Don’t waste $900 on Apple’s HomePod immersive audio experience

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One thing that the excellent Apple HomePod and HomePod Mini speakers have always lacked is true surround sound. Computer audio and software replication of surround sound are certainly enough to get by, but no amount of audio processing can really replicate the feeling of physically having more speakers around you. Apple is finally introducing four-speaker surround sound with the HomePod Mini 2, but is it worth it?

To get surround sound using Apple devices, you’ll need the latest generation Apple TV and HomePod Mini 2 (or HomePod Gen 2) speakers – older models are not supported. With the Apple TV 4K priced at $299 and four HomePod Mini 2 speakers costing $596 ($149 each), you’re looking at almost $900 for a surround sound system without a subwoofer or center channel.

The Amazon Echo Dot Max is a great, affordable alternative to the HomePod if you value compactness, versatility, and ease of setup. Each Echo Dot Max comes with a built-in woofer and tweeter, giving it an advantage over the HomePod Mini’s unique full-range speaker design. They’re also about $30 cheaper at $120 each on Amazon, and you can pair five of them together, with the last one serving as the center channel. Plus, you don’t need a high-end Amazon media player, because Alexa Home Theater even works with the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Alexa is also considered by many to be a better and smarter home assistant than Siri, although the new Siri AI could change that. A setup similar to Apple’s will cost around $550, giving you enough budget to add a fifth center channel speaker and a $130 Echo Sub as a dedicated subwoofer for a 5.1 setup that costs $800 — much cheaper than Apple’s four-speaker, no-subwoofer, no-center-channel setup.

That $900 price is the minimum for Apple’s new true surround sound. Full-size HomePods still can’t replace a dedicated subwoofer, but they have built-in woofers and deliver louder, fuller sound. A 2-2 setup with two HomePods and two HomePod Minis costs around $1,300, while a four-HomePod setup will cost you $1,700.

For a little more than the $900 minimum, you can often find a Samsung HW-Q990F soundbar on sale for $1,199. It’s the best soundbar you can buy in 2026 with an 11.1.4 configuration that includes 11 ear-level channels, four height channels for vertical immersion, and a dedicated subwoofer. This significantly outperforms Apple’s $1,700 configuration while being closer to its cheapest configuration. A great alternative is to pair a $699 Sonos Beam Ultra with two Era 100 speakers at $189 each for a total of $1,077. This, again, provides a better experience than Apple’s $1,700 plan, despite being $600 cheaper. You can even add a $499 Sonos Sub Mini and still save $100 compared to buying four HomePods and a new 2026 Apple TV 4K.

At this price, you can also upgrade your home theater experience by getting a true surround sound system with more speakers. For example, you can get a decent Klipsch Dolby Atmos 5.1.4 setup for $749 and pair it with a compatible AV receiver like a $749 Onkyo TX-NR7100. This gives you four Dolby Atmos speakers (two front, two rear) that house upward-firing drivers, a center channel speaker dedicated to vocals and dialogue, and a Klipsch R-100SW subwoofer to handle bass and low frequencies. Between getting all of this for $1,500 and getting four HomePods for $1,700, the former is an easy choice.

Compared to Apple, there are plenty of cheaper options that deliver the same results, and similarly priced ones that provide a much better surround sound experience. This takes away a lot of value from Apple’s immersive spatial audio. However, the HomePod and HomePod Mini are still great devices, and in some cases it may be worth getting them.

If you’re already considering getting a 2026 Apple TV 4K, this undercuts all of the Apple totals above by $299. Likewise, if you already own two HomePods, you can get two HomePod Mini 2 speakers and have your Apple home theater setup ready with just $300 spent. Another benefit of getting a HomePod or HomePod Mini is versatility. HomePods aren’t just TV accessories; you can use them as compact speakers to stream AirPlay music from your iPhone or connect them to your MacBook or iMac. Their small size and light weight also make it easy to move around the house, which is not possible with the speakers in a traditional home theater setup.

In general, the ability to use your HomePods and HomePod Mini 2 as a surround sound system is ideal if you have other uses for the devices. However, if you’re considering getting speakers specifically for a TV surround sound system, it’s hard to recommend Apple over other options on the market.