right_said_fred

maestro64 said:

Pushing decibels and not distorting the audio quality is not an easy task, the problem is most people who do not understand audio performance think loader is better even if that means giving up sound quality. I think that is what Apple is trying to balance.

it might be true about peoples lack of understanding, however the HomePod listens to itself - and thus can take care of minimizing distortion - doesn't explain why the same 'sound' played from Apple Music is 91dB, compared to when played via airplay from Apple TV as only 77dB. Thats a HUGE difference.
I have a stereo pair of home pods in one location, and a single home pod in another. I have the stereo pair near an Apple TV - I use them for listening to podcasts via my Phone, and for this they are incredible. I wish I could say the same when driven from my Apple TV - 
Confident Apple will correct this With future updates - but Im not going to try to invent excuses as to why the current sound level disparity.

oh boy,
April 1st already? Poor March - I hardly new you.

entropys said:

I bet MBAs are the top seller.

i have never seen a MacBook outside of a retailer display.

Maybe you are in the wrong circles, engineers / pros whatever who use MBr's (seldom) MBA's. You see plenty. I recently travelled east to west coast - saw plenty MBA, even rose gold version.

I bought 2 HomePods, different rooms.
As a Speaker version of an iPod, it's outstanding  - I can stream music from the BBC over airplay, or BBC talk, and it's so clear its uncanny. the frequency response seems incredibly neutral - some pieces of music sound as good as when using pretty decent headphones.

HomePod also doubles as a really very good speakerphone - I called my son using FaceTime audio on his iPhone X, and the call quality was very very good, it was as though he was in the same room as myself.

Siri on HomePod will get better I assume, but I don't really understand why its so poor out of the gate - no multiple timers, inability to answer simple questions that Siri on my iPhone knows, I could go on -  Per a comment above, I for one often as Siri (or Alexa - I got a dot as a Christmas gift) for asking a simple question.

Soli said:

randominternetperson said:

kevin kee said:

NY1822 said:

When "Hey Siri" is said with a phone nearby along with the Homepod, what activates? 

 If there’s no indication of direct interaction with the phone (such as activating Siri via headphones or home button) then the HomePod would take priority over 'Hey Siri'.

Really?  Does that mean your phone is constantly deciding "am I within range of my HomePod?" based on Bluetooth checks?

That would be one way to do it. Another is for the server end of the system to disgard the less advantageous command. However, that assumes that the HomePod is tied to the iCloud user for that iDevice, which can become problematic for a home with more than user. At worst, those people will have to disable Hey Siri.

I wish Apple Watch and iPhone X would be better at determiningwhich wsy to go. When driving it often tries to do both simultaneously