Calling someone delusional isn’t the best argument. Maybe explain your viewpoint rather than attack the person?
Anyways...
HomePod is a technological breakthrough.
Beamforming via phased arrays to control directivity is years ahead of mainstream home hifi (ie passive flat-baffle speakers).
Most manufacturers you could care to name haven't got the foggiest clue about engineering for controlled directivity which has manifold psychoacoustic benefits, let alone design advanced DSP to control it.
Only massively vertically-integrated R&D-heavy firms with huge economies of scale (eg Harman International, Bang & Olufsen) are even close to nailing beamforming technology for home audio. Not even hifi stalwarts like Focal or Dynaudio are anywhere close to that level of engineering expertise and manufacturing capability.
While we shouldn't assume Apple will knock it out of the park, one must also recognize that home hifi is largely woefully underengineered, with some companies not even using computer modeling to design their speakers(!!!). This is even more the case especially wrt directivity control, and passive flat-baffle speakers are pathetically antiquated compared to what apple has with the HomePod.
It will likely slaughter any bookshelf speaker below a $2k price
Apple is showing off their sound engineering chops, and really doing something special here.
The only other beam forming speaker on the market that you can currently buy is the BeoLab 90 from Bang & Olufsen. It costs $40,000 (yes, you read that correctly) because beamforming is THAT far ahead of normal HiFi speakers. For apple to release that tech at $350 is unprecedented, and almost unbelievable... like the original iPhone.
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Totally agree with you. Probably the best ‘overall’ product, but not leading the market in any sense, besides convienice.
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AirPods were quite underpriced compared to other products on the market. It happened before, it will happen again.
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