You might look into JBL, Harman/Kardon, Kipsch, Sony, Bose or some other brand for what you want.
... knowing that those fine speaker brands might not make listening to NPR Radio much better...
They might make Sir Georg Solti's landmark recording of Wagner's Ring Cycle more enjoyable. An AM radio broadcast of the ballgame? Perhaps not as impactful.
The biggest problem here is that there are some people on the Internet who don't understand that there are many usage cases and that different people will do different things for different reasons. And that some people will do lots of different things with one device. They only accept their own sole usage case as the sole valid one.
Some of the discussion in this thread seems to be indicative of this extreme myopia, pretty commonplace online and seems to be happening with more regularity these days.
Pity.
There are two points here. The first is the perennial critic who wants a thing to do a different thing that wasn’t included in the thing’s design. Never content to say ‘I wish it would also do this other thing,’ the critic must pronounce the thing altogether worthless, with no self-awareness at ironically discounting the actual designed use that everybody else likes as unimportant, so long as the critic’s alternative desire is unmet. Who exactly is the narrow-minded, short sighted proponent of a single use case?
Second is the fascinating misperception that audio gear and formats have a permanency that history continually demonstrates that it does not have. The original HomePod is particularly vulnerable to obsolescence not just because of its dependence on Apple Music or Apple Airplay devices as sources for content, but also because the hardware is dependent on proprietary software to function as designed. This device doesn’t just vibrate membranes as commanded by an external source of electrons. It has an active computational function that measures acoustics in the room and renders playback specific to those acoustics. As such, this device is very specifically not a mechanical speaker for wired playback from your old Sony Walkman cassette player.
The original husky-boy HomePod sounds freakishly good for its size. I have mine sitting on a shelf on one end of an open lower level (~1000 sqft) and it easily fills the entire space with wonderful sound. On the same shelf system I have the remnants of my old analog HiFi system with decent speakers, a turntable, and an Apple TV and DAC plugged into the receiver's aux port. I can stream my Apple Music through either system. The old analog receiver can obviously put out more raw sound intensity, there's a certain nostalgia about using all of my old gear, and playing my old vinyl is cool. But truth be told, the HomePod isn't really a step down when it comes to the overall listening experience within the same space.
When I want to use the component based system I have to fire up my TV, Apple TV, receiver, and DAC and then use the Apple TV remote to either stream from Apple Music or point it to one of my Macs that contains my Apple Music collection locally. That's not a big deal, but to use the HomePod all I have to do is say "Hey Siri, play my music" and there it is, filling my space with music that sounds nearly as good as what my old component system can muster. Of course if you have a better HiFi system your experience may be quite different.
As others have probably discovered, Siri on the HomePod is o...k, and if you talk to it like you'd talk to a 3-year old and stay within a limited range of topics, like music, the weather, or requesting a podcast you'll probably get what you want. I'm okay with what Siri on HomePod does around 90% of the time, so it's no big deal. The sound quality of the HomePod more than makes up for the minor shortcomings that Siri sometimes presents.
I think we can comfortably say Siri will be no better on any newer HP, as it's not improved for the last 8 years. My full-size HP had another Siri issue yesterday, asking it "What's the news" resulted in "I have found some web results, I've sent them to your iPhone". Repeating the question wouldn't work, only asking it to play the <source> news podcast worked. Seems to be working again today.
No thats simply not the case. Siri is a LOT better than it was eight years ago. I didn’t bother even trying it back then because it was so poor. Now I use it several times a day, especially with my AW. Ok others may be better, no argument here. One thing I’d like is if Siri were smart enough to tie two questions together. ”Siri when do the Twins play?” ”They started playing at one o’clock today” ”Oh, then what’s the score?” Siri can’t make that connection.
So it’s not perfect, or even best in class. But it’s a HELL of a lot better than it was eight years ago.
I love my original HomePods. I want Apple to enter the home theatre space and allow me to have surround sound with some arrangement of HomePods.
I hope whatever processor they use in the new HomePod has enough performance to allow real time audio tuning/processing. That’s one thing that sets the original HomePod apart from other generic speakers.
Dolby Atmos with beamforming would be great.
I still think the original HomePods are great and will be glad if Apple reverses on the discontinuation.
Still, the idea of a home theater application combining four or more of the things just isn’t practical. That’s at least $1,200 for the four-way setup, more if you use more, and it’s probably a significant waste of computing power. Perhaps if they created add-on devices for the additional units that have the speakers and microphones, but that communicate with a single master device to handle most of the computational work, such a setup could be made more affordable and practical.
You don’t need full HomePods for every speaker. But an enhanced HomePod with a sound bar and the right processing could provide a great home theatre experience. A pair of Minis for the rear could enhance that experience without breaking the bank.
You might look into JBL, Harman/Kardon, Kipsch, Sony, Bose or some other brand for what you want.
... knowing that those fine speaker brands might not make listening to NPR Radio much better...
They might make Sir Georg Solti's landmark recording of Wagner's Ring Cycle more enjoyable. An AM radio broadcast of the ballgame? Perhaps not as impactful.
The biggest problem here is that there are some people on the Internet who don't understand that there are many usage cases and that different people will do different things for different reasons. And that some people will do lots of different things with one device. They only accept their own sole usage case as the sole valid one.
Some of the discussion in this thread seems to be indicative of this extreme myopia, pretty commonplace online and seems to be happening with more regularity these days.
Pity.
There are two points here. The first is the perennial critic who wants a thing to do a different thing that wasn’t included in the thing’s design. Never content to say ‘I wish it would also do this other thing,’ the critic must pronounce the thing altogether worthless, with no self-awareness at ironically discounting the actual designed use that everybody else likes as unimportant, so long as the critic’s alternative desire is unmet. Who exactly is the narrow-minded, short sighted proponent of a single use case?
Second is the fascinating misperception that audio gear and formats have a permanency that history continually demonstrates that it does not have. The original HomePod is particularly vulnerable to obsolescence not just because of its dependence on Apple Music or Apple Airplay devices as sources for content, but also because the hardware is dependent on proprietary software to function as designed. This device doesn’t just vibrate membranes as commanded by an external source of electrons. It has an active computational function that measures acoustics in the room and renders playback specific to those acoustics. As such, this device is very specifically not a mechanical speaker for wired playback from your old Sony Walkman cassette player.
HPs are not dependent on Apple Music. They are of course dependent on AirPlay, since they are AirPlay speakers -- which was an entire speaker category not long before HPs came out. AirPlay speakers are designed for the walled garden and I bought a couple of these specialist speakers. I laugh when the eternally wounded complain that HPs aren't generic speakers they can plug into their record players (like that other poster). This is correct...that isn't the intended use case. AirPlay is, and I'm delighted with them. And despite the claims, my original HPs work 100% correctly still, as AirPlay hasn't been discontinued and likely won't for a very long time.
"I can't plug my Amazon Echo Dot into my hi-fi receiver!"
The original husky-boy HomePod sounds freakishly good for its size. I have mine sitting on a shelf on one end of an open lower level (~1000 sqft) and it easily fills the entire space with wonderful sound. On the same shelf system I have the remnants of my old analog HiFi system with decent speakers, a turntable, and an Apple TV and DAC plugged into the receiver's aux port. I can stream my Apple Music through either system. The old analog receiver can obviously put out more raw sound intensity, there's a certain nostalgia about using all of my old gear, and playing my old vinyl is cool. But truth be told, the HomePod isn't really a step down when it comes to the overall listening experience within the same space.
When I want to use the component based system I have to fire up my TV, Apple TV, receiver, and DAC and then use the Apple TV remote to either stream from Apple Music or point it to one of my Macs that contains my Apple Music collection locally. That's not a big deal, but to use the HomePod all I have to do is say "Hey Siri, play my music" and there it is, filling my space with music that sounds nearly as good as what my old component system can muster. Of course if you have a better HiFi system your experience may be quite different.
As others have probably discovered, Siri on the HomePod is o...k, and if you talk to it like you'd talk to a 3-year old and stay within a limited range of topics, like music, the weather, or requesting a podcast you'll probably get what you want. I'm okay with what Siri on HomePod does around 90% of the time, so it's no big deal. The sound quality of the HomePod more than makes up for the minor shortcomings that Siri sometimes presents.
I think we can comfortably say Siri will be no better on any newer HP, as it's not improved for the last 8 years. My full-size HP had another Siri issue yesterday, asking it "What's the news" resulted in "I have found some web results, I've sent them to your iPhone". Repeating the question wouldn't work, only asking it to play the <source> news podcast worked. Seems to be working again today.
No thats simply not the case. Siri is a LOT better than it was eight years ago. I didn’t bother even trying it back then because it was so poor. Now I use it several times a day, especially with my AW. Ok others may be better, no argument here. One thing I’d like is if Siri were smart enough to tie two questions together. ”Siri when do the Twins play?” ”They started playing at one o’clock today” ”Oh, then what’s the score?” Siri can’t make that connection.
So it’s not perfect, or even best in class. But it’s a HELL of a lot better than it was eight years ago.
That's not my experience at all. I don't know anyone that actually uses Siri unless forced, i.e. on the HP. I'm always surprised when it gets something right. It regularly doesn't work on the HP because it can't find my phone, which is on the network. It has access to iCloud anyway so why it needs access to my phone is a mystery. It used to have access to Wolfram Alpha, which made it very powerful. That access seems to be lost. Plus it's become a lot more boring and politically correct. It used to be pretty tongue-in-cheek and witty, now it's robotic and dull. I suppose Cook could make an extra $50k per year not having a comedy writer on the payroll.
On the HP it's worse than the original version of voice recognition that returns if you switch off Siri - the same that was on the iPhone 3G. For years it randomly becomes confused when i ask it to add something with two words to a list. Tomato sauce or apple pies with be added as tomato, sauce, apples and pies as separate items. Then other times it works fine.
It can link two things. But as with everything Siri, you have to be very specific in how you say it and it only works with this one subject: Ask it the temperature, then ask what's that in celsius/fahrenheit. It makes the connection.
You might look into JBL, Harman/Kardon, Kipsch, Sony, Bose or some other brand for what you want.
... knowing that those fine speaker brands might not make listening to NPR Radio much better...
They might make Sir Georg Solti's landmark recording of Wagner's Ring Cycle more enjoyable. An AM radio broadcast of the ballgame? Perhaps not as impactful.
The biggest problem here is that there are some people on the Internet who don't understand that there are many usage cases and that different people will do different things for different reasons. And that some people will do lots of different things with one device. They only accept their own sole usage case as the sole valid one.
Some of the discussion in this thread seems to be indicative of this extreme myopia, pretty commonplace online and seems to be happening with more regularity these days.
Pity.
There are two points here. The first is the perennial critic who wants a thing to do a different thing that wasn’t included in the thing’s design. Never content to say ‘I wish it would also do this other thing,’ the critic must pronounce the thing altogether worthless, with no self-awareness at ironically discounting the actual designed use that everybody else likes as unimportant, so long as the critic’s alternative desire is unmet. Who exactly is the narrow-minded, short sighted proponent of a single use case?
Second is the fascinating misperception that audio gear and formats have a permanency that history continually demonstrates that it does not have. The original HomePod is particularly vulnerable to obsolescence not just because of its dependence on Apple Music or Apple Airplay devices as sources for content, but also because the hardware is dependent on proprietary software to function as designed. This device doesn’t just vibrate membranes as commanded by an external source of electrons. It has an active computational function that measures acoustics in the room and renders playback specific to those acoustics. As such, this device is very specifically not a mechanical speaker for wired playback from your old Sony Walkman cassette player.
HPs are not dependent on Apple Music. They are of course dependent on AirPlay, since they are AirPlay speakers -- which was an entire speaker category not long before HPs came out. AirPlay speakers are designed for the walled garden and I bought a couple of these specialist speakers. I laugh when the eternally wounded complain that HPs aren't generic speakers they can plug into their record players (like that other poster). This is correct...that isn't the intended use case. AirPlay is, and I'm delighted with them. And despite the claims, my original HPs work 100% correctly still, as AirPlay hasn't been discontinued and likely won't for a very long time.
"I can't plug my Amazon Echo Dot into my hi-fi receiver!"
An Echo Dot is disposable. It is not a $350 hi-fi speaker.
Who is claiming the original HPs don't work 100% (aside from Siri working poorly as intended)?
The original husky-boy HomePod sounds freakishly good for its size. I have mine sitting on a shelf on one end of an open lower level (~1000 sqft) and it easily fills the entire space with wonderful sound. On the same shelf system I have the remnants of my old analog HiFi system with decent speakers, a turntable, and an Apple TV and DAC plugged into the receiver's aux port. I can stream my Apple Music through either system. The old analog receiver can obviously put out more raw sound intensity, there's a certain nostalgia about using all of my old gear, and playing my old vinyl is cool. But truth be told, the HomePod isn't really a step down when it comes to the overall listening experience within the same space.
When I want to use the component based system I have to fire up my TV, Apple TV, receiver, and DAC and then use the Apple TV remote to either stream from Apple Music or point it to one of my Macs that contains my Apple Music collection locally. That's not a big deal, but to use the HomePod all I have to do is say "Hey Siri, play my music" and there it is, filling my space with music that sounds nearly as good as what my old component system can muster. Of course if you have a better HiFi system your experience may be quite different.
As others have probably discovered, Siri on the HomePod is o...k, and if you talk to it like you'd talk to a 3-year old and stay within a limited range of topics, like music, the weather, or requesting a podcast you'll probably get what you want. I'm okay with what Siri on HomePod does around 90% of the time, so it's no big deal. The sound quality of the HomePod more than makes up for the minor shortcomings that Siri sometimes presents.
I think we can comfortably say Siri will be no better on any newer HP, as it's not improved for the last 8 years. My full-size HP had another Siri issue yesterday, asking it "What's the news" resulted in "I have found some web results, I've sent them to your iPhone". Repeating the question wouldn't work, only asking it to play the <source> news podcast worked. Seems to be working again today.
I just asked Siri the same question on my OG Homepod and she connected me to a live NPR broadcast.. ??
I was listening to music on my original HomePod (the original large one) and it just stopped. Would not turn on, just a dead brick. I took it into the Apple store yesterday and yep, Its a dead brick. At the time, I checked the speak, it wasn't even warm.
Of course, Apple can't fix it as they said nothing to fix. So I ended up having to buy a replacement which they had just 2 left. I say a replacement, they took my old one off me and replaced it for $399 (AUD). Not great that it failed for no reason. I hope this doesn't repeat itself in a few years time. Not what I expect of Apple products.
Comments
”Siri when do the Twins play?”
”They started playing at one o’clock today”
”Oh, then what’s the score?”
Siri can’t make that connection.
"I can't plug my Amazon Echo Dot into my hi-fi receiver!"
On the HP it's worse than the original version of voice recognition that returns if you switch off Siri - the same that was on the iPhone 3G. For years it randomly becomes confused when i ask it to add something with two words to a list. Tomato sauce or apple pies with be added as tomato, sauce, apples and pies as separate items. Then other times it works fine.
It can link two things. But as with everything Siri, you have to be very specific in how you say it and it only works with this one subject: Ask it the temperature, then ask what's that in celsius/fahrenheit. It makes the connection.
Who is claiming the original HPs don't work 100% (aside from Siri working poorly as intended)?
Of course, Apple can't fix it as they said nothing to fix. So I ended up having to buy a replacement which they had just 2 left. I say a replacement, they took my old one off me and replaced it for $399 (AUD). Not great that it failed for no reason. I hope this doesn't repeat itself in a few years time. Not what I expect of Apple products.