It's not the sound quality that I'm disappointed with, nor is it the cost of the HomePod itself. It's the closed Apple music system. Yes you can airplay music from other devices or sources to the device, but it's not a straightforward procedure. As an example: Say you have a turntable, a vinyl album, and a HomePod. Any manner of playing the music that is on the LP using the HomePod is going to take multiple steps, probably multiple pieces of equipment and either Siri won't be usable at all or it will require a monthly or yearly subscription to an Apple service to be able to use it. Apple used to be known for good, simple, and intuitive. This isn't any of those.
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.