Apple Unveils $349 HomePod Smart Speaker to be Available in December

[LotusLord]

The price is higher than I'd like but I'm sure those that are security conscious to the point of not wanting Google Home or Alexa in their homes will be willing to pay it, assuming they're already in the Apple ecosystem. It's something I'd consider since I don't have either a Home or Echo, but not at full price. I was expecting them to say 500 though to be honest.

 

[paul4339]

Exactly! I am not going to replace my SONOS speakers (which I love) with this for the current capabilities Siri does (not) have.

Very good point. SONOS fans just love their product - it just works and sounds very good. There are drawbacks though, such as 'smart' features that it doesn't have yet. If they ever team up with Google ...

 

[usamaah]

Why would you think it can't do stereo with seven beamforming tweeters?

I mean.. true audiophiles wouldn't stand for beamforming tweeters right? Real stereo requires two speakers.

 

[Anuba]

I'd love it if this thing has a sound that matches the price.

Unfortunately, Apple's history isn't too encouraging in this department.We know the drill by now. They make a video and illustrate some supposedly groundbreaking engineering feat with 3D animation while Jony Ive rambles on about how they "confribulated the epicircumference by drilling microscopic millicanals in the lusciously chamfered silifoam conundrums, thereby achieving a total vortehex scintillation from the forward backdraft of the luxurious richness of... whatever this poem is about". Then we scream take my money please, run out and buy the thing and find that it actually sounds kind of meh and that the engineering feats amount to nothing that makes any practical difference.

5 years ago they introduced the EarPods like they were the second coming of Christ. Jony Ive's voiceover said "Delivering incredible sound" ... "To optimize the acoustics, we built in a series of ports, each with its own unique purpose. A port on the back tunes midrange frequencies..." "To provide rich, powerful bass, we built ports into the stem"... "sound is so important to the way you experience an Apple product, so we wanted to make a headphone that was absolutely the best it could be". Apple also said that the EarPods "rival high-end headphones that cost hundreds of dollars more".

In the end the sound turned out to be rather pedestrian. The highest praise you could give the EarPods is that they sound "not entirely awful" or "OK-ish for free buds that came in the box". I have a sneaking suspicion that this whole thing with the 7 tweeters and the active acoustics analysis will amount to nothing more than a speaker that sounds like any run of the mill Sony BT speaker.

 

[mpavilion]

Modern wifi has a much higher throughput than your CD player. By that I mean I think is capable of moving many MANY times more data per second. If you play the right files, it will sounds BETTER than your cds. That's reliant on the files being played to be of high enough quality, of course.

Gotcha, thanks... but I suppose the bottleneck is whatever throughput is used by a streaming service (as opposed to someone streaming lossless files via Wifi to their home network, who's not at the mercy of Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon, etc.).

 

[Foggy82]

this is speaker - before judging it would be nice to hear how it plays. speakers prices range from 5$ to 50000$ , how can we say if it's overpriced or not?

I love my sonos setup and I honestly dont thin it's overpriced. Curious to hear the HomePods (horrible name btw), even if I dont think can replace the playbar+sub from Sonos.

 

[CrystalQuest76]

It looks great and probably does sound good. However, that price is too high and I will not be adding that to my collection of apple products. There is nothing there that is a must have that justifies such a price.
Saving money is not a crime.

 

[swajames]

Why would you think it can't do stereo with seven beamforming tweeters?

Sonos separates the audio into left and right channels and directs each channel to the relevant unit if you run two Sonos speakers as a stereo pair. You can also add a sub to your stereo pair if you like. It's not clear from what Apple has shown so far if two HomePods would similarly be fed independent L/R audio, as Sonos does, or just plays the exact same thing on each speaker if you happen to have two in close proximity.

 

[jon3543]

I have a sneaking suspicion that this whole thing with the 7 tweeters and the active acoustics analysis will amount to nothing more than a speaker that sounds like any run of the mill Sony BT speaker.

I'll be interested to see how the HomePods with 7 tweeters fares against the Bose Revolve with its 1 driver, period. I just bought the Revolve to replace a bedroom system with Denon receiver and Energy RC Mini speakers, and I'm highly impressed with the first Bose product I've ever owned. For what I use it for, it is a very worthy replacement, and it even sounds good fairly loud. I listen to a wide variety of music (rock, jazz, classical, etc) but no rap or the bizarre crap so many Youtube reviewers are so fond of.

 

[az431]

The "home pod." A new music speaker for your home. With A8chip and It has Siri. You don't have to be near it. It can hear you across the room. And doesn't need a direct command it can interpret what you're saying. It's everything I never knew I wanted. Lol
I was interested until it said it had a mic. Of course. So they can listen to you. Invading your privacy just like amazon echo. They want to hear everything you talk about. What you like. They chip your card now they know what you buy what you eat where you spend your money.
They put that selfie camera so they can look at you.
Wake up people! Don't buy into this garbage.

Did you bother reading Apple's privacy policy, or is this a baseless knee jerk reaction to the fact that it has a microphone?

 

[kdarling]

Why would you think it can't do stereo with seven beamforming tweeters?

1. Apple's own web page on the product never uses the word "stereo".

2. Review articles state that it takes TWO HomePods to get stereo.

Google "homepod stereo". You basically get:

Apple HomePod release date, news and features | TechRadar
www.techradar.com/news/homepod-release-date-news-and-features
4 hours ago - Unveiled at WWDC 2017, the Apple HomePod is Apple's answer to Amazon Echo ... You can also pair two of the speakers together for a stereo ...

Apple's answer to the Amazon Echo is the $349 HomePod smart ...
www.slate.com/.../apple_s_answer_to_the_amazon_echo_is_the_349_homepod_smar...
2 hours ago - You can also link it to another HomePod in the same room for true stereo sound, or to other AirPlay 2-compatible speakers elsewhere in the ...

HomePod Is Apple's Answer to Amazon Echo | Variety
variety.com/.../apple-introduces-homepod-a-smart-home-audio-speaker-1202454010/
4 hours ago - Apple Announces Smart Home Audio Speaker HomePod ... They will be able to pair twoHomePod speakers for a stereo setup, and the sound ...

etc.

 

[rogerdee123]

I'm also a sonos user and have several of their speakers in my home interconnected via the sonos mesh. Using my imagination I can envision Apple's speakers being more versatile than sonos. I definitely think there's a market for this. Although I agree "HomePod" is a dorky name for it. Let's wait and see how they sound playing music as I think great sound will be the key to success or failure.

 

[gnasher729]

The price is higher than I'd like but I'm sure those that are security conscious to the point of not wanting Google Home or Alexa in their homes will be willing to pay it, assuming they're already in the Apple ecosystem. It's something I'd consider since I don't have either a Home or Echo, but not at full price. I was expecting them to say 500 though to be honest.

The real question is: What is the sound like? It's a speaker.
[doublepost=1496705048][/doublepost]

I mean.. true audiophiles wouldn't stand for beamforming tweeters right? Real stereo requires two speakers.

You could start with two good speakers. But your room isn't perfect, so if you can figure out how to do it, then measuring the acoustics of the room should make it possible to produce better results.

 

[xnu]

It would be a cool design if somehow it worked with wireless charging and wireless charging was used throughout the product lines.... or if the new (i)mac pro somehow integrated some of those features, or if you could use an iPad screen on a Mac, or if you could use an Apple Pencil with anything Apple other than then the iPad Pro. But i guess the stuff would need to be made by the same Chinese company to have vertical integration like that.

 

[vintagebob]

Let's see, you take a high end Wi-Fi speaker...

Oppo Sonica Wi-Fi Speaker - $299

https://www.oppodigital.com/sonica/

...Add some iPhone functionality like Siri and HomeKit, etc.

You get a HomePod for $349.

Seems very reasonable to me.

 

[gnasher729]

I come from the same Country Apple does and can afford it, I said the masses to whom this is directed to be a Game Changer for home sound cannot. Those people you refer to with iPhones, most of them are getting wiser over time to overpriced, constantly changing devices that become disposable in a few years hence the upgrade cycle you see with consumers. And 350.00 is not SPEAKERS it is 1 SPEAKER but then I am sure you will explain how stereo sound will emanate from that also....

When I left school and got my first job, I bought speakers that cost about three times as much. So the kids where you live can't do that?
[doublepost=1496705973][/doublepost]

Decide you don't like Apple Music? You now have a $350 brick.

Well, that's nonsense. It plays anything through Airplay. No need for Apple music. These Apple guys use the opportunity to mention Apple Music obviously, but you don't need it at all.

 

[AppleScruff1]

This is actually a real speaker that sounds excellent that is made for a whole-home setup like the sonos is. This is not a tinny, crappy speaker like the Echo is.

Apple is down 1%? Wow. It will be up 1% tomorrow. Riveting.

When did you get to listen to it?

 

[gnasher729]

This might be a good product for that person who will only buy the Apple brand and only subscribe to Apple's Music Service, but it's a poor choice for anyone else.

They will never sell that many because since it's a subscription only speaker and subscription only to one service they have really limited it's appeal.

It would be a pointless purchase if you don't subscribe to Apple Music.

Who comes up with that nonsense? You don't need to subscribe to Apple Music to use this.

When did you get to listen to it?

Well, exactly. Lot's of the discussion here is just hot air until people have listened to it. As far as I am concerned, until I have listened to it. On paper it should be halfway decent. Can Apple manage to produce something sounding like stereo or close to it with one speaker? That's a question. But then many people with stereo systems have their speakers badly set up and don't get much stereo at all :-(

 

[AppleScruff1]

Uhm.. a single sonos S1 speaker costs 230 $ and I'm pretty sure it does sound worse, plus it lacks the smarts. I'm sold.

The Sonos sounds worse than something that isn't being sold yet and that you haven't heard? Could you please tell me the winning Power Ball numbers?

 

[DakotaGuy]

Who comes up with that nonsense? You don't need to subscribe to Apple Music to use this.

If that's the case what's the point? I doubt Siri is going to work for any other music service so you might as well buy a dumb speaker.

 

[chfilm]

The Sonos sounds worse than something that isn't being sold yet and that you haven't heard? Could you please tell me the winning Power Ball numbers?

I have both Sonos here at home, the 1 and the 5. I imagine the home pod will be something like the sonos 5, but at a cheaper price. Engadget wrote the sound of the home pod put the sonos to shame. It's bigger than the s1, so therefore has more volume to create a better sound. Physics.
[doublepost=1496706589][/doublepost]I hope that will airplay 2 it will have a rock solid connection. Really hated airplay so I switched to sonos, which isn't the perfect solution though because it can't be accesses through iTunes or setup with scenes in HomeKit. I'm dreaming of Synchronizing music scenes with my light with the home pod.

 

[iDento]

Seems pointless and expensive. I don't use HomeKit , am not subscribed to Apple Music and Siri works for me for about half the time . They should have included an input into an Apple TV so it controls TV functions too ! I have zero interest in this , but honestly I never found a point to owning an Echo either

You're not alone.
[doublepost=1496706728][/doublepost]Apple TV 5th gen. will get that integrated making it an all-in-one music and video streaming device, for maybe 999.99$ only! Sigh.

 

[AppleScruff1]

See a lot of people complaining about price and comparing it to the Echo. I guess they all missed the part about Apple's priorities with this device. It's not simply a wireless speaker with a voice assistant. If that's what you want, get an Echo, you'll be much happier. If want one that prioritizes sound quality and will be used largely for playing music, that's where the HomePods will really shine over the competition.

If you seriously prioritize sound quality, you won't buy this.

 

[Denmac1]

It's not a bad looking design. But I'm immediately turned off by the all-fabric enclosure. Regardless of whether you get black or white, this thing is going to be very hard to clean, and will definitely show dust, even with regular maintenance. I wonder if the enclosure can be completely removed to wash -- that would improve things considerably? I'd prefer something more like the Harman Kardon Aura, which Apple used to carry in their stores. Its amazing actually how similar those products are, from a straight-up sound perspective. The HK reminds me of an early 2000s-looking Apple design.

I think HK is great. I still have my original Soundsticks and they do a great job for me.
For once, Apple can't convince me that I can't live without this. AND, I don't care for Apple Music. If they are indeed improving Siri, she will be the same on my iPhone and iPad. I rent so have no use for HomeKit products. For another $150, I can buy a basic Mac Mini replacement for when my existing one will not take any more OS upgrades, as from what I saw today, it appears Apple is getting out of the entry level market. I will never buy another all in one and I certainly can't afford the Pro.

 

[littyboy]

Please show me an easy to use wifi speaker system that seamlessly integrates with our phones and offers high quality audio for less. Thanks.

First of all, Apple hasn't made any "high quality" audio so you're too early to jump the gun saying it'll produce that kind of quality. I would say the macbooks have done the best, but everything else focused on audio haven't really delivered. Second, even if there another competitor made a speaker like that, you know for sure it won't be priced around that range.