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

[CaTOAGU]

This is silly. Stop making excuses. So I have to put the HomePod in a cluttered room for it to sound good? Schiller himself said you can put it in the center of a room.

UPDATE*

Even the centre of a regular room is acoustically very reflective. The centre of an anechoic chamber is acoustically dead. The CR test is very unfair to the fundamental design of the HomePod, as it essentially removes the rear facing tweeters from the equation. In fact even traditional front firing speakers often rely on some reflected sound from a wall behind them.

* EDIT: Important. It's been pointed out, embarrassingly, that they didn't in fact test in an anechoic chamber. So whilst the content of this post is technically correct, it is, in fact, entirely irrelevant! I'll leave it intact for any residual comedy value it might have

 

[Sowanttolove]

So a speaker specifically designed to actively use the reflective environment it is in, doesn't sound so good in an an-echoic chamber. Truly shocking!!

 

[iMi]

I have absolutely no confidence in Consumer Reports.

This report may be nothing more than a click bait. They are so far behind the curve ball in terms or product reviews, it’s frankly embarassing. I tried their publication before. Looking for appliances, we couldn’t find reviews for products less than two-three years old. How is that a review publication when you’re years behind on product reviews? This was a while back, so maybe things have changed.

I would like to know what equipment was used to measure sound quality. What specific steps were taken and how the speakers were set up and evaluated. If anyone can share this information, as I will not be subscribing to find out, it would be good to know.

I am skeptical... to say the least.

 

[boshii]

Even the centre of a regular room is acoustically very reflective. The centre of an anechoic chamber is acoustically dead. The CR test is very unfair to the fundamental design of the HomePod, as it essentially removes the rear facing tweeters from the equation.

So is that CR’s fault or Apple’s fault for a flawed design that requires a wall (even though it doesn’t)?

 

[Supermacguy]

It could me more of the problem that those "testers" have been listening to crap speakers so long, they think that the crap audio "is good" or "they like that sound more". But if you haven't heard live music lately, or tried multiple different speaker setups, how can you quantify "the best"? I'll take a "Audio Review" (or some such industry magazine) type review as unbiased before CR. CR is great for a lot of home appliance reviews, but some segments they just don't have the manpower/resources/expertise I think.

 

[OllyW]

Even the centre of a regular room is acoustically very reflective. The centre of an anechoic chamber is acoustically dead. The CR test is very unfair to the fundamental design of the HomePod, as it essentially removes the rear facing tweeters from the equation. In fact even traditional front firing speakers often rely on some reflected sound from a wall behind them.

So a speaker specifically designed to actively use the reflective environment it is in, doesn't sound so good in an an-echoic chamber. Truly shocking!!

The test room looks nothing like an anechoic chamber.

 

[AmazingRobie]

Don't, Don't believe the hype. Non-repairable garbage speaker. Apple needs to fire their design team, notches, garbage cans and all.

Also for those that are suggesting that the testing room doesn't appear to be an empty space with a bunch of foam on the wall like Apples testing chamber, guess what, the room you put this Piece of crap in is likely not to be empty space with foam either.

Full disclosure, I don't have this speaker, and shocker, I'm not likely to get it either. #fakenews #applecrycry

Make better products Apple and stop posting fake Reddit reviews.

 

[sirozha]

I

Certainly not a rapper or country artist thats for sure, nothing against those who are as I have co-produced, mixed & remixed for artists who are but to date the likes of OMD, Erasure, Ed Sheeran, Depeche Mode or A-Ha to name a few have certainly never complained about my taste in sound nor quality & not even any of my remixes have been rejected going on to being released but agree 100% what sounds good to one doesn’t nor would mean it sounds good to another or everyone which is why there are often many mixers, producers etc all involved in creating music for any artist as cross collaboration can often be the only way to find the perfect sound for a specific artist & or a specific song as everyone will hear sounds differently for a number or reasons & you don’t need a 30+ year career in the music to know that either as its otherwise known as individuality, preference, opinion, auditory functions etc all of which will be different with everyone as all of those are unique to each human being.

I love your style. One period in the entire post.

 

[MrGimper]

The test room looks nothing like an anechoic chamber.

View attachment 751081

C'mon, there's no place for facts in this thread!

 

[Shark5150]

Whoever does not praise Apple is an hater?

When company comes with a new product the first wave of reviews, which an be really a lot in the case of Apple, are from reviewers who cannot afford to say anything bad and these are the reviews we got so far.

I just wait and see a few months to get real users feedback.

Anyways I think these smart speakers are the most stupid thing one can buy ... the entire smart speakers category. Why should I want to spend big bucks on a speaker which gets obsolete so quickly.

I prefer proper real speakers and a smart assistant connected to the Line In because good speakers can last many years like a smart speaker will get obsolete.

Bringing obsolescence to speakers is the most stupid thing I have seen in my entire life ... Thank you Apple, Sonos and Google for such a thing.

We all have opinions. That's mine. I respect yours although I don't agree.

 

[PastaPrimav]

Consumer reports continues its anti Apple agenda. Since they haven’t been relevant in a decade, they feel they can get some attention by posting non-obvious, controversial findings that make it look as if they actually did a “deep study”. At the end of the day that can’t be held accountable for something that amounts to nothing more than a biased opinion.

 

[FreshBoy]

Don't, Don't believe the hype. Non-repairable garbage speaker. Apple needs to fire their design team, notches, garbage cans and all.

Also for those that are suggesting that the testing room doesn't appear to be an empty space with a bunch of foam on the wall like Apples testing chamber, guess what, the room you put this Piece of crap in is likely not to be empty space with foam either.

Full disclosure, I don't have this speaker, and shocker, I'm not likely to get it either. #fakenews #applecrycry

Make better products Apple and stop posting fake Reddit reviews.

Software aside, name a better designed speaker

 

[MrGimper]

Consumer reports continues its anti Apple agenda. Since they haven’t been relevant in a decade, they feel they can get some attention by posting non-obvious, controversial findings that make it look as if they actually did a “deep study”. At the end of the day that can’t be held accountable for something that amounts to nothing more than a biased opinion.

I'll just leave this here ....

https://www.consumerreports.org/sma...-a-top-performer-in-consumer-reports-testing/

 

[CaTOAGU]

So is that CR’s fault or Apple’s fault for a flawed design that requires a wall (even though it doesn’t)?

UPDATED*

I'd hesitate to attribute fault here. The HomePod isn't designed like most speakers, it's designed with it's tweeters in a circle around the base. They fire in 360 degrees, whilst most conventional speakers fire towards the front only and have a sweet spot that can be quite narrow. It's not a flawed design, it's different, aimed at filling a room with sound rather than focusing the best sound at a specific spot. Note, even front facing speakers often like some reflection off walls behind them to sound their best too. By testing in an anechoic chamber and sitting in front of the speakers to perform their listening test, CR effectively unbalanced the HomePod, half it's tweeters would have been firing into infinity. It would actually have unbalanced the other speakers they were testing too but nowhere near as much.

Anechoic chambers are excellent for technical development but they are terrible listening environments. Only incredibly expensive speakers would sound their best in such a place. Music is NEVER performed in such a place either, in fact recording studios are often picked for their specific "sound", Abbey Road for instance. Classical concert halls, seek to reduce acoustic reflections but they don't eliminate them entirely, on purpose.

* EDIT: Important. It's been pointed out, embarrassingly, that they didn't in fact test in an anechoic chamber. So whilst the content of this post is technically correct, it is, in fact, entirely irrelevant! I'll leave it intact for any residual comedy value it might have

 

[CrazyNurse]

Everyone will still think it's cool because it will be loud and obnoxiously bass heavy. Beats = $$$$$!

 

[OllyW]

By testing in an anechoic chamber and sitting in front of the speakers to perform their listening test, CR effectively unbalanced the HomePod, half it's tweeters would have been firing into infinity. It would actually have unbalanced the other speakers they were testing too but nowhere near as much.

But they didn't test it in an anechoic chamber.

 

[CaTOAGU]

But they didn't test it in an anechoic chamber.

View attachment 751082

Huh! Lol. Where the hell did I read they tested in one then? Must have confused different articles or just plain dreamt it, I did start reading this thread late last night UK time. Ah well, sorry about that everyone.

 

[gnipgnop]

The impression that I get from that very brief and non-detailed article from CR is that they're giving the Max and Sonos One the edge simply because they're 2.0 products. Note the heavy emphasis on the HomePod being Apple's first smart speaker, while they say Google and Sonos are "raising their game" with new releases. It's like CR went into the testing thinking that it wasn't possible for the HomePod to be better simply because it was first generation.

 

[MrGimper]

Huh! Lol. Where the hell did I read they tested in one then? Must have confused different articles or just plain dreamt it, I did start reading this thread late last night UK time. Ah well, sorry about that everyone.

You're not the first person..... I think someone somewhere obviously went off on one because there are some scenes in the video of all 3 speakers on a table in a chamber. Then everyone else jumped on the bandwagon

 

[willnpc]

Literally every review I’ve seen has been super positive. And somehow, anti Apple consumer reports has nothing but bad comments. Shocker.

Ummm, just search for "Hompod terrible" and see all the reviews...especially from the non paid off people that don't care if Apple boots them from the next launch event

 

[neuropsychguy]

It’s great to have reviews that give different opinions. That’s all this CR review is - a different opinion. There are no movies that are reviewed perfectly by every critic and no speaker is reviewed perfectly. CR stands out as one of the few reviews who wasn’t quite as thrilled with the HomePod. Most other reviews are. Take that mean whatever you want it to mean.

 

[cmaier]

I recall back in the 80’s CR said Bose sounded good. So their tastes may be suspect.

That said, I’ve seen others agree that HomePod is a bit bassy and thin at the high end. So who knows.

Personally I have no use for it since I’ve already got speakers in the house and homepod can’t handle multiple family members properly (yet?)

 

[OllyW]

Huh! Lol. Where the hell did I read they tested in one then? Must have confused different articles or just plain dreamt it, I did start reading this thread late last night UK time. Ah well, sorry about that everyone.

There is a photo attached to the article showing the speakers in an anechoic chamber. I guess a few of our members have assumed that's where the test took place and it's snowballed throughout the thread.

It shows the actual test room in the embedded YouTube video.

 

[Appleman3606]

Returning HomePod due to audio quality of older songs and based on what I discovered during tear down videos. This video influenced me to return the HomePod and I hope others would watch this video and determine that HomePod is not best smart speaker on the market today. I’m going to look into the Sonos One pair for $349.

 

[gnipgnop]

You're not the first person..... I think someone somewhere obviously went off on one because there are some scenes in the video of all 3 speakers on a table in a chamber. Then everyone else jumped on the bandwagon

It will be interesting to see if CR gives the HomePod credit for sounding good anywhere in the room vs. sitting directly in front of the speakers like in the video. That's one of the biggest failings for compact systems with forward facing speakers, i.e., it's very easy to move out of the sweet spot for the music.