It only happens in this app. Everything else works.
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My only AppleTV outputting to a HomePod Mini, the one in the kitchen that is experiencing this issue, is not using Ethernet, it is on WiFi. So I doubt that will make a difference but it’s certainly worth experimentation.
I did see on the plex forum I think, someone indicating that for them to use their HomePods with plex - using the new audio engine (airplay 2) - that their Apple TV had to be connected to wifi instead of Ethernet.
But the plex airplay2 audio driver may be completely different to channels, so may not make a difference.
On the latest beta for both HomePods and Apple TV and the problem remains. 
I'm still getting the same issue with tvos 17.2 both with an apple tv and a pair of homepods 2 and another apple tv with a homepod mini.
Unfortunately, it does not appear as though the issue resolved itself with the release of 17.2 on TVOS and HomePods. The Experimental Audio Driver is still the best option of the three, except for any Pluto channels which have no audio and then pause after ~15 seconds.
Is there any update from the Channels devs on this? Any betas we can test?
Changing Channels live tv ends up in complete audio drops for me. Have to quit app and restart.
We’ve gone to using HD home run app which has no such issues. But miss this app.
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Any movement on this issue would be reported here. You can also watch the beta release thread for release notes.
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Since updating to TV OS 17.3, the audio seems to be working better on my homepods. Still not 100% though
Same problems persist for me on 17.3. Glitchy audio after volume changes, and complete audio drops when channel surfing - that are fixed by closing and re-opening the app.
To clarify, I am using the experimental audio driver. It is better on that. I'd say it works perfectly 90% of the time now. For me it was like 25% before
Agreed. I see no improvement with 17.3 across any of the audio drivers. I get stuttering on default; no audio at all with experimental; and horrible syncing with lab.
I standby my statement made in the fall to the developers: If there is someone we should contact to advocate on your behalf, I'll be the first in line to help.
I’d suggest updating to the latest TestFlight and trying the "Lab" audio driver instead of the Experimental one. At least in my case, it's working better with my kitchen HomePod mini.
17.3, experimental driver and a pair of homepods: still broken, random glitches while tuning a new channel, it forces you to switch channels until it works.
Yeh me too, and I’ve tried all drivers. Testflight with Lab audio driver is no better. 
Updated to 5.8.0 but i'm still getting the same issues with a pair of homepods and experimental audio driver.
Lab audio driver makes the app crash every time i start a channel.
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Same issue. Everything I do and the app crashes.
I have the same issue where the Lab audio driver crashes Channels when playing content on tvOS 17.3 with HomePod stereo pair (original HomePod model). Although I have noticed that the default audio driver is performing a bit better with Channels 5.8. It’s no longer dropping audio after volume changes or after skipping around the content.
We will look into this.
That's good to hear, some long standing issues were resolved recently:
We've fixed this in the latest Testflight beta: