Apple Confirms HomePod's Supported Audio Sources in Tech Specs

[44267547]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say he meant 3.5 jack as an input.... hopefully that's what he meant.

You might be correct. At least I hope so. Someone requesting to have a 3.5 mm Jack on the HomePod is ironic and hilarious in the same token.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

There’s no splitting hairs.

The left signal gets fed out of a left side tweeter while the right signal gets fed out of a right side tweeter. That’s stereo. Not mono, not mono+ or whatever you want to call it.

If any of us can get some Pym Particles so that we can shrink ourselves down small enough to sit on top of a HP so that that left & right output is actually to our left & right, I'm with you. However, at our average human size, we can't get ourselves in between the two (or 7 for those trying to spin it as surround sound in a box). Unless our faces are smashed up right against a HP, that sound is coming from the same location, split or not. The whole device is barely wider than a jumbo roll of toilet paper. IMO, you're making a case for faux stereo at best.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

Why are people so up in arms about Apple wanting customers to stay within the ecosystem? Sounds like a smart move to me. Apple has never been a company to primarily make general compatibility. That’s fine. All of their stuff works fine together in my house.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You are wrong!!!
It has Bluetooth 5.0 which is not backwards compatible with 4.0

Bluetooth 5.0
Bluetooth 5 is announced in 16 June 2016 to come in late 2016 or early 2017. Bluetooth 5 is here and with it release, developers have tried to meet the all the advanced standard of wireless world with more privacy and security. This version is the continuation of Low Energy LE. Its speed is 48MBps (double than last version). It can be connected up to distance of 300 meters or 985 feet (4 times of last version). The ISM band ranges from 2.4-2.485 GHz. One little disappointing thing for users is that it don’t have any backward compatibility with its old or previous versions. It requires new hardware which should be latest and advanced so that those devices meet the requirements of Bluetooth v5.0 to run it smoothly.

Educate yourself before spouting BS

So far, best I've seen, the ONLY application for Bluetooth with this thing is the initial setup. If there is any new information that says Bluetooth is used for anything more than that, someone please post a link.

Of course, since it is in there, even if it launches without that as a playback channel, conceptually the infamous "just one software upgrade" could potentially make it work that way. However, since Apple is freely spinning "just one software upgrade" for other benefits "coming soon," apparently making it a Bluetooth speaker is not getting lumped in there by Apple themselves.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

People are saying a single HomePod is not stereo. The basis for this is Apple allowing you to pair two HomePods as a stereo pair.

This is absolutely false. A single HomePod can output a stereo signal. It won’t have as wide a soundstage as two speakers placed far apart, but it’s still stereo.

It's stereo, but it's simulated via an algorithm, it's not true stereo, i.e., a dedicated left channel and a right channel. It's no different than A/V receivers that have various programs to simulate surround sound with fewer than 5 channels. It's a lot of marketing smoke and mirrors -- Apple isn't along trying to confuse consumers in this regard. HomePod, based on early reviews likely sounds better than a true commodity speaker pair, but that doesn't change the technical reality it's not actual stereo unless you link two together.

 

[splogue]

How would that equate to new Apple Music subscriptions rather than simply not selling to people who don't have AirPlay devices? Nobody in the Android ecosystem would want to add this device, it would simply be a dumb bluetooth speaker for them...and an expensive one at that. BT 5.0 does not have new audio codecs yet, the entire 5.0 stack isn't ready to match the sound quality of AirPlay, which is why I believe it's not included.

Good question. To clarify, I think their target audience at this point is Apple users, not all of whom have Apple Music subscriptions. It works directly with no device with a subscription - a significant value-add. Android and others will come later.

But, it is just an educated guess. We will have a better idea in six months, more or less, by whether they turn on Bluetooth. I’m betting they will.

Sean

 

[DaveTheRave]

Not being able to stream radio stations over the internet is a miss, in my opinion. I like to hear some of NPRs shows live (“All Things Considered”), and having Alexa play NPR without needing to transmit the audio from another device via AirPlay makes it really easy.

 

[Mtmspa]

ONE's work well individually in very small rooms, but they so sound much better when they are in pairs. I used to have a single ONE in my small galley kitchen, and it didn't really fill the room with sound, so I bought a second and it's transformed the room entirley! IMO the 3 is redundant and the 5 is too big for small rooms. Luckily you can get two Sonos ONEs for the price of one HomePod...

Even the 3 sound is sub par. Returned it for the 5. Huge improvement.

 

[vaughnsterling]

I'm very disappointed that there seems to be no easy way to play traditional radio stations.

Deal-breaker level disappointed.

If you ask an Amazon Echo dot, "Alexa, play W-F-U-V," the radio station WFUV promptly begins streaming.

If I were to buy a $350 HomePod I'm not sure how I could explain to my wife that it can't do that (since the $30 Echo Dot in our kitchen pulls it off every day).

 

[OllyW]

Seems like different than
http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/01/this-is-what-apples-homepod-sounds-like.html
where it seems Google Max is better than HomePod in sound imaging.

The one I linked to is very pro-Apple though.

A few sites were not quite so biased though...

As for how the HomePod's sound compares with other smart speakers, Apple set up a demo space to match it against the Sonos One, Google Home Max, and Amazon Echo 2, playing the same songs, one at a time. Of course, the HomePod came out on top, though Google and Sonos made it a much closer fight than you might think for an Apple demo.

We will have much more to say in a full review, but on first impressions while the HomePod looks great, is super simple to set up and is undoubtedly powerful, the sound produced does not immediately match up to its £319 price tag.

What becomes immediately apparent is the formidable bass the HomePod kicks out. What's more, the sound remains constant as you walk around the room, no doubt thanks to those beam-forming tweeters. The vocals are clear as a bell, too. It's not all good news, however. There is a distinct lack of mid-range, leaving you feeling that something is missing in the mix.

It looks like it will sound ok, it's going to be interesting to read the proper reviews.

 

[TallManNY]

This does not look appealing at all.

Whoever buys this is a sucker.

I bought it. Said I wouldn't. Seemed over priced. Connecting my Alexa to full-sized speakers provides good sound at a far cheaper price.
But I'm in the Apple ecosystem and I'm curious about it. I'm sure I will find a use for it. And maybe the sound quality surprises me.

 

[bruinsrme]

I wonder if a single HomePod will best my klipsch reference setup powered by pioneer elite sc-82 and 2 SVS PC+ subs.
If not what a waste of money the HomePod will be

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Why are people so up in arms about Apple wanting customers to stay within the ecosystem? Sounds like a smart move to me. Apple has never been a company to primarily make general compatibility. That’s fine. All of their stuff works fine together in my house.

I think people are simply wanting to get as much out of anything they buy. Product versatility is typically a very desirable feature. If you look at EVERYTHING else that Apple makes, everything else has the flexibility of third party apps, including the much cheaper (than this) TV. Furthermore, if you look at the direct competition for this thing, they generally seem to have more versatility by not being so narrowly locked into their parent company's offerings. So consumers may simply be venting some frustration that something being rolled out as "best" is relatively narrow in the relative versatility department.

I've LONG been a HUGE fan of (all of the) TV(s). Just one recent third party app made it about 100X more useful to me. I don't think we should be so quick to fault fellow consumers wishing that they could get even more out of a $349 smart speaker than mostly ecosystem lock-in. That doesn't mean it will fail to work great within the ecosystem. It's more about the flexibility to use it beyond that space (and the "but it can Airplay" is not the same). As is, an TV is also a Siri voice-controlled, AM playback device from Apple... that also can play Pandora and similar. And it too can have anything and everything airplayed to it too.

 

[vaughnsterling]

Can a mod change the thread title to “my reason for not buying a HomePod and why I feel the need to tell everyone”.

I very much want to buy one..I love nearly everything I've read about it. I just hope for a software upgrade to be able to play radio stations. That's gotta be easier than Face ID..it's a small stumbling block but I'm flummoxed because my wife loves KEXP, WFUV, etc..

 

[kissfan]

Tempest in a teapot. The people willing to give Apple $350 for this aren’t going to base their purchasing decisions on whether or not an Android user can play music on it, while the rest of us weren’t going to give Apple $350 even if it did support Bluetooth.

Most of my friends that are on Android have such crappy music that I don’t want them connecting.

 

[gnipgnop]

If any of us can get some Pym Particles so that we can shrink ourselves down small enough to sit on top of a HP so that that left & right output is actually to our left & right, I'm with you.

You're forgetting about the audio beam forming in the tweeters and the fact that it's a circular array. The high/mid range can be directed throughout the room, rather than just projected forward like a standard forward-facing compact system. It's those latter types of systems that have difficulty providing much separation.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I'm very disappointed that there seems to be no easy way to play traditional radio stations.

Deal-breaker level disappointed.

If you ask an Amazon Echo dot, "Alexa, play W-F-U-V," the radio station WFUV promptly begins streaming.

If I were to buy a $350 HomePod I'm not sure how I could explain to my wife that it can't do that (since the $30 Echo Dot in our kitchen pulls it off every day).

I suspect some of us would say, get rid of such a wife. And like it only as it's served up. Who wants to listen to WFUV when there's Beats1- the one and only good radio station.

 

[deanthedev]

It's stereo, but it's simulated via an algorithm, it's not true stereo, i.e., a dedicated left channel and a right channel. It's no different than A/V receivers that have various programs to simulate surround sound with fewer than 5 channels. It's a lot of marketing smoke and mirrors -- Apple isn't along trying to confuse consumers in this regard. HomePod, based on early reviews likely sounds better than a true commodity speaker pair, but that doesn't change the technical reality it's not actual stereo unless you link two together.

How is sending left channel audio to a left driver and right channel audio to a right driver “simulated”?

 

[EdT]

I am going to speak only for me. I held off buying a sound system to put in a bedroom because Apple announced the HomePod last September. What they hyped, more so than Siri integration, was the sound. I don’t know if anyone from Apple ever made the ‘HomePod is meant to compete against Sonos and not Google Home or Amazon Echo’ but that statement still got a lot of press in the media.

A good sounding Sonos type device is what I am looking for, a voice assistant I’m not. I wanted something that I could potentially expand into a surround system, like you can with Sonos. I didn’t need that functionality available immediately, but I did want to know it was part of Apple’s future plans for the device.

Over 4 months go by before a release date is announced. Before that, virtually no details were released. I’m not talking company secrets but basic here is what it can connect to and here are the formats it uses. Look at any sound system and they will tell you that much. It wasn’t until the day you could preorder that Apple released some details. But left a lot of things unanswered.

A week goes by and now MORE details have been announced. Were these not available last week? Telling customers what software it will and won’t work with should have been possible last September even if there were hardware and software details to still to be worked out. They had no problem releasing that if you buy 2 you can get stereo sound last September. Except on release, no you can’t.

I don’t mind having a feature delayed. I do mind being kept in the dark about it even as you are expected to buy that product. Had I known in September what has slowly dribbled out in the last 2 weeks I would have bought something closer to what I THOUGHT HomePod was going to be much earlier, and not paid attention to HomePod because I’m not looking for anyone’s streaming service or voice assistant. I don’t care if what I buy doesn’t have voice control and I don’t want a mandatory streaming service.

 

[hortod1]

Wait a minute, so when my friends come over with a non-Apple device they can't connect via Bluetooth? WTF????

Not only that, if you have a spouse or significant other or kids they can’t use it because there is no multi-user support.

 

[cjbryce]

Don’t wanna join the crowd that is telling us how it will sound, even tho they never heard it? That is the Mac rumors way. Oh, and make sure to mention something about Spotify and airplay.

Oh, alright then.

Each note emanating from HomePod sounds exactly as if Apollo himself, the very god of music, is playing his lyre right there in the anechoic chamber that is your living room, whilst simultaneously Airplaying his celestial choir through only the thirty HomePods required to bring his sweet music simultaneously to every single human being on the planet.

Apollo is frowning deeply upon Bose, Spotify, Tidal, Sonos, Alexa, Google Home, Cortana and Bixby and, using merely his subtlest whisper, commands Siri to Message all the other gods of Greece, Rome and Asgard and request that they vent their collective mights of hellfire and damnation to smite asunder the collective outpourings of these puny imitators, which are but a tiny speck of excrement upon the firmament of all things Apple.

Will that do?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You're forgetting about the audio beam forming in the tweeters and the fact that it's a circular array. The high/mid range can be directed throughout the room, rather than just projected forward like a standard forward-facing compact system. It's those latter types of systems that have difficulty providing much separation.

Do you work for Apple? Every post is so raging positive about this product. Have you found/seen ONE weakness in this thing? Can you write down even ONE thing you don't like about it? I'm trying to believe you are just a fellow consumer but the way you go at every one of these threads, it's like you are committed to selling as many of these as you can.

I hope Beamforming is as spectacular as you've made it out. Much more expensive speakers claim to direct sound from a single box around the room, laying claim to up to full surround sound. But they're all faking it. It's faux sound at best. Someone yesterday wrote that they've seen an Atmos sound bar, apparently faking Atmos from a single box. Is that really Atmos?

I hope Beamforming is able to make sound from a box the size of a jumbo roll of toilet paper really seem to be coming from up to 7 different locations at the same time, much like having up to 7 speakers spread around the room can yield such distribution too. It would be spectacular from a single tiny box priced at only $349. We'll both see soon enough.

 

[deanthedev]

If any of us can get some Pym Particles so that we can shrink ourselves down small enough to sit on top of a HP so that that left & right output is actually to our left & right, I'm with you. However, at our average human size, we can't get ourselves in between the two (or 7 for those trying to spin it as surround sound in a box). Unless our faces are smashed up right against a HP, that sound is coming from the same location, split or not. The whole device is barely wider than a jumbo roll of toilet paper. IMO, you're making a case for faux stereo at best.

The sound for left and right is bounced off the walls. This is where the wider soundstage comes from. This is clearly illustrated in the video animation Apple provided for the HomePod.

Now if you’re talking about a speaker like the Google Home Max then I agree. That speaker has literally no soundstage at all, due to the left & right speakers firing straight forward. At least Sonos (with the Play:5) angles the tweeters outward to help expand the soundstage.

 

[falainber]

There’s no splitting hairs.

The left signal gets fed out of a left side tweeter while the right signal gets fed out of a right side tweeter. That’s stereo. Not mono, not mono+ or whatever you want to call it.

You are defending Apple so hard that you make ridiculous statements. Not only the distance between the tweeters is too small to be stereo but also the speaker does not even know where the listener is so how would it even know how to assigns channels to tweeters.

 

[OllyW]

Now if you’re talking about a speaker like the Google Home Max then I agree. That speaker has literally no soundstage at all, due to the left & right speakers firing straight forward.

That's odd, someone who was present at one of the demo sessions said the opposite.

The most interesting comparison came between the Google Home Max — which currently retails for $400 — and the HomePod. I can’t say which sounded better, just that each had its strengths. The sound-staging on the Max — that is, its ability to trick your brain into thinking that different instruments and different sounds were coming from different parts of the room — is much more open and interesting. The HomePod creates a more filled-in soundstage that, in my opinion, makes it harder to pull individual parts of songs apart. Put more simply, on the live version of “Hotel California,” the Google Home Max gave the impression of a band playing with some physical distance between each player, while the HomePod put them much closer together.

http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/01/this-is-what-apples-homepod-sounds-like.html