Apple seems to be working a four-speaker surround sound system with HomePods and a new “Party Mode,” according to code found in audioOS 27 beta 8, and shared on the MacRumors forums by member pdfu.
From the report: References in the software for the second-generation HomePod suggest the ability to tune for a setup with front-left, front-right, rear-left, and rear-right HomePods. The four-speaker surround configuration references automatic room calibration, speaker-position mapping, timing adjustments, bass management, EQ, dialogue enhancement, and different processing modes for movies and music.
For stereo content, the code suggests the ability to either spatialize sound across all four speakers or limit traditional stereo playback to the two front speakers.
The audioOS 27 beta 8 files also reference a new tuning system called “Forklift” that combines two second-generation HomePods with two speakers that use an unidentified AID12007 hardware family.
In addition, Apple appears to be working on a new “Party Mode” feature for stereo-paired HomePods, according to MacRumors. The feature applies a more diffuse sound field that’s designed to spread sound more evenly across the room for a more immersive listening experience, rather than optimizing playback for a single listening position.
Apple has been granted various patents regarding enhanced surround sound for HomePods. In 2019 the tech giant filed for a patent for “system to move a virtual sound away from a listener using a crosstalk canceler.” In the patent filing, Apple noted that a virtual acoustic system is one that gives the user the illusion that sound is emanating from elsewhere in an indoor or outdoor space than directly from a loudspeaker (e.g., one that is placed in a room, one that is built into a laptop computer, etc.
Apple said that audio signal processing for virtual acoustics can greatly enhance a movie, a sports even, a videogame or other screen viewing experience, adding to the feeling of “being there.”
From the patent filing: Several known audio processing algorithms, executed by digital processors, modify one or more recorded, synthesized, mixed or otherwise produced digital audio signals in such a way as to position a virtual source according to modeling that is based on human perception of sound, including the role of ear acoustics, other reflecting and absorbing surfaces, distance and angle of source, and other factors.
In the case of headphones, specially processed audio signals (binaural rendering) are sent to left and right ears of a listener without the crosstalk that is inevitably received by the ears when listening to stereo loudspeakers. For viewers and listeners that prefer loudspeakers, for example those that may be built into a laptop computer, a crosstalk canceler is employed in some virtual acoustic systems to produce sounds from multiple loudspeakers in such a way that for example a “left” audio signal is predominantly heard only at the left ear of the listener, and a “right” audio signal is predominantly heard only at the right ear of the listener (by virtue of sound wave cancellation in the air surrounding the listener.)
This allows the left and right audio signals to contain spatial cues that enable a virtual sound to be “positioned” at a desired location between the loudspeakers.
Speaking of the HomePod, Apple has been testing a new full-sized HomePod with Siri AI support, according to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. However, he doesn’t give a date on when this might arrive.
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