Apple’s new HomePod unsurprisingly sounds close to the original
Cheaper price, fewer drivers, and more smart home tricks.
www.theverge.com
The Verge had hands on with the new HomePod and the power cord is removable!
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Apple Announces New HomePod for $299 With Full-Size Design, S7 Chip, and More
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www.theverge.com
The Verge had hands on with the new HomePod and the power cord is removable!
Why would anyone trade in an OG HomePod for a new one? The OG has two more tweeters and I think something else — bigger sub? These are literally worse speakers for about the same price. Incredible “refresh.”
You can't say the new HomePod has worse speakers. It hasn't been released.
Because look at it this way…
OG HomePod launches $349…. HomePod mini launches $99… OG HomePod Discontinues… updates comes along year on year then one year they then no longer update the $349 HomePod but they continue to update their $99 HomePod… imagine the uproar and how bad that would look that a $349 HomePod doesn’t get an update but a $99 one does, it just looks bad IMO.
However, now they can release an update this year and say compatible with HomePod mini, and HomePod (2nd Generation), it looks far better than the above.
People can’t complain that their OG isn’t getting the latest OS because they can simply upgrade, however, with no upgrade option it basically makes the OG obsolete in the drop of a hat, don’t be surprised if the next OS update doesn’t support the OG HomePod.
I just watched the advert on YouTube and did they actually show a house party with a DJ or was I tripping? Because there is no actual physical way to play a beat matched DJ set without a direct (no latency) connection. Funny.
As someone who just will never believe that any amount of computational wizardry will compensate for the lack of two separate speakers, I would only ever consider a pair of these and as others have pointed out, oh wow could you spend £600 in so many much better ways audio-wise. I mean I have a minirig 2.1 system which cost about £350 for the two mini rigs and the minirig sub. Sounds incredible, has no "smart" nonsense, direct input, and portable with great battery life. I wouldn't recommend it unless you needed the portability, though. I think this is the thing: audio is so many different things to many different people/households. Some like me, even though I'm attracted to the shiny, I would much rather some grottier-looking second hand speakers and a decent amp if it meant better sound quality. That's because music is my entire thing. Some people listen to mainly podcasts. Some people ... anyway my point is they are trying to serve so many highly heterogenous target use cases - and make obscene profits as usual - that these actually make total sense for very few people/households.
If they put out a new AirPods Max model I will be very very very interested to see if they kept the all-metal solid enclosure that essentially makes them drown themselves if used for long periods of time... You still owe me £600 Apple, you bunch of c[MESSAGE TRUNCATED]
As someone who just will never believe that any amount of computational wizardry will compensate for the lack of two separate speakers, I would only ever consider a pair of these and as others have pointed out, oh wow could you spend £600 in so many much better ways audio-wise. I mean I have a minirig 2.1 system which cost about £350 for the two mini rigs and the minirig sub. Sounds incredible, has no "smart" nonsense, direct input, and portable with great battery life. I wouldn't recommend it unless you needed the portability, though. I think this is the thing: audio is so many different things to many different people/households. Some like me, even though I'm attracted to the shiny, I would much rather some grottier-looking second hand speakers and a decent amp if it meant better sound quality. That's because music is my entire thing. Some people listen to mainly podcasts. Some people ... anyway my point is they are trying to serve so many highly heterogenous target use cases - and make obscene profits as usual - that these actually make total sense for very few people/households.
If they put out a new AirPods Max model I will be very very very interested to see if they kept the all-metal solid enclosure that essentially makes them drown themselves if used for long periods of time... You still owe me £600 Apple, you bunch of c[MESSAGE TRUNCATED]
It depends. Maybe this is a downgrade. Maybe those speakers are better quality or being used more effectively? We won't know until we start getting reviews. It is possible that there will be little noticeable difference and most people won't be able to tell one way or the other.
That's your opinion. And since you claim to have 19 years of experience as an audio engineer, I won't dismiss that out of hand But until Apple makes a hi res audio compatible HomePod, there's no way to do a comparison.
I hope you'd agree that the technology exists to stream hi res audio. KEF and Bluesound speakers have been doing that for years. So the only reason why you can't do that with the new HomePod speakers is because of product design decisions made by Apple. Personally, I believe that if you're going to offer hi res audio through Apple Music, that you should design products that complement that feature. But so far, Apple has refused to do this. So if you want to listen to hi res audio, you can't do it with any Apple headphones or speakers.
The power cord was always removable. It just wasn’t recommended or encouraged.Apple’s new HomePod unsurprisingly sounds close to the original
Cheaper price, fewer drivers, and more smart home tricks.
The Verge had hands on with the new HomePod and the power cord is removable!
I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I wish Siri on the HomePod was even 1/4 as helpful as Alexa.
Nothing works properly for me, or at least if it does it’s sent to my phone
I’m asking a speaker cuz I don’t hsbe my phone with me or I don’t have free hands.
Maybe something is wrong with me - but I literally don’t consider the HomePod to be a smart speaker. It’s a speaker that can tell me the weather and send search results to my phone. It also doesn’t work well with Spotify or many smart accessories like ring doorbells.
I’d love to find out I’m just holding it wrong.
Nothing works properly for me, or at least if it does it’s sent to my phone
I’m asking a speaker cuz I don’t hsbe my phone with me or I don’t have free hands.
Maybe something is wrong with me - but I literally don’t consider the HomePod to be a smart speaker. It’s a speaker that can tell me the weather and send search results to my phone. It also doesn’t work well with Spotify or many smart accessories like ring doorbells.
I’d love to find out I’m just holding it wrong.
They didn't learn to price better, $399 in Canada. Was looking forward to this for awhile but at this price its a hard pass. Curious to see if they will sell better, same or worse than the last ones. The tech specs on it say it has wifi 802.11n seems kind of weird.
That introductory video is really not to my liking. Doesn't feel Apple-like.
Does HomePod Siri really respond that quickly? I guess so, since Siri is pretty quick on my iPhone, and the HomePod should be even faster since it's dedicated to that job.
Does HomePod Siri really respond that quickly? I guess so, since Siri is pretty quick on my iPhone, and the HomePod should be even faster since it's dedicated to that job.
I loved my OG homepod but last summer I got the flashing volume buttons and could never get it to reset or work again. Shame because it sounded great and could still be a functioning speaker. I have three minis in my small house, and another at girlfriends apartment.
you mean building a better, bigger, more feature driven speaker at a (slightly) cheaper price point?
$50 cheaper would have made many happy.
guess we will see how many value it at US$299.
if they'd lowered it too much the original buyers would be feeling ripped off.
website not showing much about Bluetooth ability.
other sites saying it has it BT 5.0.
and what happened to all "the experts" saying it would have an S8 chip?
No problem: just put on good closed headphones that damp/cancel enough of the outside noise and mix your set. Who cares if there’s a small delay in playback over the speakers?
But yeah… physically possible but not great.
But who cares if it makes for a good ad video?
👉 There surely are party-oriented house mixes on the Apple Music subscription you’re supposed to be paying for, isn’t there?
So who needs a DJ anyway?
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They’ll never tell, but how much does one of these things cost to make?! Including recouping R&D spending?
If “They don’t want to make money on the hardware things,” plus they want to further the Apple Ecosystem, they wouldn’t charge the usual 25 - 44% profit margin (varies by device) and would sell them at close to no profit margin — like Sony and Microsoft have reportedly done since the inception of every one of their PlayStation models and Xbox models, respectively.
Apple got a few streaming box vendors and major TV makers to support AirPlay 2, but how much would unit/volume sales increase if they opened the HomePod up to unrestricted Bluetooth compatibility? (But it would be neutered by lack of Siri compatibility — a “dumb” speaker but with reportedly jaw-dropping spatial audio that would appeal to home theater enthusiasts.)
EXCEPT! it’s worth noting that unlike in the beginning when every Siri request had to travel over the internet and back, more and more Siri functions are being performed on device — allowing for voice control without a macOS or iOS or tvOS device — for speaker control and for HomeKit.
Btw, I think Apple really dropped the ball on Home Automation.
Amazon Alexa and Google have dominated instead. (Though I recently read, curiously, that Alexa has ultimately been a disaster for Amazon, and they’re losing more money on Alexa than ever.) (?)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
dont worry, a pair of JBL Pulse 4 do exactly the same crackling. And wont pair to a Samsung Lifestyle projector as a stereo pair.
Sony BT stereo pair works awesome on every set i've owned. And have LDAC on many. And pair in stereo to projector.
Some companies really need to test their advertised features a lot better it seems...
I am content with less features and more privacy versus Alexia or Google.
Why do one or the other when you can do both? They could also sell iPhones cheaper and increase their market penetration and App Sales - but have chosen not to.
That said, I do believe these HomePods are selling at their usual (high) margins.
But they’re designed to lock you in, not provide you common or great connectivity and interoperability.
But even when Apple design things this way, they won’t be selling them with their hardware margins stuck on top of that as a matter of principle, it seems.
Yes. I would probably get one, if it had Bluetooth and/or AUX.
It doesn’t, I won’t and it sucks.
I suppose we may be pretty much on the same page on this.
I just didn’t expect anything else from Apple.
There’s an MKBHD video out a couple weeks ago that compared the big four: Google, Siri, Bixby, and Alexa. MKBHD put Alexa dead last as the worst of the four. The order I listed them were the order of the results from his tests.
Alexa is dying and may not actually survive much longer. There are news reports it cost Amazon $10 billion in losses for Alexa and it’s bleeding out.
I’m not saying which is best since I refuse to use Google and Alexa for privacy reasons and I have Bixby turned off on my Samsung devices. I really don’t know, but I’m just pointing out a recent review.
I have done some research on which device responds to Siri. Apparently, it’s whichever device hears you better. If you have multiple devices in the same room, the microphone that picks you up the best will be the one to respond.
That could be the reason. No headlines about your smart speakers listening to your every word — by Amazon and Google themselves or hackers. (I really did see such stories.)
(“Hey, why are there so many browser ads for extra small condoms — was it something I said?”)
I was specifically responding to your claim, “They don't want to make money on the hardware "things".
My response branched from that assumption.
As for me, I don’t agree that Apple should lower prices or, like, sell a “budget” iPhone or Mac. I think price is built into the prestige factor and the “status symbol” that Apple products convey. (And blue word bubbles in text messaging.)
I would never want to see budget iPhones at Dollar General like you can find so many Android phones (almost free if you agree to a contract) — including Samsung models!
That would ruin the brand image of both Apple and iPhone. Not worth it!
And Apple doesn’t simply enrich themselves with the high profits they rake in; they have a proven track record of always plowing profits back into development of ever better products.
I don’t know about lately, but for a while, the iPhone 14 Pro Max was the #1 selling iPhone 14 model by unit sales!
The most expensive model! Sometimes people are willing to pay for quality! (“You get what you pay for.”)
I know Apple Watch is the number one selling watch in the world by unit sales! That includes conventional, non-smart watches like $9.99 Timex or Seiko watches!
The second largest watch seller by unit sales after Apple? Rolex! (And we all know how much they cost!)
Barriers to entry into “The Club.” All those green text bubble plebs. 😂
In some ways, Apple is still the company from 1976 — or the Eighties.