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Apple Receives FCC Approval for HomePod, Suggesting a Launch Could Come Soon
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I think people are forgetting that the HomePod is aimed to be a higher end speaker, yes the Echo and Google have speakers but the HomePod is suppose to be a lot better. Do people remember the early reviews back in June last year?
"HomePod puts vocals in a direct center channel, and beams ambient sounds around for what Apple says is a more omnidirectional music experience. I walked around, and it sounded good from multiple parts of the room. Apple said HomePod can separate vocals and other parts of the music via Apple Music, but that more recent recordings will perform the separation better […]
HomePod came off as bolder and more vivid than Sonos Play:3 in the experience I tried, and a lot better than Amazon Echo. I’d also say the music sounded consistently vivid and crisp in a quiet space, more so than the Sonos and Amazon comparisons on-hand." - CNET
"The HomePod however, sounded crisp and bright no matter the musical genre fed through it — it rendered The Eagles as well it did Kendrick Lamar. As a reminder, there’s a huge woofer and seven tweeters inside, all meant to make audio sound as vivid as possible no matter where you are in a room. It works. The PLAY:3 was generally very good, but audio felt remarkably closed off when I wasn’t sitting right in front of it. If listening to the HomePod was like listening to a CD, then audio through the Echo sounded like AM radio." - The Verge
A lot of people have been comparing the HomePod to Amazon Echo's and Google Home devices (which was expected) BUT they have been doing it on the voice assistant side, a lot of people seem to be forgetting the speaker and sound side.
ALL of those review's (back in June) spoke about how good the HomePod is as a speaker and how much better it was compared to the Echo, Google Home and even competes well with Sonos.
"As Sia’s The Greatest played out, the HomePod sounded impressive: strong bass rang out – which was perhaps the overriding audio takeaway for the speaker – but the vocals still seemed sharp and crisp.
In comparison, the Sonos Play:3 appeared uncharacteristically flat, while the Amazon Echo felt almost pedestrian.
We listened to Superstition by Stevie Wonder and DNA by Kendrick Lamar. Both sounded good on the Sonos but appeared punchier and louder on the HomePod. As we moved around the room, the HomePod managed to project in every direction, with no discernible sweet spot.
We also heard a pair of HomePods playing a live recording of Hotel California by The Eagles. The attention to detail was striking, with different instruments sounding discretely realised. Did we feel like we were at the concert? Maybe not, but it did sound powerful." - What HiFi
https://9to5mac.com/2017/06/06/homepod-review-sound-quality-audio-quality-hifi/
Personally i think this is where the HomePod will shine! The assistant side of it will get better over time with Apple probably adding new Siri features for the HomePod (don't forget that WWDC is in June).
"HomePod puts vocals in a direct center channel, and beams ambient sounds around for what Apple says is a more omnidirectional music experience. I walked around, and it sounded good from multiple parts of the room. Apple said HomePod can separate vocals and other parts of the music via Apple Music, but that more recent recordings will perform the separation better […]
HomePod came off as bolder and more vivid than Sonos Play:3 in the experience I tried, and a lot better than Amazon Echo. I’d also say the music sounded consistently vivid and crisp in a quiet space, more so than the Sonos and Amazon comparisons on-hand." - CNET
"The HomePod however, sounded crisp and bright no matter the musical genre fed through it — it rendered The Eagles as well it did Kendrick Lamar. As a reminder, there’s a huge woofer and seven tweeters inside, all meant to make audio sound as vivid as possible no matter where you are in a room. It works. The PLAY:3 was generally very good, but audio felt remarkably closed off when I wasn’t sitting right in front of it. If listening to the HomePod was like listening to a CD, then audio through the Echo sounded like AM radio." - The Verge
A lot of people have been comparing the HomePod to Amazon Echo's and Google Home devices (which was expected) BUT they have been doing it on the voice assistant side, a lot of people seem to be forgetting the speaker and sound side.
ALL of those review's (back in June) spoke about how good the HomePod is as a speaker and how much better it was compared to the Echo, Google Home and even competes well with Sonos.
"As Sia’s The Greatest played out, the HomePod sounded impressive: strong bass rang out – which was perhaps the overriding audio takeaway for the speaker – but the vocals still seemed sharp and crisp.
In comparison, the Sonos Play:3 appeared uncharacteristically flat, while the Amazon Echo felt almost pedestrian.
We listened to Superstition by Stevie Wonder and DNA by Kendrick Lamar. Both sounded good on the Sonos but appeared punchier and louder on the HomePod. As we moved around the room, the HomePod managed to project in every direction, with no discernible sweet spot.
We also heard a pair of HomePods playing a live recording of Hotel California by The Eagles. The attention to detail was striking, with different instruments sounding discretely realised. Did we feel like we were at the concert? Maybe not, but it did sound powerful." - What HiFi
https://9to5mac.com/2017/06/06/homepod-review-sound-quality-audio-quality-hifi/
Personally i think this is where the HomePod will shine! The assistant side of it will get better over time with Apple probably adding new Siri features for the HomePod (don't forget that WWDC is in June).
For me, Apple TV is one of the BEST Apple products of all time! It's replaced a DVD player, BluRay and satellite. Loved this baby for seven years now. With my Red Bull Sports, World Surf League, Vimeo, Mubi, M2M and 4K Dolby Vision iTunes films its truly perfect! Along with Apple Homesharing & Airplay. I love it!
I think there are different markets out there. I have three Echo dots and use them mainly to control things around the house like lighting, heating, alarms, cameras and even home theatre etc.
I have a high end Audio system for listening to music but a quick check of weather or time and setting an alarm is pretty good on the echo.
Right, but that is the problem with HomePod. As someone who owns just about every major Apple product, even multiples, I won't buy a HomePod because I already have room filling speakers -- those have been around for sometime now by many great home audio brands.
I DO want a smart speaker system and I DO want that system to be Homekit compatible. I don't need big speakers in every room of my house. A Dot-sized speaker will do well in many. So basically Apple is leaving money on the table here focusing mostly on (Apple) Music rather than Homekit-as-a-whole, even though HomePod is a Homekit hub. It's not that HomePod is a bad product or overpriced, it's that it's an incomplete one, and as a result extremely niche.
Actually that’s 100% wrong. The iPhone was innovative. The HomePod is a me to product with some tweaks. Tell me what it does that I cannot do with any other smart home speaker that’s game changing? The original iPhone anology is 100% Incorrect.
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Dude. Please move on. Steve is long gone.
Because their opinion is worth less and must be less accurate than yours?
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Powerful sound speaker? Not sure about that. Will have to wait and see. Personally I've always had a sub to go with my separates and I can't ever see that changing.
A full range sound system is like the difference between AM and FM radio. By 'powerful' you don't mean full range or powerful either maybe unless you've seen the specs?
Don't even now if I'd call it stereo.
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Sure. When some people only come here to rag on Apple, almost every day of the week, intentionally creating a toxic environment, yes, their opinions on other matters, assuming they have one, for me, can be safely ignored.
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I'm curious about the logistics of selling this thing. The point of this is the audio quality but where can you hear before you buy? Apple stores are too crowded an noisy most of the time, so will they create an isolated room within the store where you can listen to it? Do you just have to buy on blind faith?
When Apple last forayed in to the audio realm with the HiFi the thing didn't sound any better than competitors which had significantly lower price points and had the glaring flaw of poising your iPod atop the speaker as an easy target for injury while simultaneously eliminating the portability of the thing. I recall in particular that Altec Lansing had a speaker that held the iPod securely, ran on batteries or power and was ½ the cost.
I hope that lesson is still in the forefront of those who created this product and the lessons applied liberally.
When Apple last forayed in to the audio realm with the HiFi the thing didn't sound any better than competitors which had significantly lower price points and had the glaring flaw of poising your iPod atop the speaker as an easy target for injury while simultaneously eliminating the portability of the thing. I recall in particular that Altec Lansing had a speaker that held the iPod securely, ran on batteries or power and was ½ the cost.
I hope that lesson is still in the forefront of those who created this product and the lessons applied liberally.
A lot of analysts have asked that question. In some of the flagship stores they can set up listening rooms, but overall it will be difficult to explain to people why this isn’t just an overpriced echo if they can’t hear the audio quality difference.
At the Apple stores near me, they have these on display and I can easily tell that they sound great, even in the noisy environment.
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...34611f1ea41eefe24054b866b245104357d36160159ec
After purchasing HomePod and making an assessment in my house, should I not like how it performs, I would take advantage of Apple's 14 day day return policy.
I purchased my Apple Watch two years ago assuming I probably wouldn't like it, but still wanting to give it a fair shake actually having it on my wrist and using it for a week or two. And that I'd likely return it since I hadn't worn a watch in 10 years. After 3 or 4 days it was clear I would not be sending it back. It's been on my wrist at least 12 hours a day, every day, ever since.
I also purchased an iPhone X with that return policy in mind, not sure I'd like FaceID. Turns out the X was a keeper as well.
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Gonna hold off until I hear some reviews but right now I have two Sonos Play 1's paired as stereo and one Echo dot that I can tell Alexa to play anything I want from many diff music services to the Sonos and it sounds GREAT!
2 Sonos play 1's paired and a Echo dot for the same price as only 1 HomePod ...HMMMMMM
2 Sonos play 1's paired and a Echo dot for the same price as only 1 HomePod ...HMMMMMM
Taken in mass, people don't care about sound quality once it has achieved an average level of quality. They almost always care about price. The few who do care about sound will have to also be Apple fans, because there are better sounding systems that are easier to integrate with non Apple components, and audiophiles tend to not let price be the most important factor unless the cost is truly astronomical.
Hehe, jarvis ^^
I don't know if I'll ever have the need for AI...
I mean, I can say "okay Google, please remind me to buy screwdrivers next time I'm near a tool shop" already (i didn't knew that 4 weeks ago). It works, it's handy, but i still just use it for fun sometimes and not on a regular basis...
Maybe AI in general just isn't there yet to be convenient to me :/
Circular array of seven tweeters with audio beam forming controlled by a CPU. That's not a "tweak". That's a completely different design and approach to compact system audio. Most systems just have forward facing speakers and maybe some built-in volume/mix controls that are connected to the microphone sampling of sound from the room. They can't balance the sound for any listening angle or do audio beam forming of specific parts of the mix for wider separation from a single unit. That's probably the biggest key: better separation from a single speaker, wider soundstage from a single speaker.
On par? The day it comes out it will leave them in the dust. Nothing remotely like it in terms of processing power or sound quality. Amazon and Google can only hope the cheap price and continuing lack of concern among many about privacy is sufficient to keep people buying them. To be fair, the point of the Echo and GA is not to provide a premium sound system, etc., but rather to get people to put them in their homes to get your data.
Your Google overlords thank you, but we respectfully request you move the Google mini in your bedroom a little closer to your bed as we are having trouble capturing everything you say when you are talking in your sleep.
Oh, and BTW, we were sorry to learn from scanning your gmail from your brother that he is having marital problems, but we've arranged for Starbucks to send you a pop up ad for his favorite coffee next Monday when you are driving by the Starbucks on 5th Avenue that you stop at before you go to work each day. We've also given that information to a law firm that specializes in high value divorces (impressive how much he earned last year!) in your brother's area, (nice house!) so he won't have to spend time searching for a firm, especially since we notice he seems to be pretty busy on Tinder these days. And don't worry, based on the photos he is uploading, he seems to be doing fairly well with the dating; although the latest photo matches someone who was in a news photo of people marching for less government control of the Internet, so might want to caution him about that, especially since he also donated last year to that politician who supported net neutrality.
Oops, sorry, got to run, we're getting another upload to Google doc's. Thanks again, for EVERYTHING.
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