Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Consumer Reports: Google Home Max and Sonos One Sound Better Than HomePod
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
The idea is that Apple is using more advanced tricks than Sonos or anybody else (in that price-range at least); that's what I've read from other reviews. They spent 6 years on it with Tomlinson M. Holman as their audio director.
I'll wait to see more reviews. There are bound to be some negative ones.
That's the whole thing of this, they removed 60% of it's speakers and the ability of those speakers to correct in a sense and said well the rest of the speakers don't sound as good as a normal speaker... well, good golly gee there bud, wth are you in fact testing.
You are using the wrong test for this speaker.
CR got its popularity on car reviews since many car magazines are doing more of marketing showcase instead of real reviews. And it is harder to get real people reviews of cars due to their cost. The same with home appliances.
But it's different for gadgets. They are not expensive as cars, thus more crowdsourcing of opinions is possible, especially in the age of sharing ala Yelp/Youtube.
Yeah, CR makes me think of the '70s, who's got the best toaster, Ralph Nader and Donahue.
I believe HomePod also reflects ambient sounds (like audience clapping) off the side walls during playback.
I think people in general are over emphasizing the adaptation part of the speaker. It's an important feature of the product but everyone is making the assumption that it can only function properly in a bad environment. Apple tuned it in a controlled environment... but it will only really sound good in a bad environment?
So we are making an assumption that Apple designed this speaker that could calibrate itself when sound is bouncing back at it... but can not calibrate itself when less or no sound is bouncing back at it? It only functions properly in the extreme worst situations but they did not calibrate for the best situations?
We don't know the complexity of how deep it's self calibration runs but, I think, Apple wouldn't have done it that way. That would be absurd. It's only being used now as an argument to refute a review people don't like. Otherwise there would never be an assumption that Apple designed a product to only function at it's best in the worst conditions.
Yeah but the Google Home Max and the Sonos One don't have an Apple logo. Clearly they are inferior.
As an audiophile snob I wouldn't use any of these as serious music-listening devices 
Seems good for a party though
Seems good for a party though This. There’s a saying in aeronautics that’s relevant here. Test as you fly and fly as you test. In other words keep your test environment as close as possible to the real world environment or your results will be garbage.
If you can't use that unicorn hair coax cable that's been isolated on mounts carved from frozen pixie tears to make the bass buttery smooth and the mid range as seductive as the Sirens luring ancient Greek mariners to their deaths, then what's the point!?!?As an audiophile snob I wouldn't use any of these as serious music-listening devices
Hogwash. All reviews are biased and subjective. There is no way around that. The only thing is whether or not you’re okay with their bias and subjectivity.
Still, if it's any consolation they did award it 'best sounding speaker when stood behind it', where it actually sounded better than speakers costing up to tens times as much!
CR conveniently 'forgets' to mention the iTunes EQ Slider-Controls for making finer-adjustments to the sound.
Last edited:
They might be right. In a listening room the other speakers may be better. In real life, where it counts, the HomePod might kick butt.
The addition of active shaping changes how speakers should be measured. In a flat room there may be no input, so the "default" EQ may sound really crappy. In a real room, with all kinds of reflections and audio weirdness the active shaping may really make the sound excellent.
I'm not saying it does, but that would explain the difference in reviews. Think of it like this: do noise cancelling headphones sound great in a space with no noise? Generally they're OK. But in a normal noisy environment (a plane) they're great.
The addition of active shaping changes how speakers should be measured. In a flat room there may be no input, so the "default" EQ may sound really crappy. In a real room, with all kinds of reflections and audio weirdness the active shaping may really make the sound excellent.
I'm not saying it does, but that would explain the difference in reviews. Think of it like this: do noise cancelling headphones sound great in a space with no noise? Generally they're OK. But in a normal noisy environment (a plane) they're great.
Oh look... probably the first truthful review!
Consumer Reports has conducted some early audio testing of the HomePod, and while the full evaluation isn't yet finished, the site believes that both the $400 Google Home Max and the $200 Sonos One sound better than Apple's new $349 smart speaker.
The HomePod received a "Very Good" sound quality rating, as did the Sonos One and the Google Home Max, but the latter two speakers also received higher overall sound quality scores.
Consumer Reports says that its speaker tests are conducted in a dedicated listening room, with experienced testers who compare each model with "high-quality reference speakers." In the case of the HomePod, testers found a few issues.
The bass was "boomy and overemphasized," while midrange tones were "somewhat hazy," and treble sounds were "underemphasized." Overall, Consumer Reports found the HomePod's sound to be "a bit muddy" when played next to the Sonos One and the Google Home Max.All three smart speakers "fall significantly short" of other wireless speakers Consumer Reports has tested, like the Edifier S1000DB, priced at $350.
The HomePod's sound has been highly praised both by new HomePod owners and by media sites that tested the device ahead of its release. While Consumer Reports doesn't believe the HomePod outshines the Google Home Max and the Sonos One, other reviews have disagreed, including an extensive, in-depth review published by a self-professed audiophile earlier this morning.
Article Link: Consumer Reports: Google Home Max and Sonos One Sound Better Than HomePod
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
On the one hand, if you watch the video—basically no one has a room like the one they appear to have used for testing.
On the other, Sonos (and Audyssey receivers) use external microphones for calibration. It’s possible Apple would have to implement something similar (as a fallback) to overcome problems like this.
On the bright side, I’m confident—barring patents or something—they can do it if they need to.
Edit: On second thought, it’s possible two Homepods could help calibrate each other.
Last edited:
My personal take is this.
As a premium wireless speaker, the HomePod is great. Plus it is designed for easy placement (360 sound) so people don't have to worry about getting the best sound only on certain angles. A premium, no fuss, wireless speaker.
You can do somewhat better on other products if you are looking for specific features (like the assistant feature), but you can do a lot worse with many premium brands that only use bluetooth as their wireless connectivity and no smart features at all.
As a premium wireless speaker, the HomePod is great. Plus it is designed for easy placement (360 sound) so people don't have to worry about getting the best sound only on certain angles. A premium, no fuss, wireless speaker.
You can do somewhat better on other products if you are looking for specific features (like the assistant feature), but you can do a lot worse with many premium brands that only use bluetooth as their wireless connectivity and no smart features at all.
At a bare minimum the HomePod requires a reflective surface behind it in order to successfully 'beam form' and generate its full soundscape. In the pictures of the CR test they had it standing on a table several feet from an acoustically treated wall, with a shelf loads of amps and other paraphenalia in between. Also surely the "worst situations" are in fact the "best situations" for a speaker that has been designed to work in said "worst situations".
To use an analogy, something designed to be used 1000' under water is probably not the easiest thing to use on dry ground, compared to a similar product not designed to be used under water...
That's a nice theory, but I don't buy it. Also many of the reviewers I care about did purchase their own homepods and didn't have their reviews out until yesterday.
The ACTUAL test here was... CR testing to see if going against Apple would get them more attention.
Yes, it did
They passed that test.
We are all being played.
This is marketing for CR and has very little to do with one speaker over the other.
CR: What approach to HomePod will get the most attention to CR?... ok, do that.
The end.
Yes, it did
They passed that test.
We are all being played.
This is marketing for CR and has very little to do with one speaker over the other.
CR: What approach to HomePod will get the most attention to CR?... ok, do that.
The end.