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First Impressions From New HomePod Owners: Siri's Voice Detection is 'Phenomenal,' Audio Quality is 'Immediately Evident'

Rogifan said:
Apple has no real competition in the smart watch category. On the Android side it seems like OEMs just made a smart watch because that was the next thing to do (just like voice controlled speakers are now). I don’t see any Android OEMs really pushing smart watches anymore. Won’t be hard for Apple to own this market at all. Not the same with streaming music. Spotify has a large customer base and we never really hear Apple talk about switchers. I don’t see HomePod getting many Spotify customers to conver to Apple Music. But I do think there are Spotify customers who would switch from Sonos to HomePod if it supported services outside of Apple Music natively.
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Well, the common rebuttal is that Spotify still has yet to turn a profit. What is the likelihood that Apple simply outlasts Spotify in this regard? Apple has more than enough resources to keep supporting Apple Music indefinitely even if it is unprofitable, because it exists to sell more hardware.

And if Spotify ever does bite the bullet, Apple Music stands to be the greatest beneficiary.
 
Rogifan said:
So HomePod stays an Apple Music speaker until Apple overtakes Spotify in subscribers? Why not compete with Spotify on features and smarts not defaults and lock-in?
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Because Apple doesn't compete with anyone. Never has.
 
Now let’s get this thing set up
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otech said:
After moving the HomePod into a smaller room, it sounds much much better and exactly as described in the reviews (positive ones anyway).

I think my earlier complaints around audio (soundstage/high freq) may be due to the size of the room I had it in, and perhaps it hadn't fully configured itself properly for the location.

When I had it in a room 7m x 8m with hard wood floors, it lacked a bit from what I imagined based on the reviews - in the high end not bass, in a carpeted bedroom 4m x 4m it sounds incredible. I wonder if the hard floors were causing it to cut down higher frequencies as they were being reflected by the floor?

Also, positioning it in different places around the room yields incredibly different results (just like a conventional speaker) - but unlike a conventional speaker I found the sound to be mostly consistent as you move around it.
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A large room with hardwood floor are pretty terrible acoustic for whatever you put in them, especially if the room doesn't have a lot of furniture in it (or tall ceilings). 21 feet by 25 feet, that's bigger than the size of many small appartments and condos :).

I've got a friend with a huge 20x20x15 foot ceiling room and big staircases leading to other big rooms leading off it and nothing can fill this thing properly (the freq response is wack) no matter how expensive the system is.

Also, adjusting to the best sound for the location, doesn't mean it's the best sound it can ever have in any location.

Some spots in the room for sure get better acoustic but maybe you can't put the speaker there for whatever reasons. Since the speaker is much smaller, you have much less limitation in placement than you'd have for a two speaker directional normal combo.
 
westerlu77 said:
Just hold and push the play/ pause button in home screen or in the TV app. That’s a quite fast way to switch between input. Instead of going all the way to menus. I learned this way just a few days ago.
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I accidentally did this and now I know how to replicate the action. Great tip!
 
Is anyone with an Apple Music subscription able to play their playlists using Siri on the HomePod?
 
73CortinaV8 said:
audio quality: phenomenal

Utility without integration with Pandora/Spotify/Amazon Music/etc: Pretty much nil

Siri's utility: marginal compared to Alexa

The Verge's review nails it.
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Yet, actual comparing Siri scientifically doesn't yield the "marginal" thing you claim, so wtf are you and the Verge talking about.
Utility to you, even the verge didn't claim what you claim, you're just rewriting their already crap "review".
 
otech said:
Here are my positives:
  • Distortion free
  • It does sound good all round the room
  • Bass is just right
  • Siri can control airplay feeds including Spotify (pause, skip etc - and what is this song etc)
  • Siri VERY responsive and recognises voice well
  • Great volume
My negatives:
  • I don't hear the "Soundstage" as being that fantastic - and there is no Left/Right separation reproduced
  • Expected more in the higher freq range
  • No EQ presets to choose from - which would have been easy to implement

Will try in another room, and listen to a friends of mine to compare in case there is something wrong with mine - the reviews implied there was plenty of higher freq. This is playing both Apple Music and Spotify music streams.

EDIT
Playing different music genres seems to make a big difference to my satisfaction of the speaker - Jazz was disappointing, Humble by KL and Hotel California sound much better...
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A good test for speakers is piano jazz or bluegrass with complex strings, sourced from a lossless playback scheme. Anything will sound "good" or adequate from a 128K stream.
 
OllyW said:
It is more expensive but it's worth comparing as some early reviewers have been saying the HomePod is one of the best sounding speaker under $1000.
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Sound is a preference often, so it's understandable, but I don't think it will sound as good as something that costs 1000.
 
Is anyone else trying to order from BestBuy via PayPal Credit and it's not going through?

No error message, nothing. It just scrolls to the top of the payment page when you try to pay.
 
MDF314159265 said:
Your house must be very large to be filled with echos...

I kid!



Or Mac. This is a predominately Apple site, so I assume you’re here because you have MacOS or iOS.
Regardless, there are umpteen billions of iOS devices active and that means there’s a potential market to move just as many HomePods. Even a fraction would be considered a “success.”
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lol, good pun! There is really only one room that the HomePod could really shine in, that’s our family room with the tv. But hubby put an Echo right where I would have put a HomePod. There’s also a formal living room, but that’s been Echo’d, too. :rolleyes:
 
Heineken said:
Sound is a preference often, so it's understandable, but I don't think it will sound as good as something that costs 1000.
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There's been a lot of hyperbole about the HomePod, as there always is with the launch of any new Apple product. I haven't heard myself one but from reading the early reviews, it sounds like it's a decent sounding speaker for it's size and price. The Play 5 costs $500 so it's interesting to hear comparisons with the HomePod.
 
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Rogifan said:
And this is one reason Apple stock is valued the way it is. The company needs to stop treating everything as an iPhone accessory. And not every iOS user wants to use Apple Music. Creating a Siri domain for music/podcasts is a no brainer. If Apple is intentionally not doing it just to disadvantage Spotify that’s stupid. I’d be very surprised if Apple gets many Spotify converts because of HomePod. But I’ll bet they do lose some HomePod sales because the only native voice controls are for Apple Music.
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Well, I can’t say I can blame Apple in this regard.

The iPhone is Apple’s cash cow, and everything that Apple does seem to revolve around the iPhone. The iPad shares apps with the iPhone (in that apps you purchase on one device can often be downloaded for free on the other). The Apple Watch is pretty much the only viable smartwatch option. AirPods take advantage of the fact that the iPhone now has no headphone jack. Apple Music works on the Apple TV and Apple Watch and benefits from Siri integration. Everything appears to exist to add value to the iPhone.

The HomePod seems to be Apple attempting to leverage their iPhone market share into smart speaker share. It would appear that Apple has a significant number of Apple Music subscribers in the US and I have no doubt they will also sell a decent number of HomePods as well.

It’s funny, you know. I have always looked forward to how an Apple of today would fight, and while what they are doing now is undeniably impressive in terms of scale, it’s also a little anticlimactic in a sense. There does not seem to be any finesse or elegance here. Just plain brute force and the unstoppable momentum of an established ecosystem.
 
Abazigal said:
Well, the common rebuttal is that Spotify still has yet to turn a profit. What is the likelihood that Apple simply outlasts Spotify in this regard? Apple has more than enough resources to keep supporting Apple Music indefinitely even if it is unprofitable, because it exists to sell more hardware.

And if Spotify ever does bite the bullet, Apple Music stands to be the greatest beneficiary.
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I suppose that’s one way of looking at it but I think someone would scoop up Spotify before it ever bit the dust. Anyway Apple TV is an open platform and I doubt that’s going to change when Apple own a Netflix style service. I don’t think HomePod needs to be locked down for Apple Music to be successful and gain customers.
 
OllyW said:
Comparisons with a Sonos Play 5...

Impressions from a Sonos Play 5 (gen 2) owner
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Thanks! Yeah I was expecting less bass due to the sheer size of the speaker. Still impressive. I will try one once they will be available in Norway. I am not fan of Sonos for various reasons so I never got in into their ecosystem and with B&W not enabling Airplay2 on their devices I dont think I want to spend money on them either :)
I think I might get one to try and will see how it works. Pitty you cant use them as a Home Theater speakers though.
 
Heineken said:
Can you compare to UE BOOM, MEGABOOM or something from Libratone If you have?
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I have 2 Libratone Zipps... awaiting AirPlay 2. I could go buy 2 HomePods, but I spent $400 already on those 2 Libratone speakers.

And they have HomePods now available to pick up... the urge to go buy it is real!!! But I’m holding on strong!!
 
Rogifan said:
I suppose that’s one way of looking at it but I think someone would scoop up Spotify before it ever bit the dust. Anyway Apple TV is an open platform and I doubt that’s going to change when Apple own a Netflix style service. I don’t think HomePod needs to be locked down for Apple Music to be successful and gain customers.
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Is there even any strategic value in acquiring Spotify?
 
johngordon said:
Overpaid?

How much should a speaker that sounds as good as the HomePod reportedly sounds actually cost?
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Depends on your point of view.

I would love a high quality speaker to use to listen to music, use as a computer speaker, and to connect to my TV. The HomePod sounds like it has fantastic sound quality at a price that is fantastic for the quality; a true marvel of engineering. But it's not a "speaker" it's a "siri-extender".

As a speaker of it's quality, it would be well worth the $350. As an extremely limited eco-system lock-in device albeit with magnificent sound quality, it is grossly overpriced. Apple fans are always fond of saying it's not the specs but what you can do with it. Well here is a product with excellent specs that you just can't do a whole lot with.

I will never have Apple Music. I don't want to say there's anything wrong with the service, streaming is simply not for me. I'm of an age where I have a large library of my own (legally purchased) music, and I add very few songs per month to my collections. Apple Music is simply not for me.

So where does that leave me with HomePod? I can't listen to my music with it unless I airplay from my phone which is very inconvenient. I can't use it in place of a sound bar for my TV. I can't connect it to my computer as a speaker.

Tl,dr; given what you can actually do with a homepod, it is grossly overpriced. Add a bit more connectivity to well-engineered core and it would have been a great device at a great price. But allowing customers to actually use their hardware decently is against Apple's DNA these days.
 
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Abazigal said:
Well, I can’t say I can blame Apple in this regard.

The iPhone is Apple’s cash cow, and everything that Apple does seem to revolve around the iPhone. The iPad shares apps with the iPhone (in that apps you purchase on one device can often be downloaded for free on the other). The Apple Watch is pretty much the only viable smartwatch option. AirPods take advantage of the fact that the iPhone now has no headphone jack. Apple Music works on the Apple TV and Apple Watch and benefits from Siri integration. Everything appears to exist to add value to the iPhone.

The HomePod seems to be Apple attempting to leverage their iPhone market share into smart speaker share. It would appear that Apple has a significant number of Apple Music subscribers in the US and I have no doubt they will also sell a decent number of HomePods as well.
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I get it just not sure I completely agree with it. Apple TV is open. Why does HomePod need to be locked down? Especially considering Apple’s marketing pitch is mostly about what a great sounding speaker it is. The technology and innovation into making this an amazing speaker has nothing to do with Apple Music. It’s not like Apple introduced Mastered for HomePod or something where audio from iTunes or Apple Music sounds better on HomePod. Why not go after Sonos customers who aren’t Apple Music subscribers?
 
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