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

[ersan191]

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.

This isn’t even just automation by the way. On Alexa every time a smarthome device is accessed it has to go through the internet (with the one exception being Hue lights, because that came out before all of this other mainstream IoT home automation crap). There was one time when the company who makes my z-wave bridge had a server problem and I couldn’t use Alexa to control anything in my house for a week. If a company that makes one of your devices goes out of business or shuts off their servers that device will stop working with Alexa permanently.

Not to mention any security issues that could crop up because for example your front door lock HAS to be accessible by an API in the cloud somewhere for it to work with Echo.

This is part of the reason I say HomeKit is more advanced, it accesses everything locally with only one conduit to the outside world being controlled and secured by Apple. And if you don’t care about remote access you don’t even need that. It’s just a more secure and well thought out system from the ground up.

 

[johngordon]

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.

Actual LOL! You win the Internet today!

 

[SuperMatt]

Amazon wants you to buy everything from air conditioners to zubaz pants from them. Their voice-activated speaker is designed with that as a first priority.

Google wants your personal information to sell to advertisers. Their speaker is designed for that primarily.

Apple makes most of their money selling hardware. Their speaker is designed for customer satisfaction so you'll tell your friends to buy one too.

 

[Gav Mack]

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.

The Naim Mu so qb I have is around about the same size as the HomePod; it does sound a lot better to my ears but is twice the price but it does give me the lossless tidal streams via Ethernet as my bigger Mu so and my NAC 272 N Naim preamp on my main system and I can link them all multi room.

After that hours listening I’d heartily recommend the HomePod to anyone who uses Apple Music and hasn’t spent a fortune on hi-fi as I have, I certainly preferred it to any of the Sonos speaker range sonically and for Apple’s first speaker it’s an excellent first generation model unlike many Apple products I’ve owned before ;-)

 

[FreshBoy]

So I made the short trip over the Irish border up to Belfast to purchase the HomePod. After two hours with it I can say the sound is excellent. Easily fills my kitchen and it is so clear and loud. Siri works as well as it can and it’s “hey Siri” detection is superb. Can only get better now with new software updates. I get the feeling of the apple of old with this product as it just works right out of the box with no complications. Well done Apple it’s a truly wonderful piece of engineering.

 

[BlargKing]

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.

Its small compared the Androids ecosytem. People shouldn't have to use Apple and only Apple services.

 

[newdeal]

I have an echo, actually I have 10 of them. If Alexa was as bad as Siri they all would be going back. When the main method of interaction is voice commands then the speaker actually needs to be able to understand what you are saying. Seems like Good home is better than Alexa by a little but both are FAR better than Siri and I needed drop in so didn't go with google
[doublepost=1518286989][/doublepost]

Its small compared the Androids ecosytem. People shouldn't have to use Apple and only Apple services.

I sure wish I could use google maps via CarPlay, or ask Siri to play Spotify songs. Won't sign up for Apple Music because I have a bunch of Echos and won't sign up for Spotify because I can't use it with Siri or the Apple Watch easily

 

[johngordon]

The Naim Mu so qb I have is around about the same size as the HomePod; it does sound a lot better to my ears but is twice the price but it does give me the lossless tidal streams via Ethernet as my bigger Mu so and my NAC 272 N Naim preamp on my main system and I can link them all multi room.

After that hours listening I’d heartily recommend the HomePod to anyone who uses Apple Music and hasn’t spent a fortune on hi-fi as I have, I certainly preferred it to any of the Sonos speaker range sonically and for Apple’s first speaker it’s an excellent first generation model unlike many Apple products I’ve owned before ;-)

I read an interesting article recently, think it was Gruber, about how actually, Apple have been putting better and better speakers in Macs, iPads and iPhones for a while now. I mean, that’s obvious to a degree, but in the last few years they’ve gotten really pretty great for those sorts of devices.

They seem to be doing good work in this area, certainly compared to the iPod Stereo thing a few years ago.
[doublepost=1518287598][/doublepost]

Its small compared the Androids ecosytem. People shouldn't have to use Apple and only Apple services.

So if Apple Music already has virtually every song, how is that small in comparison to something else?

Do Android users have access to 2-3x as much content?

This seems like the old Mac v PC comparisons about how there was so much more software for PCs. That much is true. But more importantly, there wasn’t really much you couldn’t do on a Mac that you could on a PC.

You don’t have to use Apple and Apple only services anyway, use Spotify if you like, you’ll just need to use AirPlay.

 

[Gameboy70]

The Echo can stream Apple Music? I did not know that.

Apple hasn't offered AM for integration with any device except Sonos, but the Echo can stream Spotify if you append the song or artist you call out with, "on Spotify". Not ideal (compared to setting it as a default source), but at least the user has voice control rather than Airplay.

 

[NetMage]

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.

ITunes Match says hi!

 

[KidAKidB]

I'll happily post negative ones too, I just haven't seen any yet.

Look into the Consumers Reports one, it wasn't so great.

 

[MDF314159265]

Picked up a HomePod last night. Have not stopped listening to it!
I’ve been listening to nearly every genre of music and it sounds amazing accross the spectrum!
Siri is fantastic too! Works like Siri always has for me, and picks up on even the subtlest of “hey Siri” prompts.
I picked this up anticipating that I might still return it, in spite of all the rave reviews, but this fits RIGHT in.
Love it!
Only wish it were battery powered now so I could take it everywhere.
And waterproof so I could have one out by my hammock!

 

[The Game 161]

when stereo does come into play so tempted to buy a 2nd homepod lol

that said very happy with the one and having it on my TV stand adds more balanced sound compared to where I had it previously.

 

[I7guy]

Look into the Consumers Reports one, it wasn't so great.

That’s akin to saying that consumers reports gave the sonos speakers a negative review because it wasn’t rated as highly as the edifers.

 

[DocMultimedia]

As soon as Airplay 2 is public, I'll be ordering a 2nd HomePod.

 

[BlargKing]

I read an interesting article recently, think it was Gruber, about how actually, Apple have been putting better and better speakers in Macs, iPads and iPhones for a while now. I mean, that’s obvious to a degree, but in the last few years they’ve gotten really pretty great for those sorts of devices.

They seem to be doing good work in this area, certainly compared to the iPod Stereo thing a few years ago.
[doublepost=1518287598][/doublepost]

So if Apple Music already has virtually every song, how is that small in comparison to something else?

Do Android users have access to 2-3x as much content?

This seems like the old Mac v PC comparisons about how there was so much more software for PCs. That much is true. But more importantly, there wasn’t really much you couldn’t do on a Mac that you could on a PC.

You don’t have to use Apple and Apple only services anyway, use Spotify if you like, you’ll just need to use AirPlay.

I mean, you literally cant use Homepod without an iOS device, so its pretty moot. And airplay seems to be an inelegant solution. And no, Android may not have more content, but theres a lot more ways to access that content.

 

[tennisproha]

When you think about it, this is a high-end speaker featuring a smart assistant that hasn't been touched in 7 years. Now that's what I call half baked.

Wow give it a break. Whining about something doesn't help anybody.

 

[Gav Mack]

I read an interesting article recently, think it was Gruber, about how actually, Apple have been putting better and better speakers in Macs, iPads and iPhones for a while now. I mean, that’s obvious to a degree, but in the last few years they’ve gotten really pretty great for those sorts of devices.

They seem to be doing good work in this area, certainly compared to the iPod Stereo thing a few years ago.
[doublepost=1518287598][/doublepost]

So if Apple Music already has virtually every song, how is that small in comparison to something else?

Do Android users have access to 2-3x as much content?

This seems like the old Mac v PC comparisons about how there was so much more software for PCs. That much is true. But more importantly, there wasn’t really much you couldn’t do on a Mac that you could on a PC.

You don’t have to use Apple and Apple only services anyway, use Spotify if you like, you’ll just need to use AirPlay.

The iPad in particular over the past few years with the Pro especially has significantly better audio though the loss of the audio jack in the iPhones means I no longer listen to tracks on the iPhone with my cabled quality cans no more only on the iPad. The iPod stereo ‘hifi’ dock I remember well - an oxymoron of a name it sounded absolutely terrible! This HomePod thankfully doesn’t!

 

[DevNull0]

ITunes Match says hi!

Not sure how that helps. You're saying it's worth $28/year (assuming that's still the price) just to be able to play most of the songs I've already paid for because the HomePod is so limited?

I actually tried it when it first came out, it made a horrible mess of my carefully organized music and deleted a lot of songs. I don't actually remember any benefit from it (since I had my music library on my iPhone and Mac at the time).

 

[convergent]

Amazon wants you to buy everything from air conditioners to zubaz pants from them. Their voice-activated speaker is designed with that as a first priority.

Google wants your personal information to sell to advertisers. Their speaker is designed for that primarily.

Apple makes most of their money selling hardware. Their speaker is designed for customer satisfaction so you'll tell your friends to buy one too.

Have several Echos and I've not ordered anything from any of them. I don't think they even enable it as a default. Of all three of these companies, the one that to me is most focused on user experience lately is Amazon. Listening to Spotify on my Echos as we speak, initiated from a Note 8. The main thing is we have choices and not everyone wants the same stuff. Glad Apple "finally" got into the game. Competition is good.

 

[johngordon]

I mean, you literally cant use Homepod without an iOS device, so its pretty moot. And airplay seems to be an inelegant solution. And no, Android may not have more content, but theres a lot more ways to access that content.

Sure, but that’s not really relevant to a point about walled gardens.

If there isn’t actually more content, you can’t really insinuate that Apple subscribers only have access to a relatively small amount of content.

I mean, people only really need one way of accessing that content.

 

[Gav Mack]

I mean, you literally cant use Homepod without an iOS device, so its pretty moot. And airplay seems to be an inelegant solution. And no, Android may not have more content, but theres a lot more ways to access that content.

I think all of us macrumors users have at least one iOS device surely?

But for those who don’t want to be locked into Apple Music and want a decent speaker there are alternatives but the one I use and would recommend the mu so qb costs twice as much. With upnp, Spotify and tidal support, it accesses all the Flac content off my server with ease. Though I don’t expect it will be that long before the HomePod software updates adds some direct support for the missing services like Spotify in particular.

 

[VictorTango777]

As soon as Airplay 2 is public, I'll be ordering a 2nd HomePod.

Why should Airplay stop at 2? Why not go 5.1 multichannel for playing movies?
[doublepost=1518304253][/doublepost]

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.

I would like to see reviews from artists and recording engineers playing their own titles to determine if the audio really does sound "the way they intended".

 

[Diane B]

Yeah I couldn’t bear to be stuck with my husband’s play lists and I’m sure he feels the same about mine.

I bet if you gave the playlists distinctive names for each of you it would work fine. i would turn off use history from what I’ve read. I was skeptical—not about the quality of the sound but whether I would use Siri much on sn ‘assistant’ (I do use it in Car Play and occasionally on Watch and phone—never on Ipad pro because i have to have it plugged in) but after watching several user videos I bet i would use it a lot more than I expected—and I do sub to Apple Music and listen to podcasts so sound is really the most important thing for me.

 

[73CortinaV8]

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".

scientifically? really? it doesn't take the scientific method to tell me that my alexa can do A LOT more things than Siri can, things I care about. Can siri play a specific spotify playlist on my bedroom Sonos speakers at X volume? No. Can Siri play me the BBC news on my bathroom sonos speaker? No. Can Siri set my Hue lights to a particular program in my living room? no. Can I program Siri to tell me the status of my work servers? No. Can siri order me my morning uber? No.

Siri can't even turn on my apple watch flashlight. Let me repeat that - Siri on my apple watch can't even activate a white screen on the watch.

Apple lost the personal assistant game to Amazon and probably all the rest too.
[doublepost=1518310046][/doublepost]

It’s beginning to look like there are actually paid Apple trolls posting artificially positive posts on these forums.

Could not agree more. I think it started with the iphone X. Fake scarcity stories. Oh it is so awesome.

No, it's a real let down.

I wouldn't be surprised if macrumors itself was getting some back-channel marketing money from Apple.