First HomePod Pre-Order Customers Get Charged as Speakers Prepare for Shipment

[CarlJ]

Not to worry. HomePod 2 will be thinner and lighter.

Good. I'm planning to get shoulder mounts for two of them, along with a backpack rig for a generator. AirPod owners, eat your heart out.

 

[ersan191]

Sonos' own website says the PLAY:3 has one tweeter and two mid-woofers. That's not discrete stereo - at a minimum, that would require two tweeters. The most it can do is direct the midrange L/R frequencies to either mid-woofer, while combining the (more directional) high frequencies to play through the single tweeter (it also has a single bass radiator, which is not an actual driven speaker, but simply a large passive "speaker cone" that reradiates some of the back energy from the mid-woofers, extending their frequency range downwards - of necessity, it is not stereo either, since there's only one). The HomePod has one woofer and seven tweeters. Both have suggestions on their respective web pages that one can get true stereo separation by buying/using a pair of the speakers. It remains to be seen (heard) which speaker sounds more like stereo when played alone (and, more importantly, which sounds more accurate and/or pleasing). The HomePod literature talks extensively of isolating various instruments/voices and placing them using the multiple tweeters - this is much of the purpose of stereo imaging in the first place. So, wait and see.

Okay, except they advertise it as having Stereo, literally the title of the page you linked is mid-sized home speaker with STEREO sound... don't be dumb - and having two mids and one high is good enough to qualify as stereo... Hell two mids and no tweeter qualifies as Stereo.

I ordered a HomePod and I don't care that it isn't stereo but everyone needs to stop claiming it's something that it isn't. It has to know where you are in the room to beam Stereo. A lot of music doesn't benefit from being stereo on the HomePod anyway, since it tries to separate elements and beam some of them in different directions. The only reason I might be disappointed is watching movies on the Apple TV, but even a mono speaker is going to be better than the crappy speakers on my TV.

 

[deanthedev]

Okay, except they advertise it as having Stereo, literally the title of the page you linked is mid-sized home speaker with STEREO sound... don't be dumb - and having two mids and one high is good enough to qualify as stereo... Hell two mids and no tweeter qualifies as Stereo.

I ordered a HomePod and I don't care that it isn't stereo but everyone needs to stop claiming it's something that it isn't. It has to know where you are in the room to beam Stereo. A lot of music doesn't benefit from being stereo on the HomePod anyway, since it tries to separate elements and beam some of them in different directions. The only reason I might be disappointed is watching movies on the Apple TV, but even a mono speaker is going to be better than the crappy speakers on my TV.

Say what? Since when do speakers need to “know” where you are to be stereo?

 

[gnasher729]

Hmmm, that wouldn't work for camping music in that case. I'd have to also bring a wifi router for them to network. Which I could I suppose. Just more to deal with.

In principle you don’t need a router. On a Mac you can create an ad hoc network, basically the Mac is the router. ios has that feature as well available for developers but not in the UI. If Apple wants it then they can create a network just for your phone and your HomePod.
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Sonos 3 plays discrete stereo if you turn it on its side.

Says Sonos. It’s not stereo. It’s something better than mono, but it’s not stereo. Just like the HomePod. Better than mono. Different from stereo.

 

[Borddeleau54]

Okay, except they advertise it as having Stereo

Wrong. They said "create" stereo (with a pair of HomePods) which is ambiguous."... a HomePod pair is able to create a wider, more immersive soundstage than a traditional stereo pair ". So it seems that Apple is processing the sound and claiming that it is "more immersive" than stereo. So probably not stereo. Not in the traditional sense anyway, which means not one channel per HomePod in my book =not stereo.

 

[archer75]

In principle you don’t need a router. On a Mac you can create an ad hoc network, basically the Mac is the router. ios has that feature as well available for developers but not in the UI. If Apple wants it then they can create a network just for your phone and your HomePod.

Well I can't take a mac camping too!

 

[AppleScruff1]

Siri is much more accurate than Alexa, for me. Alexa requires such exact phrasing to get things right, and has very little flexibility.

Now that's funny.

 

[ersan191]

Wrong. They said "create" stereo (with a pair of HomePods) which is ambiguous."... a HomePod pair is able to create a wider, more immersive soundstage than a traditional stereo pair ". So it seems that Apple is processing the sound and claiming that it is "more immersive" than stereo. So probably not stereo. Not in the traditional sense anyway, which means not one channel per HomePod in my book =not stereo.

Wasn't talking about the HomePod, was talking about the Sonos... The rest of my post literally talks about how the HomePod isn't stereo. Did you stop reading?
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Say what? Since when do speakers need to “know” where you are to be stereo?

The HomePod is omnidirectional and has no 'correct' orientation - it is a circle. How is it supposed to know which side is left and which side is right without knowing where its target is?

 

[Swampthing]

Siri is much more accurate than Alexa, for me. Alexa requires such exact phrasing to get things right, and has very little flexibility.

Based on this statement, I can tell you have very limited familiarity with Alexa. I have owned both for years, and it is Siri who needs the exact phrasing, not Alexa. Probably 98% of my voice commands have been recognized by Alexa. By comparison, I would estimate probably 70-75% for Siri. Not good at all. Plus Siri's voice is still quite robotic compared with Alexa.

 

[kissfan]

Good thing we’re not still back in the 70’s. Y’all would be bitching it’s not quadraphonic.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Based on this statement, I can tell you have very limited familiarity with Alexa. I have owned both for years, and it is Siri who needs the exact phrasing, not Alexa. Probably 98% of my voice commands have been recognized by Alexa. By comparison, I would estimate probably 70-75% for Siri. Not good at all. Plus Siri's voice is still quite robotic compared with Alexa.

My pet rock understands more than Siri does.

 

[zed]

You can mute the mic on both of them.

Ha! yes... that is clearly the answer. /s

If you trust Google and Amazon then that is one thing, but if you don't trust them then how can you possibly think they'll honor a "muted" mic?

 

[archer75]

Ha! yes... that is clearly the answer. /s

If you trust Google and Amazon then that is one thing, but if you don't trust them then how can you possibly think they'll honor a "muted" mic?

Well if someone is paranoid they'll never trust anything.
I don't have an issue with google or amazon anymore than I do with apple.

 

[tubular]

Sold 13 million iPads last quarter, over six billion dollars in sales == "miserable failure" to the MacRumors crowd. Smh. The record for total PC sales last quarter was taken by HP, with 16 million. Would you say that 16 million is a resounding success, while 13 million is a miserable failure? And what do you make that sells more than 13 million per quarter?

Sorry, I guess some people need the "/s".

 

[iPhonefan200]

Trust Apple to spill the tea with a speaker. mine PFD today, cant wait. First song ill play shall be shake it off (Taylor Swift) to remember our truly salty friends here on MR

 

[KrispE00]

HomePod sounds like something you lay down to let your dog pee on. I really think they could have named this better.

False...That’s obviously the PeePod.

 

[kissfan]

Trust Apple to spill the tea with a speaker. mine PFD today, cant wait. First song ill play shall be shake it off (Taylor Swift) to remember our truly salty friends here on MR

Ha!

If I tried that mine would laugh at me and play some metal.

 

[deanthedev]

The HomePod is omnidirectional and has no 'correct' orientation - it is a circle. How is it supposed to know which side is left and which side is right without knowing where its target is?

By sending out tones through the 7 tweeters and seeing when the sound arrives back at the 6 microphones. This is how it knows where it is in a room.

The HomePod does have a front and back. The front has the tweeter pointing directly forward and the rear has the power cord coming out. The side tweeters are where L & R come out.

 

[davidmartindale]

I buy almost every new Apple product, but this is in the boat with the $5,000 Mac. Totally off my list and proves that Apple mind control doesn't work.

You do realize that the iMac Pro is actually cheaper than building a computer of that spec right?

 

[prycop]

I had the same issue.

I first called the credit card-issuing bank, who said the failure was not a fraud-check block (like some large / unusual pattern transactions lead to).

They advised trying the payment again, manually entering the card details instead of using Apple Pay.

The Apple order page allowed me to do this, but the payment was still not authorised.

I then tried the option of using a different payment method. This also failed, with a totally different credit card immediately not being authorised.

So at this point I guessed it was not likely a payment problem, but an Apple / Apple Pay problem, and contacted Apple.

When I described the problem, they said that the re-attempt can fail and is a known issue. They said that their website doesn't properly clear the previous payment details, leading to the re-attempt / alternative payment method to appear to fail. Apple stated that they are able to put the payment through using their systems. True to their word, after giving my original payment details and Apple applying them to my order manually, the payment went through OK.

Just describing my experience in the hope that it will help someone in a similar situation. Re-ordering may not be necessary - a call to Apple may be all that's required. (Could be particularly useful on a future product order where a re-order might lead to being put to the back of a long queue.)

Yes - exactly the same process and reaction.

 

[Pman17]

Very interested to see actual reviews of this. Probably the most low key product Apple has ever launched.

 

[ersan191]

By sending out tones through the 7 tweeters and seeing when the sound arrives back at the 6 microphones. This is how it knows where it is in a room.

The HomePod does have a front and back. The front has the tweeter pointing directly forward and the rear has the power cord coming out. The side tweeters are where L & R come out.

Where it is in the room does not matter for Stereo. It only knows where the walls are, not where the subject is. It doesn’t have stereo sound, they are not advertising stereo sound with one HomePod. It does not *need* stereo sound when playing music for it to sound good. They are literally using the word stereo to describe a pair of HomePods, not one. Everyone needs to lower their expectations if they think it’s going to ship with discrete stereo sound.

There’s a reason they keep using the phrase “room filling sound” - it is omnidirectional. It does not have a focal point, its’ goal is to fill the room evenly.

It does not have a front and back - it is designed to be placed anywhere in the room at any angle and provide good sound. The 7 tweeters are evenly spaced in a circle around the sub.

With two you designate which is left and which is right.

 

[deanthedev]

Where it is in the room does not matter for Stereo. It only knows where the walls are, not where the subject is. It doesn’t have stereo sound, they are not advertising stereo sound with one HomePod. It does not *need* stereo sound when playing music for it to sound good. They are literally using the word stereo to describe a pair of HomePods, not one. Everyone needs to lower their expectations if they think it’s going to ship with discrete stereo sound.

There’s a reason they keep using the phrase “room filling sound” - it is omnidirectional. It does not have a focal point, its’ goal is to fill the room evenly.

It does not have a front and back - it is designed to be placed anywhere in the room at any angle and provide good sound. The 7 tweeters are evenly spaced in a circle around the sub.

With two you designate which is left and which is right.

You clearly have no idea how the HomePod works. No point discussing this any further if you refuse to understand how it works.

 

[ersan191]

You clearly have no idea how the HomePod works. No point discussing this any further if you refuse to understand how it works.

Good luck getting discrete stereo from something Apple has never once advertised as having stereo I guess.

 

[deanthedev]

Good luck getting discrete stereo from something Apple has never once advertised as having stereo I guess.

No luck needed. Good luck continuing to believe misinformation about how it works.

Me, I’ll enjoy true stereo sound from a single HomePod. Which is what it is designed to produce.