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

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  • Reply 81 of 127
    cgWerks said:
    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.
    Youtube doesn't see anything but AppleTVs -- I have the homePod, an Airport Express connected to the iPod HiFi, and an Airport Express connected to a Bose Airwave.  iTunes sees all these in addition to AppleTVs.

    I'm on the latest iTunes and the latest High Sierra beta. I suspect that support for AirPlay is an early partial implementation of AirPlay 2.
    cgWerks
  • Reply 82 of 127

    tryd said:
    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?
    Yes! Tho, current Siri has trouble with non-english names.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 83 of 127
    chasm said:
    This is why several reviewers have said this thing is bargain-priced if you prize great sound above all.

    As mentioned in the source report, I expect a fair number of users — maybe a majority — will not use Siri at all except to control volume and music playback, which all works fine. Which is exactly what Apple reckoned for the initial release.

    If you are primarily interested in talking to household objects all the time (but with decent sound), get the Sonos One. If you want incredible sound, get a HomePod.
    If you want Incredible sound, you don't want a shelf speaker.
    SpamSandwichcgWerks
  • Reply 84 of 127
    waverboy said:
    chasm said:
    This is why several reviewers have said this thing is bargain-priced if you prize great sound above all.

    As mentioned in the source report, I expect a fair number of users — maybe a majority — will not use Siri at all except to control volume and music playback, which all works fine. Which is exactly what Apple reckoned for the initial release.

    If you are primarily interested in talking to household objects all the time (but with decent sound), get the Sonos One. If you want incredible sound, get a HomePod.
    If you want Incredible sound, you don't want a shelf speaker.
    IDK if I'd categorize a homePod as a shelf speaker -- size doesn't necessarily matter.  Rather, I'd call it an intelligent speaker because of its ability to adapt to the sound being played and the environment in which it is played, and potentially the hearing characteristics/desires of the listeners.

    I can remember  when folded horns appeared and offered fantastic sound for their size -- often using the walls and ceiling in the corners of the room as an extension of the horn.

    I suspect that small, intelligent speakers may be able to recognize that more traditional systems are playing the same sound source -- and adapt their output to complement the total experience.

    Times, they are may be a changing...
    edited February 2018
  • Reply 85 of 127
    RedPandaSlothRedPandaSloth Posts: 6unconfirmed, member
    flaneur said:
    "Steeped in the apple ecosystem" my ass. How could you not have an iPhone? Or an iPad? Or a Mac laptop? 

    Does that make me steeped? No, it makes me reasonable. I want the best.

    I'm getting this speaker. And I have never been interested in any (gag) "smart speaker."
    I also want the best. Apple rarely makes the best phone, as for tablets and laptops it arguably does but also depends on what you want from them. I have an iPad Pro 10.5 because it probably is the best for my needs, but I wouldn't buy an Apple laptop or desktop because it's over-priced for my work needs and not suited to my gaming needs. So you could very easily not have much/any Apple stuff even if you want and can afford the best (which itself is a very big if for a lot of people). As for the HomePod, the early impressions aren't all super positive. Consumer Reports reckons the Google Home Max and even the far cheaper Sonos One sound better, while elsewhere there are reports that Siri isn't as useful/able to respond to as many requests on it as Google Assistant on the Google Home. So if you're so certain you want the best you might want to do a bit more research, or if you just want the best audio not buy any of these things because you can do far, far better without the 'smart' features.
  • Reply 86 of 127
    Well, the honeymoon is over...or at least it was interrupted. After a weekend of aural romance with my beloved HomePod, I came home from work yesterday evening and asked Siri to play a song. She played something different with an artist and title that sounded phonetically similar - well, somewhat similar. Once it became apparent that she selected the wrong tune, I requested the song again with slower, more distinct pronunciation. Instead of choosing the same or the desired song, she changed the volume from 30% to 100%!I then asked her to stop. She ignored me. I raised my voice and tried a few more times. Each time, she ignored me. Finally, I lowered the volume and stopped playback using my iPhone. Now that everything was silent, I tried asking for another song at a normal speaking volume from 8 feet away. She continued to ignore me without so much as even a status light. I finally got the status light to appear by speaking loudly only few feet away, but Siri wouldn't obey my commands. I unplugged and replugged the HomePod and operation returned to normal. Aside from this "glitch", I remained impressed that Siri can hear me when I can't even hear myself.
    edited February 2018 cgWerksmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 87 of 127
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 403member
    Yes, I am an apple fan. My first HomePod arrived on day 1. Sound is truly amazing. Hoping that Siri gets better, but when its playing music I am a very happy camper.
  • Reply 88 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?

    I've read this three times, I can't understand the issue/question.

    If iTunes is playing a song and I say (either to my Mac or to my [hypothetical] HomePod) "next song" I would expect the next song to start playing and the indicator in iTunes would match that.  Is that not what you're describing?
    netmage
  • Reply 89 of 127
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    Ya know...

    Apple needs to release a browser extension, so you can play audio to the homePod from web sites like Vimeo, Youtube, etc.
    AirFoil would do this. AirParrot I think too.
  • Reply 90 of 127
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member
    After some thought experiments, I came to the conclusion that some experimentation might be of interest for HomePod users, of which I am not, yet anyway.

    The experiment is to partially overhang the surface that the HomePod is sitting on, such that there is no proximate reflectance for forward facing tweeters; think of a diver on the edge of a pool. With that, I would note that the user can also align the tweeters in an alternate fashion by a rotation of 25 degree off of center, as each tweeter is located at a 51 degree spacing, giving a bit of asymmetric bias to the setup. Raising the HomePod has been already demonstrated to help on reflective surfaces, and even a slight fore or aft tilt would potentially have an effect.

    I'm thinking that this might give the user cleaner, high frequency output, and is easily testable. The HomePod, because of its configuration, doesn't necessarily have to play by rules and be locked to a particular orientation, height offset, or mounting plane. 

    Of course, HomePod will still attempt to optimize itself for the room. Likely these will be subtle differences.
    edited February 2018
  • Reply 91 of 127
    tmay said:
    After some thought experiments, I came to the conclusion that some experimentation might be of interest for HomePod users, of which I am not, yet anyway.

    The experiment is to partially overhang the surface that the HomePod is sitting on, such that there is no proximate reflectance for forward facing tweeters; think of a diver on the edge of a pool. With that, I would note that the user can also align the tweeters in an alternate fashion by a rotation of 25 degree off of center, as each tweeter is located at a 51 degree spacing, giving a bit of asymmetric bias to the setup. Raising the HomePod has been already demonstrated to help on reflective surfaces, and even a slight fore or aft tilt would potentially have an effect.

    I'm thinking that this might give the user cleaner, high frequency output, and is easily testable. The HomePod, because of its configuration, doesn't necessarily have to play by rules and be locked to a particular orientation, height offset, or mounting plane. 

    Of course, HomePod will still attempt to optimize itself for the room. Likely these will be subtle differences.
    I wonder how it would sound hanging from the ceiling by its power cord in the center of a room? :smile: 
    gatorguytmaycgWerks
  • Reply 92 of 127
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member
    zroger73 said:
    tmay said:
    After some thought experiments, I came to the conclusion that some experimentation might be of interest for HomePod users, of which I am not, yet anyway.

    The experiment is to partially overhang the surface that the HomePod is sitting on, such that there is no proximate reflectance for forward facing tweeters; think of a diver on the edge of a pool. With that, I would note that the user can also align the tweeters in an alternate fashion by a rotation of 25 degree off of center, as each tweeter is located at a 51 degree spacing, giving a bit of asymmetric bias to the setup. Raising the HomePod has been already demonstrated to help on reflective surfaces, and even a slight fore or aft tilt would potentially have an effect.

    I'm thinking that this might give the user cleaner, high frequency output, and is easily testable. The HomePod, because of its configuration, doesn't necessarily have to play by rules and be locked to a particular orientation, height offset, or mounting plane. 

    Of course, HomePod will still attempt to optimize itself for the room. Likely these will be subtle differences.
    I wonder how it would sound hanging from the ceiling by its power cord in the center of a room? :smile: 
    I thought about mounting it upside down on the ceiling, but that would look very creepy in space grey...
    zroger73
  • Reply 93 of 127
    zroger73 said:
    tmay said:
    After some thought experiments, I came to the conclusion that some experimentation might be of interest for HomePod users, of which I am not, yet anyway.

    The experiment is to partially overhang the surface that the HomePod is sitting on, such that there is no proximate reflectance for forward facing tweeters; think of a diver on the edge of a pool. With that, I would note that the user can also align the tweeters in an alternate fashion by a rotation of 25 degree off of center, as each tweeter is located at a 51 degree spacing, giving a bit of asymmetric bias to the setup. Raising the HomePod has been already demonstrated to help on reflective surfaces, and even a slight fore or aft tilt would potentially have an effect.

    I'm thinking that this might give the user cleaner, high frequency output, and is easily testable. The HomePod, because of its configuration, doesn't necessarily have to play by rules and be locked to a particular orientation, height offset, or mounting plane. 

    Of course, HomePod will still attempt to optimize itself for the room. Likely these will be subtle differences.
    I wonder how it would sound hanging from the ceiling by its power cord in the center of a room? :smile: 
    If you could prevent it from spinning, that would probably be the ideal placement!

    That is, unless Apple engineers designed it to use the boundary below the speaker (shelf, table) as an acoustic element, which is as likely as not.
    zroger73
  • Reply 94 of 127

    This might be a ridiculous question, but will a HomePod work in a location with no WiFi network and only a Bluetooth streaming source?

  • Reply 95 of 127
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    This might be a ridiculous question, but will a HomePod work in a location with no WiFi network and only a Bluetooth streaming source?

    The HomePod does not do bluetooth streaming. 
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 96 of 127

    tmay said:
    [...] Raising the HomePod has been already demonstrated to help on reflective surfaces
    This, combined with the frequency response graph suggesting the possibility of room nodes affecting low frequency linearity, makes me wonder how effective Apple's automatic room correction actually is. A theoretical "perfect" implementation would negate the effects of raising it up. It *should* sound the same sitting on top of some books as it does sitting on the shelf. (Maybe it actually does, and what users are reporting is placebo effect.)
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 97 of 127
    gatorguy said:

    This might be a ridiculous question, but will a HomePod work in a location with no WiFi network and only a Bluetooth streaming source?

    The HomePod does not do bluetooth streaming. 
    Ugh. LOL. That is another utterly baffling limitation.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 98 of 127
    jidojido Posts: 125member
    loumazz said:
    I think this is an amazing device.  But I won't be buying it.
    Apparently, Apple has tethered it to an iCloud account AND requires two-factor authentication.
    I don't have an iPhone attached to me at all times.  In fact, we don't have any in the house.
    My iPad may or may not be around when I want to listen to music.
    I want to play my music from my Macs on my LAN - and that's it.
    But apparently I can't do this.

    Apple's insistence on tethering to a personal device and an iCloud account is driving me away from their products.
    If they do this with MacOS it will be a sad day indeed.






    Apple 2FA does not require an iDevice at hand. I use it with my non-Apple phone, just tap "send again" and I receive a text message on my phone.
  • Reply 99 of 127
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,309member

    tmay said:
    [...] Raising the HomePod has been already demonstrated to help on reflective surfaces
    This, combined with the frequency response graph suggesting the possibility of room nodes affecting low frequency linearity, makes me wonder how effective Apple's automatic room correction actually is. A theoretical "perfect" implementation would negate the effects of raising it up. It *should* sound the same sitting on top of some books as it does sitting on the shelf. (Maybe it actually does, and what users are reporting is placebo effect.)
    Apple's algorithms would attempt to maximize the linearity for the room volume and expected listening plane (sitting at ear level) in whatever case, but insight into the HomePod's design will likely give you best results and with higher output levels with an ideal placement. My guess is that Apple optimizes the algorithms for the HomePod sitting at ear level, so anything off of that plane would be potentially suboptimal, hence why I think a test with a tilt would prove insightful.

    I kind of expect some audiophiles to reverse engineer for Apple's algorithms and create a set of rules to optimize HomePod placement. Maybe that won't happen, maybe it will.
  • Reply 100 of 127
    tmay said:
    I kind of expect some audiophiles to reverse engineer for Apple's algorithms and create a set of rules to optimize HomePod placement.
    Which, of course, is utterly contrary to Apple's claim that one of the primary features of the HomePod is its being placement agnostic!

    I think you're right that audiophiles will create placement optimization guidelines, but not based on any reverse engineering. They will come from purely subjective "listening tests" with no controls on variables. From these will arise explanations for the results, such as the skin effect being minimized in internal wiring when the orientation aligns with Earth's poles.
    muthuk_vanalingam
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