Streaming - Total fail (rant)


So in pre-covid days we had a different house which I had wired to support living room (big rig), family room (ADS L710’s) and outside speakers (Niles OS20). I could play the same music through all three speaker pairs for parties or just cruising thru the house/back yard. New house now, without the ability to wire multiple speakers in different rooms. Streaming seemed to be the answer. Using an Airport Express to big rig, a HomePod for the family room and a mini-Homepod for the front porch I used iPhone/Apple Music to stream to these speakers. They all worked individually.

So it’s Derby day and our first party in over a year (all double Vax attendees). I set up a couple of my favorite playlists for music. Folks arrive and I begin streaming. Within minutes the HomePod starts playing different music than what I’m playing on the phone, the mini cuts in and out, the Airport express loses ALL connection with my wi-fi, and Apple music seems to forget what playlist it’s streaming from. Needless to say, total streaming fail and no music as I can’t stay ahead of the problems. Probably lots of reasons - wifi issues ( yet I have a 200 mps plan), Apple music sucks, maybe streaming to three different targets is too much, etc. In any case, way too many problems - I guess my multi room musical experience is over. END of rant.
mcondo
Agree with fuzztone.  I had Bluesound units, they did well until the individual units would commit hari kari during updates.  Tried replacing the Bluesound boombox in the kitchen with the Home Pod (well, it was on the cover of Stereophile, and I have an Apple TV in the family room that it used to sync with until Apple in its infinite wisdom changed the interface on ATV so now they are divorced) and Apples voice recognition is a bad joke.  Siri is a rebellious little girl as well, playing any damn thing she wants no matter what she was programmed to play.
  Sonos probably is the way to go for whole home Audio.  I no longer about that end point