Apple HomePod (1 Viewer)

[Ted Todorov]

I am so happy I didn't buy into Homepods.

I am truly sorry to see them go, but I thought they were overpriced (as every Apple product is) and competing in a market with lots of other wireless offerings including Sonos (which I am heavily invested in).

I am all for Sonos, and I realize the the new ones do support AirPlay 2, but still, as maligned as Siri is, better with Siri than without it. And better with Apple support than without it: the one friend I recommended Sonos to (pre- HomePod) had it die on her within a few months and she had no way at all to get support in Italy. With any Apple device, she could just go to the nearest Apple Store...

 

[Ted Todorov]

Space Gray HomePods are already sold out at apple.com

Very frustrating - with the Airport Express we at least had enough time to order them before they disappeared

 

[Carlo_M]

I am so happy I didn't buy into Homepods.

I am truly sorry to see them go, but I thought they were overpriced (as every Apple product is) and competing in a market with lots of other wireless offerings including Sonos (which I am heavily invested in).

I will slightly disagree. If what you were after was a smart speaker with an emphasis on "smart" yes they were overpriced.

If you were after a great sounding speaker first with a smart assistant as an add-on, they were not only overpriced, they were the only one in their price class.

It says something to me when my stereo homepod set up of $500 (I paid less due to getting mine on sales) gets me to not turn on $5000 of sound equipment unless I am doing critical high rez, multichannel audio listening (which these days is getting more rare for me). I have not heard any other smart speaker in that price range that even comes close, in what is an astonishingly small footprint for the sound it produces.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I will slightly disagree. If what you were after was a smart speaker with an emphasis on "smart" yes they were overpriced.

If you were after a great sounding speaker first with a smart assistant as an add-on, they were not only overpriced, they were the only one in their price class.

It says something to me when my stereo homepod set up of $500 (I paid less due to getting mine on sales) gets me to not turn on $5000 of sound equipment unless I am doing critical high rez, multichannel audio listening (which these days is getting more rare for me). I have not heard any other smart speaker in that price range that even comes close, in what is an astonishingly small footprint for the sound it produces.

You have Sonos speakers that are overall more expensive, but I would suspect have much better sound quality to them. They integrate with both the Alexa and Google ecosystem as far as their "smart" features are concerned.

That's your higher-end in the "smart speaker" field

Then below that, you had several speakers from Amazon and Google.

Apple placed itself probably in the middle when it came to smart speakers and price. However, the industry was already flooded with speakers by the time they arrived. Siri is also considered to be the poorest of online assistants.

Still, their Homepods received excellent reviews and Apple even managed to put some interesting features into them including the ability to communicate with family members in a sort of walkie-talkie style.

 

[Nelson Au]

It wasn’t until the HomePod that I got into the wireless smart speaker. I bought one to try out. I liked its sound quality and ability to do AirPlay to it. When sales came up, I bought a second one. Then later I got a few more when they were sale priced at $199. When the pandemic hit, I finally set up a pair to be stereo in my home office since I’m working in there all day. I used to use an iPod connected to a receiver in there. But this is much more fun as I can listen to podcasts too. I’ve also never had the ability to walk around the house and have music playing in several rooms.

Sound quality is impressive. But I do find my hi-fi system much better for serious critical listening as Carlo said. But for general listening, it’s great. I’ve heard a friend’s Google speaker, the big one. I think the HomePod was better.

As far as Siri capability, it would be nice if it can do more, but then I don’t use Hey Google or Alexa so I’m not sure what I’m missing.

It will be interesting as time goes on if the updates to the HomePod Mini will also apply to the HomePod, such as more functionality and of course Siri improvements. I would think it would translate from the Mini to the Maxie. At some point, I may try a Mini and add it to the Maxies. If the HomePod is sold out or very hard to get, at least I have several now so I won’t feel so bad if I cannot get a few more.

 

[Carlo_M]

re: smart assistant IQ.

I will fully agree Siri is way behind Alexa and Google Asst. (though neither are perfect, my housemate has an Alexa and she can be dumb as a rock and hard of hearing as well).

But I'm okay with that. Why? Because of Apple's superior privacy handling to either of the other solutions. Yes I have no illusion that Apple is being "altruistic" with their data. But I trust their handling of my data way more than Amazon and Google. I know others feel differently, but for me, I'll settle for a little less smarts for more privacy.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

re: smart assistant IQ.

I will fully agree Siri is way behind Alexa and Google Asst. (though neither are perfect, my housemate has an Alexa and she can be dumb as a rock and hard of hearing as well).

But I'm okay with that. Why? Because of Apple's superior privacy handling to either of the other solutions. Yes I have no illusion that Apple is being "altruistic" with their data. But I trust their handling of my data way more than Amazon and Google. I know others feel differently, but for me, I'll settle for a little less smarts for more privacy.

Carlo, I fully agree with the privacy aspect.

At least you can have confidence in Siri keeping your conversations private.

Can't say the same about Alexa or Google.

 

[Ted Todorov]

This article points out Gruber saying the HomePod was being sold by Apple at a loss: https://www.ped30.com/2019/02/02/gruber-homepod-loss-apple/

If true, complaints that it was “overpriced“ make even less sense. To me, even if Siri didn’t exist and the HomePod was strictly an AirPlay 2 speaker, the stereo pair is just amazing music quality wise.

So I went to Best Buy this morning and got the presumably last pair they had in stock (in open boxes, thus at a slight discount). Will test them out shortly

 

[Nelson Au]

Space Gray HomePods are already sold out at apple.com

I had a look at the Best Buy app. They have the white HomePod available for immediate pick-up and shipping. The Space Gray shows them available on the 24th for pick-up.

It’s probably not a good idea to wait, but I was hoping for one more sale at the $199.00 pricing if they needed to clear out the inventory. The HomePods were selling well when that sale price came up. Seems like Apple should have priced it there. But with the news that they are discontinued, maybe they don’t need to lower the price!

 

[Nelson Au]

I didn’t see your post Ted after I kade my post. Good luck on that HomePod purchase! You’re brave, I’ve avoided stepping into any retailers as much as I can during Covid.

Just for comparison, on the last Best Buy sale, I got a pair of HomePods and one arrived with the plastic wrapping all gone. It appeared to not have been used and works.

 

[Ted Todorov]

I didn’t see your post Ted after I kade my post. Good luck on that HomePod purchase! You’re brave, I’ve avoided stepping into any retailers as much as I can during Covid.

Just for comparison, on the last Best Buy sale, I got a pair of HomePods and one arrived with the plastic wrapping all gone. It appeared to not have been used and works.

Well, more brave* to have gambled with the open boxes. One was fine, the other HomePod slightly dented on the side where the power cord is (guessing it was slammed against the power cord itself), and I had to do a factory settings reset. But now they are stereo paired and I am blasting Norma with Maria Callas at full volume. Sound is perfect, and for sure the best sound my mom‘s living room has ever had.

* I did get my COVID vaccine so I am a lot less concerned about going to a store, and at any rate the groceries tend to be a lot more crowded than Best Buy - or the Apple Store, for that matter

 

[Ted Todorov]

Where they are still available: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/03/15/homepod-before-theyre-gone/

I won’t waste my breath on how great the are — FWIW, one of the stores on the MacRumours list already charging above retail. Anyone waiting for prices to go down — not gonna happen. Those of us who have them and olive them won’t give upon theirs for any price. Indeed that is my attitude for my wired speakers — one pair is from 1988, the other 5.0 set is from the late 1990s. No desire to ever replace them

 

[Ted Todorov]

Rene Ritchie lamenting the loss:

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the links to the video and the macrumors page on availability.

I was thinking similarly to what Richie was speculating, that buying up a few more HomePods now might not be a good idea if Apple will not be supporting it much longer. But I have to believe that whatever updates are done to the Mini, would apply to the HomePod. Unless of course there is a hardware or chip limitation.

Maybe I can get along fine with the ones I have now and perhaps add a pair of the Minis.

It would be cool if Apple is still developing a HomePod with the sound capability of the one they just killed that will replace it. But it sounds like the Newton. A great product at the time, but didn’t grab a lot of market share. Same with the Apple Hi-Fi.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Thanks for the links to the video and the macrumors page on availability.

I was thinking similarly to what Richie was speculating, that buying up a few more HomePods now might not be a good idea if Apple will not be supporting it much longer. But I have to believe that whatever updates are done to the Mini, would apply to the HomePod. Unless of course there is a hardware or chip limitation.

Maybe I can get along fine with the ones I have now and perhaps add a pair of the Minis.

It would be cool if Apple is still developing a HomePod with the sound capability of the one they just killed that will replace it. But it sounds like the Newton. A great product at the time, but didn’t grab a lot of market share. Same with the Apple Hi-Fi.

I can’t speak of the Newton, but anyone who bought an Apple HiFi plus an AirPort Express (last version) now has an outstanding AirPlay 2 speaker... I suspect the HomePod will live on for many many years to come

 

[DaveF]

My understanding of the HomePod is Apple brought an audio-quality knife to a smart-assistant gun fight.

 

[DaveF]

Farewell HomePod, Apple's most misunderstood product - 9to5Mac

Farewell HomePod. It was probably Apple's most misunderstood product, so it's mostly unsurprising that Apple made the decision to ...

9to5mac.com

 

[Ted Todorov]

Farewell HomePod, Apple's most misunderstood product - 9to5Mac

Farewell HomePod. It was probably Apple's most misunderstood product, so it's mostly unsurprising that Apple made the decision to ...

9to5mac.com

But the original HomePod is not a smart speaker. It’s a really amazing value mid-range wireless speaker that is almost unrivaled in its price range. It uses audio technology that debuted in speakers costing tens of thousands of dollars, and was previously unavailable in anything costing less than four figures. Oh, and as the icing on the cake, it’s also smart.

For $349, and later $299, you were getting a speaker that outperformed ones costing $500. It should have sold at least as well as the Sonos Play 5 – which in my view it beat. Indeed, get a stereo pair for $600, and you had something that left the Sonos 5 in the dust.

Very good summary from the article you linked to. Ultimately it shows how clueless most of the constant "HomePod is overpriced" criticism is, unless sound quality is considered worthless.
Mind you, Apple was warned that "most people don't care about sound quality". I guess it was a question of the size of the minority that does, or Apple's failure in promoting the HomePod to precisely that minority

 

[Sam Posten]

My understanding of the HomePod is Apple brought an audio-quality knife to a smart-assistant gun fight.

I
Mean you could say the same thing for every Apple product but especially AppleTV

 

[Ted Todorov]

I mean you could say the same thing for every Apple product but especially AppleTV

Correct: Indeed I am genuinely afraid that Apple might discontinue the AppleTV: same SoC as the HomePod - A8, same cheap or free alternatives -- plenty of new TVs getting aTV/AirPlay 2 software on their "smart" TVs. I would be horrified for a number of reasons, especially because my favorite app, Infuse only exists on aTV, not any of the competitors.

Apple really needs to appreciate that many of their most dedicated customers find a huge value in not having to deal with third party products...