davidmalcolm said: My HomePod is the nicest speaker I’ve ever owned. The only complaint that I have is the bass on it can’t be turned down with an EQ
You can access EQ settings when using AirPlay. If you stream from a Mac, you'll be able to use the sliders available in iTunes. If you stream from mobile, then you'll have a long list of presets, which includes 'Bass Reducer'.
As for leaks...well, obviously, Amazon's hardware is in much less demand with much lower sales volume. There is little market for leakers to sell leaks to because who cares? That being said it was rumored they were going to release an AirPod-like item.
As for leaks...well, obviously, Amazon's hardware is in much less demand with much lower sales volume. There is little market for leakers to sell leaks to because who cares? That being said it was rumored they were going to release an AirPod-like item.
Yep. Just as fugly as the Homepod.
You must be on drugs. The HP is not ugly, it's a dark cylinder of handsome proportions (new band name).
What's most surprising is that Amazon does an amazingly fine job of controlling product leaks. No one had any idea what to expect in the way of Amazon hardware or features or services set for announcement today. Compare that to Apple and Google where pretty much every detail of every device leaks before anyone makes it to the stage and announces them.
What makes you think anyone cares about Amazon product "leaks"? Who would gain commercially from rushing out the "news" that Amazon is unleasing 15 different devices that don't matter? Nobody gives a flying F about a Dot with a clock, or a $200 speaker wiith a single tweeter, or a microwave oven with WiFi.
Apple's iPhone case designs leak because the company has 1.5 billion customers, a signifiicant percentage of whom are searching for news about the next model and whether they should spend $1000 to get it immedaitely.
Imagine how barren and ugly the IT industry would be, without Apple around to show everyone how it's done...
Well I would say that since this new Echo Studio is not only cheaper, but offers a lot more. This Echo Studio supports 3D audio, Dolby Atmos, surround sound. Plus it can run 3D party apps, play games, and a lot more than any HomePod could ever dream of. Plus this Echo supports more conectivity options, where as the HomePod only supports AirPlay.
Honestly I believe this Echo Studio is hitting the final nail in the HomePods coffin.
Yeah but how does it sound? My HomePod is for music, movies, and home automation. I cannot see replacing it with this pumpkin despite the "a lot more" you're alluding to.
What are the other nails? What are the numbers on the HomePod? Units sold, revenue, profit...? Surely we must know these to know whether there is any likely discussion of death of the product?
After a year and 9 months, the. HomePod still doesn't come close to what an Echo Dot or a Google Home Mini can do. Nevermind this new Echo Studio which even has support for surround sound, and can connect to a lot more devices than the HomePods AirPlay only support.
Now when Apple only has one overpriced $300 smart speaker. Then Apple isn't competing, period. This new Echo Studio is $200, and it can play Apple music as well. Has a large large library of apps, and games. HomePod has next to nothing.
Plus Siri is far behind the others. Siri is even fragmented on Apples own platforms. If a developer writes a Siri app for iOS, and didn't support MacOS, or WatchOS, then that Siri app won't work on those other Apple platforms. Where as voice apps from the competition platforms, work not only on their own devices, but on other platforms as well. If Apple doesn't open up Siri a lot more, and add back end or server side apps, then Siri will not grow as much as the other voice platforms.
Apples approach to their voice Assistant in now a hindrance to Siri's growth, period.
What's most surprising is that Amazon does an amazingly fine job of controlling product leaks. No one had any idea what to expect in the way of Amazon hardware or features or services set for announcement today. Compare that to Apple and Google where pretty much every detail of every device leaks before anyone makes it to the stage and announces them.
What makes you think anyone cares about Amazon product "leaks"? Who would gain commercially from rushing out the "news" that Amazon is unleasing 15 different devices that don't matter? Nobody gives a flying F about a Dot with a clock, or a $200 speaker wiith a single tweeter, or a microwave oven with WiFi.
Apple's iPhone case designs leak because the company has 1.5 billion customers, a signifiicant percentage of whom are searching for news about the next model and whether they should spend $1000 to get it immedaitely.
Kinda like nobody gives a flying F about opinions you have about anything not Apple.
As for leaks...well, obviously, Amazon's hardware is in much less demand with much lower sales volume. There is little market for leakers to sell leaks to because who cares? That being said it was rumored they were going to release an AirPod-like item.
Yep. Just as fugly as the Homepod.
You must be on drugs. The HP is not ugly, it's a dark cylinder of handsome proportions (new band name).
Like HomePod it makes sense for Amazon to produce devices that makes it easy to spend money with them. If you want to play music through Echo or HomePod, you need to subscribe to the relative music service at $10/mo. This was a deal breaker for me: it appears to me that HomePod can't be asked to play music already contained in a iTunes library on the same wifi network. I suspect Echo is the same way.
This isn't true for either device. There is no need to sub to Amazon Music or Apple Music. On the HomePod you can AirPlay any music service you have on your transmitting device. Free Pandora for instance. On the Echo devices you can stream any music service via BT. The Echo Studio also allows you to use Siri or Google Assistant instead of Alexa. Now both devices smart services work best with their own ecosystems, but those services aren't required if you just want to stream music.
On topic: The speakers' specs say it's going to sound decent and at $199 the price isn't bad. I'd have to hear it of course, but initial impression... not bad, not bad at all. The first thing I'd do if I got one is turn off the mics (which I'd do with any smart speaker).
On the HomePod, can you say to it, "Siri, play the album <name>" and it will go to your iTunes library on the local network and play that?
I did figure this out on the Echo Dot. Fortunately I already have a Plex server for my iTunes library. I can ask Alexa, "Alexa, ask plex to play album <name>" and it does! Any idea if HomePod will do that? And no, I don't want to pay for the iTunes in the cloud thingy either.
Imagine how barren and ugly the IT industry would be, without Apple around to show everyone how it's done...
Well I would say that since this new Echo Studio is not only cheaper, but offers a lot more. This Echo Studio supports 3D audio, Dolby Atmos, surround sound. Plus it can run 3D party apps, play games, and a lot more than any HomePod could ever dream of. Plus this Echo supports more conectivity options, where as the HomePod only supports AirPlay.
Honestly I believe this Echo Studio is hitting the final nail in the HomePods coffin.
i suspect that Amazon is going to have egg on their face when Apple finally unveils a HomePod mini. They’ll point out that for 150 you get a device that’s half the size of the Echo studio and sounds better.
My HomePod is the nicest speaker I’ve ever owned. The only complaint that I have is the bass on it can’t be turned down with an EQ do even at low volumes other people in the house complain if I use it. But when nobody else is home I thoroughly enjoy the room filling sound. (If you want an album that really shows how great a HomePod sounds, put on Ben Platt’s debut album.
I do think that Apple needs to bring down the price of HomePod or release a less intense version. Like one that has sound quality similar to Sony’s Bluetooth speakers.
As it is right now we are switching over to having more HomeKit accessories in my parents house, but that means that they need to have an iPhone or iPad in the room in order to use Siri to turn on lights or control the thermostat. If you’ve left your phone in another room charging it’s not great.
First of all you will never see an inexpensive HomePod, period. Siri is not decoupled like Amazon's Alexa or Google's Assistant, which those voice platforms are not tied to any OS, platform, or hardware. Apples Siri is tied to Apples platforms, and it's why the HomePod uses Apples A8 SoC with 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage. You will be waiting till kingdom come before Apple makes a $150 smart speaker that has Siri on it. But you keep dreaming now.
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I did figure this out on the Echo Dot. Fortunately I already have a Plex server for my iTunes library. I can ask Alexa, "Alexa, ask plex to play album <name>" and it does! Any idea if HomePod will do that? And no, I don't want to pay for the iTunes in the cloud thingy either.