![]() ![]() This enables a helper app called Airfoil Satellite to control Airfoil, toggling outputs on and off, adjusting their volumes, and even switching the selected audio source (more on Airfoil Satellite in a sec). You can activate audio from where you want to hear it, instead of from Airfoil itself.Īllow remote control of Airfoil and audio sources: When this is active, commands can be passed from remote speakers to and through Airfoil. Use the global menu to adjust and control Airfoil from anywhere on your Mac.Īllow remote speakers to connect to Airfoil: With this setting on, Airfoil Satellite will be able to request that Airfoil send it audio. The menu also shows information on what’s currently being transmitted by Rogue Amoeba’s software. By default, you’ll see the icon for the global Airfoil menu in the upper right of your screen. If you choose to show Airfoil in the menu bar, Airfoil’s global menu will provide access to its settings from any app. Though I could add both devices to the group, the audio only played through the wireless speaker, not my iMac’s built-in speakers. The goal was to see if I could have audio playing in front of me (the Mac) and behind me (the HomePod). One glitch I found: when I tried to create a group comprised of my iMac and HomePod, it didn’t work. You can still adjust individual speakers within a group, toggling them off or on individually, and adjusting their volumes. Click it again, and they’ll all be turned back off. When you click the Transmit button for a group, all the speakers in that group will be activated. For instance, you might make one group for all the speakers on the first floor of your home, and another group for all the speakers on the second floor. The last section contains individual remote outputs - all the supported devices that are visible on your local network.Ī speaker group makes it possible to send to multiple outputs at once, with a single click. Below that will be Groups, if you’ve configured any. At the top, you’ll always see the Computer output, which enables you to play audio locally in sync with remote speakers. All available outputs appear in Airfoil’s main window by default. ![]() You select an input source from the Source popup at the top of the window, then click the Transmit button next to each output you’d like to hear audio through.įrom the main window, you can also adjust the volume at which audio is sent to each output and view audio activity for Airfoil’s currently-selected source with the level meters. Airfoil continuously scans your network to find and show any available output devices to which it can send audio. I choose the latter because some features are only available by clicking on the app’s Dock icon (something I hope will change in future versions).įor instance, the equalizer feature only appeared when I clicked on the Airfoil icon in the Dock, then selected the Window tab. You can choose to have Airfoil reside exclusively in your menu bar, just in Mac’s Dock, or both. Or crank it up if you really want the joint jumping! Airfoil’s equalizer includes almost two dozen presets, and you can create and save custom presets. For instance, you can use the Bass Reducer to tone down the HomePod’s bass if you wish. The HomePod doesn’t have a line input port, but anything you can play on or through your Mac can be passed wirelessly to the wireless speaker.Īlso, Airfoil packs a built-in equalizer so you can tweak your audio to your tastes. With Airfoil, you can play audio on your desktop or laptop, then use Airfoil to send it along. More on that a moment.īut back to the HomePod/Mac combo. Everything played in perfect sync, even between different speaker types. In addition to the HomePod, I’ve tried Airfoil with multiple Macs and two different Apple TVs. Heck, you can even send audio to iOS devices and other computers. However, Airfoil allows you to send music services like Spotify or web-based audio like Pandora wirelessly to the HomePod, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, and Bluetooth speakers. The HomePod is, by default, tied into Apple’s ecosystem. The Rogue Amoeba app lets you stream any audio from your Mac to just about any device connected to your network. It’s not as convenient as simply using AirPlay would be, but Airfoil does allow me to play movie audio on the HomePod - and it does lots of other nifty things, as well.īut let’s back up. However, when I clicked the AirPlay icon at the bottom left of the screen, the only device I could select was my Apple TV. As I mentioned in my review of Apple’s wireless speaker, when playing the 1996 action thriller, Broken Arrow on the iMac in my home office, I wanted to play the audio on the wireless speaker. ![]()
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