AirPlay to HomePod is slow. If you press pause it takes several seconds for the audio to pause. Resuming also takes several seconds.
Whilst this isn't a showstopper, it is certainly rather annoying. I understand that AirPlay 1 was slower than AirPlay 2, has channels supported AirPlay 2?
Thanks for any help in resolving.
I've had the same issue since connecting my HomePod stereo pair. Sync is slightly off as well, but the biggest issue is the 2-4 second delay between pressing play/pause and it actually responding.
It's makes it very difficult to skip forward/back. I'm skipping 30 seconds forward or 7 seconds back, but it takes 4 seconds for that to happen.
Only noticed this issue when HomePods connected 
Try with Settings > Playback > Advanced > Audio Driver: Experimental
I've tried that several times, and it locks up when I switch to another channel. After switching between a half dozen channels or so, I usually have to quit the Channels tvOS app completely and re-open it. It then happens again after re-opening and bouncing between a channel or two.
Does it help with sync though?
Yes! thank you so much.
Okay great. I will try to take a look at the channel switching lock up issue.
Lip sync is much better with the 'Experimental'.
If I'm patient with changing channels the crashes/freezes are not as bad. I love to scan the channels at times, and I'll just have to be a little more patient until that gets worked out.
As for playing a single show, that works well. For the most part I can skip forward/backward and pause/play fine now.
Thanks.
Is there an update on this? I'm experiencing the same thing.
What app version are you using, what audio driver is enabled and what exactly are you experiencing?
The issues mentioned above were fixed in the experimental driver which uses AirPlay2