As usual the “experts” here are trashing the HomePod. Reviewers are dead wrong, audiophiles are paid shills, the HomePod has been pre-failed on MacRumors. Just another day in this forum.
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Audiophile Review: HomePod 'Sounds Better' Than $999 KEF X300A Digital Hi-Fi Speakers
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While I am sure this is somewhat embellished, haters have to face the fact that Apple nailed the hardware.
The HomePod sounds better than any smart speaker.
We are also seeing people continually praise its sound against other speaker only setups. Impressive.
The HomePod sounds better than any smart speaker.
We are also seeing people continually praise its sound against other speaker only setups. Impressive.
Come on! I know it’s hard to comprehend, but these are exhaustive tests being done. And HP is destroying the comp. 2 of these bad boys paired in stereo mode is about to embarrass the competition. Numbers don’t lie. These charts are sensational for the footprint. Guaranteed that half of the audiophile board on Reddit is about to run out and buy one, two, or 4 of these.
Does it sound as good as my Macintosh Audio setup? NO, but bang for the buck this thing is F’n impressive and CHEAP! A word I never thought I’d associate with Apple.
Best new product from Apple in a long time.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Mirroring: As usual, the "cheerleaders" here are crowning the HomePod supreme best of all speakers. Positive reviews (or only cherry-picked positive comments within reviews) are the only reviews that are right, fans offering glowing praise are the only legitimate judges, the HomePod has been pre-perfectioned on MacRumors, even long before any ears could hear it. Just another day on this forum.
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The butt-hurt from some on this thread is downright delicious.
I’ve been an Apple critic for some time now. And I have no problem saying I’m glad Apple proved me wrong on this one. Great product Apple, I ordered 2 more.
I would think one would have to have excellent hearing to begin with. To some degree, I think you could be trained to pick up certain frequencies; but I think biology (and how one cares for ones hearing throughout life) would play a bigger role. Like a sommelier having a more developed (super) palate and sense of smell to taste more nuanced flavors in wines and cheeses, sure you can train to taste certain flavors, but there will be things an average tongue just won’t pick up. As one gets older, you lose the ability to hear certain frequencies.
I don’t think true audiophiles like to even use that term to describe themselves, and I certainly don’t think they would begrudge anyone for buying a product that sounds good to someone (like Bose, Beats, or HomePod). Again, back to wine, if it’s cheap and tastes good to you, by all means drink it and enjoy it (that’s what almost all wines are meant for). The most expensive bottle of wine to most people will probably taste awful. It doesn’t make it a good or bad wine, it’s just not for you.
If HomePod sounds good to you, buy it. As for myself, I’m over 40 and have 3 kids; there’s rarely a moment I have to listen to music without someone talking or screaming in the background, so my $10 Bluetooth speaker from WalMart is sufficient for background music.
EDIT: I also can’t imagine a true audiophile listing to digitally processed music (unless lossless).
This graph is expensive in the Audio world! Just stunning.This graph alone to me is pretty impressive.
Because I know what i'm talking about - if you don't understand it - don't worry about it.
I explain quite clearly that it's not intended to have a flat response.
Studio monitors are designed to have a flat response and even they have small peaks and dips in places - the Sennheiser HD800's I mentioned even have a peak at 4khz.
But the HomePods are MILES out of being neutral, you don't need measuring gear to hear that, your ears can tell you.
Which for strange reasons, you keep coming back to.Just another day on this forum.
I'm not the one claiming i'm the audiophile here, he is - and his said "perfectly flat" in a reply to me - not in his post.
Anyone who understands what i'm talking about (clearly not you) would have understood my post and that is neither bashing nor praising the HomePod, but it is anything but flat (look at his graphs, it's all over the place!)
This is what studio monitors come out like -
But as I clearly said, HomePod is not designed to be true, flat, revealing or detailed - it supposed to be a hifi speaker that beats Sonos and it does.
This is some funny ****! Your ears? Come on lol
Self-professed expert with ears more technically tuned than professional audio equipment. Impressive.
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HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
What's strange? I sit at neither extreme and I own a ton of Apple hardware. I'm interested in all Apple products, but do take offense to fellow consumers bashing at others who might dare to have a differing opinion than "this is perfection" or "this is crap."
FYI: I see HP as neither extreme myself. Apparently, it has fantastic sound for it's size but is lacking somewhat in relative "smarts." Nothing wrong with recognizing pros & cons. Actually- IMO- it's much more helpful to all to be able to notice pros and cons than only one extreme or only the other.
As usual, the "cheerleaders" here are crowning the HomePod supreme best of all speakers. Positive reviews (or only cherry-picked positive comments within reviews) are the only reviews that are right, fans offering glowing praise are the only legitimate judges, the HomePod has been pre-perfectioned on MacRumors, even long before any ears could hear it. Just another day on this forum.
Bought one, will buy several more based on the past 4 hours of playing with it.
You do what makes you happy, but i would strongly suggest at least playing around with one to see for yourself.
Obviously, but I still don't agree with his opinion.
At the end of the day it is an opinion - but the fact remains what I said - there are two sound signitures. Revealing, flat, detailed, open and transparent. Or hyped, bassy, veiled and processed. The HomePod is the latter, it was always supposed to be the latter - if thats the sound you like and enjoy, that's fine.
For everyone else there are Studio Monitors, or Elac speakers or Adam's range.
HomePod would be an excellent mix checker though as that's the "sort" of sound most people listen to - if it sounds good on HomePod it'll sound good on Sonos and anything Bose, JBL, H&K, B&W make - and all the cheap bluetooth boomboxes and all the Soundbars. It's a bit like the new "car test".
Go to the concert then. Problem solved
Good speakers sound nice, but they are not “the live band, as intended”
As long as you expect a very very "hi-fi" sound and nothing like decent headphones or your studio monitors you'll be ok.
Still haven't tried that mono mix test yet, but it does act as we guessed it would - in that anything mid range and below is only being done by the woofer so is obviously very mono, obviously it can't defy physics.
I imagine you'd want to boost the top end like I desperately want to do - the bass is very impressive, but there's just no brightness to it.
Ironic then that i've been most impressed with its playback of live albums.
Can hear so much more detail than other setups i've had. At least so it seems to me this evening.
Sorry but this report is complete lies.
A traditional speaker design will always beat any other design for listening in a sweet spot in a good room. The ONLY situation it can maybe work better is for casual listening where you are NOT in the sweet spot and where you are able to accept artefacts, colouring and lack of true stereo.
This dude is also using a $75! mic to measure. The KEFs are setup on A TABLE!!! A ****ing table! In an untreated room. The KEFs sound better when setup just as you would for a TV or listening to music inside the cone or sweet spot. Apples Homepod compromises the audio with multiple speakers that interfere with each other.
A traditional speaker design will always beat any other design for listening in a sweet spot in a good room. The ONLY situation it can maybe work better is for casual listening where you are NOT in the sweet spot and where you are able to accept artefacts, colouring and lack of true stereo.
This dude is also using a $75! mic to measure. The KEFs are setup on A TABLE!!! A ****ing table! In an untreated room. The KEFs sound better when setup just as you would for a TV or listening to music inside the cone or sweet spot. Apples Homepod compromises the audio with multiple speakers that interfere with each other.
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Although I don't have a dog in this fight, neither owning or having listened to the HomePod, my guess is that Apple wasn't really gunning for the HomePod to be a replacement an audiophile's dedicated system, but rather take a chunk of the wireless audio device market - maybe even rule this piece of the market.
I would guess that simplicity and ease of use for those in the Apple ecosystem will chip away at some higher-end system owners. I know my wife would prefer something like the HomePod to our multi-room system and it's multitude of buttons that seemingly no one but me knows how to properly operate.