THE VERDICT · JUDGEANY EDITORSApple resurrected the full-size HomePod in February 2023 at $299, fifty dollars below the original's launch price, after discontinuing the first generation two years earlier. The new model runs on the S7 chip borrowed from the Apple Watch Series 7, pairs a 4-inch high-excursion woofer with a bass-EQ microphone, and arranges five horn-loaded tweeters — each with its own neodymium magnet — in a beamforming array. Room sensing listens for sound bouncing off nearby surfaces and retunes the output in real time, so the speaker adapts whether it sits against a wall or out in the open.
The sound is the reason to pay attention. Pickr rated it 4.5 out of 5, praising excellent sound with virtually no distortion or buzzing, and called Dolby Atmos tracks superb. Sound & Vision went further — the reviewer named it an easy Top Pick and marveled at the enveloping sound of a stereo pair hooked to an Apple TV 4K, a roughly $750 setup that put sounds well into the room and beat every all-in-one soundbar he had heard. Mac Observer found the tuning energetic and fun rather than studio-neutral, with rich bass, clean vocals, and crisp highs that open up once you push past low volume.
Not everyone hears the same speaker, and the disagreement is worth stating plainly. TechRadar's review found the second generation has less bass impact than the original — Apple dialed the low end back — while Mac Observer describes bass that can get hefty enough to justify the Reduce Bass toggle in the Home app. Both impressions can coexist because the low end is room-dependent: what sounds rich and controlled in one space can pile up in another. The upshot for buyers: bass lovers coming from the original may find the sequel restrained, and the Home app only offers a cut, not a boost.
The smarts are where the $299 starts to wobble. Engadget's Billy Steele found Siri much improved over the 2018 original, noting the four microphones — two fewer than before — still picked up his voice in a noisy room. AppleInsider was cooler at 3.5 out of 5, calling the speaker a safe upgrade and listing "Siri still needs improvement" among its cons, while Mac Observer summed Siri up as great when it works and confusing when it doesn't. Spotify still doesn't play natively — it only arrives via AirPlay — and with no Bluetooth audio streaming or aux input, Android and Windows households are locked out entirely. As a smart-home hub the picture is better: Matter and Thread support with temperature and humidity sensors that can trigger automations, though TechRadar found those sensors not particularly compelling yet.
Owners are mostly convinced. Best Buy's aggregate sits at 4.6 out of 5 across more than 1,200 reviews, with sound quality and bass the most-mentioned pros and connectivity, price, and Siri the most-mentioned cons — and nine in ten would recommend it to a friend. The 2026 caveats deserve equal weight: the S7 chip will never support Apple Intelligence, so this speaker stays on classic Siri while the newer HomePod mini 2 moves on, per Cult of Mac, and the Wi-Fi remains 802.11n, a generation behind even the original. AppleInsider's bottom line holds up — a great speaker that struggles to stand out at $299, unless your household already runs on Apple. Check the current price on Amazon; the premium softens on sale.