Apple Confirms HomePod's Supported Audio Sources in Tech Specs

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

HomePod is not a mono speaker. Apple specifically states that audio is split into left/center/right channels. The issue regarding the "stereo pair" is that two Homepods provide two woofers, so technically every level of audio (high/mid/low) can be split into more than one channel. With a single HomePod, high/mid range is split, while the low can't be split due to only one woofer.

And that's fine because even with multiple speaker setups, low frequencies are typically the same across all channels as low sounds aren't generally directional. We're far better at distinguishing the direction of higher pitched sounds. This is why a 7.1 home stereo will still just have a single subwoofer.

Most fail to understand how amazing what the HomePod offers really is. Until the HomePod, you'd be looking at paying $20,000 to get a speaker with beam forming. They can create a stereo-like experience by sending different tones and frequencies in different directions, so they appear to be coming from different areas of the room as they would with a true stereo setup. This has been noted in multiple hands-on reviews with the HomePod thus far.

 

[lah]

So lets talk about how bad Sonos really is. I can not cast to it from anything period but the Sonos App. People here are like super defenders of them. They are no different from apple in fact they are worse. If you could chrome cast to a Sonos and airplay then I could see the defense of the omi speaker system. The problem is Sonos has no interest in supporting chrome casting right now. They are probably going to support Air play 2 at some point in the future. So lets compare this Homepod to what it is a very nice version of the Bowers Zepplin for half the cost. The fact Siri is hanging around is just a bonus. This is not a Sonos / Alexa competitor. This is a Bowers and Wilkins competitor.

I know I am going to get flak for this but lets face it there is no perfect speaker that is bluetooth and wifi and chrome casting and airplay 2.

the day that speaker is made people will flock to it. I think Sonos is trying to decide if they want to build that speaker and let people out of the app echo system they created. Sonos could be the white knight but I have to say I am returning all of mine this weekend cause I can not cast anything to them. I use my speaker for more than just music and podcast. I use it to play audio from the iPad in the kitchen for the news while I cook. Sonos can not do that task from android or ios. This is a huge limiting factor for them

So I am buying a home pod why cause I will more than likely never own said device IE android so what am I losing nothing.

My friends are almost all ios.

If this supported bluetooth audio then down the road that would be nice when they came over with the 2 droids I know.

That still does not make Sonos better.

Only thing I will defend Sonos is their rock solid wireless performance. Sound is pretty good too.
When I first bought my Sonos system, it was pretty hard finding a reliable bluetooth or airplay speaker that could actually hold a connection. Sonos solved that issue for me and I was able to set up the entire house with music without having to worry about putting speaker wire around the house. It works really well. I'm tempted to try out the HomePod but seeing the money I've spent on Sonos I might just pass. Only thing that worries me about Sonos is if they get forced out of business. Will my speakers continue to work?

 

[jav6454]

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?"

8W outut? You want to watch a movie with only 8W speaker output? Even if you have an internal battery supply extra power for the speaker, what then? 13W? Really. The AppleTV's main allure is movies in 4K+HDR (or just 4K with great sound).

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.

Well, I am not entirely for a home theatre. However, a sound bar can do the trick. Many of these already have several mroe features to offer.

Yes, there are lots of solutions out there. You get the ones you want and I'll get the ones I want.

Ok... I did already.

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.

To be honest, I calibrated my system to have several "perfect" spots. Furthermore, if I have to walk to graba snack or something, I'll just pause. That's me.

 

[bruinsrme]

Is the HomePod competing with a 5.1 and 7.1 system powered by a amplified source?
It seems to be a$350 speaker and the comparisons to systems is mind boggling.
I am shocked to see so many macrumor participants have had the opportunity to audition the HomePod

 

[friedmud]

...or Spotify without doing it through a phone/tablet.

Valiant effort, Apple, but it won't be appearing in my home anytime soon. Voice control of Spotify would sell me, but bleh.

Agreed - this is the reason I bought a Google Home a few weeks ago. Awesome integration with Spotify (even better than Alexa!)

 

[Edgecrusherr]

I literally chatted with Apple support last night and sent feedback about them not listing all the sources for HomePod. Their support even told me they didn't have any info to sy it even worked with the Mac.

I’m not saying this was all me, but…

 

[Rogifan]

I have a bunch of tracks I ripped from Mixcloud and uploaded to iCloud Music Library. How does HomePod natively play music in iCloud Music Library that doesn’t exist in iTunes or Apple Music?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

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 ...

See post #1.

Or think about it: how does Apple make more money if you are playing an internet radio station?

Or, to appease the diehard fans, Beats 1 is the ONLY good internet radio station. Why listen to anything else? In fact, all other stations should just close up and surrender the internet to the one and only good one*.

*until maybe Apple opts to launch another

 

[neutralguy]

Let me scratch my head a bit on that...

How about if you already own a HomePod because it works well with your iDevices and Mac, are really impressed with the sound it produces, and would also like to have your AppleTV's audio played through it?

I don't own Apple TV. I went from Roku to Amazon Fire TV. I just checked Apple TV spec and I was not very clear whether Apple TV can process Dolby Digital surround sound or just passed it through HDMI. If it process it down to two channel stereo, then HomePod may be useful with Apple TV. But if it's not, then watching any 5.1 program on Netflix result in static sound or no sound. On the other hand I am not sure whether 5.1 sound can be transmitted over airplay and whether HomePod can process it. But if you are watching most of the content on two channel stereo, HomePod will work definitely. But then it's a tiny speaker. I don't know how big of a soundstage can it create. Wait for it see it in the store and then make your call.

 

[joemolomo]

It seems you aren't alone. There was a thread about the HomePod a couple of days ago where a lot of the comments were from people saying the same thing.

I just managed to get my December annual payment refunded and canceled iTunes Match. they wouldn't allow me to get the full 3 years I'd been paying. I don't mind though as apparently the initial Apple Music iTunes Match wasn't DRM free like the individual subscription.

 

[kmpowell]

Looks like I'll be waiting for SONOS to do a PLAY 3 or PLAY 5 with built-in Alexa. I listened to the SONOS ONE and it's just not good enough.
Mark

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...

 

[kruegdude]

Truth is - I think the product that I want is a HomePod with an AppleTV inside of it, and an HDMI connection for the TV.

Add my name to the list for one of those!

 

[69Mustang]

My guess is the software is not robust enough yet for BT. Apparently you need an iDevice (and an AppleID) to set up HomePod, so that's a wrinkle right there for those with just an Android phone.

I know what you're saying. But you have to see it makes no sense at all. BT doesn't require robust software (I actually don't know what you mean by "robust" but I do know that BT doesn't require it.) and it's not like Apple doesn't know the BT protocol. For all we know, BT could work with other services right out of the box. We just don't know. Which has been my issue with the HomePod's intro since the beginning. We should know. There should be no reason for citysnaps to be guessing about BT integration. Only Apple knows why they are "piecemealing" HomePod info. From an outward perspective it's baffling.

 

[handsome421]

Why would you connect an AppleTV to an HomePod? It'd be best to spend a bit more and get a decent Home Theatre system. Most likely, you'd get more use out of the HomeTheatre.

For multiroom audio. So you'd have your nice stereo connected through the Apple TV, start music on it, and then have it play the same music on the Homepod simultaneously in another room.

 

[neutralguy]

It's a speaker, so of course. There are several A/V receivers out there with AirPlay capability. Hook up the A/V receiver to your TV. Set receiver to Airplay. Done.

While it is possible to do that, I don't see much of a point to do it. That's like buying a Ferrari and driving it at 5 miles per hour for ever. Again I am not understanding this whole idea about using HomePod for TV speaker. I bet TV speaker will sound better and louder than HomePod for that content. Hompeod is marketed as a music speaker, not a versatile speakers like the major audio speaker brands. I have not seen anybody hooking up a tv to JBL Flip or Bose SoundLink.

 

[carrrrrlos]

WiFi is far superior to Bluetooth for audio. Picked up a pair of Sonos and they sound great in my home office. They also work with a number of music services, including Apple Music which I don’t subscribe to.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

That's not how I read it. It specifically states that it will play songs *purchased* in iTunes - i.e. not songs that are ripped off cds - and only songs that are uploaded to the icloud. I have 70 gigs of music in my library, the chance of me uploading that to iCloud is nil. As far as I read it, you can only play music from your iTunes library if (a) it has been actually purchased through iTunes, and (b) if it has been uploaded to iCloud. Am I wrong? Am I missing something?

Maybe a little. Apparently, if you get a Match subscription, whatever of that 70gigs can be matched can be Siri searched too. It probably will then play the matched copy of the file (from iTunes servers) instead of your own ripped copy of the song (a downer if your rip is at a higher quality) but most of a library should be Siri searchable and Siri playable if one has Match.

Apparently, whatever doesn't Match can be uploaded to iCloud and that can be Siri searched and played too.

Apparently what doesn't work is asking Siri to find and/or play anything unmatched that is sitting on your own hard drive(s).

 

[citysnaps]

I don't own Apple TV. I went from Roku to Amazon Fire TV. I just checked Apple TV spec and I was not very clear whether Apple TV can process Dolby Digital surround sound or just passed it through HDMI. If it process it down to two channel stereo, then HomePod may be useful with Apple TV. But if it's not, then watching any 5.1 program on Netflix result in static sound or no sound. On the other hand I am not sure whether 5.1 sound can be transmitted over airplay and whether HomePod can process it. But if you are watching most of the content on two channel stereo, HomePod will work definitely. But then it's a tiny speaker. I don't know how big of a soundstage can it create. Wait for it see it in the store and then make your call.

"But then it's a tiny speaker. I don't know how big of a soundstage can it create"

I don't know either. But reports so far say the soundstage is wide and the quality is very good. Likely due to HomePod's signal processing and adaptive beamforming.



"Wait for it see it in the store and then make your call"

Better yet...I ordered one and will evaluate it in my own home and slightly unusual listening environment. Much better than in a huge noisy store with loads of people nearby. I'll have 14 days of listening to make an assessment, and if it doesn't work well, I can easily return it with zero hassle.

 

[motulist]

"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.

That's not what mono means. Mono means the sound is coming out of a single general location.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaural

 

[Mark Booth]

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...

Good point. But the big negative about having two SONOS ONEs in each room is that's two electrical outlets they have to be placed near and two spots you have to find to place them.

I'm hoping that SONOS creates a speaker that is a much closer direct competitor to the HomePod. Similar size and fidelity with Alexa built-in. I only want to worry about placing a single speaker in each room. I do NOT want the hassle of a separate ECHO Dot with each speaker.

If Apple had allowed SIRI-activated Pandora (and Spotify) the HomePod would be IDEAL. I want to be able to walk into a room and say "Hey Siri, play Pandora Easy Listening channel".

Mark

 

[deanthedev]

HomePod is not a mono speaker. Apple specifically states that audio is split into left/center/right channels. The issue regarding the "stereo pair" is that two Homepods provide two woofers, so technically every level of audio (high/mid/low) can be split into more than one channel. With a single HomePod, high/mid range is split, while the low can't be split due to only one woofer.

People keep missing this point. They’re also applying a logical fallacy to Apples comments about a stereo pair.

Apple said:

“With advanced beamforming capabilities, a HomePod pair is able to create a wider, more immersive soundstage than a traditional stereo pair.”

Of course a stereo pair of speakers placed some distance apart will have a wider soundstage than a single speaker. But the opposite isn’t true - that a single speaker has ZERO soundstage. This is what people assume - the HomePod is not only mono (false) it also has no soundstage (also false).

 

[KeithJenner]

That's not how I read it. It specifically states that it will play songs *purchased* in iTunes - i.e. not songs that are ripped off cds - and only songs that are uploaded to the icloud. I have 70 gigs of music in my library, the chance of me uploading that to iCloud is nil. As far as I read it, you can only play music from your iTunes library if (a) it has been actually purchased through iTunes, and (b) if it has been uploaded to iCloud. Am I wrong? Am I missing something?

You are getting mixed up between the ability to use Siri to play music or to Airplay it from your iTunes library.

In order to be able to play the songs directly from the HomePod (to be able to say "Hey Siri, play this album by that band) you need the music to be either purchased from the iTunes store, or uploaded to the cloud via iTunes Match or Apple Music.

However, if the music is in your iTunes library you can airplay it to the HomePod, ragardless of the source.

 

[OllyW]

This has been noted in multiple hands-on reviews with the HomePod thus far.

I haven't read any reviews yet. I've read about a few tech journos and bloggers having short listening demos in a controlled environment where they were able to listen to "upwards of five songs" but no one has actually reviewed it yet.

 

[deanthedev]

8W outut? You want to watch a movie with only 8W speaker output? Even if you have an internal battery supply extra power for the speaker, what then? 13W? Really. The AppleTV's main allure is movies in 4K+HDR (or just 4K with great sound).

Where did you hear the HomePod only has 8W of output?

 

[KeithJenner]

Ok... I did already..

Wow, that's great for you.

Not that I care one little bit.