I object to people who make judgments about things without having tried them. Or posters who are members of an Apple forum who literally post nothing but negative comments about Apple.
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Apple's Early Version of HomePod Stood Three Feet Tall and Packed Dozens of Speakers
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I object to people who make judgments about things without having tried them. Or posters who are members of an Apple forum who literally post nothing but negative comments about Apple.
Like yesterday, you avoided all of the points I made. But today is a new day, so I wont hold anything against you.
Back on topic: So would you agree that stereo sound is worse than Apples implementation? And music should be recorded in mono from now on? Maybe all of these years we have been recording music the wrong way, and that we have 2 ears for absolutely no reason?
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Everything I have said is absolutely speculation because none of us have heard the homepod, but I am basing it on the history of speakers and what we know about the homepod. We can use the specs of the homepod to make a pretty accurate judgement. It could trump the sonos $199 speaker, but I still cannot see it holding a candle to a pair of book shelf speakers paired with an amp and echo dot at the same price point based on what we know.
Plus you won't be limited to ONLY Apple music. You can literally play files from all devices, from multiple services and libraries.
Or...you dislike staying on topic. Like yesterday, you avoided all of the points I made. But today is a new day, so I wont hold anything against you. Several people thought my avatar was funny
Back on topic: So would you agree that stereo sound is worse than Apples implementation? And music should be recorded in mono from now on? Maybe all of these years we have been recording music the wrong way, and that we have 2 ears for absolutely no reason?
No, not back on topic. Just another attempt by you to try and move the goalposts and change the narrative. In this specific case you’re trying to bring up stereo vs mono. It’s irrelevant because people rarely sit in a location where they’d notice the separation or soundstage that you’d get from a stereo pair of speakers. The people who buy Sonos or the HomePod just want something to give good sound in whatever room they place them in.
Genuine question... can explain what they are:
adaptive beamforming?
spectrum equalization?
What benefits a six element array of microphones has for the user, and why they're "justified" in paying 3x to 7x than those models to get this feature?
How is that moving the goal posts? Your previous response literally has absolutely NOTHING to do with this thread, at ALL. Not even in the most minuscule way. The guy you quoted was saying a echo dot and some nice bookshelf speakers for $350 would sound amazing compared to the sound from the homepod. He even wen't into detail by saying that we don't know the specs of the drivers, but anyone with a basic knowledge of sound can make a educated guess on how it will perform.
A pair of bookshelf speakers would be playing in stereo, which is why I am asking you, yet again, if mono would sound better than stereo? Because that is part of the reason I am agreeing with his post. As well as the fact that hand picking your components will sound better than a prepacked, all in one. This includes the Google Home Max, or any other AIO smart speakers. This is because sound is subjective. Some like a warmer sound, some don't. Each person will have a different sound signature, and software alone cannot completely change this.
I made it clear that Google nor Apple are trying to compete with the living room setups, but you did object to that guys quote about bookshelves speakers vs homepod. In which I agree with his post.
Edit: Maybe some people are deaf, but I would imagine just about anyone with some living room speakers, don't have them grouped up all in one corner of the room... Its pretty obvious when sounds are panning between the channels of music. Some songs, more than others. But this can also come down to how the song was recorded and produced. YMMV though...
The issue is that those other music services do not work with Siri on the iPhone/iPad/MBP/iMac/AppleTV/Apple Watch/CarPlay/Airpods/Beatsx.
What is being undervalued in this thread is Apple's ecosystem of devices that currently from voice control of Apple Music:
Therefore, people that own one or more of Apple devices that want voice control everywhere will be using Apple Music. Conversely, the Echo doesn't work with Apple Music (outside of its Bluetooth features) which make it less useful. Of course, people could just subscribe to Spotify or Amazon for another ~$10 a month, but they wouldn't have the convenience of having all of their music playlists, library available from one service and they would have to continue paying forever rather than just paying $350 up front and getting the benefit of using one music service.
The HomePod is an extension of the Apple's very popular and profitable ecosystem. It is a bit surprising that people don't understand that the ecosystem is what gives Apple the "stickiness" than Warren Buffett famously described.
Anyone who cares that much about the quality of audio, isn’t going to touch HomePod, since they already have high end sound systems. Those who don’t care that much about quality, also aren’t going to touch HomePod because of the price.
The market for this product is very tiny. Basically Apple fanatics who wil pretty much buy anything.
The market for this product is very tiny. Basically Apple fanatics who wil pretty much buy anything.
I'm willing to bet it will be a success. You underestimate the 99% of the market that enjoy music, want better quality sound than a little Jambox gives them but don't care about super high-end audio. Audiophiles make up only a very very small portion of the market. There are 30 million Apple Music subscribers who likely represent the typical user and the people who are very likely to want to buy the HomePod.
I agree 100% with this. If you are locked in the ecosystem, then you really don't have much of an option besides a homepod. But not everyone has an iphone, imac, ipad, apple watch, etc. Many people only have the iphone, and PC and other devices. For those people, it would seem like a no brainer to get something else instead of a homepod.
I'm really struggling with the Homepod and the longer it goes the worse it gets. I use Apple products when they are the best (which is quite often); my whole company runs on Apple machines and I've had an iPhone in my pocket since the singularity.
Homepod... YES I want high quality music... but I have Mssr's Yamaha, NAD and Mission taking care of that; with a trusty Apple TV providing the stream. Siri basically doesn't understand an English accent... so Alexa trumps her there. Fitbit does a better job at fitness for half the price of an Apple Watch.
You get my drift; much of this this stuff is priced just a little too high to be an 'easy, frivolous purchase' and it's a little too low on real utility to be a 'must have'. Or am I missing something?
Lotusman
Homepod... YES I want high quality music... but I have Mssr's Yamaha, NAD and Mission taking care of that; with a trusty Apple TV providing the stream. Siri basically doesn't understand an English accent... so Alexa trumps her there. Fitbit does a better job at fitness for half the price of an Apple Watch.
You get my drift; much of this this stuff is priced just a little too high to be an 'easy, frivolous purchase' and it's a little too low on real utility to be a 'must have'. Or am I missing something?
Lotusman
HA! Actually I raced a stripped Stage II Civic on the track and couldn't quite get past the bugger (and I was trying moderately hard)... so I'd put that on the track
Isn’t that what Bose does. Beam forming sound? I’ll take my Sonos. Sounds great. Cranks out tunes.
Not really, if you own their most successful product...the iPhone... it goes everywhere you go. In the car, it is much easier to just say "play Chris Stapleton" than opening an app, typing in the artist, and hitting play. At work, if your phone is on a dock, it is easier to just tell it what to play.
Then when you get home, it is just more convenient to own a HomePod and picking up where you left off. Though, it is true that as the ecosystem grows, the usefulness also grows.
This is all fine but a single small cube is not going to sound better than a small pair of bookshelf speakers. For a person who music is important HomePod isn’t it.
Have you used Alexa? As in daily? It’s amazing. Especially with a connected home. I don’t mind Siri but Apple has got a long, long, way to go.
They may use it for voice control of their iTunes Lossless library (Home Sharing) and sending the audio stream to their main system that has an Airplay/Airplay 2 device. Then when they just want to hear background music while they make their coffee in the morning, they will be happier with the HomePod than many of the other small footprint speakers out there.