Apple Shares New Video on Getting the Most From HomePod

[The Game 161]

To get the most out of it, don't use Siri, it is useless.

Not much buying it if you aren't going to use Siri at all.

 

[gnasher729]

I have a large open floor plan loft. Nowhere was safe to watch the video without my Homepod responding to the narrator's voice. I'm presently listening to "Party Music" that has been interrupted with an attempt to send a text message and a read out of the weather. Not really complaining, just thought it was funny.

So Siri works just fine then, unlike the amazon and google fans are telling us?
[doublepost=1518978850][/doublepost]

You are a very lucky person. I’m trying to convince my gf that I need another for the living room. The reply is “it’s your money”, but I think we can all read between the lines there...

Well, depends on whether your money is your money or her money...

 

[spazzcat]

Please forgive me for my bad English, its' not my native language.
So, let me try again. I am a huge Apple fan. I am using Apple devices for almost 10 years now.
And I will repeat it again......if Home .......Pod can't be used as a bluetooth speaker with any other device, not even with MBP it is just plain stupid. Thank you.

Go bluetooth speaker if that is what you need/want...

 

[vipergts2207]

The Sonos founder says they're not in the same ballpark and I've actually compared them and they're not in the same ballpark. Funny, how actual facts seem to not matter at all. No, not close to same ballpark especially when your not using it in a traditional living room space where you can sit just in front of the speakers. That's most use case in many houses.

It's almost as if you don't understand what 'in the same ballpark means'.

 

[spazzcat]

To get the most out of it, don't use Siri, it is useless.

I use Siri daily, is prefect no, but I also use echo's, and are they perfect, nope... Siri is great in my car for reading and responding to message. I have no issues setting timers, alarms or reminders. Have no issues controlling my house, in fact, Siri is faster then the Echo's at doing home stuff. I don't use a voice control for asking random questions.

 

[gnasher729]

Nah. It's a good apple product. You guys are just hardcore salty Sonos fanboys evangelizing/preaching their preferred product like you are offering heaven or second life. (or maybe you guys are just sockpuppets of Sonos to make some online noise)

I think you got that wrong. The only thing most of them know about Sonos is that they are selling something that is trying to compete with an Apple product. That’s enough if someone hates Apple for whatever reason.

 

[spazzcat]

Nah. It's a good apple product. You guys are just hardcore salty Sonos fanboys evangelizing/preaching their preferred product like you are offering heaven or second life. (or maybe you guys are just sockpuppets of Sonos to make some online noise)

I have both, Sonos are good in small rooms like my office and bathroom. The HP is amazing in my living room. The Play:1 was ok in that space, but the HP fills the space with sound. And I still can't get over how Siri can hear you even when you have the music blasting.

 

[gnasher729]

My HomePod was SO confused with me playing this video out loud. I now also have a reminder to make more cookies in an hour.

Excellent idea.
[doublepost=1518979651][/doublepost]

I have both, Sonos are good in small rooms like my office and bathroom. The HP is amazing in my living room. The Play:1 was ok in that space, but the HP fills the space with sound. And I still can't get over how Siri can hear you even when you have the music blasting.

That’s probably because it’s the HomePod playing the music, so it takes the microphone input and subtracts what it is playing itself.

 

[Edsel]

HomePod Siri sucks, but I love HomePod's acoustics. Siri on my iPhone will occasionally respond to my HomePod Siri music requests. Lot's of other issues with Siri but maybe I'm not yelling loud enough for Siri to understand my orders to her. I think Siri needs a hearing-aid.

 

[gnasher729]

I completely disagree. HomePod is very good, simple, and intuitive *IF* you are an Apple Music subscriber. HomePod isn’t Apple’s home audio solution. It’s an Apple Music accessory. You want it to do things it was never designed or intended to do.

I completely disagree. HomePod is a decent quality speaker that is tiny, fits into any living room, is very easy to set up, and sounds good everywhere in the room, even if the room is badly fit for quality sound.
[doublepost=1518980712][/doublepost]

If you say "Hey Siri volume 50" will both HomePods go to 50% volume?

I’d expect the one that is further away to play a bit louder to compensate for the distance.
[doublepost=1518980986][/doublepost]

Please forgive me for my bad English, its' not my native language.
So, let me try again. I am a huge Apple fan. I am using Apple devices for almost 10 years now.
And I will repeat it again......if Home .......Pod can't be used as a bluetooth speaker with any other device, not even with MBP it is just plain stupid. Thank you.

I’m that case it’s your problem. iTunes on the Mbp plays on HomePod just fine without any Bluetooth.
[doublepost=1518981211][/doublepost]

If Apple cared so much about privacy, and Homepod could work standalone without any connection to phone or internet to do smart automation.. that would be huge.

Turn your home router off.
[doublepost=1518981519][/doublepost]

The question I have is how does a HomePod react being fed a purely mono signal (which is what it looks like Airfoil is doing sending L & R to each specific HomePod). How can a HomePod create a wide soundstage when it’s fed what is essentially a mono signal? How does the signal processing in the HomePod react when it doesn’t have a stereo signal where it can compare the audio content of both channels to decide how to create that soundstage?

If you give it a mono signal then it can only play plain mono. If you give left and right mono to two HomePods you get plain stereo at best.

 

[Mtmspa]

Apples HomePad has not the slightest chance to kill Sonos at this price point with this limited usage possibility. I expect the usual "That's what they said about the iPod, iPhone etc." answer, but this time really IS different. At least if Apple doesn't open up the HomePod to other music services besides AppleMusic.

Appl never made a HomePad, but the HomePod is so much better than Sonos. My Play5 is the closet collecting dust.

 

[tywebb13]

I suspect Apple’s solution is going to provide every bit as good of a stereo effect and perhaps even better.

You are probably right and I probably will switch over to apple’s version of stereo when it comes out.

There is another reason I probably would be inclined to do so. Airfoil is only available for mac or windows. Not iphone. But before I got stereo homepods working with airfoil I mostly used my iphone to airplay music, not my mac.

So if apple’s stereo gets it going on the iphone too then that will be awesome.

On the other hand there is also another functionality in airfoil. It also gives you an equaliser for each homepod. I tinkered with it a bit and it works.

So will apple’s version also provide an equaliser? Probably not actually. So that functionality may be lost when I switch over.

But I haven’t had to use the equaliser much, so it may not be that much of a loss.

 

[RickInHouston]

You are WRONG. First, it's HomePod, not Home Pod. Second, it's with, not whit. Third, it's iPhone, not Iphone.

An iPhone or iPad is needed to set up HomePod. After that you can send music to it with any AirPlay compatible device.

But you already knew that when you posted. You only posted to troll the topic. Please go away.

Mark

Wow. That was kind of creepy to read.
[doublepost=1518987467][/doublepost]

Either you know nothing about Sonos or you are trolling. Sonos offers a wide variety of home audio components, none of which compete with HomePod. Until Apple offers a HomePod sub, sound bar, surround sound support, and the ability to use one’s own speakers, Sonos has nothing to worry about. I have Sonance speakers built in to my walls and ceilings, all connected to Sonos Connect:Amp boxes. I can’t replicate this setup with HomePod. HomePod isn’t a home audio solution like Sonos offers. It’s an Apple Music accessory.

[doublepost=1518987684][/doublepost]

Sonos is a dead man walking...

I took a Sonos connect, had the clock ripped out of it and added a slave clock that reduced jitter to almost zero. This allows it to rival $5 - 10k CD transports. Then connected it to an outboard Berkeley Audio DAD.

Sonos is too flexible and open to be a dead man walking.

 

[Guy Clark]

The Sonos founder says they're not in the same ballpark and I've actually compared them and they're not in the same ballpark. Funny, how actual facts seem to not matter at all. No, not close to same ballpark especially when your not using it in a traditional living room space where you can sit just in front of the speakers. That's most use case in many houses.
[doublepost=1518977366][/doublepost]

You actually don't for most wood tables, just those with particular types of finishes that few have (because they're more delicate and fragile). You're Ikea wood tables don't need coasters/

I don't possess IKEA furniture

 

[Black Tiger]

well, objectively, while Apple's competitors have created "smart" audio devices that embrace the entire ecosystem of audio options available to consumers, Apple has decided to wall out those who don't participate in their "pay wall". Tell me, what do you have to say about that?

Apple is selling it as an Apple Music accessory, primarily. You don’t have to like it, but they didn’t set out to do anything else nor do they claim it to be anything else.

 

[inkswamp]

Hey MR, where’s the dislike option?

Really? You'd dislike a post pointing out that a $350 product of this type doesn't have Bluetooth connectivity? That's a no-brainer. I love Apple products, but there's nothing wrong with expecting better of them and pointing when they blew it. Not including the ability to stream audio from other devices via Bluetooth was a boneheaded move.

 

[Vasilioskn]

Yeah not sure what they were thinking. Bluetooth should’ve been included , and that alone stops me from buying it. Hopefully HomePod 2 will have bluetooth but I doubt it will.

 

[spazzcat]

Yeah not sure what they were thinking. Bluetooth should’ve been included , and that alone stops me from buying it. Hopefully HomePod 2 will have bluetooth but I doubt it will.

The HP has BT 5.0 in it, the question is will Apple turn it on. Personally I don't care, I only use BT in my car and when I am using headphones. But I know some people want it, even though airplay and airplay 2 (when ready) are better in this use case.
[doublepost=1518995001][/doublepost]

Really? You'd dislike a post pointing out that a $350 product of this type doesn't have Bluetooth connectivity? That's a no-brainer. I love Apple products, but there's nothing wrong with expecting better of them and pointing when they blew it. Not including the ability to stream audio from other devices via Bluetooth was a boneheaded move.

What do you want to stream BT from?

 

[marmotte]

So much disdain for the HomePod. I’m curious how many have tested the HomePod before they actually disparage against the sound produced. Give this Product some time, it will continually improve though software updates.

I already have two HomePods, one in the living room and one near the kitchen. The sound quality is just amazing and I stream music from my desktop (where my iTunes library is located) over Airplay to my dekstop speakers and one or both of the homepods depending on what I do. I use Airfoil to control which speakers get what (note this only works with music, not with movies as AirFoil introduces a delay in the music: the video and sound would be (are) out of synch if played through AirFoil). AirFOil's Equalizer feature is also especially useful to control the bass levels: the HomePods are really powerful, especially on the bass and my neighbors would not appreciate too much.

I do not subscribe to Apple music and do not intend to.
I have not enabled the messaging features
Both HomePods are set on wood furniture and there is no ring stain underneath either one after one week+

So far so good.

 

[dazz87]

Google uses your information as a seperate revenue source

Home doesn’t work with Apple Music

Home doesn’t work with podcast app

Home doesn’t work with AirPlay and probably won’t ever work with Airplay 2

The Max is too big (and ugly) for many of the places people put HomePods

The Max doesn’t have 360 sound

The Max won’t get AirPlay 2 Control

You forgot one more thing. The Home does not leave a white ring on your wooden table.

 

[citysnaps]

You forgot one more thing. The Home does not leave a white ring on your wooden table.

Has that been tested with wood furniture treated/finished with Danish Oil? That's the culprit. Not wood by itself.

 

[MacAddict1978]

Already have 2 Sonos Play:3 in a stereo pair..while it might have better app functionality, the sound is barely equal for that stereo pair compared to one HomePod.....could the Sonos: One be better? Maybe, but I'm not risking it at this point.

So far, have yet to see a review where the Sonos One as a stereo pair has not been labeled as better. With it currently having Alexa and Google Assistant dropping any time now, would be my pick. And no matter how good one singular speaker is, having more than one in different areas of a room is always going to be a better and more immersive listening experience.
*You can also get the pair of Sono for $349.
[doublepost=1518999578][/doublepost]

Google uses your information as a seperate revenue source

Home doesn’t work with Apple Music

Home doesn’t work with podcast app

Home doesn’t work with AirPlay and probably won’t ever work with Airplay 2

The Max is too big (and ugly) for many of the places people put HomePods

The Max doesn’t have 360 sound

The Max won’t get AirPlay 2 Control

Google uses your information as a seperate revenue source

Home doesn’t work with Apple Music

Home doesn’t work with podcast app

Home doesn’t work with AirPlay and probably won’t ever work with Airplay 2

The Max is too big (and ugly) for many of the places people put HomePods

The Max doesn’t have 360 sound

The Max won’t get AirPlay 2 Control

You mean Google uses information to give you answers, results, and an expereince that doesn't make you want to hurl Siri, I mean, your phone, at an oncoming Mac Truck and actually knows about you to be useful?

The Max has also been besting the Home Pod in most reviews. HomePod doesn't really have 360 degree sound either unless you have it on a table in the middle of a room. You know, having the rear of such a thing facing the wall defeats the purpose which is why the Max with more watts and power facing forward makes a bit more sense.

You must not know much about how speakers work or you wouldn't make that comment.

Sound projects.... projecting into a wall can make said sound, sound awful. Have you noticed that in all of Apple's demos and videos that sucker is always in a magical center of a table (with carefully hidden cords)? When they demoed it, it was in the middle of a space. Not saying it's not an awesome speaker because it is.

As for AirPlay, podcast app, etc.... well, I think being able to use any service you want is worth not having a proprietary lock down on your $350 speaker. Oh, and ever hear of Bluetooth?

There is more than Apple's copy cat services out there. Spotify... Google.... Amazon... to name but a few.

 

[skinned66]

Yeah not sure what they were thinking. Bluetooth should’ve been included , and that alone stops me from buying it.

I have no doubt people will be by here to tell you why that it's a good thing. I'm not one of those those people.

 

[R10k]

HomePod doesn't really have 360 degree sound either unless you have it on a table in the middle of a room. You know, having the rear of such a thing facing the wall defeats the purpose which is why the Max with more watts and power facing forward makes a bit more sense.

*facepalm*

 

[bmwhd]

I really wanted this to be good. Waited until I read enough reviews and then spent $84 on an Echo 2. Love it.