Hands-On Experience of New HomePod Reveals 'Exquisite' Audio Quality

[bruinsrme]

Some WiFi routers can be configured to support multiple standards on multiple bands but sometimes do not reach their peak performance when operated that way. Someone with a new high-performance router would probably look for new devices to support that level of performance.

It’s true that for many homes their current WiFi router may not be the latest and greatest, so buying HomePod without the latest WiFi standard is not an immediate problem but keeping up with the latest WiFi standards on new (and arguably, expensive) products is all about longevity.
With these products, Apple is deliberately delving into planned obsolescence. They expect customers to treat these devices as semi-disposable and be replaced every couple of years, much like iPhones are. This is further evident by the omission of an analog input. You can’t even choose to use a HomePod as a plain old amplified speaker after it is relegated to “legacy” status for feature updates (Or when it’s no longer compatible with your shiny new WiFi router ).

When these devices become obsolete there are going to be far more problems than a speaker not working as many home automation devices are running on n

 

[winofigments]

It is a glorified mono speaker in single setup. I played Hendrix and Yes through a single speaker to test since these bands do some heavy instrument panning, and a single speaker would drop instruments. Bought a second speaker for same day home delivery after I ended my test.

How does Yes sound with a pair of HomePods? My favorite band. I've been looking at studio monitors from Neumann which also have DSP.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

"Less tweeters = worse sound." Keep seeing this comment. But, less tweeters also means more power to go around. So maybe not worse.

Curious how these will stack up against Sonos

If (like last time) Apple marketing allows folks to perceive the 7" HomePods ("HPs") as simple bookshelf smart speakers directly comparable to Amazon choices like Sonos, then Apple's $300 HPs will appeal primarily to folks already locked in to the Apple ecosystem. Meh.

OTOH if Apple teaches people that pairs of the 7" HPs provide unique excellent sound presentation in acoustically very difficult smallish spaces, then Apple can own a significant niche of a very profitable market space; actually draw buyers to the Apple ecosystem rather than simply exist because of it.

The complex statement of the previous para is not easy marketing but is doable. IMO Apple should demo HPs out-of-the-box adjusting to acoustically impossible spaces (like my home office), never in a classic perfectly balanced stereo store soundroom where Sonos et al. show best.

Apple also must state the limitations of HP. In particular the limited physical size of the space that a pair can adjust to, and the specific consequences of overdriving small 6.6" speakers (distortion and/or hardware failure). Already we have long had folks saying absurdities like "they sound lousy out by my pool..." (duh)

And lastly Apple must stop referring to a single speaker sounding good. Even though yes, a single HP will sound better than a single competing speaker in a difficult acoustic space, humans have stereo hearing and the sound improvement of a stereo pair of speakers is not double, it is an order of magnitude. Plus a single speaker must be driven 2x to reach similar sound volume. All marketing needs to be at a stereo pair. Those folks who want only one can still choose one, but it should never, ever be marketed that way.

Way back with the original HPs I succumbed to the stupid single-speaker marketing and first bought just one. With trained ears I said this sounds terrible and also lacks enough sound volume for the space; so I bought a second HP and was amazed by how well the pair made great sound in an acoustically impossible space.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Two less microphones so Siri has two more excuses to reply hmmmmm I’m now sure who’s speaking


All this was said also about the original HomePod. I can’t help but thinking they simply took the original HomePod chopped off some components and advertised it as “all new” like they got used to do lately.
New processor ok. So when you ask Siri to turn off the kitchen light you get the music to start playing, just a bit faster.



No need to pump the hype on this!

This comment shows one way Apple fails in its marketing. 7" HPs need to be marketed as making great sound in small acoustically challenging spaces, not as some Siri demo. When Apple stupidly markets HPs as a Siri demo then Siri's many flaws are (IMO wrongly) associated with the HP hardware.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

the most frustrating thing here is that there will most likely never be a way to test paired HomePods 2 in a realistic environment. minis (and the OGs when they were around) are never paired in Apple Stores (edit: @ipedro mentioned “HomePod rooms” that I am not lucky enough to have, but cool to know they at least exist), and Apple Stores are *ahem* not the best environment to test a pair of speakers (let alone one speaker).

whatever. like I said in an earlier thread—pair of OGs till EOL. ✌️

Wrong. A good marketer would intentionally show stereo pairs of 7" HPs in acoustically difficult spaces. Easy to find in Apple stores. Sales people could even move pairs around the store during demos, which additionally would draw attention to the HPs. The 7" should be 100% about sound, letting the HP Minis deal with the Siri/smart speakers everywhere marketing.

Unfortunately the marketers in Apple's HP group have ranked as about two on a ten scale, and that is being generous. <sigh>

 

[Allen_Wentz]

How does Yes sound with a pair of HomePods? My favorite band. I've been looking at studio monitors from Neumann which also have DSP.

If you have an acoustically sweet space get studio monitors and amp/preamp/subwoofer. If you have a smallish acoustically lousy space get the 7" HPs.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

So who is Apple’s target market’? I understand it’s a niche, but who exactly is the HomePod aimed at? Not interested in what people think is Apples profit strategy as that’s dull as ditch water, just looking at this from a consumers point of view.

It’s simply aimed at the consumers with the disposable income to buy one and that finds the value worth what it costs. The people in this thread (and around the world) that have already placed orders, or intend to buy it when available are consumers that are IN the target market. There are FAR more potential consumers that are outside that target, though, and it will likely always be difficult for that group (that have a widely different set of priorities) to understand the consumers that are paying for and taking home the device. Luckily for Apple, though, the only consumers that matter, are the ones actually purchasing the device.

 

[georgivelev]

Exquisite. I know there are other pretentious words, but I can’t think of any other ones right now. Exquisite. Just. Exquisite. Not good. Not great. Exquisite.

BARF 🤮

Once upon a time our music teacher at school taught us that Mozart’s music was exquisite. So if you play Mozart’s music on the new homepod, it (the homepod) will sound exquisite. But then again, if you play Mozart on any other speaker, it (the any other speaker) will still sound exquisite because it’s playing Mozart.

So, no matter what speaker you buy, it will sound exquisite as long as you play Mozart. The good thing about it is that Mozart created more than 600 works (a symphony, which usually comprises 4 parts, counts as one work, the operas too) so you have a small variety at your hands. Truth be told, he more or less regurgitated the same idea of exquisity throughout his works so chances are high you may get fed up with his music fairly quickly. Still, there are a few of his exquisite compositions that stand out in a very exquisite way.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It’s simply aimed at the consumers with the disposable income to buy one and that finds the value worth what it costs. The people in this thread (and around the world) that have already placed orders, or intend to buy it when available are consumers that are IN the target market. There are FAR more potential consumers that are outside that target, though, and it will likely always be difficult for that group (that have a widely different set of priorities) to understand the consumers that are paying for and taking home the device. Luckily for Apple, though, the only consumers that matter, are the ones actually purchasing the device.

So this £299 smart assistant is for the people with vast amounts of disposable income, the type where they can spend £299 on something they like. The stuff of dreams for some of us then lol. Maybe I’ve misinterpreted your posts, but it sounds like you’re trying to suggest I don’t understand this product because I find it too expensive.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

So this £299 smart assistant is for the people with vast amounts of disposable income, the type where they can spend £299 on something they like. The stuff of dreams for some of us then lol. Maybe I’ve misinterpreted your posts, but it sounds like you’re trying to suggest I don’t understand this product because I find it too expensive.

Oh, no, I’m not saying that at all! The price is a mark where Apple’s placed value. Some will find it worth it, very, very many won’t find it worth it. You understand the product perfectly well! Well enough to understand that it’s not worth it to you. For the people that it’s for… I don’t know if I could even begin to describe them more specifically as a group. While some may like some actual specific feature or have a use case they already know it will fit, there’s also a bunch that just “want it” as a reaction to it existing! The biggest thing this group have in common? Mainly just that they’re going to buy it where very many people won’t.

If there’s anything you or I don’t understand is… ALL of the reasons why the people are buying it are actually spending money on it.

 

[anson42]

So who is Apple’s target market’? I understand it’s a niche, but who exactly is the HomePod aimed at?

I've got two OG HomePods and 3 HomePod minis spread around the house and garage. I'm the target market. I subscribe to Apple Music, I want easy setup, decent sounding on-demand music, podcasts and audio books and Siri is useful for what I need Siri for. We use the intercom feature often instead of yelling at each other. In the kitchen Siri is the master of multiple kitchen timers. Plus doing simple stuff like turning on the lights, reporting the weather, sports scores, etc. the stuff that Siri is good at.

None of the HomePods are for critical listening but are great for having music on when working around the house, cooking, messing around in the garage, etc. Apple Music is a really great music source for the entire family. For music sessions I anchor myself in front of a classic two-channel, vinyl/CD system.

I've always been the one who still buys records and CDs but not as much as I used as I can stream to my stereo system as well. To the rest of my family buying music is so alien now. Streaming Apple Music over a HomePod is definitely a thing.

 

[mxrider88]

This comment shows one way Apple fails in its marketing. 7" HPs need to be marketed as making great sound in small acoustically challenging spaces, not as some Siri demo. When Apple stupidly markets HPs as a Siri demo then Siri's many flaws are (IMO wrongly) associated with the HP hardware.

Well it is a smart speaker and it fails immensely on it. It doesn't even understand basic requests or it even fails to hear all together often.

The audio quality is surely good, nothing to complain about on that side. Although, to be honest, my grandfather Philips analog stereo that is probably 40 years old doesn't shy away if compared with 2 stereo paired HomePods. But I understand that this is comparing apples to oranges, in the real sense 😂

 

[Allen_Wentz]

So this £299 smart assistant is for the people with vast amounts of disposable income, the type where they can spend £299 on something they like. The stuff of dreams for some of us then lol. Maybe I’ve misinterpreted your posts, but it sounds like you’re trying to suggest I don’t understand this product because I find it too expensive.

No. The point is that it is NOT a £299 smart assistant. A stereo pair of HPs are a great sounding speaker set that will self-balance into the most difficult of smallish spaces. The smart speaker part is just coincidental, and also available much cheaper in the Mini.

 

[phenste]

Wrong. A good marketer would intentionally show stereo pairs of 7" HPs in acoustically difficult spaces. Easy to find in Apple stores. Sales people could even move pairs around the store during demos, which additionally would draw attention to the HPs. The 7" should be 100% about sound, letting the HP Minis deal with the Siri/smart speakers everywhere marketing.

Unfortunately the marketers in Apple's HP group have ranked as about two on a ten scale, and that is being generous. <sigh>

? everything you just said echoes my original sentiment and I specifically edited to say I don’t have experience with Apple Stores that have HP rooms (or even paired HPs) bruh what is the beef

 

[georgivelev]

A stereo pair of HPs are a great sounding speaker set that will self-balance into the most difficult of smallish spaces.

so is the €50 JBL clip - not sure if they can be paired for stereo but anyway. “Great sounding” and “smallish spaces” are antonyms. Laws of physics cannot be defeated. However good this speaker is, it will sound “acceptable” at best. But the so does any speaker from the JBL line for much less money. Whatever your preference.

 

[macsound1]

so is the €50 JBL clip - not sure if they can be paired for stereo but anyway. “Great sounding” and “smallish spaces” are antonyms. Laws of physics cannot be defeated. However good this speaker is, it will sound “acceptable” at best. But the so does any speaker from the JBL line for much less money. Whatever your preference.

Not sure you've ever heard a home pod, but comparing it to a $50 jbl bluetooth speaker is nothing to compare it to.
It's like comparing a Bose wave radio to a sony boombox. While the bose wave radio might be smaller, it has a wider and fuller sound with no detectable distortion.
The homepod is a great sounding speaker in a reasonable size room. "Smallish" is a relative term, probably based on large american homes where "great rooms" have replaced typical kitchens, dining rooms, and living rooms.

Put a single full sized homepod on a shelf or counter in a room that's 20x20 and it'll blow your socks off.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

This is good to hear, I'd like to see some more reviews as well.

Just because there are fewer speakers, that doesn't necessarily mean that the audio quality will be lower than the original HomePod. There have been many conclusions already jumped to since the announcement.

While I agree, it doesn’t necessarily mean quality will suffer with the speaker changes, neither does it please. I love my original homepods and think they sound great in stereo. I would have loved for the new models to sound better(!) than the originals. Maybe they will…but how much better could they have been with 2 more tweeters + the improved chip and computational audio refinements? We won’t find out this iteration. I’m hopeful that these do sound as good as the originals. But I really want to see some good critiques. Still, I don’t see any reason to upgrade my original models.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

Interesting, Australian user here.
I ask Siri for the news on my HomePod Original and Mini and they play the ABC news and prompt me if I wish to switch to SBS news. They have done this for years.

Also plays the news if I say, “what’s my update?” If I ask that, I get a run down of my calendar, reminders and news for the day.

I can’t ever get Siri to answer questions properly…I gave up within the first few months, it was just too frustrating. But I didn‘t buy the HomePods for their interactive capabilites—I thought it would be nice if Siri functioned as promised, but I didn’t expect an improvement over the iphone, where I knew I disliked it. I bought them as integrated Apple services speakers to stream my digital audio library and Apple Music.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

It’s early, and I just realized this, but it’s been two years since they discontinued the first one, which absolutely, positively, without a doubt, means that they were designing the 2 when they discontinued the OG and never said a word about it. This is how they decided to play this?

So was this whole delay, like Chevy and the Camaro thing how it disappears and comes back, all just to make us want it more?

There’s a saying, ‘never ascribe to maliciousness what can be explained by ineptitude.’
So: yes, they absolutely were working on this model when they discontinued the original.

They may have originally intended to announce and launch this new model closer to that date—before our worldwide pandemic and resultant manufacturing chain chaos, stoppages, and shortages (components and workers as well as capacity). But, we’ll never know one way or the other. It would have been nice for them to announce a new model was coming—but from a corporate perspective, why would they want to tip their hands to competitors?

 

[FriendlyMackle]

When was the last time you used it prior to this post?

I’d say it depends on your vocabulary, but it’s non an especially unused word. I hear it regularly. But rarely in conversation, because, frankly how many things in daily life are exquisite? I wish there were more occasions to use this word in daily life, but alas, that’s not my lived experience.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

I really would like to add a pair of these to my living room, but I still have a few reservations, which are:

Price - $299 is better than the $350 of the original, but still $50 too much.
Connectivity - Still no analog audio input/output options. I see no way to integrate a subwoofer.
Privacy - Based on past actions, I'm not sure I can trust Apple with an always-on, always-listening device in my house.

I really want to like this product, but those issues are still likely to keep me at bay.

I think that privacy is one area where Apple’s HomePod far exceeds the competition. Apple doesn’t upload any recordings to the cloud from you or your home. Not unless you enable the opt-in permission to use your queries for improvement of the product/service.
Amazon, on the other hand, records regularly and uploads the recordings to Amazon, where they are kept for several years (at least so far, based upon actual court cases which have cited Alexa Echo recordings, including in a murder case!). I think Google (and Samsung) do the same.

 

[FriendlyMackle]

I’m somewhat excited about the new HomePod. And I’ll definitely be buying one to try it out.

I have the first generation HomePod and all these years I thought it sounded great until I bought a new Bose Home Speaker 500 at a steep discount just to give it a try since I’m moving to the world of Android.

With a little equalizer boost, my personal opinion is that the Bose Smart Speaker 500 sounds much better than the original HomePod. The design is much better IMHO, its bass is punchier, and the trebles and mid-frequencies are sharper and have just about enough “spatial separation”. HomePod, now, in comparison, just sounds muddy through and through.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t favor Bose products aside from their excellent NC 700 headset and their Companion 2 and 20 computer speakers which came in really handy for my minimalist computer setup for years. But I am in love with the Home Speaker 500 over HomePod at this point. I still have about 2 months to return them so I hope I get a chance to compare them with the new HomePod and decide which one I’ll keep.

I couldn’t care less about the “smartness” of these speakers. I care about the quality of sound I can get from a compact setup.

I really don’t love the Bose sound profile on their headphones, I can’t comment on their speakers. They do great noise-cancelling in headphones, but I don’t love their music reprodution quality—and that’s just my opinion, and certainly not an objective judgement; I’m not an ‘audiophile.’

I just know that I really prefer Bang and Olufsen in terms of sound (headphones). Their noise-cancelling isn’t quite as good as Bose, but the sound is much richer, wth more depth, color, clarity, and intricacy to music reproduction. Even their tiny wireless in-ear earbuds (BeoPlay: Bang & Olufsen EX) sound head-and-shoulders better than the others in the market. I thought that my Beats Fit Pros sounded pretty decent until I compared them to the B&O Ex’s! Oh well, the Beats Fit Pros are still great for the gym and as a backup to my EXs.

I can’t compare the HomePod to any other standalone speaker, as I don’t plan to invest anything more in speakers of this type. The HomePod is good enough for what I use it for, casual listening. I mostly prefer noise-cancelling headphones (another thing that many ‘audiophiles’ claim to abhor) and wireless ones at that! 🤣

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Oh, no, I’m not saying that at all! The price is a mark where Apple’s placed value. Some will find it worth it, very, very many won’t find it worth it. You understand the product perfectly well! Well enough to understand that it’s not worth it to you. For the people that it’s for… I don’t know if I could even begin to describe them more specifically as a group. While some may like some actual specific feature or have a use case they already know it will fit, there’s also a bunch that just “want it” as a reaction to it existing! The biggest thing this group have in common? Mainly just that they’re going to buy it where very many people won’t.

If there’s anything you or I don’t understand is… ALL of the reasons why the people are buying it are actually spending money on it.

Fair enough. Back in 2017 Apple didn’t offer a product that suited my needs and I wasn’t going to spend £349 on a speaker that couldn’t sign in to Amazon Music. For me it was the early introduction of this product that has done the damage. Had a HomePod mini been available back then and with access to third party streaming, I may have tried it. Many will be like me where they are iPhone users with thousands of pounds worth of Apple devices in their homes, but use a different brand for home streaming/smart assistants. Apple may have retained more of their customers had they approached the market the same way they are going now. They just need to sort Siri out or license Google’s version as this is an area where they are seriously lacking.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I've got two OG HomePods and 3 HomePod minis spread around the house and garage. I'm the target market. I subscribe to Apple Music, I want easy setup, decent sounding on-demand music, podcasts and audio books and Siri is useful for what I need Siri for. We use the intercom feature often instead of yelling at each other. In the kitchen Siri is the master of multiple kitchen timers. Plus doing simple stuff like turning on the lights, reporting the weather, sports scores, etc. the stuff that Siri is good at.

None of the HomePods are for critical listening but are great for having music on when working around the house, cooking, messing around in the garage, etc. Apple Music is a really great music source for the entire family. For music sessions I anchor myself in front of a classic two-channel, vinyl/CD system.

I've always been the one who still buys records and CDs but not as much as I used as I can stream to my stereo system as well. To the rest of my family buying music is so alien now. Streaming Apple Music over a HomePod is definitely a thing.

I use smart assistants around my home in much the same way as you, just not Apple’s. I’ve had trials on Apple Music over the years when I’ve bought iPhones, iPads etc, but never kept it beyond that due to it not offering me anymore than I’m getting with Amazon music. I think we are demonstrating that it’s good there more than one choice out there to essentially do the same job.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

No. The point is that it is NOT a £299 smart assistant. A stereo pair of HPs are a great sounding speaker set that will self-balance into the most difficult of smallish spaces. The smart speaker part is just coincidental, and also available much cheaper in the Mini.

The HomePod is a smart assistant and it has always been marketed as one since conception. Even the name indicates it is a ‘Home’ product and for home automation. They do sound great I quite agree, but unfortunately the HomePod uses the rather dire Siri. Apple have been lazy developing Siri over the years and it’s slipped behind it major competitors.