Apple HomePod (1 Viewer)

[Ted Todorov]

One so one speaker audio devices are considered audiophile?

I’ve seen plenty of tweets like this one:

Sound field created by the HomePod is actually a little unnerving. It really doesn’t sound as though the music is all coming from that one little box.

Sounds better for full room surround sound than stereo speakers apparently. I think all the criticism like yours is coming from people who haven’t yet heard it and have trouble imagining it.

Also, “audiophile” means different things to different people. The one audiophile (according to my criterion for audiophile) I’ve met and listen to his sound system spent $100,000 just for the speakers (apparently the ones that were used as recording studio speakers where Frank Sinatra, etc. recorded their albums in the 1950s.) Yes, that system sounded great

 

[DaveF]

I hope Apple brings out lower cost versions in the not too distance future. I'm not the target audience for a $329 talking speaker. I've got a 5.1 system in the living room in an open floor-plan house, and Atmos in the basement. I use a battery powered bluetooth speaker in the kitchen for podcasts while cooking or deck while grilling.

A $99 HomePod Mini would suit me as an impulse buy. Especially if it was battery powered so I could tote it to the deck.

In the meantime, I'm curious to demo one and hear how people like it.

 

[Carlo_M]

Oh I have an audiophile 5.1 system in the living room and a 2.0 in the bedroom. But I'm not always in "audiophile" mode, which involves powering everything up, and then digging through my SACDs, DVD-Audio, BD-Audio, or my vinyl collection (played back on a Pro-Ject turntable with a Hana cartridge).

Sometimes I want to say "Siri play me X" and I want it to just instantly power on, and fill the room with a satisfying sound. No doubt the HomePod won't compete with my five-figure sound system, but at $349 how could I reasonably expect it to?

As I've gotten older, I realize that the majority of my music listening time is casual time. And for that, the HomePod sounds like it will fit the bill nicely. My flatmate and I are going to do lunch near an Apple Store in a bit. Afterwards I'll pop in and see if they have one on demo. If I like it I'll buy it. If they don't have a demo, I'll likely buy it knowing I have a return window.

Oh and I'm already an Apple Music customer, so that will maximize the HomePod's utility for me.

 

[John Dirk]

rev·o·lu·tion·ar·y - involving or causing a complete or dramatic change

I stand by my statement. The iPhone is the smartphone that ushered in the change. NOBODY was selling anything like the iPhone when the iPhone was introduced. The iPhone shifted everyone's thinking.

Mark

I'm not even an Apple fan but I have to agree. It wasn't the features it was the interface.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Love the title of the latest Talk Show podcast: https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2018/02/09/ep-214

‘ONLY WIRELESS. LESS SMART THAN AN ECHO. LAME’

 

[Mark Booth]

THIS THING SOUNDS FREAKING AWESOME!

The sound is amazing! Even at full volume the sound is crystal clear and very robust. Room-filling sound! I played Cher's 'Believe' and The Eagle's 'Hotel California' (live) and the bass is tight with lots of punch but not excessive. It's perfect (to my ears).

I tried a couple different placements. The sound is a bit more expansive if placed along a flat wall rather than stuck in a corner. But for our kitchen breakfast nook (where the wine bar is located) the above spot is where it will sit. Regardless where I placed it, though, my ears were not "fooled" into thinking sounds were coming from anywhere but right around the HomePod. Perhaps it needs more time to "learn" its placement? If that's the case, moving it around probably didn't help.

Setting it up borders on being something magical! You just hold your iPhone near it and the HomePod and iPhone take it from there. Even my WiFi password got transferred over (after me giving the iPhone a tap to approve the settings transfer).

I don't have Apple Music but my entire music library is in iCloud. I tried playlists, artists and individual songs and Siri played them without missing a beat. I also tried playing directly from my iPhone using AirPlay, it worked as expected.

Speaking of Siri, she is extremely responsive. The HomePod recognizes commands near instantly and acts on them very quickly. And, just as the reviewers have reported, you don't have to shout. I even tried "Hey Siri Pause" below my normal speaking voice with my back to the HomePod and Siri nailed it.

I am very impressed. The HomePod looks and feels like a very high QUALITY product. Its sound matches its appearance. Its weight is impressive too, it is much heavier than it looks.

I guess I'm going to give Apple Music a try again. It will be worth $10 to try it out while I'm giving the HomePod a 2-week trial. But, at this point, it seems unlikely I'll be returning it.

Edit: Surprise, surprise, when I went to activate Apple Music Apple was offering me another 3-month free trial! I grabbed it!

Mark

 

[Raul Marquez]

Tony,

I will start off by saying I am a huge fan of Apple (I own just about every product they sell), but am bias towards Sonos when it comes to speakers.

While it has been established in reviews that the new Homepod edges out the Sonos Play One in sound quality if I had to do it all over again, I would not give up my Sonos speakers for a HomePod.

For the same price as one HomePod, you can get two Sonos Play One speakers that you can put in a stereo setup.

The Play One speakers use Alexa as a smart assistant with Siri and Google coming soon.

The Sonos app is pretty incredible, allowing direct access to the top music services and Internet radio. The HomePod is restricted to Apple Music and iTunes -- but -- you can play other services via airplay support.

If you are thinking of a home-wide music system, building it little by little, I think Sonos may be the better way to go. My home has Sonos speakers in all the major rooms. I can control what rooms I want to play them in either individually, or in unison as a group.

However, I can't say anything negative about the HomePod

Hiya Ron,

Now you make things difficult for me.... Deciding between the HomePod and the Sonos (and between Sonos One and Sonos Play 1) since I have an Echo Show, 2 Echos and 3 Echo Dots in my home.

I want better sound from my Alexa devices now, but I'm afraid the integration between these and the HomePod will never happen.

What is the difference in sound "quality" between the Sonos One and the Play 1?

Thanks,

Raul

 

[Carlo_M]

Putting it through it’s paces. It’s smaller than I thought. And yes, initial sound impression is very favorable.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I need to hear it and judge for myself, but I will say as I was exploring reviews last night I was intrigued to find the Sonos One deal. Getting two speakers for true stereo for the same price as the HomePod seems hard to pass up.

I can tell you from experience if you go with Sonos, you will not be disappointed. Not only do their speakers sound phenomenal, but their app does an excellent job of integrating all your subscribed music services PLUS a plethora of Internet radio stations (via DASH) into an all-in-one experience.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

What is the difference in sound "quality" between the Sonos One and the Play 1?

Same quality. It's basically the same speaker. The ONE has Alexa integration built in.

 

[Craig S]

UPS finally delivered my black Home Pod about an hour ago.

Wow. Even sitting in the middle of my 14x12 living room with cathedral ceiling this thing delivers. Just put it through a quick test which included selections from Aaron Copland, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Randy Newman, The Ramones, Glen Campbell, the Alan Parsons Project, Al Stewart, Tangerine Dream, and the Hamilton cast album. It handled everything with aplomb. All the instruments are well-defined, bass is perfect - EXACTLY as Mark described, and vocals are front and center as they should be.

My living room is not ideal for a device like this, can't wait to listen again when I get it set up in its permanent home in the bedroom against a wall.

FWIW, I don't have Apple Music, all listening will be Air Play from my iTunes library of 53,000 songs using the Remote app on my iPhone or iPad Mini.

More later.

 

[Carlo_M]

To be clear, a hi-fi 2.0 system, and obviously anything with a .1 (sub) will sound better than the HomePod. But I took physics classes through second year of college, and I know that to achieve certain decibel and frequency levels, you need to move a lot of air in a precise manner.

The HomePod is the first device that has managed to boggle my mind in terms of this: given what I know about sound and physics, it shouldn’t be able to sound this good, go down to as low a frequency as it does, and fill a room as fully as it does, given its size.

No, it won’t go head to head with your dedicated amp + Martin Logan/B&W/SVSound/Aperion combo. But at $349 it shouldn’t. But it will make you look at other similarly sized speakers and wonder why the sound engineers from Apple can do things that others can’t. My apartment mate says my HomePod sounds better than his Alexa speaker from my room. His speaker is located in his, mine has to travel from my room, down a 15’ hallway, and into his.

Of course his cost under a hundred.

What I will say is this: I am so impressed by the sound that I want to hear what a stereo pair sounds like. But to shell out another $350 is a tough pill to swallow. Apple should consider releasing a “slave stereo pair” which maybe doesn’t contain an A8 chip and only takes commands from the master HomePod and price it lower. Like one you couldn’t use without a “master” HomePod. If I could get my hands on something like that for $200 it would be a no brainer to add. But $350...yeesh.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I hate to bring something like this to the forefront, but I believe in being fair to all parties involved.

This article claims that the $349 Homepod is a $499 Play:5 Killer

Now THAT takes some balls --- but if true --- WOW. I own four Play:5 speakers (in two stereo sets) and I am amazed with that sound.

 

[DaveF]

Where are folks putting their HomePods (or Sonos or Alex)? Do you have it in a room with a good stereo or surround system, but use the smart-tube instead because it's so much easier, or even sounds better for general background listening?

 

[dpippel]

I have a 2nd gen Echo in our bedroom that basically functions as a clock radio, a 2nd gen Echo in the office, and a Dot in our workroom. While we occasionally listen to music on the Echos, their primary function is to provide an Alexa interface throughout the house. This is why I bought them. Sound quality was not a primary concern. When we listen to music it's either from our ripped FLAC music library or Tidal/Spotify to our main audio system via Airplay from my MacBook or iPhone.

 

[Raul Marquez]

Bit the bullet this morning and bought a Sonos One at my local BestBuy. Even though I am an Apple fanboy, the HomePod appears to be too much of a closed system and too expensive for my taste at the moment. Any tips for SONOS setup besides basic setup with Alexa? Placed my SONOS One adjacent to my ECHO Show.

 

[DennisBassi]

I agree that sound is subjective in general, but with something like an Echo it is objective, considering the Echo sounds like an old clock radio. Another good objective report on the sound quality: in her video WSJ’s columnist Joanna Stern had the HomePod on stage of a 450 seat concert hall and sat on the last row — not only was it loud enough and sounded great for the whole auditorium, but at that distance, with the music playing, Siri could still hear her instructions.

Also, I am happy to believe that Siri is inferior to Google and Amazon right now - but it can improve - the sound quality of the speakers never will.

The thing is, you can use the connectivity of an echo dot (frequently on sale for $30, but still affordable at $50) and turn any sound system into a smart sound system, be it a powered speaker, which invariably have a auxiliary input, a Bluetooth speaker, to which the dot can connect, or a receiver/speaker combo. So, making a great sounding speaker of most any brand "alexa smart" is easy.

 

[Mark Booth]

I hate to bring something like this to the forefront, but I believe in being fair to all parties involved.

This article claims that the $349 Homepod is a $499 Play:5 Killer

Now THAT takes some balls --- but if true --- WOW. I own four Play:5 speakers (in two stereo sets) and I am amazed with that sound.

I've heard the Sonos ONE, Play:1, Play:3, and Play:5. The HomePod definitely has better sound than the ONE, Play:1 and Play:3. Without comparing them side by side it would be difficult to say the HomePod sounds better than the Play:5 but HomePod is definitely (at minimum) somewhere between the Play:3 and Play:5.

I did more experimentation with the Apple Music curation this morning. I was playing another Frank Sinatra song and I asked Siri for more songs like this. The first two songs were fine but the third song she played seemed out of place. I asked her for the name of the song but I've forgotten what she told me.

I need to try "Hey Siri, I don't like this song" to see if that works and if it results in better curation to my tastes.

Mark

 

[Carlo_M]

Where are folks putting their HomePods (or Sonos or Alex)? Do you have it in a room with a good stereo or surround system, but use the smart-tube instead because it's so much easier, or even sounds better for general background listening?

Dave, I have mine in my bedroom. I also have a pretty decent upper-mid-fi 2.0 system in there. It’s strictly for convenience, which nowadays is 90% of the time I’m listening to music (I do a lot of work from home).

 

[Sam Posten]

I hate to bring something like this to the forefront, but I believe in being fair to all parties involved.

This article claims that the $349 Homepod is a $499 Play:5 Killer

Now THAT takes some balls --- but if true --- WOW. I own four Play:5 speakers (in two stereo sets) and I am amazed with that sound.

https://twitter.com/JohnPaczkowski/status/962103962684989440