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

robjulo said:
Whatever you do macrumors.....make sure you only post positive reviews....it’ll make all those who overpaid for a limited speaker feel better about themeselves.
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I really don't know why you guys have issues with people who buy stuff they like? I mean what exactly troubles you if people buy it and love it? I find it so bizarre! I have not bought it but I will. For me is not limited the slightest. What makes you think that people who buy this are not in the Apple's ecosystem and happy with it? For me it does exactly all things I want it to do. It appears to have better sound quality then the rest of it's kind (but hey, all the sudden the sound quality on a speaker is not important, but the smartness is lol) Sure it is limited to Apple's ecosystem but guess what? I love Apple ecosystem, so for me (and can't be the only one) this will be worth every penny. And I don't need reviews to make me feel good or bad.
But I have an advice for you, since you seem to be looking for a negativity to make you feel better. Pay a visit to Android sites. Sure you should be able to read plenty of negative stuff there. Or even better, Samsung forums. After all, it sounds like you belong there.
 
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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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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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I think you make a lot of good points with your post on how the HomePod wall variably sound depending on the size of the room, how close it is to the walls, ect. I think the sound resonates differently because it has many variations and it likely require a lot of experimenting to find out which works best for what room in your house.
 
Kabeyun said:
I’ll kick it off. Not completely negative (he liked the audio quality) but the NY Times experience was marred by Siri’s ineptitude. Yes, Apple’s marketing HomePod as “speaker first” but they can’t expect to incorporate Siri and then be given a pass on her embarrassing brainlessness. It’s truly incomprehensible how/why Apple keeps rolling out Siri everywhere while not making her smarter, even as the competition pulls away in this department.
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This is a very good point - and one I agree with. They need to make Siri much, much smarter.

However, I honestly feel like Siri on HomePod is not as big a deal as Alexa on the Echo. Echo exists to our Alexa into your house. Apple wanted a way of customers interacting with a high quality speaker and picked Siri.

Perhaps this isn’t entirely relevant to your point, but I feel it’s worth remembering.
 
- No Bluetooth connectivity if you wanted to connect something other than your iPhone or Apple TV.
- No line in for a cable !?!?!!!#!
- Not open to other music apps
- Siri is a con
- One pro is that its pretty and the sound is good but hmmm. Alexa + Speaker = less than half of the HomePod ... I'm passing on this one.
 
Another thing I have noticed, and would like feedback from others with a HP, is that a given volume level's "Loudness" varies a lot between tracks.

This is likely because of the source, but would have thought given the microphones and smartness of the unit that Apple could have normalised a given volume setting to reflect a consistent loudness or average dB? across tracks.

Most noticeable on mixed artist playlists of course, or playing Youtube via Apple TV.
 
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thekeyring said:
This is a very good point - and one I agree with. They need to make Siri much, much smarter.

However, I honestly feel like Siri on HomePod is not as big a deal as Alexa on the Echo. Echo exists to our Alexa into your house. Apple wanted a way of customers interacting with a high quality speaker and picked Siri.

Perhaps this isn’t entirely relevant to your point, but I feel it’s worth remembering.
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If it were a speaker it would allow bluetooth connectivity and line in ports. For it to be considered a speaker it should have ways "in" other than AirPlay. IMHO
 
Rochy Bay said:
- No Bluetooth connectivity if you wanted to connect something other than your iPhone or Apple TV.
- No line in for a cable !?!?!!!#!
- Not open to other music apps
- Siri is a con
- One pro is that its pretty and the sound is good but hmmm. Alexa + Speaker = less than half of the HomePod ... I'm passing on this one.
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Bluetooth support is there and I don’t think it’s restricted to iOS devices. Siri is an assistant not an AI.
 
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DeepIn2U said:
Bluetooth support is there and I don’t honk it’s restricted to iOS devices. Siri is an assistant not an AI.
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haha "assistant"
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otech said:
Like what? I didn't think Sonos has these options.
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Beats does, and its an Apple product.... I'm lost on the direction they are going with the products.... just my two cents that nobody should really care about ! :)
 
DeepIn2U said:
Bluetooth support is there and I don’t honk it’s restricted to iOS devices. Siri is an assistant not an AI.
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I must have watched the wrong video reviews then... the ones I watched highlighted no bluetooth... I am not buying one to test it myself :) I did that once with the Apple Watch 1 series hehe
 
Rogifan said:
There are legitimate criticisms but it seems like it really bugs people that this device has great sound. Maybe, just maybe the early adopters bought it for that knowing all the limitations.
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Using AirPlay which means requires an iOS device.
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There are Android apps that add AirPlay capability.
 
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Sounds like Apple is once again years and years ahead of the competition. This is audio technology straight out of science fiction books.

AIs will get better with time, but for what it is today, the product represent the kind of breakthrough that only Apple can achieve.
 
WhiteHawk said:
There are Android apps that add AirPlay capability.
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I have iPhone X but I happen to use Spotify. Honestly i got 4 echos spread in 3 rooms, I tell Alexa to open Spotify, pandora or whatever I want and play in the everywhere group. This is a cute speaker but nothing beats having separate speakers everywhere with Alexa being able to control them all on any app for pretty much $120 to which you can still connect line in or bluetooth ! I connected my beats pill to Alexa too. I love my echos specially playing meditation or spa music.
 
otech said:
Ohhh... I like being able to control Apple TV playback handsfree...

Pause/Next (Youtube)/Volume Up/Down
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Does it disconnect from the Apple TV when you issue any command? Or just if you play music?
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Rochy Bay said:
I have iPhone X but I happen to use Spotify. Honestly i got 4 echos spread in 3 rooms, I tell Alexa to open Spotify, pandora or whatever I want and play in the everywhere group. This is a cute speaker but nothing beats having separate speakers everywhere with Alexa being able to control them all on any app for pretty much $120 to which you can still connect line in or bluetooth ! I connected my beats pill to Alexa too. I love my echos specially playing meditation or spa music.
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This functionality (multi-room) is coming to HomePod as well.
 
I don't understand the Apple TV Speaker comment in the article above.

If you watch "The Verge" long review, that say this function is good, but you need to set ip up in Apple TV as the speaker, then if you use the HomePod for something/play music, it then breaks this connection/setup and you have to re-set it up as a TV speaker every single time.
That sounded terrible
 
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