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Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More

Steppanwolf said:
A corded solution is definitely viable for those who really want the true home theater experience (zero latency, superior acoustic dynamics, etc). That said, I'm in my 40's and my hearing and vision are going, so I'll sacrifice some audio depth for convenience. Plus, I have to assume that new and improved wireless communications standards are being researched that will improve on those aspects. Factor that into more advanced computational analyses that can delay the video output to match the measured latency in the audio output, and we'll reach a point where the differences between a wired and wireless setup are all but immeasurable.
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When the solution depends on future developments, it is just as easy to assume that that will require replacement hardware.

I fully get what you are saying but one AUX jack would make it possible for these to be used as standards as hardware evolves. Else, to keep these going is entirely dependent on Apple updating the OS to support new standards. Yes, Apple could do such things but that is not typical of them. Instead, you need to buy newer hardware to get the new benefits. For example, with this one, you can't even stereo pair with the OG from only a couple of years ago. Want a stereo setup and have an OG version? Too bad. You need to buy TWO new ones.
 
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Time to sell my four OG HomePods on eBay before everyone gets wise!!!

Just got two of these each in Midnight and White, so expensive but so worth it. I’ve loved HomePods ever since I snagged them from Best Buy for $199 each.

So house will now sport 4 HomePod minis and 4 2nd gen HomePods, so stoked.
 
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benroberts3 said:
Possibly an unpopular opinion... The Homepod isn't a fantastic sounding speaker. Yes, it is functionally cool and aesthetically good looking. However, it is not as great sounding as Apple makes it out to be.

I had two of the original Homepods and thoroughly loved them. When I got my first Sonos speaker (Sonos Move) I was blown away by the sound. Over time I have fully immersed my home with Sonos speakers. The ecosystem is very well done and the sound quality is incredible.

Apple makes amazing devices and I am an Apple fanatic. However, their audio and speaker ambitions are still far behind others.
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I agree and did the same in my home. I do still use the OG's quite a bit in my office, but the Move was the thing that won me over to Sonos.
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Right. I think the AUX crowd want the security in the "what if Apple gives up on these?" scenario. A demotion to "dumb" (but still great sounding) speakers is better than having them potentially lose all usefulness because of how Apple evolves tvOS and iOS should that evolution "give up" on HomePods at some point.
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Here's my theory on that, which of course may be quite wrong...

In spite of all the marketing about beamforming and audiophile music experience, I don't think Apple has any genuine business interest in being in the regular speaker business anymore than they ever had an interest in being in the regular TV business. People refresh their speakers and TV's only once every 10 years or so. Those are markets that Apple is typically not interested in participating in given the refresh cycles and margin levels. They leave those markets to Sony and Panasonic and others.

I think the only reason why Apple is participating in this market at all is that they see a big threat in Google coming to dominate the smart home market if Apple doesn't compete, and from there gaining a competitive advantage on other markets. If people can't control their smart home from their iPhones anymore, that's a problem for Apple in their core market. So they need to have a compatible offering in the smart home market to protect their iPhone core business. And the entire "homeOS" division that Apple has working on this internally is primarily looking at all these products as their home offering, rather than their audio offering or TV experience offering, which explains why they're not as good as they could be strictly as an audio product or TV product.

</rant></theory>
 
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E6239FC4-744D-40F6-AC64-D28FBC3B5946.png


Power cable still looks fairly permanently attached but hard to tell from the AR model alone.
 
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Love it! I still have my 1st HomePod in white and would be in to add a 2nd one in black.

Anybody knows if the 1st gen will be able to pair with 2nd gen for stereo pair?
 
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MacRumors said:
Other specs for the new HomePod include 802.11n Wi-Fi, vs. 802.11ac previously.
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That's a step back for sure. I'm guessing that they think it's unnecessary for audio streaming (and that's true in a purely bandwidth context, but ac has other benefits too) and also because the S7 SoC likely doesn't support ac.

My concern is what happens when n/Wi-Fi 4 support gets dropped from routers? It does happen and I believe has happened with a and b already. You can't LAN these, so they'd be dead unless you hung onto a legacy router.
 
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Buying two of these if the sound approaches OG HomePod. HomePods are my favorite Apple product, I own five OG and five minis. Using a single OG HomePod where I need two in stereo. May end up buying a match on eBay if prices drop; waiting to see sound quality reviews.
 
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UMHurricanes34 said:
What a strange, strange time we’re living in.

“With the popularity of HomePod mini, we’ve seen growing interest in even more powerful acoustics achievable in a larger HomePod. We’re thrilled to bring the next generation of HomePod to customers around the world.”

Love that they’re essentially pretending like the larger HomePod has never existed before.
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The reality distortion field is strong!
 
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crsh1976 said:
Here I thought the smart speaker fad was over, I guess not.

I'm still not interested in buying one anyway.
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I don't even use mine as smart speakers much. Mostly use them convenient wireless tv speakers that also play music usually from the iPhone that I once awhile move to a different room for a special occasion.


...but maybe that's a smart speaker.
 
benroberts3 said:
Possibly an unpopular opinion... The Homepod isn't a fantastic sounding speaker. Yes, it is functionally cool and aesthetically good looking. However, it is not as great sounding as Apple makes it out to be.

I had two of the original Homepods and thoroughly loved them. When I got my first Sonos speaker (Sonos Move) I was blown away by the sound. Over time I have fully immersed my home with Sonos speakers. The ecosystem is very well done and the sound quality is incredible.

Apple makes amazing devices and I am an Apple fanatic. However, their audio and speaker ambitions are still far behind others.
Click to expand...
Really? I love the HomePod's sound quality. I've heard subtle sounds I haven't heard before in pop songs. I remember listening to Rihanna's "What's My Name?" and never noticed the little electronic beat in the background of the song before, until I listened to it on my HomePod. As far as consumer smart speakers, I've felt that it's leaps above Google's and Amazon's speakers in sound quality. But I do agree, they are behind the others because Apple has the dumbest assistant (Siri), by far.
 
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