They offer compatibility with wifi streaming from Android devices though.
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Apple Confirms HomePod's Supported Audio Sources in Tech Specs
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The Google Home Max is the most tempting speaker to me at the moment. Firstly Chromecasting is much more versatile than Airplay. You can cast from innumerable apps, then never worry about what else your phone might be up to. Even whether it is on or off. Google Music is included with YouTube Red, so it is basically free for me. I can also set up groups with my other Google speakers and Chromecast Audios. The reason I haven't bought one is because the Google Home Max currently costs $400. If it drops to $300, I'll be buying that.
"Mono" means neither the high, mid, or low range of the audio can be split into more than one channel. Amazon's Echo is an example of a mono speaker, i.e., one tweeter and one woofer. HomePod is not a mono speaker. The high/mid range that goes through the tweeters can obviously be split into more than one channel (seven tweeters). It's only the low range (one woofer) that can't be split.
Is there any hope that HomePod will be able to play internet radio stations? - This would clearly expand its use considerably. (And don't tell me you can via AirPlay - I want to be able to ask Siri to play a local radio station, NPR, whatever, in-between to listening to AppleMusic etc). Alexa does it no problem ...
You mean HomePod obviously.
There is an answer to your question, but ultimately you're probably correct. HomePod is a unique speaker system that will outdo most home theatre setups due to its room-filling sound and intelligent sound directing. You can spend thousands of dollars on a home theatre system that only sounds "good" in 1 spot in the entire room.
For those of us that like to use the Apple TV as the media centerpiece of the house, having it connected to something more useful than a typical soundbar system would be desirable.
Keep laughing if that makes you happy. I always wonder why people are so concerned and get so juiced up about what others do, especially with their money.
"...why would you spend $349 for a not so good mono-speaker that needs a secondary $349 investment to make it stereo."
How long have you been listening to yours, in order to render that assessment?
what I meant was if I play a song in the home office while someone else in the house plays a song downstairs but from the same account! So I’m the account holder for example but we listen to different music on the different Homepods but with the same account.
You really don't understand how Sonos works. You can't cast to Sonos from anything, period. Not even the Sonos app. The whole point of Sonos is it pulls the streams from the source on its own. The app is merely a remote control. This way, you can walk away from it, disconnect your phone from wifi, have your phone battery die, leave it on for your pet when you're out of the house, etc. The app is just the UI to control it, the Sonos itself streams from Spotify/AppleMusic/Pandora/NPR/whatever.
It's funny you mention Chromecast as being something better, because Chromecast works the same way. When you go on Netflix and "cast" it to a Chromecast, you're actually only passing a command to the Chromecast to go to Netflix and stream the show/movie on its own. After that, you can turn your phone off and it will continue to play the show/movie.
Bluetooth and AirPlay both require the phone to actively participate in the stream, which is bad. With bluetooth, if you walk away, the music stops. With AirPlay, if you go outside of wifi range, the music stops. With both, if your phone battery dies, the music stops. With both, you can't leave the music on while you are away from home (e.g., for pets, elderly folks, or for general business ambience.)
I like Sonos because they are platform agnostic - no matter what the "best" service will be tomorrow, Sonos will support it. I also like Sonos because it's not dependent on my phone to work.
Yeah okay. Not only does the HomePod have Bluetooth, it has the latest Bluetooth spec, 5.0
Whether Apple allows streaming of other services via BT from the beginning is anyone's guess. It's not like they've been really forthcoming with information regarding the HomePod. Not exactly sure why either.
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It's been quite reported the HomePod is a mono speaker and stereo via pairing two HomePods will come as a software update later.
You aren’t their target audience. But thanks for sharing.
Yes I did, I fixed that typo, is it still there?
I doubt a HomePod is better than a complete 5.1 home theatre. Highly doubt it.
I and many others know that.
What I'm asking is how long have you been listening to your HomePod in order to come to the conclusion it is "not so good?"
That’s pure personal opinion. Most of my time is on Apple TV — rarely do I use an optical disk and I don’t have cable. So ATV to HP covers my prime use case just fine. Home theaters are overkill for many.
I understand that, but it's also confusing. They come out with a speaker and talk about how advanced the audio quality is, then severely limit what it can be used with. It would have been expensive, but I originally thought these would make excellent computer speakers in stereo. $700 might seem like a lot but I've had my eye on a Sony CAS-1 for a while and those are $1,000. I know for myself, and many of my friends, our computers are as much an entertainment hub as our televisions. A have a lot of audio that comes from my computer speakers, and the majority of my music. Understandably music through these won't be a problem, but nothing else will work right from a computer (or TV most likely).
Yes, there are lots of solutions out there. You get the ones you want and I'll get the ones I want.
And let’s not bash them for decisions that you don’t agree with. These threads are worthless with all the Spotify people bitching. We don’t care if you buy it or not.
I REALLY want to get these, but it has a limited use connection. If I could replace my sounder for my TV, and use these, I'd get 2 - I have a small place so it'd fit in perfectly. What I don't understand is Apple's refusal to work with others - Look at what Amazon is doing with Alexa. Just like the Kindle, Amazon will own the speaker market within a year. Apple's HomePod, although a better speaker, is not a better overall device.
I'm kind of with you on this. A lot of people wanted to compare this to Google Home / Alexa etc... But that's not really accurate. Apple is positioning this product to compete with the likes of the BW product you mentioned but I used the BeoPlay M5 as my example. Similar style, similar functionality, similar price point, similar target demographic. That being said, I actually had pre-ordered one myself. I don't need it for my living room, I have a nice Marantz / McIntosh / ATC setup. I was primarily going to use it in my bedroom. However once the articles started to come out about what you can and can't do with it and the fact that it's not a bluetooth speaker and doesn't support connecting via bluetooth, or have any input jacks, I cancelled my order. I may eventually get one, but I'm not going to be an early adopter and get stuck paying $350 to be lab rat and beta test a device that in my opinion, isn't quite fully baked yet. The Beoplay product can do stereo, it can even do up to 4 chained devices, which makes it more like Sonos than the HomePod. The M5 supports airplay, googlecast, and BT connections. What it doesn't have is Siri. From what I understand the HomePod only does stereo configurations (2 linked devices). I'm also not planning on using Siri that much on it, I have alexa and I use that for all my home automation.
If the HomePod winds up being as open and flexible as Alexa, I may wind up purchasing it but I think this might be a big Whiff on Apple's part... And you know, that's not necessarily a bad thing, all these companies swing and miss at some point... It doesn't mean the end of the world for Apple. Hopefully it will mean a much, much better Siri.
I think there are a lot of issues with this comment. "Better" doesn't have any easily identifiable meaning here. There several practical ways in which HomePod is far more desirable than a traditional 5.1 home theatre.
Having had plenty of 5.1 systems over time, I'm far more interested in HomePod. A 5.1 system does nothing for you the minute you get off the couch and walk out of the "perfect" zone. It may best a HomePod or even 2 HomePods in that "perfect" zone, but that doesn't impress me at all.
That‘s wrong. For example I can directly control music playback to Sonos from my Spotify app, including selecting the rooms to play in.
The funny thing is these specs have been posted for over a week and someone just found them? Geesh!
“Yeah Bluetooth 5.0 is different so no Bluetooth”, see post 19 <sarcasm>