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

The review actually makes sense. There really is nothing in the speaker that can clearly replicate mids. For a lot of music bass and highs are enough to make it sound great. However, it doesn't mean the mids are great just because some music sound great on the speaker. I'd still buy the AirPod but I don't think that CR is really unfairly treating Apple.
 
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Let‘s wait a few weeks and then review the reviews. After all, most reviews until now were „early“ with reviewers receiving homepods provided by apple ahead of the release, where reviewers had at least had to sign an NDA (this includes the „audiophile“ on reddit), containing who-knows-what. So they ought to be taken with a grain of salt. I mean, it‘s not the first time we hear about „muddy“ mids, there might or might not be some truth in it.
 
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Corrode said:
Breaking: everyone has a different opinion.
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I have no plans to buy a HomePod but historically Consumer Reports uses a scale that I frequently disagree with. It’s either heavily biased towards price or leans towards features that I typically don’t think are as important. I tend to be a specification person and words like “boomy” or “hazy” tells me more about the personal tastes of the reviewers than the sound quality of the speaker.

My complaints with HomePod are more pedestrian: I think it’s a device made to drive up subscribers for Apple Music, and it can’t be used with other speakers, at least not yet. But if you already use AM or you don’t mind switching, most reviews of the sound quality have been very good to excellent. Go listen to one and decide for yourself.
 
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I have noticed over the years that Consumer Reports is getting stuff wrong more often, especially when it comes to details or advanced tech. One of iPhone's greatest features is it's seamless integration with your Mac, iPad — all your Apple devices, but they don't take that into account when comparing mobiles. Or sometimes when they compare digital music quality, they don't understand the difference in specs between different audio formats — ie they'll claim 320 mp3 is better than 256 aac.

I still value Consumer Reports' opinion, but I canceled my subscription years again and don't rely on them to make decisions for me.

I haven't heard the latest Sonus nor HomePod yet so I can't fully comment on their review.
 
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I can see comparing it to the first and the second echo since they both are speakers that blast sound out around them. but the sonos and the google are more forward facing speakers that need better placement for good sound. you can plop the homepod anywhere and it will sound good. but will the homepod ever be true stereo? who knows. could two of them replace our sonos1 stereo pair sure if we wanted to spend that much. but they would not sound as good as the pair of sonos 5's. but right now sonos has a m,uch better access to music then anything else out there and alexa gives good control of it.
 
dampfnudel said:
Other reviews have pointed out that the HomePod lacks in the midrange so that’s no lie. Of course, the best thing to do is buy it, test it and if you’re not satisfied with it, return it. Maybe buy a Sonos and test that as well. As simple as that. You can also wait for the discounts which I expect will come by November at stores like Best Buy and Targey. The HomePod may be a better value then.
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Yes, once you get past all the hype and get to real reviews by people who know what tracks should sound like you are right.
Bass rather too heavy and lacking in mid range.
It's been suggested by a few also that it's been tuned more in line with the "beats generation" who wish the bass to be rather over emphasized.
If that's what you like then great :)
 
SeattleMoose said:
I heard all 3 side by side and HomePod sounded better. But Siri...still sucks.
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Siri needs work but it is not as bad as people make it out to be. In addition to my Apple gear I also have a couple of Google Homes and many Alexa devices. They all get things wrong and they all do things the others do not. For general info Siri has a ways to go to compete but for everything else including controlling home automation devices they all perform about the same. And when I look at how my family uses these devices I would say asking for general is at the bottom of what we do with them. Google Assistant is actually the most frustrating one and I thought it would be the best. I get so tired of "I can't do that yet but I am learning" reply.
 
The consumer can read any review or watch any YouTube review they want, but the HomePod is that one product you actually have to bring into your home to personally experience it and find out what you like about it. And that goes for any smart speaker to find out how it sounds, what you like or dislike about it, etc. There are positive and there’s negative things about the Every smart speaker, but the only thing that matters what you prefer.
 
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T-Will said:
Question: Why does Consumer Reports have so much hate for Apple and Tesla?

Answer: Because it brings in clicks.
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CR doesn't sell advertising. There is no ad revenue in clicks. Go find an ad on their site and then you have a valid conspiracy to spin.

If the whole world clicked to CR.org right now, they would not make 1 penny more.
 
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stumpapi said:
You couldn’t be more wrong or biased. CR is independent and doesn’t accept advertising from outside sources. In reviews I have read they have come from Mac focused sites where they accept Apple advertising, promote Apple products, write about the company etc. In other reviews those who offered feedback owned Apple products or have paid for the product themselves. Hardly independent or objective.
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Ok
 
Firstly, let me start by saying that I am both an audiophile and a so called Apple fanboy.

Given all the positive reviews about sound quality I was incredibly disappointed with the sound quality of my HomePod. I almost wonder if both myself and CR got dud units.
Bass, mids and treble are exactly as CR describe and the sound overall is muddy at best.

What am I comparing them to? A pair of cheap TDL RTL2 floor standers and some Audeze LCD2 headphones. Both blow the HomePod away and both at very different price points.

My two cents.
 
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stumpapi said:
You couldn’t be more wrong or biased. CR is independent and doesn’t accept advertising from outside sources. In reviews I have read they have come from Mac focused sites where they accept Apple advertising, promote Apple products, write about the company etc. In other reviews those who offered feedback owned Apple products or have paid for the product themselves. Hardly independent or objective.
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Absolutely correct. When looking at politics and product reviews there is a requirement to "follow the money."
 
Squuiid said:
Firstly, let me start by saying that I am both an audiophile and a so called Apple fanboy.

Given all the positive reviews about sound quality I was incredibly disappointed with the sound quality of my HomePod. I almost wonder if both myself and CR got dud units.
Bass, mids and treble are exactly as CR describe and the sound overall is muddy at best.

What am I comparing them to? A pair of cheap TDL RTL2 floor standers and some Audeze LCD2 headphones. Both blow the HomePod away and both at very different price points.

My two cents.
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I’d check into the idea that you got a dud unit. I could never in a million years describe the sound as muddy.
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
CR doesn't sell advertising. There is no ad revenue in clicks. Go find an ad on their site and then you have a valid conspiracy to spin.
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They sell memberships. On their website. They also sell their content to NBC. Which, as a customer, needs some sort of flair. What night of the week does your local NBC affiliate spotlight Consumer Reports? It wouldn't be this afternoon or tonight would it?
 
kbotc said:
You can listen to uncompressed music from your iPhone or Mac (Or any Airplay source). You're really not understanding a lot about the product you are spending a lot of time blasting on an Apple rumor site.

44.1 kHz via Apple Lossless.
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Scroll down.
 
Feyl said:
Don’t worry I read it. It doesn’t really matter which format is being used for it. Here’s a good analogy.. Take AirPods for example. It doesn’t matter if you play music through Apple Music, 320 kbit/s MP3 or lossless FLAC. Everything will sound the same. Why? Simply, because it’s cheap, small and uses Bluetooth. Many people say that they can’t even hear the difference between those formats, but that’s because they don’t have any experiemce with a truly great gear. Do you get me now?
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You are going completely off topic. This is about the HomePod. Of course AirPods will not sound great with lossless, as you say, they are small, and use Bluetooth. Audio quality is not their selling point. You argued classical would sound bad on a HomePod as it was compressed. I pointed out people were streaming lossless to it. AirPods are irrelevant to this. So no, I do not get you. Taking you argument to the extreme no one should listen on speakers and should only go and hear music live. There is a trade off yes, but that is still irrelevant as to whether classical music via a HomePod can sound good.
 
Jefe's MacAir said:
They sell memberships. On their website. They also sell their content to NBC. Which, as a customer, needs some sort of flair. What night of the week does your local NBC affiliate spotlight Consumer Reports? It wouldn't be this afternoon or tonight would it?
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But you don't have to BUY a membership to read this free article. You already had free access to it.

So NBC has something against Apple and is thus using their influence to get them to rate this less than the best?
 
Of course other options sound better for what you pay. Most of the competitors are actually open and have better assistants. Only reason to buy the HomePod over other options is if you are short on space and invested in only Apple ecosystem.
 
I just went to my local Apple Store (only 2 1/2 miles away from my home) and took an unscientific, technical-enough-for-me listen. They sound fantastic to me, even though I strongly believe $349 is way too high a price.

That said, Consumer Reports lost favor with me when I bought a set of Michelin Defenders, supposedly the best passenger car tires money can buy on the planet. CR ranked them #1 overall, I paid $850 for the set, installed, in the Fall of 2015. They were rated at 90K miles and lasted less than 34K miles (all tread worn to the wear bars, and I have a very good car with no alignment issues). CR still says they are the best, even though Michelin themselves dropped their own mileage rating on Defenders down to 80K miles, and online tire forums have (in my observation) since blown up with massive numbers of complaints about Michelin's quality plummeting.

So yeah, count me as one of those who says CR doesn't know what it's talking about. I just don't trust them anymore.
 
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