My impression from the official and unofficial reviews is that Siri is very good at listening (the mikes) but not so good at reacting (dumb). So here you have it: both statements are true.
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First Impressions From New HomePod Owners: Siri's Voice Detection is 'Phenomenal,' Audio Quality is 'Immediately Evident'
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My impression from the official and unofficial reviews is that Siri is very good at listening (the mikes) but not so good at reacting (dumb). So here you have it: both statements are true.
Add AM/FM radio to it, and maybe a projector to display movies onto a white backdrop, then I might buy it.
It's getting the EQ information from somewhere - as I said, streaming Spotify over AirPlay to the HomePod makes it obvious that are no EQ settings being applied.
I do take back the bit about AirPlay though. After watching some of the 11.3 beta videos it looks like it can multi-room any audio source, not just AM. They could ostensibly create a Siri domain with the Spotify app running on an iDevice, as you said.
Regardless, I still don't think Spotify support is coming anytime soon - if ever.
I firmly disagree with this after having given HomeKit a really solid effort.
I have an August Smart Lock, Hue Light Bulbs on my entire first Floor, an Arlo Smart alarm, iSmartAlarm, harmony hub, several Smart Life plugs, a MyQLink, and Leviton HomeKit switches.
They all worked great with siri and HomeKit when all I want to do is control them on the spot.
Where HomeKit falls apart is automation. And trust me, automation is better then needing to do it everytime it needs to be done.
Ifttt and Stringify allows for the ultimate customization where HomeKit is intensely limited.
After having given HomeKit a really solid effort over a year’s worth of purchases and tinkering, there is no doubt in my mind that Alexa combined with Ifttt is far superior to HomeKit.
I’m not saying these things to be a troll but I’d be happy to discuss this with anyone who is trying to make their home smarter. We all have such unique needs that it feels so limiting to have a the blanket effort of HomeKit vs. the nuanced and customizable world of Ifttt.
I have an August Smart Lock, Hue Light Bulbs on my entire first Floor, an Arlo Smart alarm, iSmartAlarm, harmony hub, several Smart Life plugs, a MyQLink, and Leviton HomeKit switches.
They all worked great with siri and HomeKit when all I want to do is control them on the spot.
Where HomeKit falls apart is automation. And trust me, automation is better then needing to do it everytime it needs to be done.
Ifttt and Stringify allows for the ultimate customization where HomeKit is intensely limited.
After having given HomeKit a really solid effort over a year’s worth of purchases and tinkering, there is no doubt in my mind that Alexa combined with Ifttt is far superior to HomeKit.
I’m not saying these things to be a troll but I’d be happy to discuss this with anyone who is trying to make their home smarter. We all have such unique needs that it feels so limiting to have a the blanket effort of HomeKit vs. the nuanced and customizable world of Ifttt.
HomeBridge makes most anything HomeKit compatible.
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Pumping out 24-bit ALACs through multi-room AirPlay. Sounds mint.
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There’s a reason for that. You don’t want the volume to turn down when you are just controlling music. So when you say “hey Siri turn it up” there’s not a dip before the volume turns up.
HomeKit at least has automation, compared to Alexa and Google which do not. Automation in terms of a smart home are things like timers and occupancy status, not stringing IFTTT commands together.
IFTTT in general is mediocre, it is very slow - I have waited over an hour for triggers to go off in the past - and limited to companies that are willing to pay their massive licensing fees. Even if you do choose to use it, again, Homebridge has an ifttt plugin. I would not consider IFTTT nuanced in the slightest, it is limited to very basic commands for most platforms.
If you give me an example of one of your IFTTT recipes I promise I can find a way to do it in HomeKit
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I am legit impressed you can setup HomeBridge but that truly is not even close to what the average consumer can do.
One of the big things for me is incorporating several devices into one Ifttt command that works on the spot and with Stringify integration allows for delayed commands.
If there is a way to do that with HomeKit, it is either not simple or just not available.
One of the big things for me is incorporating several devices into one Ifttt command that works on the spot and with Stringify integration allows for delayed commands.
If there is a way to do that with HomeKit, it is either not simple or just not available.
What kind of commands?
Yeah Homebridge isn’t the most user friendly thing in the world, but you can do practically limitless things with it.
Well factually Apple does only list Siri as an assistant and that deep machine learning and AI gives her some abilities. Yet they do not list her as an AI.
https://www.apple.com/ca/ios/ios-11/
I went to my local Apple Store tonight to give the HomePod a listen. It did sound good, but obviously a noisy environment isn’t ideal. Siri was Siri, it took the Apple employee a couple of tries to get Siri to do what he asked. Sometimes it was the first try, sometimes 2 or three. If the music was loud, you had to yell near the speaker to get Siri to activate. And if you tell Siri to turn the volume to 100%, she says that’s very loud, are you sure. Then you must say yes. And she asked every time she was given that command.
I think the speaker sounds good, I think Siri is not up to par. Siri hasn’t suddenly gotten better, it’s still hit or miss, just like the iPhone and iPad.
I’ve been playing with the HomePod for several hours now and here’s my reaction:
I like the sound very much. Where you put it definitely matters - the first location I tried was too challenging acoustically (at the junction of a tiled kitchen and a carpeted living room, on top of a fairly tall roll top desk - I was trying to stretch one HomePod to cover two rooms, and it was a bit too much). Once I moved it to a table in the living room it performed great. I mostly listen to acoustic music and it’s important to me to have each voice and instrument come through cleanly and in good balance, and they do. It’s not a 5.1 sound system, obviously, but it’s really great sound for a single speaker and having that sound be consistently good no matter where I am in the room (vs mainly in the fairly narrow sweet spot for my other speakers) is really nice.
I’m getting more out of Apple Music with HomePod. Although I’ve had a subscription for a while now I haven’t used the DJ or discovery capabilities much, mostly because it required either putting on headphones or finding the remote and firing up the home theatre sound system, then navigating to the music app and picking something to listen to. I’m finding that when I can just tell Siri to play something on a whim as I go about normal activities, I am far more likely to do that. I’m already rediscovering music I haven’t listened to in a while and finding new music I like. I don’t really care about other uses for Siri, though I do use it for reminders and timers and a few other other simple things. But the convenience of having good voice access to music is a bigger deal than I thought it would be, and I love it. (BTW Siri hears and correctly understands me most of the time - occasionally I have to repeat a command but it gets it on the second try).
On radio: I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could access my local NPR radio station. I thought I would have to use air play for that, but nope. I can call it up right from the HomePod.
On set up: I really like that I can put the speaker where I want it and let it do the calibration. I’ve fiddled with setting up and balancing sound across 5 speakers and a subwoofer and I find that to be a pain, so I’m happy to let the HomePod figure out where to direct sound for me as well as the eq settings. I know a real audiophile will want more control over the sound output but for me, this is great.
On how my various devices decide which one should answer when I say hey Siri: that mostly works, with the HomePod answering even when my iPad, iPhone and watch are also in the room. There have been a few glitches when I was actively using my iPhone or iPad and said something to the Homepod, but for the most part the devices sort out which one should answer correctly.
Bottom line, I’m really pleased and when Airplay2 comes out I will likely get a second HomePod for another room in the house (kitchen or study).
I like the sound very much. Where you put it definitely matters - the first location I tried was too challenging acoustically (at the junction of a tiled kitchen and a carpeted living room, on top of a fairly tall roll top desk - I was trying to stretch one HomePod to cover two rooms, and it was a bit too much). Once I moved it to a table in the living room it performed great. I mostly listen to acoustic music and it’s important to me to have each voice and instrument come through cleanly and in good balance, and they do. It’s not a 5.1 sound system, obviously, but it’s really great sound for a single speaker and having that sound be consistently good no matter where I am in the room (vs mainly in the fairly narrow sweet spot for my other speakers) is really nice.
I’m getting more out of Apple Music with HomePod. Although I’ve had a subscription for a while now I haven’t used the DJ or discovery capabilities much, mostly because it required either putting on headphones or finding the remote and firing up the home theatre sound system, then navigating to the music app and picking something to listen to. I’m finding that when I can just tell Siri to play something on a whim as I go about normal activities, I am far more likely to do that. I’m already rediscovering music I haven’t listened to in a while and finding new music I like. I don’t really care about other uses for Siri, though I do use it for reminders and timers and a few other other simple things. But the convenience of having good voice access to music is a bigger deal than I thought it would be, and I love it. (BTW Siri hears and correctly understands me most of the time - occasionally I have to repeat a command but it gets it on the second try).
On radio: I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could access my local NPR radio station. I thought I would have to use air play for that, but nope. I can call it up right from the HomePod.
On set up: I really like that I can put the speaker where I want it and let it do the calibration. I’ve fiddled with setting up and balancing sound across 5 speakers and a subwoofer and I find that to be a pain, so I’m happy to let the HomePod figure out where to direct sound for me as well as the eq settings. I know a real audiophile will want more control over the sound output but for me, this is great.
On how my various devices decide which one should answer when I say hey Siri: that mostly works, with the HomePod answering even when my iPad, iPhone and watch are also in the room. There have been a few glitches when I was actively using my iPhone or iPad and said something to the Homepod, but for the most part the devices sort out which one should answer correctly.
Bottom line, I’m really pleased and when Airplay2 comes out I will likely get a second HomePod for another room in the house (kitchen or study).
Its a perfectly good phone. Millions of people use and enjoy Android phones. People wouldn't buy expensive Android phones like the Galaxy S lineup of Android was as terrible as you make it out to be.
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Too keep up with technology on both sides of the fence. Only paying attention to the technology I currently favor would be very closed minded. I've switched between Apple/Android and Mac/Windows multiple times as each platform changes both in favor and against the traits I find desirable.
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But the watch isn't designed to be a hub for home automation. I'm sure theres people with iPhones who use Spotify and other services that aren't provided by Apple. I just feel that maximum compatibility is key for home automation, and Apple limiting its Homepod to its own services will only hurt it in the long run.
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I'm not hating. But compared to the scope of apps and hardware that all work together on other platforms, Apples ecosystem is a lot smaller, and I don't think its ideal for integrating into a home automation system.
At least as far as I see it, the more stuff works together, the more options consumers have for finding the exact devices and systems that meet their needs. Being in the tightly controlled Apple system means less choice and less customization to the end user.
I have been searching for some audio professionals review of HomePod and have not found anything yet. It will be interesting to hear what people who are used to listening on high end studio monitors think of the sound and listening experience.
Point well taken. I have been looking at places like ‘Sound on Sound’ and ‘Mix’. There are a lot of posts in this thread to start at the beginningHave you not paid attention to the threads here then?
If by “suffocatingly small” you mean includes pretty much every song, ever, and the ability to curate, recommend and organise all of that music, then yeah - it’s so “suffocatingly small” I can’t believe anyone would use it.
I think the detailed reviews as far as sound quality and analysis etc will take a little while yet. I’ve got a pretty good Naim separates system setup though by no means top end, along with both Naim Mu So models and the hour I spent with the HomePod yesterday for the money it costs I was impressed with its sound. Better than any $1000 speaker system I have to disagree though. Those with Apple Music who are happy with compressed audio as a source I reckon will really like it. Though the comments I have read on here and the reviews going on about sound stages etc I find a bit ridiculous because it’s a small compact speaker and not a pair of them!
WhatHiFi gave it 5/5. Lots of sound engineers and self professed audiophiles have chipped in here, even including spectral analysis.Point well taken. I have been looking at places like ‘Sound on Sound’ and ‘Mix’. There are a lot of posts in this thread to start at the beginning
What I like about HomeKit automation is that it’s controlled on a device in your house (AppleTV, iPad, and now HomePod).
While I’m a little frustrated at the rate Apple is adding new automation features (with each major iOS release), I do like that HomeKit automation isn’t dependent on someone’s server on the internet (IFTTT) to function.
Not that my internet goes down a lot, but it’s nice to know that my HomeKit automation jobs will run if it does.
But yeah, until HomeKit matures a bit more, I have a primary controller that I use for my more complex automations. Not that they’re truly complex, but today’s HomeKit can’t do them.
It’s probably fair to say it’s never going to sound quite as good as real high end kit, especially kit that doesn’t have the same size restraints.
“Soundstage” might mean different things to laymen compared to audiophiles. But from stuff I’ve read, the HP does a pretty good job of separating out elements of a track. For example projecting out lead vocals, and directing crowd noise or backing vocals backwards. (If the HP is on a shelf near a wall for example)
Which may not technically be what a soundstage actually is, but presumably prettt clever stuff that is going to help the overall sound quality.
Happy with mine. I haven't spent much time with Siri before, and I found the voice annoyingly chipper, so I switched it from American Perky to British Modestly Condescending. I tried setting it to Australian, but it wouldn't let me, because I wasn't holding a beer.