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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.
I tested both and concur. The HomePod is not as loud, but much clearer and only slightly less volume. It's clear the HP volume has been limited to avoid just being loud for the purpose of being loud.
 
The HomePod only responds to "Hey Siri"...it doesn't record anything around it and Apple themselves do not collect or record any voice interaction from the HomePod.
it is ultimately managed with a connected device and sound through the internet. it is insecure
 
The HomePod does not record the sound of your house for others to listen to.

Hope this helps.
[doublepost=1519731934][/doublepost]

It could be that every review and my own ears are wrong, and this is correct.

But humour me - sounds the same as which other small speakers in particular?
the software world is never perfect. Make sure that.
mark-z.png

[doublepost=1519856452][/doublepost]
Huh? So your phone is more secure? Everything is connected dude.
why are you so sure?
 
yes.
[doublepost=1519856891][/doublepost]
I am not so sure...I take Apple’s word when they say they don’t collect information. What else do you want me to do, panic?
Apple does not always tell the truth. We saw this in the battery aging. Pls check "iPhone Slowdown" on twitter.
 
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The Max is 3x louder than the HP?

That’s a surprise, I must admit.

Roughly going by ear then measuring with a sound meter app at 61 dB max for Google Home Max and 48 dB max for HomePod so 13 dB difference. Every +3 dB difference is a doubling of sound intensity so Google Home Max is actually about 4x as loud.
 
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I was in my local Best Buy today to pick up some 4K Blu-rays. I was anxious to find these heavily discounted open box HomePods so I could save money on one for the master bedroom. The store had two, one white and one space gray. They were marked down to $338.99. A whopping $11 in savings. Uh, no thanks.

When I got home I checked Best Buy's website. It allows me to search stores for 3 different condition levels of open box returns on HomePods: Excellent ($338.99), Satisfactory ($331.99) or Fair ($321.99). No store in the country has any in Satisfactory or Fair condition. At least, not according to the BB website.

My search for "tons of them" continues. :rolleyes:

Mark
They’ve all sold!! You’re too late!
 
Bam!! I was gonna attach a link too but the Reddit one alone should shut these bashers up.

That review is a lot of fluff. Read the critique by edechamps in the comments.

"EDIT: before you read any further, please read /u/edechamps excellent reply to this post and then read this excellent discussion between him and /u/Ilkless about measuring, conventions, some of the mistakes I've made, and how the data should be interpreted. His conclusion, if I'm reading it right, is that these measurements are largely inconclusive, since the measurements were not done in an anechoic chamber. Since I dont have one of those handy, these measurements should be taken with a brick of salt. I still hope that some of the information in here, the discussion, the guesses, and more are useful to everyone. This really is a new type of speaker (again see the discussion) and evaluating it accurately is bloody difficult."
 
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That review is a lot of fluff. Read the critique by edechamps in the comments.

"EDIT: before you read any further, please read /u/edechamps excellent reply to this post and then read this excellent discussion between him and /u/Ilkless about measuring, conventions, some of the mistakes I've made, and how the data should be interpreted. His conclusion, if I'm reading it right, is that these measurements are largely inconclusive, since the measurements were not done in an anechoic chamber. Since I dont have one of those handy, these measurements should be taken with a brick of salt. I still hope that some of the information in here, the discussion, the guesses, and more are useful to everyone. This really is a new type of speaker (again see the discussion) and evaluating it accurately is bloody difficult."

Man, some people are just so hard to please. I ask again: Have you owned the HomePod at all or not? You seem to be against it a lot.
 
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That review is a lot of fluff. Read the critique by edechamps in the comments.

"EDIT: before you read any further, please read /u/edechamps excellent reply to this post and then read this excellent discussion between him and /u/Ilkless about measuring, conventions, some of the mistakes I've made, and how the data should be interpreted. His conclusion, if I'm reading it right, is that these measurements are largely inconclusive, since the measurements were not done in an anechoic chamber. Since I dont have one of those handy, these measurements should be taken with a brick of salt. I still hope that some of the information in here, the discussion, the guesses, and more are useful to everyone. This really is a new type of speaker (again see the discussion) and evaluating it accurately is bloody difficult."

It's a good effort but take it for what it is which is an overly enthusiastic dorm room review. Probably mirrors other self proclaimed audiophiles.

GCv3L0J.jpg
 
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They’ve all sold!! You’re too late!

That's awesome! You posted that there were TONS of them on Monday and on Tuesday there were none left. Amazing. Best Buy sold TONS of open box HomePods in one day! Bravo, Best Buy and congratulations Apple!

:rolleyes:

Mark
 
Not sure how anybody can say it's not loud enough for a living room at all. Unless you lived in a massive mansion
I know it is really loud. I asked Siri to turn it to 100% to test it. She did warn me before he did it lol it was so loud I had to quickly shout to lower the volume.
[doublepost=1519878790][/doublepost]I’m happy with my HomePod so far. Hopefully I can get my internet set up in my new house today so I can start using it again.
 
the software world is never perfect. Make sure that.
mark-z.png

That's a great photo!

But the HP still doesn't record what's going on in your home and send it to anyone.

So that's a relief!
[doublepost=1519897010][/doublepost]
Roughly going by ear then measuring with a sound meter app at 61 dB max for Google Home Max and 48 dB max for HomePod so 13 dB difference. Every +3 dB difference is a doubling of sound intensity so Google Home Max is actually about 4x as loud.

So a Max at 25% volume will sound the same as a HP at 100% volume?

That's incredible!
[doublepost=1519897171][/doublepost]
That review is a lot of fluff. Read the critique by edechamps in the comments.

"EDIT: before you read any further, please read /u/edechamps excellent reply to this post and then read this excellent discussion between him and /u/Ilkless about measuring, conventions, some of the mistakes I've made, and how the data should be interpreted. His conclusion, if I'm reading it right, is that these measurements are largely inconclusive, since the measurements were not done in an anechoic chamber. Since I dont have one of those handy, these measurements should be taken with a brick of salt. I still hope that some of the information in here, the discussion, the guesses, and more are useful to everyone. This really is a new type of speaker (again see the discussion) and evaluating it accurately is bloody difficult."

Geez, you can over analyse something.

I own a HP.

It sounds great.

The end.
 

Bam!! I was gonna attach a link too but the Reddit one alone should shut these bashers up.

Thanks for the links (no pun intended).

But read this as well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile...e_homepod_the_audiophile_perspective/du5j2hk/

It's not audiofile territory. It's good, but so are Sonos and Bose.
When the HP reaches quality compared to two good quality bookshelf- or loudspeakers (like B&W, Quadral or similar) with a good AV receiver. Then you'll reach "audiofile" levels.
[doublepost=1519911606][/doublepost]
Man, some people are just so hard to please. I ask again: Have you owned the HomePod at all or not? You seem to be against it a lot.
It's not that I'm against it. It just annoys me that when someone says it's audiofile quality i see all the yaysayers confirming without any objective base. And I get the feeling this is very strong with people who invested heavily in Apple.

What I miss is a healthy dose of sceptisism. By that I mean compare products, do some research. Instead of blindly buying stuff Apple throwes at you without even considering others options. Maybe even knowing that there are other options!

For the HP, if you have Apple Music and a iPhone (and thus Siri) I could imagine that you want a HP. But did you also consider other "smart" speakers? For example Sonos? Sonos has more speakers (playbar- base, sub, play 1, 3 and 5) and give's you more flexibility with music/radio services. It already has multiroom possibilities etc. And the differences in sound quality of the Sonos 1 and 3 and HP is negigible... With the hardware and ecosystem already in place for Sonos and it's flexibility no one could ever convince me that the HP (at this point) is a better buy than Sonos. I can not think of one rational reason why...
 
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For the HP, if you have Apple Music and a iPhone (and thus Siri) I could imagine that you want a HP. But did you also consider other "smart" speakers? For example Sonos? Sonos has more speakers (playbar- base, sub, play 1, 3 and 5) and give's you more flexibility with music/radio services. It already has multiroom possibilities etc. And the differences in sound quality of the Sonos 1 and 3 and HP is negigible... With the hardware and ecosystem already in place for Sonos and it's flexibility no one could ever convince me that the HP (at this point) is a better buy than Sonos. I can not think of one rational reason why...

I strongly considered Sonos, but when I did, it didn't have Apple Music support. When it did, I looked again, and just didn't really like the Songs app compared to the AM app. I know that's largely aesthetics, but I use it a lot out walking.

By then, I don't think it was long til they annoyed the HP, which assuming sounded on some sort of par with Sonos, would have been perfect.

There does still seem to be this notion that people buy Apple stuff, despite what other people see as limitations of the Apple ecosystem? Why can't it ever be about what people like myself see as very good products that are very convenient, and are buying then because of the eco system?

I don't care that its an ecosystem, or see it as a bad thing. I see it as a good thing, because everything, I hate to say it, pretty much just works as I would like it to.
 
Sorry for this delayed comment. I first noticed the picture on this thread of the HomePod awhile back. Would anyone really stuff a HomePod in a bookshelf, knowing how it works? Apple store shows how the HomePod should be placed in an open space so the sound properly radiates 360 degrees and thus properly calibrates and delivers the best sound. o_O
 
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.


Based on other’s relies to your post I was expecting the video to contain some sound pressure measurements. Nothing. Every comment was subjective with no objective measuring taking place. You then conjured the “third the volume” out of thin air. Hilarious. I guess science isn’t your favorite subject in school.

Did you actually listen to the reviewer? His analysis (subjective) was the extra loudness of the Home Max was mostly unusable due to distortion. It was clear that he prefers the sound quality of the HomePod. He also pointed out that the Home Max completely lacks the ability to reproduce consistent sound quality if you are behind the speaker while the HomePod sounds the same from anywhere in the room, even behind it.

I finally got a chance to listen to a Google Home Max on Tuesday. It doesn’t suck. It easily bests most other smart speaker offerings EXCEPT the HomePod. To my ears, the HomePod sounds better. And HomePod’s max volume is TOO LOUD for most situations so any extra volume provided by Home Max is wasted for most people’s needs, particularly if distortion-free sound is important to them.

Mark
 
Thanks for the links (no pun intended).

But read this as well:
https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile...e_homepod_the_audiophile_perspective/du5j2hk/

It's not audiofile territory. It's good, but so are Sonos and Bose.
When the HP reaches quality compared to two good quality bookshelf- or loudspeakers (like B&W, Quadral or similar) with a good AV receiver. Then you'll reach "audiofile" levels.
[doublepost=1519911606][/doublepost]
It's not that I'm against it. It just annoys me that when someone says it's audiofile quality i see all the yaysayers confirming without any objective base. And I get the feeling this is very strong with people who invested heavily in Apple.

What I miss is a healthy dose of sceptisism. By that I mean compare products, do some research. Instead of blindly buying stuff Apple throwes at you without even considering others options. Maybe even knowing that there are other options!

For the HP, if you have Apple Music and a iPhone (and thus Siri) I could imagine that you want a HP. But did you also consider other "smart" speakers? For example Sonos? Sonos has more speakers (playbar- base, sub, play 1, 3 and 5) and give's you more flexibility with music/radio services. It already has multiroom possibilities etc. And the differences in sound quality of the Sonos 1 and 3 and HP is negigible... With the hardware and ecosystem already in place for Sonos and it's flexibility no one could ever convince me that the HP (at this point) is a better buy than Sonos. I can not think of one rational reason why...
So what really is an “audiophile” to anyone else? Do they need a license to prove they are? I believe this is where this whole thing blurs.

Anyone can say they’re audiophile and sound quality is subjective because as we age, we lose perception of certain frequencies. That’s where measurements and standards come in...and that is where the links provided prove that the HomePod meets audiophile quality. Take it at that or stop with trying to prove everybody else who thinks the HP sound great wrong!

Again I ask: Have you owned the HomePod or just listened to it in the store?
 
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Sorry for this delayed comment. I first noticed the picture on this thread of the HomePod awhile back. Would anyone really stuff a HomePod in a bookshelf, knowing how it works? Apple store shows how the HomePod should be placed in an open space so the sound properly radiates 360 degrees and thus properly calibrates and delivers the best sound. o_O

Oh. Ours is on a shelf.

I thought the whole point was that it didn't need to be in any particular space, as it could adapt to where you put it to give the best sound appropriate to where you put it.

So for example, if its in an open space, it can make the lead vocals prominent from all the tweeters. But if its nearer a wall, only put them out from the room facing tweeters.

I feel daft now for thinking it was that clever, and does actually need to to be in an open space.

So appreciate you clarifying that here. :)
 



First day pre-orders for the HomePod, which became available late last month, were higher than day one pre-orders for several other smart speakers including the Sonos One and the Google Home Max in the United States.

The data was shared by NPD Group and was gathered using NPD's Checkout service, which tracks consumer purchase behavior across multiple retailers.

homepodhandson-800x450.jpg

According to the data, HomePod beat out all other smart speaker first day pre-orders with the exception of the Amazon Echo Dot.

Though HomePod pre-orders reportedly outsold other smart speaker pre-orders, NPD Group did not provide data on how many HomePod pre-orders Apple sold in comparison to smart speakers from other manufacturers, so while interesting, the data here doesn't offer up a look at just how well the HomePod did.

We haven't seen any real estimates of how well the HomePod did following its launch, but Apple's next earnings call should give us a bit of insight. Apple won't break out HomePod sales, but changes to the "Other" category in the company's earnings report may provide hints.

The Other category includes products like the Apple TV, Apple Watch, AirPods, iPod, Beats, and other Apple-branded and third-party accessories. Going forward, it will also include the HomePod.

While we don't know how many HomePods Apple has sold to date, the device did stay in stock and readily available for days after it became available for pre-order on January 26. In fact, HomePod was available for launch day delivery through February 7, just a couple of days before the HomePod's official February 9 launch.

Data on HomePod sales may not be available, but analyst Gene Munster with Loop Ventures recently predicted HomePod will capture 12 percent of global smart speaker unit share in 2018, with estimated unit sales of 7 million.

Article Link: Day One HomePod Pre-Orders in U.S. Beat Out Most Other Smart Speaker Pre-Orders
The news is not surprising. After all
HomePod is the best smart speaker in the market especially with the strongest security embedded it as Apple system development is proprietary and has the lowest hacking risk compared to the competitors. Fortunate for us who are able to get this best smart speaker in the market.
 
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