To be honest, I LOL and stop reading whenever the "audiophile" card is played
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China Times Echoes Poor HomePod Sales and Rumors About Possible Lower-Priced Version
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Got one. Sounds good enough for me and my GF. Going to get another one for another floor in the house. This will replace the original Amazon Echo as the sound quality jump is worth the cost for us (YMMV). The main thing is that voice control to a nearly limitless music selection just makes these things so much fun to use. We listen to a lot more music because these are in the house.
Actually, I thought that as well until I got an Echo device, really it is very handy. That being said, I wouldn't get the Homepod, Siri can't do as much as Alexa and the Homepod is substantially more expensive.
I think the HomePod will eventually take off, but only after Siri actually becomes a service that many more people can use successfully without hassle (I know it works well for some people atm but a lot of people it doesn't).
Obviously the high cost is another factor, but one Siri works like it should and the HomePod can do a lot more things than just basic stuff (like play in stereo with another), it will appear to be more worthy of the cost price to potential buyers ( just like the AW is becoming more popular).
The name 'HomePod' makes me think it should be WAY more than just a dumb smart speaker. It will eventually. Of course everything i said doesn't make any sense because TC said Apple doesn't release half baked products.......
Obviously the high cost is another factor, but one Siri works like it should and the HomePod can do a lot more things than just basic stuff (like play in stereo with another), it will appear to be more worthy of the cost price to potential buyers ( just like the AW is becoming more popular).
The name 'HomePod' makes me think it should be WAY more than just a dumb smart speaker. It will eventually. Of course everything i said doesn't make any sense because TC said Apple doesn't release half baked products.......
Well, Alexa has fixed this with an option to respond with just a chime instead of saying something. Personally I would prefer silence unless something went wrong, but it is better than her saying OK every time.
I don't think it will ever happen, Apple has had a long time to get Siri working well while Amazon has worked less time on Alexa and she can do far more than Siri can with better accuracy. Oh and did I mention devices with Alexa are also substantially cheaper? Additionally, Amazon has managed to get Echo a household name, Google Home is in second place and again has been around longer. I think Apple came to late to the game and has brought too little.
It would be one thing if the device and Siri could do more than the Echo or Google Home, but considering it does substantially less and costs a lot more, I don't see how Apple can make it work. Now had Apple came out with the HomePod before the Echo, then they might have been able to gain a foothold with the features as they stand now.
It's not a premium speaker, it's an iPhone accessory. As such, given iPhone user base, HomePod numbers are disappointing.
First of all there is rampant misuse of the term "Audiophile" going on here.
No one who is a real audiophile is going to have anything to do with HomePods, Echos, or Sonos.
Audiophiles spend $3,500 on a McIntosh MA252 and $10,000 on Klipsch speakers.
All of these products are designed for casual listeners.
As a former professional musician, I don't understand how anyone can describe a non-stereo device as sounding amazing.
For that very reason, I own six dots. The ones that are for information and home automation only use their internal speaker. The ones for background music are hooked up to wired stereo speakers that sound reasonably good as background music.
If I seriously want to listen to music, it's not coming from any of there devices at all. I have a decent surround sound amp that I switch to stereo mode and listen to on my Polk Audio speakers.
But I'm not an audiophile either. So please stop telling us how picky you are about sound when you listen to any of these, because if you were that picky, you wouldn't use any of these.
No one who is a real audiophile is going to have anything to do with HomePods, Echos, or Sonos.
Audiophiles spend $3,500 on a McIntosh MA252 and $10,000 on Klipsch speakers.
All of these products are designed for casual listeners.
As a former professional musician, I don't understand how anyone can describe a non-stereo device as sounding amazing.
For that very reason, I own six dots. The ones that are for information and home automation only use their internal speaker. The ones for background music are hooked up to wired stereo speakers that sound reasonably good as background music.
If I seriously want to listen to music, it's not coming from any of there devices at all. I have a decent surround sound amp that I switch to stereo mode and listen to on my Polk Audio speakers.
But I'm not an audiophile either. So please stop telling us how picky you are about sound when you listen to any of these, because if you were that picky, you wouldn't use any of these.
I currently own two of them and the bass still sounds the same since the update.
As soon as refurbished units hit the Apple Store... I may order one. Not until then.
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I’m still perfectly happy with my iPod Hifi. I must not be an audiophile.
Even audiophiles aren’t audiophiles. It’s a made up category.
I like my Homepods. Having originally considered the phantom golds I’m kinda glad I was persuaded to get these instead. It’s a dumb assistant but the speaker is good.
I'm not terribly shocked. I would think it would be a hard-sell. It's just too darn expensive for a single-speaker product. Some of the "single speaker" solutions do sound good, I'm not saying they don't, but then go back and listen to even a moderately-priced traditional stereo and it will blow you away, not just with the true stereo-separation, but also with the overall sound quality. It's just one of those "always-qualified" things: "This sounds really good!.... For a single wireless speaker..."
“Ask fan sounds to loop”? What an odd way to have to speak to get a smart device to do something.
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And offer one in pink.
At least that point was fixed with the 11.3 update. The bass is still there, it's just the separation made the bass more distinct, and now with greater mids it's less. Still your other points are evident, so I doubt that's enough for a re-purchase.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
Of course there is...
Step 1: Get a job at Apple.
Step 2: Get yourself promoted to whatever level gets to decide which EQ settings are best for EVERYONE.
Step 3: Implement your own choice of EQ settings.
Step 4: If your choices don't get universal praise- and they won't- unleash the hounds on sites like this to pound away at any who believe that yours- er, I mean Apple's- choices are less than perfect for every single individual HP owner.
Step 5: Have those hounds post things like "$2XX Billion in the bank can't be wrong", "I think every song sounds perfect in every way" (implying "...so you should too"), and, if those don't work, "don't like, don't buy" (in spite of the fact that the person complaining about an EQ update would have to already HAVE a HP to have heard the "before" and now "after" to notice the change). If that doesn't do it, move the goalposts by twisting their message as if they are griping about something else, ideally something that clearly makes them look wrong. This may involve blowing it way out of proportion such an implying a gripe about an EQ setting is made out to be that the guy is saying Apple is doomed or Apple kicks puppies or similar. And if all that fails, accuse the person of being a Samsung shill and/or troll... until they give up and go away or the thread dies.
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I am curious, what about the Play 1’s do you think is better? For me this is just curiosity because I won’t buy into a closed system like the HomePod.
Ummm....not sure where you get these weird conclusions from... I never said anything about audiophiles exclusively listening to high end equipment only
. I simply asked what you would do about missing lower bass frequencies, lacking midrange, and how to remove the sound signature that Apple added to Apple music when played on a homepod. You know, the same sound signature that many audiophiles tend to not like? Because Apple's way is not how the artist intended for the recording to sound. Maybe they tried to fix it in the latest update, where many users were complaining about how songs sound different all of a sudden, the bass was decreased, etc. Speaking of which, wouldn't you hate not being able to at least mess with the EQ since it's not flat?I guess all with all of that being said, it bring's me back to my original point. Why not get some equal to or cheaper speakers, set up throughout your house for better sound? You can always get a vastly superior assistant to Siri, while being able to playback 24bit/192kHz, any file type, with full control and eq.
