Apple Explains Why HomePod Was Released Again, Wi-Fi 4 Limitation, and More

[rubaxter]

I think both reasons are pretty obvious. For a stereo system you're always going to want matched speakers. You would never buy two different right/lefts in a home theater system. You'd also want a center channel from the same line as your right/lefts. Sure apple could work around it or let you do it anyway but why would they bother spending money to build something that isn't going to be great anyway.

On the wifi front, it's using an older wifi b/c it's using Apple Watch tech that probably only supports that Wifi. Plus it's not like streaming audio requires that much bandwidth that you need newer tech. It's fine and does the job.

To a CUSTOMER, "WANT" is what the consumer "WANTS", not some self-serving decision made, with lipstick added to hide the hog, as in the market twaddle used to justify the Apple BOTTOM-LINE-optimized design.

Yeah, it's not OPTIMAL, but what's even less 'optimal' is not being able to upgrade to the new model one-at-a-time, which allows auditioning by the CUSTOMER to see if the change is necessary.

That 'necessary' question is the one Apple has apparently decided in it's OWN interest, not the CUSTOMER'S.

 

[atomic.flip]

Making a fool out of yourself would be trying to turn $300 homepods into a 7.1 speaker system. There are better, more appropriate tools for the job.

LOL. I expect you have a windows PC in every corner of your home for when you need the right tool…. LOL Come on…

 

[Synomenon]

Apple's VP of hardware engineering Matthew Costello and product marketing employee Alice Chan recently spoke with Men's Journal and TechCrunch about the new second-generation HomePod in wide-ranging interviews about the smart speaker.

Apple discontinued the original full-size HomePod in March 2021 after multiple reports indicated that sales of the speaker were lackluster, but Chan told Men's Journal that Apple has since "heard more interest than ever for the acoustics of a richer larger speaker," leading the company to release another larger HomePod.

The new HomePod looks virtually identical to the original, although it is 0.2 inches shorter and has a larger edge-to-edge LED touchscreen on top. Costello told TechCrunch that Apple's teams "really love" this shape and form for the full-size HomePod and "were able to create a wonderful system within that structure."

Costello explained why the new HomePod is limited to the older Wi-Fi 4 standard, compared to Wi-Fi 6 on other modern Apple devices:He also elaborated on the inability to pair a new HomePod with an original HomePod:Apple told both media publications that the HomePod mini is "popular," but did not provide any additional details or comment on the future of the smaller speaker.

In his interview with Men's Journal, Costello provides additional details about the new HomePod's hardware and technologies, including the four-inch high-excursion woofer, tweeters, beamforming microphones, room-sensing capabilities, and more.

The new HomePod is available to pre-order for $299 and launches this Friday in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K., Japan, Australia, and select other countries. Check out our HomePod review roundup for a hands-on look at the speaker, which many reviewers found to have largely the same sound quality as the original.

Article Link: Apple Explains Why HomePod Was Released Again, Wi-Fi 4 Limitation, and More

Their "explanation" for the rollback to wifi 4 makes no sense. I know it's partly techincal in that the SOC they chose, is equipped with a wifi4 chipset, but still...

 

[atomic.flip]

To a CUSTOMER, "WANT" is what the consumer "WANTS", not some self-serving decision made, with lipstick added to hide the hog, as in the market twaddle used to justify the Apple BOTTOM-LINE-optimized design.

Yeah, it's not OPTIMAL, but what's even less 'optimal' is not being able to upgrade to the new model one-at-a-time, which allows auditioning by the CUSTOMER to see if the change is necessary.

That 'necessary' question is the one Apple has apparently decided in it's OWN interest, not the CUSTOMER'S.

Well said. And definitely true!

 

[MrENGLISH]

We haven't seen any real, objective reviews yet... only the friends of Apple pre-release "reviews" where the reviewer has a great financial incentive to stay on Apple's good side. What do I mean by that? By being first with reviews, they get large volume of eyeballs. Their models are generally advertising models getting them paid for high volumes of eyeballs. There's lots of future cash on the line if they lost that gravy train of first "reviews."

Be objectively critical and they may lose their "friends of Apple" status and thus no longer get to have first "reviews." That will cost them a LOT of advertising cash revenue. So they offer what I consider fluff reviews where even if they have something negative to say, they quickly downplay/marginalize whatever it is.

Real reviews will soon be posted by people who have purchased one themselves and do not have huge numbers of eyeball-driven advertising money on the line. These may lead to the same "excellent" and "sounds similar to the original" but I bet we'll see at least some that are more critical than the pre-release batch... because they are free to be objectively critical.

This doesn't mean these are dud products or anything- just poking at the idea that we've already seen trustworthy reviews. We have not. Those are coming soon.

I see that group of pre-release "influencers" as an extension of Apple Marketing. There is great income dependent on them never sharing anything negative enough to lose the advantage of being in that group.

Brian Tung has a great, non-biased comparison video. He is even taking a hit on ad revenue for this video buy using copyrighted music. He also used a binaural microphone to help capture the tests in 3D so the listener can make their own opinions on the sound tests if you listen with headphones on. Check it out HERE!

 

[Ries]

What would Wi-Fi 6 facilitate that Wi-Fi 4 can’t do?

That's just from WIFI 5->6, so multiply the numbers up for WIFI 4->5.

So not just better speed, but lower power consumption, better latency, better range, works better in networks with tons of clients, works better in dense wifi areas i.e apartments. So everything apple claims wifi-4 gives them, that statement is utter nonsense.

 

[Analog Kid]

To a CUSTOMER, "WANT" is what the consumer "WANTS", not some self-serving decision made, with lipstick added to hide the hog, as in the market twaddle used to justify the Apple BOTTOM-LINE-optimized design.

Yeah, it's not OPTIMAL, but what's even less 'optimal' is not being able to upgrade to the new model one-at-a-time, which allows auditioning by the CUSTOMER to see if the change is necessary.

That 'necessary' question is the one Apple has apparently decided in it's OWN interest, not the CUSTOMER'S.

Surely you've been around here long enough to predict the "I have two Homepods that both sound the same, but when I connect them in a stereo pair it sounds horrible, Apple really screwed this up" response.

 

[atomic.flip]

HomePods do spatial audio, so while on paper it's just a 2.0 system, the sound does surround the room on supported atmos content.

But still, true surround will always sound "Better".

I’m not sure if they do actual spatial audio. Being able to stream atmos audio tracks does not mean being able to replicate all the harmonic cues designed for 7.1.2 or 5.2.2 virtualization.

And I’m saying I’m not sure because I genuinely don’t know and haven’t tested this with my HomePods. If they do do that then I would say having two speakers doing good quality audio virtualization is pretty good for most listeners.

However…. If it’s just a flat stereo stream then no.

Either way, none of that prevents them from offering a multi stream audio experience using most than two speakers.

I won’t get into technicals but if you can stream a unique audio track to each speaker without limitation then you can queue up a multi track source and stream it to as many speakers in any way you like.

I suspect it’s the pain of coding for the synchronization and time code to ensure the audio plays simultaneously. It requires a bit more logic and they either haven’t the capability in processing hardware or they are just lazy or absent the talent to do so.

As an example. I’ve got essentially stupid bricks that have multichannel output in my studio. The software used for multitrack audio recording is what keeps the multiple streams in sync and allows us to send each individual track to a separate output.

There is NO MAGIC happening on the audio equipment. It’s all software.

 

[jcshas]

I understand that stereo pairing with a prior generation HomePod isn’t a fully optimized experience but Apple should let the consumer decide if it’s important to them.

 

[dannyyankou]

We haven't seen any real, objective reviews yet... only the friends of Apple pre-release "reviews" where the reviewer has a great financial incentive to stay on Apple's good side. What do I mean by that? By being first with reviews, they get large volume of eyeballs. Their models are generally advertising models getting them paid for high volumes of eyeballs. There's lots of future cash on the line if they lost that gravy train of first "reviews."

Be objectively critical and they may lose their "friends of Apple" status and thus no longer get to have first "reviews." That will cost them a LOT of advertising cash revenue. So they offer what I consider fluff reviews where even if they have something negative to say, they quickly downplay/marginalize whatever it is.

Real reviews will soon be posted by people who have purchased one themselves and do not have huge numbers of eyeball-driven advertising money on the line. These may lead to the same "excellent" and "sounds similar to the original" but I bet we'll see at least some that are more critical than the pre-release batch... because they are free to be objectively critical.

This doesn't mean these are dud products or anything- just poking at the idea that we've already seen trustworthy reviews. We have not. Those are coming soon.

I see that group of pre-release "influencers" as an extension of Apple Marketing. There is great income dependent on them never sharing anything negative enough to lose the lucrative advantage of staying in that group.

Soundguys gave a pretty good review of the original-

Apple HomePod review

The Apple HomePod has a good sound, a gorgeous design, and great microphones for picking up your voice, but there's still a lot you should know.

www.soundguys.com

 

[tonie walker]

…seems any 2nd Gen homepod article is a blockbuster!!!

Go grab one! Available tomorrow (Feb3) 😁

 

[Uofmtiger]

Surely you've been around here long enough to predict the "I have two Homepods that both sound the same, but when I connect them in a stereo pair it sounds horrible, Apple really screwed this up" response.

If they are using the same tweeters (I could not find an answer to that yet), I would be surprised if the pairing sounded horrible. They could always allow it on a settings screen via a feature you would need to turn on..with warnings.

 

[atomic.flip]

Really? I mean, at most you're streaming lossless audio at what, 576kbps? Even at Wifi 4 data rates, that's 0.1% of the available 600Mbps bandwidth. Yeah, there may be a WiFi 6 datagram waiting in the queue behind your audio packet, but your Homepod would pretty much need to be in the same room as and right next to your wireless router with enough antennas to support the spacial streams to get the top end speeds over other the more modern protocols.

Yes really. It really and truly does. WiFi is a pain and network congestion with slower devices absolutely degrades performance for faster ones. It’s honestly complex to explain why this happens so I really won’t here. But it’s really a good idea to isolate 2.4ghz wireless devices on their own network and have their own dedicated access point or “router”.

 

[atomic.flip]

If they are using the same tweeters (I could not find an answer to that yet), I would be surprised if the pairing sounded horrible. They could always allow it on a settings screen via a feature you would need to turn on..with warnings.

Come on. We all know this is the same kind of bs Apple peddles when ever they release “new” hardware. So many features and functions are firewalled for no other reason than to encourage people to upgrade needlessly. It’s manufactured or fabricated necessity.

Remember when the older iPad pros without an M1 chip absolutely COULD NOT EVER do multitasking in any acceptable way. So no stage manager for them. LOL. Apple backtracked on that one so fast because it was the biggest piece of garbage planned obsolescence pitch they’d had to date.

And they amazingly “made it work”.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Brian Tung has a great, non-biased comparison video. He is even taking a hit on ad revenue for this video buy using copyrighted music. He also used a binaural microphone to help capture the tests in 3D so the listener can make their own opinions on the sound tests if you listen with headphones on. Check it out HERE!

I liked. And I much appreciate blindfolded listening tests in which a moderator- hopefully- is not influencing the listener at all (as implied here).

That shared, I hate to spoil the outcome for anyone with 26 minutes to kill, but let's see if he remains in the "friends of Apple" club in the next new product review cycle. Sometimes, such reviewers seem to get confused into thinking their job is to objectively review. If he is no longer in the pre-release club, the other reviewers get an education of what NOT to do to keep the gravy train rolling.

 

[NT1440]

Come on. We all know this is the same kind of bs Apple peddles when ever they release “new” hardware. So many features and functions are firewalled for no other reason than to encourage people to upgrade needlessly. It’s manufactured or fabricated necessity.

Remember when the older iPad pros without an M1 chip absolutely COULD NOT EVER do multitasking in any acceptable way. So no stage manager for them. LOL. Apple backtracked on that one so fast because it was the biggest piece of garbage planned obsolescence pitch they’d had to date.

And they amazingly “made it work”.

Don’t they not support external video?

So Apple released a gimped version of the feature but that’s somehow proving that the minimum standard feature they decided on originally was *completely* artificial?

 

[Uofmtiger]

I liked. I hate to spoil the outcome for anyone with 26 minutes to kill, but let's see if he remains in the "friends of Apple" club in the next new product review cycle.

Even if you are not in the friends of Apple club, it doesn't necessarily mean you are going to do a critical review. A lot of the articles/videos I have seen that come out later than this group simply parrot the influencers. I guess we will see how it goes, but I am not expecting to see many blind comparisons or that kind of thing. Kudos to Brian Tong, though, for giving use something besides fiuff.

 

[Dudebro101]

"Explains"

 

[lssmit02]

Aren’t newer Wifi standards more efficient? I think this guy is talking out of his *** about wifi energy efficiency for a plugged in product.

Just admit you wanted to use cheaper chips and don’t need higher speeds for a low res mp3 audio speaker ffs.

https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-certified-n On that page, the Wi-Fi Alliance suggests that 802.11n is appropriate for IOT devices, such as music streaming devices. One claimed benefit is longer range. There is also a suggestion on that page that the increased bandwidth requirements of wifi6 uses more energy.

This of course doesn’t mean Apple wasn’t just lazy and decided to use an SOC that only had wifi4.

 

[squirrellydw]

Everyone complaining about wifi 4 is hilarious, there is nothing wrong with it. Remember how Samsung always compared specs to the iphone. There is NO need to wifi 6 or above for a HomePod. It's just like my HDHomeRun, that only has a 100mb ethernet, there is no need for anything more and it handles 1080 video. Everyone complaining about it has no idea. Hell, most people still use an ISP provided router, you think they know anything but that's most of the people here complaining about it lol

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Even if you are not in the friends of Apple club, it doesn't necessarily mean you are going to do a critical review. A lot of the articles/videos I have seen that come out later than this group simply parrot the influencers. I guess we will see how it goes, but I am not expecting to see many blind comparisons or that kind of thing. Kudos to Brian Tong, though, for giving use something besides fiuff.

Right, that's part of why I think Apple plays this friends of Apple game. Those first "reviews" also get most of the press hungry for new information about the new products. It's all very good marketing.

Myself? I generally wait until after public release and then look for new reviews by people who don't seem to be in that club. Generally, they too will be pretty positive because Apple generally makes pretty good stuff. But the difference in what they say vs. the friends group tends to show.

 

[QandnotU]

Correct me if I'm wrong. The HomePod mini has Bluetooth 5.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi. The new HomePod has the same components. Is anyone experiencing any issues with the HomePod mini that you're claiming is going to be an issue on the new HomePod? Wouldn't you think if this hardware was causing issues on the mini, that Apple would release a product that would suffer the same fate? Long story short folks, Settle down.

 

[mjs916]

The funny thing is HomePod is not even out yet so why do they have their Defense Shields 🛡️ on already? 🤥

 

[Analog Kid]

Yes really. It really and truly does. WiFi is a pain and network congestion with slower devices absolutely degrades performance for faster ones. It’s honestly complex to explain why this happens so I really won’t here. But it’s really a good idea to isolate 2.4ghz wireless devices on their own network and have their own dedicated access point or “router”.

If you could get into it a bit more, it would make this a more interesting conversation. 802.11b had coexistence issues with 802.11n because of the shift from DSSS (BPSK) to OFDM modulation, but n and ac and ax use a common modulation scheme that makes this easier. ac and ax have more subcarriers available on the wider channels, and more QPSK modulation points if your SNRs are high enough, but I don't see how an n device would interfere with that. If you can fill in those details, I'd be interested.

The 2.4GHz network is isolated from the 5GHz and 6GHz networks already because they're on different radios.

 

[David1964]

Still no 7.1 speaker setup. C’mon Apple it’s 2023 for crying out loud.

What difference does the year make?