I just bought a HomePod for $279. You can get a pair of Sonos speakers for that much?
Absolutely. I see the homepod for $279 at costco.com. I cant log on there to see the sonos price as I'm Canadian. But on Costco.ca, the homepod is $390 CDN which comes out to $290 USD. The Sonos 2-pack at costco.ca is $349 which comes out to $260 USD. $30 USD *cheaper* than the homepod. I can only imagine the US pricing on the sonos 2-pack is comparable and cheaper than the single homepod.
But the main take away, is I absolutely can buy a 2-pack of Sonos One speakers for $260 USD at a costco 10 minutes from my house, cheaper than your target price. I do see your $279 price, but I can't actually get a homepod for under $290 USD locally.
You need an iPhone to do a one-time setup to your account. With respect to doing anything useful, if you mean playing music, yes, it does that. And it does that splendidly. Always on, waiting for a command, with no need to boot-up or engage another device. Apple Music costs $8.33/month - a bargain.
I don't argue that $8.33/month is a bargain for people who want a music streaming service. I don't, at any price. I in no way criticize apple music here, the entire product category is just not for me. I have a personal library of about 2000 songs locally stored that I listen to maybe twice a month. Frankly, if Apple Music were free, I still wouldn't sign up. Music is not my thing. I do listen to a lot of audible audiobooks on my iPhone, but 99.99% of what I use my home sound system for is movies and video games, and the homepod is capable of neither.
Of course you can AirPlay any audio from a Mac or iOS device if you need/want to. Or an Apple TV.
Does it connect to my TV's audio return channel? Does it connect to my xbox one or 4k bluray player? No?? Then it is 100% useless.
How long have you had your HomePod?
As I said, it doesn't actually connect to anything I care to play on a speaker, to me its a $280 doorstop. But do you mean to say you can't actually hear an audio product without owning it? I'm in no way an audiophile or audio snob, but I listened to a heck of a lot of speakers before choosing my home theatre setup. Homepod is comparable to any $200-300ish soundbar type setup or sonos one.