Exhaustive acoustical analysis demonstrates HomePod is '100 percent an audiophile-grade sp...

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  • Reply 61 of 127
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    lkrupp said:
    And of course this review will be dismissed as biased and probably paid for by Apple. Audiophile (or expert) opinions are welcomed only when they support the dominant narrative. In this case the HomePod has been pre-failed by the negative narrative so any support from an audiophile will be rejected out of hand. That’s how the Internet works.
    Even though I'm not getting on initially, the HomePod will outsell the Apple Watch easily.

    Once the stereo pairing is available and AirPlay 2 to multiple rooms tons of people will buy 2 or more .  2 in the Living Room, 1 in the bedroom, 1 in kitchen, and 1 in bathroom.   Apple will sell 20 million the first year.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 62 of 127
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    joe28753 said:
    Last paragraph is confusing. I think first sentence should read “Unless you’re *not...” I know it’s a quote so forgive me if I’m wrong. 
    AppleInsider left out part of the quote. The original reddit post said “Speaking of inputs, you have one choice: AirPlay. which means, unless you’re steeped in the apple ecosystem, it’s really hard to recommend this thing.”

    They’re saying the speaker sounds great, but it’s hard to recommend unless you plan on using AirPlay from another Apple device or Apple Music directly on it. 
    That portion of the quote selectively left out of the story negates the entire post. Apple should have given the AirPod professional audio grade connectors. A major oversight and negative, IMO.
    Yeah no, not an oversight at all. Apple doesn’t care about your other audio gear. It’s not a speaker company. 
    I know they’re not a “speaker company”, but a piece of pro/prosumer audio equipment should fit into a pro/prosumer array of equipment, especially since Apple does not (yet) offer an entire ecosystem supporting it.

    Now, you can disagree with my opinion, but you can’t ignore the fact that Apple isn’t offering this product in a complete vacuum.
    Sonos doesn't give you a Auxiliary line in port on the Play 1, Play 3 , or One.  You have to buy the $500 Play 5.

    hopefully in a couple years Apple makes a HomePodMax that would be bigger with external connections.

    SpamSandwichnetmage
  • Reply 63 of 127
    Will this iteration of HomePod be upgradable with software update - (e.g. expanding Siri functions)?
  • Reply 64 of 127
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member
    crabby said:
    Will this iteration of HomePod be upgradable with software update - (e.g. expanding Siri functions)?
    Yes
    netmagebb-15watto_cobra
  • Reply 65 of 127
    I can see studio engineers and producers checking the mix on a HomePod before being satisfied. The new standard. I’m only half joking. It could easily be the future home reference.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 66 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    lkrupp said:
    And of course this review will be dismissed as biased and probably paid for by Apple. Audiophile (or expert) opinions are welcomed only when they support the dominant narrative. In this case the HomePod has been pre-failed by the negative narrative so any support from an audiophile will be rejected out of hand. That’s how the Internet works.
    Where have you been hearing this 'dominant narrative'? From everything I've heard, it's supposed to sound incredibly good... so much so, that some probably have their expectations a bit too high.

    macxpress said:
    Thats interesting because I was at the Apple Store playing with one this weekend and it was working perfectly fine with Siri commands, even with the music playing fairly loud... 
    Oh nuts... does this mean from now on when we visit an Apple store, it's going to sound like going into the stereo section at a consumer electronics store?

    SpamSandwich said:
    That portion of the quote selectively left out of the story negates the entire post. Apple should have given the AirPod professional audio grade connectors. A major oversight and negative, IMO.
    Agreed. While I can certainly make do with AirPlay, leaving off an aux-in just means that unlike nearly every other speaker I've ever purchased, this one will have a limited shelf-life. That is one major, glaring omission on Apple's part for this product.

    flaneur said:
    It's Airplay that's the show-stopper for Applephobes. Also, as @Techprod1gy says above, manual control with another device is possible. 
    It isn't just you-called-Applephobes. It limits the life-span of the speaker to an Apple-supported timeframe, and since lag is involved means the speaker can't be used in a direct manner (i.e.: hook to TV, play a guitar or synth through it, etc.). Yes, I doubt 90% if the target audience would even care if they could do so, but that doesn't mean it isn't an issue.

    lkrupp said:
    One other criticism I roll my eyes at is that the HomePod does not have a line-in jack. That’s like wanting a RS-232 port on your MacBook Air in my opinion. And then there’s the removable power cord “issue”. I’ll tell ‘ya something, the negative nellies have to dig deeper and deeper to find these deal killers nowadays.
    How does that attempt at analogy hold up? (It doesn't... if you go out and buy the best, highest-tech audiophile product you can find, it's going to have a line-in.) And, you've never had a cord damaged on a product? Removable (replaceable) cords are typically a good thing.
  • Reply 67 of 127
    Dangit, I will get mine when I gat bck from vacation and see how it works better than my Bose
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 68 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    loumazz said:
    Apparently, Apple has tethered it to an iCloud account AND requires two-factor authentication.
    It requires 2FA? If so, that's kinda silly. As nice as 2FA is in terms of security, it's also a royal PitA. Apple's whole authorization system is already enough of a mess to add 2FA into the mix (ex: I spent about an extra hour updating my wife's iPad today because I didn't know the magic formula to get it to accept her AppleID/password combo).

    racerhomie3 said:
    You can just use AirPlay which works flawlessly & which works without direct WiFI access. Then you can disable personal requests & Siri Mic functionality from the Home app.
    You can also AirPlay from your Mac.
    Apple does not make money from tracking you like Google & Amazon does. Remember that.Your Siri commands are not tied to your Apple ID,they are encrypted end-to-end ,randomized & you can also disable SIri syncing from iCloud settings on iPhone & iPad.
    Once it's setup or out of the box? And, yes Apple is at least telling us they protect our privacy. But, they've also been losing a lot of points in the whole trustability department lately, too.

    dick applebaum said:
    We spent about an hour learning how to speak Siri ...
    LOL, that's pretty much my experience with Siri so far as well (on iPhone, not HomePod). Pretty useless until you learn the proper commands, and then it sometimes works. Which basically means, mostly useless, as just about the time I have my hands full or am driving, etc.... it means I'm washing my hands, or pulling over to the side of the road. Thanks, Siri!

    jdb8167 said:
    Audiophile speakers probably don't blow the HomePod out of the water for anything less than 200% the price. Partially wrong.3. 
    This is the part I really want to know about. I could care less how it compares against other 'home smart speakers' as I wouldn't ever buy one of those anyway. I want to know how it sounds compared to other audio solutions, roughly in the same price-range (which I doubt there are too many), or how much one has to spend to beat it. THAT would be a cool review!

    jasenj1 said:
    No. not "sounds good". Sounds shockingly great for such a small speaker, with frequency response characteristics worthy of speakers costing many times as much (down to 40Hz).
    The reviewer is claiming that the HomePod changes the value proposition for bookshelf sized speakers.
     "True" audiophiles are going to want floor-standing speakers with real stereo imaging and a subwoofer for the extra Hz at the bottom end.

    I'd like to see the HomePod compared to something like the Paradigm Shift A2; I believe the guy gushing over on Reddit has KEF X300As which are favorably regarded.
    Yes, exactly.... though when you throw in the 'such a small speaker' qualifier, most of those sound absolutely horrific. But, as I mentioned above, I'd love to see how it compares to some similarly priced powered bookshelf speakers (or I suppose an amp/speaker combo if something that low could be found or put together). For example, I've heard people say the Kanto bookshelf speakers are pretty good and in a similar price range (like $100 less, even).

    If I don't care about the 'smart' aspect, then a pair of those plugged into an Airport Express is an acceptable alternative... depending on sound quality.
  • Reply 69 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    lorin schultz said:
    Lots and lots of people are perfectly satisfied by speakers with grossly non-linear reproduction.
    Also, I think lots of people actually don't like linear sound reproduction.

    dewme said:
    Sorry Apple detractors, but I'm suffering from serious Buyer's Delight with the HomePod. No matter how much you all try to dissuade me I just can't stop feeling great about bringing this puppy into my home. ... Unless The Onion news is a choice I'm sticking with NPR. 
    I'm happy to hear more and more people saying they like the sound in general. That's a good sign (though a few have said it didn't meet their - possibly too enthusiastic - expectations. But, NPR? :) At least I can tell it to play No Agenda podcast to catch some of the NPR BS. ;)

    StrangeDays said:
    Yeah no, not an oversight at all. Apple doesn’t care about your other audio gear. It’s not a speaker company. 
    Yea, unlike nearly every other maker of audio equipment in the world. But, with Apple, I suppose it's a feature. No legacy inputs and all that stuff, LOL!

    lorin schultz said:
    What do you think Apple should provide in the way of professional audio grade connectors? An XLR for an AES pair? Two XLR for +4dBu balanced analog? Ethernet for Dante or some other audio-over-IP standard?
    I think they narrowed themselves to RCAs as the 3.5mm is 'legacy' but, but I suppose they could include some digital optical inputs... if they wanted to be more 'high tech' but last-decade.

    entropys said:
    The best thing about all this negative commentary about HomePod is it MAY convince Apple to pull its finger out of its arse and do something about SIRI. 
    I think the problem with Siri isn't all that different than the problem with Apple's search capabilities overall. They suck. They need to poach someone from Google, I think (who can do better than WebCrawler level search tech).

    StrangeDays said:
    I agree that your opinion is likely misplaced and probably irrelevant. HP is not even prosumer equipment. It’s a high-quality consumer shelf speaker desired for the Apple ecosystem. They’re not trying to compete in every market. 
    Fair point. The (nearly) only speaker in the world that won't be useful after like 10 years. It's a 'new' Apple consumer product, not audio equipment. Fully agree on that.
    mac_128
  • Reply 70 of 127
    joe28753 said:
    Last paragraph is confusing. I think first sentence should read “Unless you’re *not...” I know it’s a quote so forgive me if I’m wrong. 
    AppleInsider left out part of the quote. The original reddit post said “Speaking of inputs, you have one choice: AirPlay. which means, unless you’re steeped in the apple ecosystem, it’s really hard to recommend this thing.”

    They’re saying the speaker sounds great, but it’s hard to recommend unless you plan on using AirPlay from another Apple device or Apple Music directly on it. 
    That portion of the quote selectively left out of the story negates the entire post. Apple should have given the AirPod professional audio grade connectors. A major oversight and negative, IMO.
    Yeah no, not an oversight at all. Apple doesn’t care about your other audio gear. It’s not a speaker company. 
    I know they’re not a “speaker company”, but a piece of pro/prosumer audio equipment should fit into a pro/prosumer array of equipment, especially since Apple does not (yet) offer an entire ecosystem supporting it.

    Now, you can disagree with my opinion, but you can’t ignore the fact that Apple isn’t offering this product in a complete vacuum.
    I agree that your opinion is likely misplaced and probably irrelevant. HP is not even prosumer equipment. It’s a high-quality consumer shelf speaker desired for the Apple ecosystem. They’re not trying to compete in every market. 
    How big is the market which is defined by you as the “Apple ecosystem” versus the entire “high-quality consumer speaker” market? I’ll bet the latter is much, much larger.

    Based on initial reviews and because of Apple’s reputation this product will make money, don’t get me wrong... and enough already with the defensiveness. I have more reason than most people to want Apple to succeed and I can see a future version of this product having a bit more utility.
    edited February 2018
  • Reply 71 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    k2kw said:
    Sonos doesn't give you a Auxiliary line in port on the Play 1, Play 3 , or One.  You have to buy the $500 Play 5.
    Oh wow, how daft. OK, I stand corrected... Apple isn't alone in this. Another throw-away product category. :(
  • Reply 72 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    SpamSandwich said:
    How big is the market which is defined by you as the “Apple ecosystem” versus the entire “high-quality consumer speaker” market? I’ll bet the latter is much, much larger.
    I guess the argument is that it isn't a 'high-quality consumer speaker'... it's an 'Apple sound making device'?
  • Reply 73 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    lkrupp said:
    News Flash! Consumer Reports trashes the HomePod as inferior in sound quality to Google Home Max and Sonos One.

    https://www.consumerreports.org/smart-speakers/apple-homepod-early-test-results/

    So there it is you fake audiophiles praising the HomePod with your tests and charts. CR has spoken and all is lost. Read it and weep. /s
    I think the problem is that CR put all the speakers in a special 'listening' room, which likely canceled out HomePods advantage (of adapting to a room). Basically, since the competitors don't adapt, they wouldn't necessarily sound as good in a typical home (which is where most reviewers are), but sound good in CR's special environment.
    randominternetperson
  • Reply 74 of 127
    cgWerks said:
    I think they narrowed themselves to RCAs as the 3.5mm is 'legacy' but, but I suppose they could include some digital optical inputs... if they wanted to be more 'high tech' but last-decade.
    SpamSandwich qualified the audio connector remark with the term "professional." I've never encountered an RCA jack in a professional setting (except on gear brought in by visiting musical guests), and the only 3.5mm jacks were mono connectors for the talent earpieces. My quarrel wasn't with the desire for an input jack, but with the unnecessary exaggeration of the HomePod's status in the audio hierarchy. Thus I responded with the same kind of gear-snob scoff I emit when someone refers to a USB microphone as "high end." If a HomePod is "professional," what are Genelec, Adam, Dynaudio, et al?

    There's nothing wrong with a HomePod being a superb home entertainment device (or with a USB mic being a good fit for many applications). It's the desire among their users to elevate such devices above their station that bugs me. Like how a Ferrari mechanic would feel when someone talks about their race-fitted Civic.
    cgWerksjasenj1netmage
  • Reply 75 of 127
    Something unexpected:

    I was playing some songs on the homePod from a friend -- that I know do not exist on Apple Music or iTunes Match.  I was at my iMac using iTunes Airplay to play a song out of a group of songs selected. There were several groups from the same artist that I set up as pseudo Albums.

    In the middle of a song playing, I said hey Siri Next Track. As expected, Siri played the next track.  What I didn't expect was that iTunes received feedback from the homePod and moved the Now Playing Indication on iTunes to the next track.  I asked for next track twice as shown below:



    I know that we're in an interregnum between Airplay versions, but something's going on -- who's in charge here, the iMac or the homePod?

    edited February 2018 SpamSandwich
  • Reply 76 of 127

    cgWerks said:
    I think they narrowed themselves to RCAs as the 3.5mm is 'legacy' but, but I suppose they could include some digital optical inputs... if they wanted to be more 'high tech' but last-decade.
    SpamSandwich qualified the audio connector remark with the term "professional." I've never encountered an RCA jack in a professional setting (except on gear brought in by visiting musical guests), and the only 3.5mm jacks were mono connectors for the talent earpieces. My quarrel wasn't with the desire for an input jack, but with the unnecessary exaggeration of the HomePod's status in the audio hierarchy. Thus I responded with the same kind of gear-snob scoff I emit when someone refers to a USB microphone as "high end." If a HomePod is "professional," what are Genelec, Adam, Dynaudio, et al?

    There's nothing wrong with a HomePod being a superb home entertainment device (or with a USB mic being a good fit for many applications). It's the desire among their users to elevate such devices above their station that bugs me. Like how a Ferrari mechanic would feel when someone talks about their race-fitted Civic.
    'course the Ferrari mechanic makes money because he has to retune your car every time you back out of your driveway :smiley: 
    SpamSandwichtmay
  • Reply 77 of 127
    Ya know...

    Apple needs to release a browser extension, so you can play audio to the homePod from web sites like Vimeo, Youtube, etc.
    edited February 2018 SpamSandwich
  • Reply 78 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    lorin schultz said:
    SpamSandwich qualified the audio connector remark with the term "professional." I've never encountered an RCA jack in a professional setting (except on gear brought in by visiting musical guests), and the only 3.5mm jacks were mono connectors for the talent earpieces. My quarrel wasn't with the desire for an input jack, but with the unnecessary exaggeration of the HomePod's status in the audio hierarchy. Thus I responded with the same kind of gear-snob scoff I emit when someone refers to a USB microphone as "high end." If a HomePod is "professional," what are Genelec, Adam, Dynaudio, et al?

    There's nothing wrong with a HomePod being a superb home entertainment device (or with a USB mic being a good fit for many applications). It's the desire among their users to elevate such devices above their station that bugs me. Like how a Ferrari mechanic would feel when someone talks about their race-fitted Civic.
    Ahh, OK, gotcha. Yea, 'professional' was probably the wrong word-choice for the HomePod, heh.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 79 of 127
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    dick applebaum said:
    Apple needs to release a browser extension, so you can play audio to the homePod from web sites like Vimeo, Youtube, etc.
    I don't know about Vimeo, but I just tried YouTube and I can pick AirPlay to output the audio, so I'd guess you could do that to the HomePod too. Or, if you want all the audio to always go there (i.e.: Mac to HomePod), just hold the 'option' key and click your sound in the menu bar and pick the AirPlay device.
  • Reply 80 of 127
    trydtryd Posts: 143member
    So if I say:

    "Hey Siri, play the third movement of Brahms 2nd symphony conducted by Muti"

    it would do that?
    Or: "Hey Siri, play Julius Röntgen's suite Aus Jotunheim"

    I have these items in my library (and I'm fairly sure that they exist in Apple Music), but can Siri do it? So far I haven't managed to have Siri do anything for me. She doesn't call the correct number when I ask her to call somebody. She has so far not been able to set up a meeting correctly in my calendar. Is there any hope that she will be able to play the correct classical track?
    cgWerks
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