Consumer Reports: Google Home Max and Sonos One Sound Better Than HomePod

clive27 said:
I have no plan to buy Homepod, but I think the CR's testing method is unfair for Apple.
Homepod's advantage is in its ability to able to tune its output based on awareness of its surroundings using several mics. Putting the speaker in a dedicated room with sound absorbing wall makes this important feature useless. How is it going to tune itself if there's no echo?
I think they should re-do the testing by just putting the speaker in normal living room.
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Why don't they test all the non-hp speaker in their sweet spot? It's unfair, since the hp adjusts itself.

Why don't they compare them with two sonos instead of one? That's unfair, they are the same price and the hp also has more speakers.

Why don't they test it in a normal environment? That's unfair since the homepod is only functional in a normal environment.

Hmm...im actually glad when tests have some kind of consistency. Otherwise, if you test every product in a different way, comparisons would be meaningless.
 
I'll preface this by saying I'm a Google/Android user/fanboy and I own a Home Max. Google does the same room sensing/sound adjusting thing with the mics on the Home Max so I don't know that "real world" testing would make that much difference.

A lot of comments are about the overwhelmingly positive reviews but all the reviews I've seen early on are from iMore, Macrumors, iVerge, iWhatever,... Obviously biased reviews. It sounds good, Siri sucks on it, that's pretty much the consensus. It doesn't sound markedly better (or worse) than anything else out there. Is it worth the money? If you have iProducts and only use Apple Music then maybe, if you use any other products or services then definitely not.
 
daijholt said:
So these guys are testing based entirely on subjective perception to the sound, while a reddit audiophile tested using scientific standard and cold hard figures.

Numbers don’t lie, so if the math says HomePod is better than a KES (which is always gonna be better than Sonos One or Home max), then I’m more inclined to believe the numbers over someone’s personal preference.
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Perhaps that Reddit review deserves more scrutiny: https://www.kirkville.com/homepod-a...mance-deserves-a-standing-ovation-mac-rumors/
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
The sad thing is a lot of people will not even try the product because they don't want to think for themselves, and prefer CR do their thinking for them.
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Lol...Is apple having a test at home trial period, or do you expect people to buy one just to see if they are any good?
 
cocky jeremy said:
Literally every review I’ve seen has been super positive. And somehow, anti Apple consumer reports has nothing but bad comments. Shocker.
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Did you take notice of the article? or where you struck blind when the Homepod didn't get unconditional gushing love? Consumer reports said the Homepod was "Very Good"; how is this "anti Apple consumer reports has nothing but bad comments"?
 
oneMadRssn said:
Locking down the HomePod away from any third party services isn't just the walled-garden approach - it downright hostile. Imagine if tvOS only worked with iTunes and Apple refused to allow Netflix or Hulu, or if iOS only worked with Apple mail and refused to allow Gmail or Exchange. The same anger would come from Apple fans being forced to choose.
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Have you heard of airplay?
 
Tonewheel said:
YouTube? Really? Any review that begins with, “Hey guys...”, is immediately disqualified...ie YouTube and all the kids “reviewing” products.
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What about when MacRumors posted their Homepod unboxing/review on YouTube? Did you scream "YouTube? Really?" then?
 
Chupa Chupa said:
The funny part is you go into an Apple Store (I did) and you might have to look hard to find the HomePod. Very little fanfare or publicity in-store. It reminded me of the first AppleTV and how Apple said it was a "hobby," a work in progress.
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Yes i agree the advertising department did a really bad job on this product. Everyoneone i have asked have no idea what a homepod is.
 
Well, to be fair, it is too bassy in some situations. I'd not want to have an apartment underneath someone with one.

I have one in my office but don't use it (money well spent) because it would drive the people downstairs mad.
 
I do think, price should come into play with all these tests.

What's the point in taking a $100 item and saying it's not as good (in some ways) as a $350 item?

I would have to say right now, the only fair in any way tests would be:

Apple HomePod
Google Home Max
Two Sonos One's

Then you have a pretty similar price-point, and can then evaluate which sounds the best.

That's what you do with tests generally, you put similarly priced items side by side, as we, as consumers would generally regard that more expensive items should be better anyway.

Put two £30,000 Station Wagons side by side to test them, different brands similar price points..
Or two $200,000 Supercars side by side to compare with similar price points.

You don't put the station wagon next to the supercar and then say the supercar is faster.
 
FrozenInferno said:
Or maybe... They're right? Is it just always assumed that the Apple version of a product is hands-down better and nobody can say otherwise?
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Its something that has stuck since the Jobs days. When Jobs was around he always brought a super product with his future vision for technology, high standards, and seamless designs.

But that was when competitors were producing beige boxes and Microsoft rules the world with Internet Explorer. Today the competitors upped their game with Google, Amazon, and Samsung offering equal or sometimes better products.

Some examples GMaps vs Maps, Amazon Alexa vs Siri, Chrome/Firefox vs Safari, and some actually favor the Samsung Android experience over the iPhone one.
 
The Verge had a similar negative review.
This is how you can see who's paid by apple and who's not.
 
scotth23 said:
There is a big difference between saying something can compensate for being in a corner and tuning itself to reflect off of walls and saying that is the optimal position. I haven’t seen anything from Apple or anyone else to suggest placing the HomePod in any position except with a wall near it will yield lesser results.
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That is why I think the argument that testing in the quiet chamber yielded false results is ludicrous. I’m not sure I agree with CR baseline style of judging things but I don’t think the room they used was somehow unfair.
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It's not "compensating for being in a corner" it's specifically designed to actively process the music, separate primary sounds like vocals and guitars from secondary/ambient sounds like rhythm section, audience applause etc... and play one through the speakers facing the listener, and the others through the virtual speakers it creates using beam forming reflected off of the surfaces behind it.

At the end of the day the HomePod has an array of seven tweeters spread around its circumference. Setup in an anechoic chamber with a listener sitting in front of the unit, the sound from at least four of those tweeters is not directed anywhere near the listener and will be absorbed into the walls of the chamber and lost. The listener would only be hearing the output of three of the seven tweeters at most.

I would wager money that all the manufacturers putting out upward facing Dolby Atmos speakers developed them in anechoic chambers, yet if you tried to use one in the same environment it wouldn't work because they are designed to bounce sound off the ceiling and down to the listener. If the ceiling absorbed all of the sound you would hear nothing. They use an anechoic chamber to ensure that the speaker design is only firing sound upwards, that none is bleeding forward and compromising the other channels of the audio mix etc...
 
Just as the EarPods and AirPods are worse than any pair of >$40 noise cancelling headphones, the HomePod is going to sound worse than any mid-range stereo hi-fi since the 1980s. It's a cool product, but sound quality is compromised by design which is sadly a compromise Apple have been happy to make across the board in recent years. The HomePod has its merits, but please don't whine that it's not the best sounding speakers on the market.
 
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