Apple's Phil Schiller on HomePod: We Want to Create a New Kind of Music Experience in the Home That Sounds Incredible

[EdT]

Ah ok. I do have apple music though so i'm guessing it will allow me to play my playlists using Siri but downloading it again from icloud music library?

The way I understand it, yes. It will not use the downloaded file.

My sources are Cult of Mac, 9 to 5 Mac, this sites HomePod review and Engadget. I also tried Apples website, both the product site and the forums but nothing on the product site isn’t here and the forums are guessing just as much as any other site is.

 

[gnasher729]

And Apple Music isn’t encoded using the best sound file format.

Huh? Other than lossless compression, which is absolutely unsuitable for streaming, there is nothing better out there than AAC 256KBit/sec. AAC is also what every single DVD that you own is using, except it's likely to be 128 Kbit/sec.

And actually, lossless compression from CD may not even be as good as AAC 256KBit/sec mastered from higher resolution originals. If you go on the iTunes Store, and look for "made for iTunes", that's about the best music quality you can get.
[doublepost=1517415345][/doublepost]

I have Apple Music but I usually download the tracks onto my iPhone so I can access my music without internet if needed and it saves on download usage. If I were to summon Siri to play a track on the HomePod will it automatically play the already downloaded track from my iPhone or redownload it from iCloud music library? It would be nice if it were seamless and I wouldn’t have to manually connect to Airplay to play songs from my phone.

Nobody knows what HomePod will do. But Airplay receives the music from your device. As proven by Audiobooks that I have which are not in any cloud anywhere.

 

[neutralguy]

I hope this is good, thinking of getting two for the office. Price puts me off a bit, so really want to try one in store.
Not sure if a Sonos or Bose Speaker would be better really

I wonder how it would sound in Apple store.. a store that's always crowded is not a good place to demo a speaker that touts of beamforming and reflection from wall to give you the sense huge soundstage. Are they gonna have a little demo room in the back like how Bose does in Frys electronics?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Probably no demo room. It's only $349 and has a 14-day return policy.

The in-store test will be sort of a macro eval: does this thing sound great (or good enough to my ears) to spend $349 and take it home?

At home it gets the micro eval: does it sound and work so good (or good enough) that I don't want to take it back and get my $349 back in my pocket?

And/or maybe at home (too): how does this one sound & function against the cheaper ones I already have? Is any difference I hear (or think I hear) worth the extra money?

 

[kingtj]

Part of me wants to say, No! This is really not true! But the other part of me is resigned to admit that yes, most of today's consumers of music really do think a 128bit encoded MP3 is "perfectly fine" and even if they can tell the difference in quality with better equipment and recordings, they don't MIND settling for less.

I see this with my own daughter. She's constantly listening to music - yet even after I gave her a really good pair of Sennheiser earbuds one time, she's still ok with using cheap $5 pairs that to my ears sounds horrible. She told me she thought the Sennheiser's sounded "way better" than her others, but she simply doesn't seem to care about that enough to spend more of her own money for better sound quality like that.

I guess the only thing I see with this HomePod is that at $349, it's priced high enough so I think it will only appeal to the relative minority who DO think it's worth spending more for good sound reproduction?

99% of listeners don't care. For the vast majority of users, a normal 128bit MP3 is perfectly fine.

Apple markets to the average user. They're the largest percentage of the market and the largest potential to make money.

Just look at how going after hi-fi audio has worked out for Tidal.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

Homekit hub support (check)
Native Apple Music support (check)
Improved sound over $200 Bluetooth speakers (assuming a check)

All points to at least withholding judgement until you can test one out, perhaps?

(Check) a certainty.....The only speaker designed to protect the privacy of the user/family.

 

[czoli]

99% of listeners don't care. For the vast majority of users, a normal 128bit MP3 is perfectly fine.

Apple markets to the average user. They're the largest percentage of the market and the largest potential to make money.

Just look at how going after hi-fi audio has worked out for Tidal.

99% of listeners don't care. For the vast majority of users, a normal 128bit MP3 is perfectly fine.

Apple markets to the average user. They're the largest percentage of the market and the largest potential to make money.

Just look at how going after hi-fi audio has worked out for Tidal.

If you release a speaker which is supposed to sound great then you have to allow hi-fi sound for it and for Apple it would take nothing to release that and I am incredibly surprised that as it works only with Apple Music they did not enable that ... even for the HomePod only ....
[doublepost=1517416141][/doublepost]

What's with all the HomePod articles? I get the device is launching soon but it's a freaking speaker. It doesn't need 10 articles every day.

This is what happens when you have all the money of Apple ... they could release a paper clip and get same coverage

 

[deeside81]

Huh? Other than lossless compression, which is absolutely unsuitable for streaming, there is nothing better out there than AAC 256KBit/sec. AAC is also what every single DVD that you own is using, except it's likely to be 128 Kbit/sec.

And actually, lossless compression from CD may not even be as good as AAC 256KBit/sec mastered from higher resolution originals. If you go on the iTunes Store, and look for "made for iTunes", that's about the best music quality you can get.
[doublepost=1517415345][/doublepost]

Nobody knows what HomePod will do. But Airplay receives the music from your device. As proven by Audiobooks that I have which are not in any cloud anywhere.

I see. I have preordered one assuming it would seamlessly play through siri without having to manually connect to airplay and know already that i have it downloaded from apple music on iphone. Was too much to hope for i guess.

 

[CPTmom2wp]

Here's the thing about "stereo." Two-channel stereo is artificial to begin with - two speakers trying to mimic a much more complex live musical environment. What Apple is doing here is not a mono speaker (which would take the sum of the left and right channel signals, resulting in a flat non-directional experience) - it's a multi-speaker array (single woofer, 7 separately-driven directional horn tweeters) that, with the help of tons of computer processing and direct/reflected sound from those tweeters, creates a complex sound field from a single box (well, cylinder). This takes both channels of a stereo signal and uses all of it. The addition of a second unit will allow for an even more complex sound field.................
The main difference is that Apple is able to take these established principles, add their proprietary R&D, apply a ton of active digital signal processing, and execute it all in a mass-market product that sells for $350.............. "

Thank you for explaining this. I ordered two HP's for just this reason (large room, 11' ceilings) and am looking forward to some incredible sound.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Now granted, this HP is tiny. It has much more potential to be mobile than traditional speakers. I can imagine people taking it with them to friend's homes or even to the community pool etc. for a few hours. So the question becomes how much of a difference can the self-optimization make in the output? Is it a big, noticeable difference or more so a hardware gimmick that sounds better in theory than in practice? TBD.

Right, but lamps are "mobile" this way too. Who constantly moves lamps around in a house from room to room? Or any other room accessory with a plug? And what adult takes speakers to a friends house for the night? That's something you do when you are a kid -- bring the video game console over. The only thing I bring to friends houses is beer, wine, and food. My friends have their own speakers.

Again, self-optimization is a cool feature. I don't think it's a gimmick, it's just more a deal sealer than a reason to buy. I've have a couple A/V receivers with similar feature. I didn't buy those either because of that feature. It was just an extra. So far Apple hasn't made the case to me, as a homeowner, how it will make my life flow better. They did that with all their other products I bought.

 

[EdT]

Huh? Other than lossless compression, which is absolutely unsuitable for streaming, there is nothing better out there than AAC 256KBit/sec. AAC is also what every single DVD that you own is using, except it's likely to be 128 Kbit/sec.

And actually, lossless compression from CD may not even be as good as AAC 256KBit/sec mastered from higher resolution originals. If you go on the iTunes Store, and look for "made for iTunes", that's about the best music quality you can get.
[doublepost=1517415345][/doublepost]

Nobody knows what HomePod will do. But Airplay receives the music from your device. As proven by Audiobooks that I have which are not in any cloud anywhere.

Apple Music doesn’t use AAC, iTunes does. Using Siri commands from your HomePod, you can’t stream songs from your local higher resolution iTunes library, only Apple Music’s lossy based streaming format. Even if you subscribe to iTunes Match so your library is available the songs are streamed in lossy format. To use your ACC library you have to use AirPlay. You MAY have to use AirPlay 2, as this is the format Apple describes as being available for HomePod. AirPlay 2 has not been released yet. HomePod’s Siri will not work with iTunes, or AirPlay, so you will need your computer or iPhone or iPad to manually send music to the HomePod. I don’t know if you can use your devices’ Siri to command AirPlay to send music to a HomePod i.e. command your phone to play song ‘x’ using AirPlay from your downloaded library (not AM or other streaming source) to the HomePod. Haven’t seen anything discussing this possibility.

Apple doesn’t say. That would be telling.

 

[Keirasplace]

Part of me wants to say, No! This is really not true! But the other part of me is resigned to admit that yes, most of today's consumers of music really do think a 128bit encoded MP3 is "perfectly fine" and even if they can tell the difference in quality with better equipment and recordings, they don't MIND settling for less.

I see this with my own daughter. She's constantly listening to music - yet even after I gave her a really good pair of Sennheiser earbuds one time, she's still ok with using cheap $5 pairs that to my ears sounds horrible. She told me she thought the Sennheiser's sounded "way better" than her others, but she simply doesn't seem to care about that enough to spend more of her own money for better sound quality like that.

I guess the only thing I see with this HomePod is that at $349, it's priced high enough so I think it will only appeal to the relative minority who DO think it's worth spending more for good sound reproduction?

That minority routinely spends $1000 a phone every 2 years, and and bought zillions of airpods last year so I think Apple will manage. Apple doesn't need to sell to everyone to get 90% of profits, just about 10-20% of the market needs to be potentially interested.

As for 128kb/s, come on, it is not 2000.
Most streaming sites stream in high enough bit source that the main artifact you'll have is either a bad mastering, bad recording or bad reproduction impeding your enjoyment.

In no way do any recording sound in any way like what you can hear in a studio, it is all compromise all through the chain.
Y

 

[macsimcon]

Sounds to me as if you’re the one out of touch.

Nope, I've been supporting Macs since 1988, and have been consulting on Apple's entire product line since 2005. We've had one client in 12 years who had some people in the field using iPads, while those in the office used Macs.

What's more, other consultants have told me the same thing. Apple wishes iPads were used in business, but they aren't. Time and again, we've talked to companies that were considering it in lieu of a laptop, and the employees all wanted laptops, not iPads.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Right, but lamps are "mobile" this way too. Who constantly moves lamps around in a house from room to room? Or any other room accessory with a plug? And what adult takes speakers to a friends house for the night? That's something you do when you are a kid -- bring the video game console over. The only thing I bring to friends houses is beer, wine, and food. My friends have their own speakers.

Again, self-optimization is a cool feature. I don't think it's a gimmick, it's just more a deal sealer than a reason to buy. I've have a couple A/V receivers with similar feature. I didn't buy those either because of that feature. It was just an extra. So far Apple hasn't made the case to me, as a homeowner, how it will make my life flow better. They did that with all their other products I bought.

I'm not overwhelmingly arguing something different. But I look at the TV about the same way. And I've taken the TV to a friend's home to easily stream a movie onto their TV. An TV is more complicated to use as a mobile device than this thing: bring an HDMI cable or trust they'll have one? ethernet cable or their wifi? etc.

Every weekend in my community, someone brings a portable speaker about this size to the community pool and throws some music to it.

I certainly can see it being stationary for years. But I can see the other side too. It's a tiny speaker- easily moved. No wires beyond power.

 

[macsimcon]

"Siri play music"

Siri: Sure! Calling mom!

Siri is the Newton all over again!

 

[maxprice]

I have a question. I work in an office that has a pretty strict firewall that blocks streaming services (like itunes, hulu ect). I am wanting to buy one for my personal office and was wondering if it would work off of my Iphone X hotspot and how that would look. Would I need to connect/disconnect everyday or would it be automatic? Any ideas or answers would be appreciated.

 

[macsimcon]

I've been using an iPad at work for years, but but maybe it's just me...

I was trying to make the point that Apple has long wanted the iPad to replace laptops and desktops, and it isn't happening. Given the form factor, the interface, and the software available, it was never going to happen.

Once Apple figures out how to use telepathy as a form of input, the iPad has a shot. Until then, people will need a keyboard, and that's going to mean using laptops or desktops for most users.
[doublepost=1517417513][/doublepost]

Who are these people you speak of? You’re the person who said Apple is Doomed in a prior thread today and finally a mod had to make a post saying enough already, you aren’t as clever as you think you are. You must have a lot of time on your hands to post nonsense so quickly.

Come on now. You can be critical of Apple and still be a fan.

There were a ton of naysayers about the AirPods and Apple Watch: AirPods are too expensive, AirPods are late to market, AirPods are scarce, Apple Watch doesn't do anything, etc.

I've probably tried half a dozen Bluetooth headphones, and while the AirPods aren't perfect, they are much, MUCH better than the competition, especially when it comes to connectivity and battery life. It's more effort to connect them than I would like, but I get to use them with four different Apple devices, so it's totally worth a little trouble now and then.

I've worn an Apple Watch every day since it came out, and it does much of what I want it to do. I think it is worth every penny, but I don't fault people who disagree with me. Maybe they want custom watch faces?

 

[EdT]

Apple Music doesn’t use AAC, iTunes does. Using Siri commands from your HomePod, you can’t stream songs from your local higher resolution iTunes library, only Apple Music’s lossy based streaming format. Even if you subscribe to iTunes Match so your library is available the songs are streamed in lossy format. To use your ACC library you have to use AirPlay. You MAY have to use AirPlay 2, as this is the format Apple describes as being available for HomePod. AirPlay 2 has not been released yet. HomePod’s Siri will not work with iTunes, or AirPlay, so you will need your computer or iPhone or iPad to manually send music to the HomePod. I don’t know if you can use your devices’ Siri to command AirPlay to send music to a HomePod i.e. command your phone to play song ‘x’ using AirPlay from your downloaded library (not AM or other streaming source) to the HomePod. Haven’t seen anything discussing this possibility.

Apple doesn’t say. That would be telling.

I should have said you can’t have Siri controlled HomePod play any type of format music from a physical device. So it doesn’t matter what format that is, lossless or not. Using the HomePod and voice commands with Siri, Apple Music/iMatch is your only possible source. Once you bring another device and AirPlay into the mix more options are possible. But voice commands probably aren’t possible with AirPlay.

 

[Keirasplace]

Apple Music doesn’t use AAC, iTunes does. Using Siri commands from your HomePod, you can’t stream songs from your local higher resolution iTunes library, only Apple Music’s lossy based streaming format. Even if you subscribe to iTunes Match so your library is available the songs are streamed in lossy format. To use your ACC library you have to use AirPlay. You MAY have to use AirPlay 2, as this is the format Apple describes as being available for HomePod. AirPlay 2 has not been released yet. HomePod’s Siri will not work with iTunes, or AirPlay, so you will need your computer or iPhone or iPad to manually send music to the HomePod. I don’t know if you can use your devices’ Siri to command AirPlay to send music to a HomePod i.e. command your phone to play song ‘x’ using AirPlay from your downloaded library (not AM or other streaming source) to the HomePod. Haven’t seen anything discussing this possibility.

Apple doesn’t say. That would be telling.

Yet, I got this bud, it does use aac,
everything that follows in your sentence is thus to be disregarded.
https://mashable.com/2015/06/30/apple-music-sound-quality/#.CuEDyCP3aqN

And seriously, anyone who goes all blah blah blah about 256 kbs aac versus lossless on 99% of systems and with 99% of ears are delusional.

The production chain (recording, mastering) and then the reproduction one (D/A, Speakers,Room Acoustic,Ears) has a lot more to do with what you actually hear than anything else.

If you have a golden ears in a perfect room and have a very high end system, you may see hear a difference, which is likely an artifact of how this very high end reproduction chain colors the slight differences.

 

[Soccertess]

have you read all the things it can't do? It really is just a speaker with severely limited siri function. No calendar integration, no search capabilities.

This is just a speaker that ONLY intergrates to Apple Music. I would pass just on that fact

 

[62tele]

Schiller acts as if this is like hearing music through some Magneplanars and a vintage Marantz tube amp.

 

[doelcm82]

Schiller acts as if this is like hearing music through some Magneplanars and a vintage Marantz tube amp.

Yeah! They must really sound great! Otherwise he wouldn’t have compared them to the Magnadoodles.

 

[Crzyrio]

Schiller acts as if this is like hearing music through some Magneplanars and a vintage Marantz tube amp.

Wait for the reviews. There is no other speaker at this price point with this amount of tech in it.

 

[atikalz]

Over the weekend, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller did a quick fifteen minute interview with Sound & Vision, where he once again explained some of the technology behind the HomePod, shed some light on why Apple ultimately decided to create an in-home speaker, and explained how the HomePod will stand out among other smart speakers on the market.

Schiller believes that Apple is in a position to create a "new kind of music experience" that not only "sounds incredible," but is also "fun to interact with." He says that's the driving force behind Apple's work on the smart speaker. Apple's focus, though, isn't on a single product -- the company wants to design a unified experience that's the same throughout the day.

Schiller says that Apple Music, Siri advancements in personal music discovery, and Apple's innovative audio work "come together" in the HomePod to deliver an "amazing music experience" to customers.

He went on to explain many of the technological advancements that improve sound quality in the HomePod, including machine learning to allow the HomePod to sense and adapt to its environment, the A8 chip for real-time acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, and echo cancellation, and a more advanced thinking of speaker arrays to "create a wide soundstage."

Schiller also explained in detail how the HomePod's spatial awareness features work. From the moment it's plugged in, the HomePod senses its location. The built-in microphone array listens to how sound reflects from neighboring surfaces to determine where it's located in a room and what's nearby, adjusting audio accordingly. The A8 chip beams center vocals and direct energy away from walls that are detected, while also reflecting ambient reverb and back-up vocals against the wall for better dispersion into the room.Thus far, it appears Apple's efforts to focus on sound quality have been successful. While full HomePod reviews have not yet been shared, initial first impressions from reviewers who were able to spend a short amount of time with the HomePod have been positive. Many reviewers were highly impressed with the sound quality of the device, which has been described as "warm," "astonishing," "precise," and an "aural triumph."

Apple will, however, need to convince its customers that sound improvements are worth the premium price the company is charging for the device. HomePod is more expensive than competing products from Google and Amazon, but some reviewers have questioned whether the average consumer will value sound quality more than affordability.

Phil Schiller's full interview, which goes into more detail about Apple's aim with the HomePod, how voice recognition works, HomeKit integration, and more can be read over at Sound & Vision.

The HomePod, which is priced at $349 in the United States, can be pre-ordered from the online Apple Store. The first HomePod orders will be delivered to customers starting on Friday, February 9, the official launch date of the device.

Article Link: Apple's Phil Schiller on HomePod: We Want to Create a New Kind of Music Experience in the Home That Sounds Incredible

A new kind of music experience:
MONO

 

[maverick2007]

Will HomePod eject dust one like in Apple Watch which ejects water when you turn watch crown? May be I need to buy Apple Vacuum to take out dust.... I am just planning myself ahead of the launch show.

Any thoughts?