I’ve replaced an old first generation Apple TV 4K for a new model, for one reason – playing video games through a pair of HomePods but I’ve been pleasantly surprised with more than just that.

First off I can feel the more powerful A12 processor in daily use. The interface feels faster, the streams are quicker to load and for some reason the audio seems better.

The big winner though is the remote.

No longer am I actioning something when I pick it up, the buttons are spaced out and it’s a lot more comfortable to hold onto.

But the main thing, the reason I bought it works like a charm. Playing both the Xbox and PlayStation through the HomePods is the best experience I’ve had with my gaming. Playing Halo Infinite has especially been impressive with the bass kicks and music separation. Setting it up was pretty straightforward and amazingly it worked straight away once I had changed a setting on the TV.

I’m pleased with the upgrade here overall, it’s the only way we watch TV. We don’t watch terrestrial TV at all and our LG TV isn’t connected to the internet.