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Day One HomePod Pre-Orders in U.S. Beat Out Most Other Smart Speaker Pre-Orders
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You are getting audiophile grade sound in a speaker the size of a football. It’s insanely better than what most people have.
I'm not an audiophile snob, but the Homepod is a far stretch from audiophile grade. A small single-point speaker will never replace the sound quality of a true stereo system no matter what magical sound processing you apply. Is it better than the Amazon or Google or even Sonos speaker? Yes, I'll give it that.
It is too subjective to say one way or another. Personal preference will dictate one’s enjoyment of any sound system. And returning it is perfectly valid. Expecting a small speaker to not sound like a small speaker is too much. Can’t defy physics.
I am a music producer and sound engineer with speakers far more expensive than my car. It is audiophile grade.
A marvel compared to what? It looks like a lot of people on this forum bought their first decent speaker. So compared to nothing the Homepod should sound great. But the difference to any other comparable speaker (better or worst) is negligible.
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Show me the numbers that the homepod creates audiofile grade sound.... I know it's lame, but these statements are useless... Oh, and i'm a sound speakers engineer (see what I did there?)
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Doesn’t make sense! A product doesn’t have to compare to anything for it to be marvelous!
And here is a a decent audiophile review of the decent speaker we’re talking about:
https://www.whathifi.com/apple/homepod/review
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Any real numbers or just speculation?
While sure, pre-order numbers might exceed pre-order of other smart speakers, I keep saying Apple could brand a toaster and be the top selling toaster of all time, Google sold 6 million Google Home Mini's in December alone and Amazon claims tens of milions of Echos were sold over the holiday period and HomePod is only expected to sell 7 million in one year, so all this just doesn't add up to real facts.
Sure, Apple made a good sounding speaker, provided you don't place it on a doily to protect your furniture and then you just have a vibrating can that leaves stains behind, but the idea that Apple is disrupting this industry is laughable, including when virtually every review, even the positive ones, say Siri is absolutely one of the dumbest "smart" services on the market.
While sure, pre-order numbers might exceed pre-order of other smart speakers, I keep saying Apple could brand a toaster and be the top selling toaster of all time, Google sold 6 million Google Home Mini's in December alone and Amazon claims tens of milions of Echos were sold over the holiday period and HomePod is only expected to sell 7 million in one year, so all this just doesn't add up to real facts.
Sure, Apple made a good sounding speaker, provided you don't place it on a doily to protect your furniture and then you just have a vibrating can that leaves stains behind, but the idea that Apple is disrupting this industry is laughable, including when virtually every review, even the positive ones, say Siri is absolutely one of the dumbest "smart" services on the market.
Your argument on the HP staining furniture has been over blown. Anything with conflicting chemicals can leave stains on oil based painted furniture.
Also, I cannot reiterate more how the HomePod is a “speaker first” and a smart assistant second. And, no, Siri is not as dumb as you think.
Have you even owned the HomePod?
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Surely that depends on what home stereo and speakers that people have?
We had a little Sony thing that cost about £300. IMHO the HomePod has way better sound.
So out of interest, are you saying that such a set up is uncommon, or that you would expect a 10 year old £300 Sony stereo to sound better than the HomePod?
And what's with "good enough for some people" comment? Do you even know what 'patronising" means?
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I guess it depends on how anal you want to be about the definition of "audiophile sound", but it seems pretty self evident that the HP sounds very good indeed, especially for its size and cost. And it may be that it is the first decent speaker that a lot of people are buying, because its only relatively recently that similar setups from the likes of Sonos and Bose have sounded so good at a lower price point than would have been possible 5-10 years ago.
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Surely that depends on what home stereo and speakers that people have?
We had a little Sony thing that cost about £300. IMHO the HomePod has way better sound.
So out of interest, are you saying that such a set up is uncommon, or that you would expect a 10 year old £300 Sony stereo to sound better than the HomePod?
And what's with "good enough for some people" comment? Do you even know what 'patronising" means?
If you spent the same amount as a Homepod on a stereo, speakers, and a subwoofer, I guarantee you would have better sound. Real audiophiles are not buying the Homepod and it's not Apple's intended market. With the smart technology in this speaker, it will be obsolete in a couple years. That is Apple's game with planned obsolescence. It's also too limited to be locked into Airplay for music sources. I am obviously skeptical of the Apple Hype these days. Steve Jobs was noted for using a record player so that should tell you something about iTunes/Apple Music.
Huh? Let me know where you got your crystal ball from or you’re just absolutely sure that’s how things are gonna go?
Audiophiles are the main reason Apple made the HomePod! It is meant to be a speaker first and smart assistant second! What are you talking about and where did you get that assumption from?
Also, here we go again, a comparison to a system with a subwoofer. This just goes to show how prominent the sound quality of the HomePod is...when people start comparing it to something bigger!
Who are the “real” audiophiles are you talking about? I’m an audiophile and I bought it, and so did these other “real” audiophiles: https://www.whathifi.com/apple/homepod/review
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Ah, I'm not convinced it would be that much better. Whatever else, I'm not someone who thinks decent stereo equipment comes cheap. I had a little stereo with speakers, but no subwoofer admittedly, that cost around the same as a HomePod. I'll happily accept that if you spend a decent amount of money, you'll of course get better sound than a HP, but I'm really not convinced I'd have gotten noticeably better kit for the same amount of money. Plus it reaches a point where The Law of Diminishing Returns kicks in.
Admittedly it would double the price, but another HomePod sat on the other side of the kitchen will, I'd be pretty certain, give a much fuller stereo sound in the space than what we had before, ie two stereo speakers a few feet apart on a shelf. I know it could be set up with regular speakers, but it would be a bit more hassle.
And I'm going to call you on this 'planned obsolescence'. Sorry, but this whole 'planned obsolescence' thing is nonsense. Since things called 'products' have existed, as time has gone on, they have improved from iteration to iteration. Why this term seem to have bee copied, almost exclusively to apply to Apple for some reason is beyond me.
But humour me. Tell me a bit more about how Apple plan their products to become obsolete, compared to other company's products which they simply make better over time?
What specific setup are you referring to? Is there one that takes up less than 6 inches of space on the shelf? The HomePod is about great sound in a very small package that can be placed almost anywhere. The small package part is what makes it great for areas you would never put a full blown setup. Also, the 360 degree sound spectrum means you can put it between rooms and not be facing the back of a speaker. The way it handles audio also means you don't need to be placed in the center of two speakers for decent sound quality.
I’m willing to assume these people bashing the HP, haven’t tried it out at all and are just throwing assumptions on the table...LOL!
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The size of it is exactly the problem. It's not loud enough for a living room so you have to buy two of them. But you can't pair them together for stereo sound so what's the point? Can't play Spotify and many other sources through it. It's too limited for a lot of people and Siri is garbage. I don't see it as a good purchase for anyone that wants to keep it for 10+ years. It will likely be obsolete. Quality dumb speakers don't become obsolete because you just update the source of your music (Lossless files on your computer, LP's, CD's, etc.).
No, the sound quality for the size is not the problem. It is a solution to a problem. One is plenty loud for most living rooms/kitchens/bedrooms.
Pairing will be added later. It has already been announced.
You can play any source to it with Airplay.
Siri works great for music...which is the main focus. I also use it with HomeKit and it works great for that, as well.
I don't plan on amortizing the cost of a $350 speaker over a ten year period. However, I expect that it will still work in 10 years. Airtunes (now Airplay) was introduced in 2004. It was updated to Airplay later but it was backward compatible. It has been 14 years for that technology and Airplay 2 is backward compatible with Airplay 1.
Decent sounding dumb speakers are great. I have many. They don't have the convenience/combined features of Airplay, fit in a 6 inch space, have built in room correction, 360 sound dispersion, or have the on-command convenience of Siri with Apple Music/Podcasts.
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How big is your living room, and how loud does it need to be?
If it is loud enough so that you couldn't really talk to people in the room, isn't that loud enough?
You can play Spotify through it.
And what sorts of things, really, would a lot of people be asking Siri that Siri would struggle with?
I know physical formats have come and gone, but its hard to imagine streaming becoming defunct within ten years.
Not sure how anybody can say it's not loud enough for a living room at all. Unless you lived in a massive mansion
Good point about volume. From this video comparison HomePod seems to be about a third the volume of the Google Home Max so maybe more suitable for closest or bathroom speaker.
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The report talks only about day ONE pre-orders... not ALL pre-orders.
Apple hyped up their speaker for months, and publicized when you could pre-order, so of course its day ONE pre-orders would be high.
Other devices like the Echo Show and Spot were not really known about until you happened to be on Amazon and noticed it, and then you pre-ordered one if you wished. In other words, they had a soft pre-order start.
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The Max is 3x louder than the HP?
That’s a surprise, I must admit.
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So is the theory that the Echo devices, which were not that well known about, would have subsequently outsold the HP which apparently is well known about?
Don’t be surprised as it’s not true.
The Google Home Max is not three times louder than the HomePod. It’s a little louder, but produces distorted sound at higher volumes.