Black Friday 2018: Get Apple's HomePod for $250 at Best Buy

[flygbuss]

Us hi end android users use sonos 1. Alexa is great, Googla assistant is coming and wait for it,,,,, it sounds better than homepod and you get 2 all for $174.

Oh please.....and the boogeyman is going to come and get you. Bistroengine from macrumors as an individual is not important to any multi-billion dollar company including Amazon or Google. Stick with the overpriced, crippled Homepod while waiving the flag of "privacy"....I'll be enjoying a wide array of services and functionality with my Sonos One.

This is something really good. I'm glad for you (not kidding). But why can't you just accept that some people prefer a homepod? For different reasons. And apparently the black friday offer makes a difference for some of them.
You don't care about your data? That's fine, but others might do. You need a wide array of services? Others apparently don't. Its all about ones personal needs and requierments, connected to capital and motivation. You made your point, you seem to be glad with your decision. Let's just leave it at that. Everything elese smells like conversion or cognitive dissonance.

Btw. what's a hi end android user?

 

[groadyho]

This is something really good. I'm glad for you (not kidding). But why can't you just accept that some people prefer a homepod? For different reasons. And apparently the black friday offer makes a difference for some of them.
You don't care about your data? That's fine, but others might do. You need a wide array of services? Others apparently don't. Its all about ones personal needs and requierments, connected to capital and motivation. You made your point, you seem to be glad with your decision. Let's just leave it at that. Everything elese smells like conversion or cognitive dissonance.

Btw. what's a hi end android user?

Isn't that in our human nature to compare deals and technology. Interact and share.
Hi end android user? You got me there, Android phones are cheap, crappy and for losers with little to no money.

 

[flygbuss]

Isn't that in our human nature tp compare deals and technology.
Hi end android user? You got me there, Android phones are cheap, crappy and for losers with little to no money.

1. Yes, absolutely, but again: Different products for different needs.
2. Never said that and I probably never would. I have nothing against Android, nor would I ever judge someones personal budget. But calling it like that sounded repeated unnecessarily. Also I was curious about your answer..

 

[RickInHouston]

Still too pricey for me.

You've got those Apple talking points down! Thank you for reminding us.

 

[stanhope]

I bought a HomePod on a lark a couple of months ago. Trying to listen to them in an Apple store is worthless. C'mon Angela don't they pay you enough to solve this problem? I just bought my fifth one. The HomePod prompted me to buy Apple Music. I have discovered incredible music I never would have known. The HomePod is pretty good on it's own but pair them up and I was amazed and wanted that experience in multiple rooms in my home. At $250 buying a HomePod is a no brainer. SIRI is stupid and will remain stupid until somebody in power at Apple decides to fix it.

 

[Bistroengine]

Oh please.....and the boogeyman is going to come and get you. Bistroengine from macrumors as an individual is not important to any multi-billion dollar company including Amazon or Google. Stick with the overpriced, crippled Homepod while waiving the flag of "privacy"....I'll be enjoying a wide array of services and functionality with my Sonos One.

Amazon and Google’s entire business model revolves around collecting as much personal information about you, me and everyone else on the planet so they can target us with relevant ads and products. This information is a veritable gold mine to them. So while your statement (and failed attempt to make me feel irrelevant) might be true it doesn’t negate the fact that Amazon and Google are constantly collecting data on me, you and everyone else. I personally, try to make it as hard as possible for them to get this information. Not because I’m afraid of the ‘boogie man’ or paranoid delusional. I just feel it’s none of thier f*ucking business.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Us hi end android users use sonos 1. Alexa is great, Googla assistant is coming and wait for it,,,,, it sounds better than homepod and you get 2 all for $174.

The google home Max is supposed to sound good too. I’ve not used one. However I will say even though the HomePod sounds better my standard echo (not the dot) sounds pretty fine too.

 

[bbednarz]

Us hi end android users use sonos 1. Alexa is great, Googla assistant is coming and wait for it,,,,, it sounds better than homepod and you get 2 all for $174.

Your opinion that one Sonos One sounds better than a HomePod goes against near every single review out there. Most compare it to two Sonos Ones and the Play:3.

 

[flygbuss]

Actually we did compare the Sonos 1 and the Homepod in the studio. Whenever someone buys new stuff we usually bring it and compare it under studio conditions, just out of curiosity. The Sonos is a good speaker, but the Homepod is much closer to a full range system and I would assume it just sounds 'rounder' to most of the people. The Sonos suffers a lack of foundation compared to the Homepod though it doesn't sound bad at all. These days you can get a lot of good sounding smart or home speakers for a reasonable price but there is a lot of crap out there as well.

 

[Fozziebear71]

There are a lot of people that are commenting in this thread, that judging by their comments, are not even close to being the target market that Apple is after with the HomePod. And they still have yet to realize that. That is funnier to me than them thinking that the price of HomePod is laughable.

 

[groadyho]

There are a lot of people that are commenting in this thread, that judging by their comments, are not even close to being the target market that Apple is after with the HomePod. And they still have yet to realize that. That is funnier to me than them thinking that the price of HomePod is laughable.

As a triple os user, Windows, Android, and MacOS, lover of music, and this being America we can and should all engage in civil discussions regardless of topic at hand. Imvho Apple wants everyone to have an IPhone, homepod, and every other Apple product. Everyone is a potential customer/buyer.

 

[etoiles]

I picked up a pair at Best Buy last night, my first Black Friday experience... walked in, grabbed two boxes and went to check out. Nobody got hurt in the process, but I seemed the only one interested in them at the time as people preferred getting lost in the maze of TV boxes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I absolutely love those little speakers. Had some initial pairing hiccups: for some reason my phone was on my guest wifi network and transferred that info to the speakers, which Airplay didn't like at all. Even though the speakers where paired in the Home app, only one would play at once. Switching to my main wifi network and updating the speakers (very easy) fixed the issue.

They sound amazing, at least in the absence of reference speakers. Make sure to give them some room to breathe (don't place them too close to walls) and somewhat near ear level. I do like the fact that they can play Apple Music independently from the phone, but I wish there was a way to use the phone as a remote as well, even just to check what track is playing without having to ask Siri.

Another selling point for me was the fact that they act as Homekit hubs for bluetooth accessories. Can't wait to open that can of worms

 

[Firelock]

Picked up the last Space Gray one at my local Best Buy this morning. I haven’t shopped retail on Black Friday in years, but this was too good a deal to pass up.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

I wasn’t alive in the 1930s, but I suspect that even back then, two speakers generally cost twice as much as one speaker.

OK smart arse; since Apple are all about the "high quality speaker" let's say I go buy an amplifier that connects to (gasp shock speakers) I have one amp and two speakers. Now Apples's mantra is "no, no, no to get stereo sound you have to buy the amplifier again and have two Homepods (and we will love it if you keep buying more)"

Sounds great doesn't it (no pun intended)......

 

[Shanghaichica]

I picked up a pair at Best Buy last night, my first Black Friday experience... walked in, grabbed two boxes and went to check out. Nobody got hurt in the process, but I seemed the only one interested in them at the time as people preferred getting lost in the maze of TV boxes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I absolutely love those little speakers. Had some initial pairing hiccups: for some reason my phone was on my guest wifi network and transferred that info to the speakers, which Airplay didn't like at all. Even though the speakers where paired in the Home app, only one would play at once. Switching to my main wifi network and updating the speakers (very easy) fixed the issue.

They sound amazing, at least in the absence of reference speakers. Make sure to give them some room to breathe (don't place them too close to walls) and somewhat near ear level. I do like the fact that they can play Apple Music independently from the phone, but I wish there was a way to use the phone as a remote as well, even just to check what track is playing without having to ask Siri.

Another selling point for me was the fact that they act as Homekit hubs for bluetooth accessories. Can't wait to open that can of worms

You can use the phone. If you go into control centre it will show you what’s playing on the HomePod and if you 3D Touch on there it will open up in the music app and you can see what’s playing next. Even from the control centre you can control the volume or skip tracks.
[doublepost=1543048346][/doublepost]

OK smart arse; since Apple are all about the "high quality speaker" let's say I go buy an amplifier that connects to (gasp shock speakers) I have one amp and two speakers. Now Apples's mantra is "no, no, no to get stereo sound you have to buy the amplifier again and have two Homepods (and we will love it if you keep buying more)"

Sounds great doesn't it (no pun intended)......
[doublepost=1543045641][/doublepost]
It always needs pointing out. Why are you on an internet forum that hosts it's videos on YouTube if you don't like "crappy and ugly Google stuff"? Really we all would like to know your double standards.....

Talking of amplifiers. I wonder what the new amazon set up with 2 echo speakers and a sub woofer sounds like. It’s only about £270 and it’s supposed to have 5.1 sound.
[doublepost=1543048500][/doublepost]

Picked up the last Space Gray one at my local Best Buy this morning. I haven’t shopped retail on Black Friday in years, but this was too good a deal to pass up.

If they were doing any Black Friday deals in the UK I would have got another one.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

You can use the phone. If you go into control centre it will show you what’s playing on the HomePod and if you 3D Touch on there it will open up in the music app and you can see what’s playing next. Even from the control centre you can control the volume or skip tracks.
[doublepost=1543048346][/doublepost]
Talking of amplifiers. I wonder what the new amazon set up with 2 echo speakers and a sub woofer sounds like. It’s only about £270 and it’s supposed to have 5.1 sound.
[doublepost=1543048500][/doublepost]
If they were doing any Black Friday deals in the UK I would have got another one.

I can't tell if you're joking but a 5.1 system requires 5 speakers and 1 sub-woofer how would 2 Echos and 1 sub-woofer do that? If you are trolling me, fair play I fell for it

 

[Shanghaichica]

I can't tell if you're joking but a 5.1 system requires 5 speakers and 1 sub-woofer how would 2 Echos and 1 sub-woofer do that? If you are trolling me, fair play I fell for it

But that’s what amazon said I think at their event?

I’ll have to go and check. Maybe it’s 2.1

Ok I checked the website and it says 2.1 which makes sense but I’m sure at the event or press afterwards they said 5.1

Anyhow I’m still curious to see how it sounds.

 

[flygbuss]

OK smart arse; since Apple are all about the "high quality speaker" let's say I go buy an amplifier that connects to (gasp shock speakers) I have one amp and two speakers. Now Apples's mantra is "no, no, no to get stereo sound you have to buy the amplifier again and have two Homepods (and we will love it if you keep buying more)"

Sounds great doesn't it (no pun intended)......

Surprise, this is usually the case if you decide for active speakers. Every speaker comes with it’s own amplifier.

An active 5.1 setup means: 6 speakers, 6 amplifiers.

I don’t wanna discuss the pro and contra of active speakers or active vs. passive.
But being identical makes the HomePod much more flexible. I can take one out of the system and use it somewhere else and both places still work individually.
Guess, what would you need if you take away one passive speaker to put it somewhere else? Another amp plus, worst case, another speaker each to match the amplifiers impedance..

 

[WatchFromAfar]

Surprise, this is usually the case if you decide for active speakers. Every speaker comes with it’s own amplifier.

An active 5.1 setup means: 6 speakers, 6 amplifiers.

I don’t wanna discuss the pro and contra of active speakers or active vs. passive.
But being identical makes the HomePod much more flexible. I can take one out of the system and use it somewhere else and both places still work individually.
Guess, what would you need if you take away one passive speaker to put it somewhere else? Another amp plus, worst case, another speaker each to match the amplifiers impedance..

That's the "worst case" but that is literatly your solution involving the Homepod; so I guess the Homepod sits in the "worst case" scenario.

 

[flygbuss]

That's the "worst case" but that is literatly your solution involving the Homepod; so I guess the Homepod sits in the "worst case" scenario.

That you'll have to explain. Besides all the 'smart functions' I would see the Homepod as a good sounding active speaker that comes with DSP which allows it to adjust it's sound to the given acoustic circumstances.
This works pretty well and is a valuable feature since most people do not care much about their room acustics.

So if you use apple gear around the house already it's a good way to include some nice speakers.
If you need an aux input, bluetooh and diverse streaming support, you should probably look elsewhere.
The Marshall stuff is quite good, but also pretty expensive.

A lot of shops have a good return policy so I can recommand to test several systems at your own place and see what works best for you.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

That you'll have to explain. Besides all the 'smart functions' I would see the Homepod as a good sounding active speaker that comes with DSP which allows it to adjust it's sound to the given acoustic circumstances.
This works pretty well and is a valuable feature since most people do not care much about their room acustics.

So if you use apple gear around the house already it's a good way to include some nice speakers.
If you need an aux input, bluetooh and diverse streaming support, you should probably look elsewhere.
The Marshall stuff is quite good, but also pretty expensive.

A lot of shops have a good return policy so I can recommand to test several systems at your own place and see what works best for you.

Woah woah stop. Apple fans can't say" works pretty well and is a valuable feature since most people do not care much about their room acustics." and

"If you need an aux input, bluetooh and diverse streaming support, you should probably look elsewhere"

Don't you see you're justifying the things Apple's homepod doesn't do?

 

[flygbuss]

Woah woah stop. Apple fans can't say" works pretty well and is a valuable feature since most people do not care much about their room acustics." and

"If you need an aux input, bluetooh and diverse streaming support, you should probably look elsewhere"

Don't you see you're justifying the things Apple's homepod doesn't do?

If I don't need the feature I don't need to buy it. And at this point it's a pretty individual decision.
But I have the feeling that I'm repeating myself here constantly.
Also never said I was a fan. Just a user for a long time because of my work,
though the last Windows computer I owned was shipped with Windows 98.
All I'm saying ist that the Homepod is a good speaker and 250,- seems to be a fair deal to me. (not for you, not in a hundred years, and perhaps not for many others either, I got that)

 

[decypher44]

Because those other things don’t work with my Apple devices like the HomePod does. I have 2 HomePods, 2 echos and a google home and the HomePod is my favourite.
[doublepost=1543002419][/doublepost]
I know a £30 speaker sounds like trash.

I totally understand the issue with compatibility. I keep looking to switch to a HomePod because of that. It would be easier.

I just would need the price to come down and Apple to open up their Apple Music service to other players. I currently listen to Amazon Unlimited from my Roku Ultra and high-end soundbar and sub using Amazon’s channel app on the Roku. If Apple were to have the same access through an Apple channel, I’d switch to a HomePod today.

 

[neutralguy]

Hahahahaha no it’s not...

Hahahahahahahaha haha yes it is...

 

[etoiles]

You can use the phone. If you go into control centre it will show you what’s playing on the HomePod and if you 3D Touch on there it will open up in the music app and you can see what’s playing next. Even from the control centre you can control the volume or skip tracks.

How did I miss this, thanks!