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Hands-On With Apple's Second-Generation HomePod
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And with certain physical trade offs like cables and placing the receiver somewhere. Like life it’s all about tradeoffs. I’m good with 75% of the sound performance for 1-power-cable-only plug-n-play.
Grab a used nearfield powered monitor for about the same price.
Single power cable, plus aux cable in with any device and not just an apple device.
If you really need blutooth grab a dongle for and extra $15.
10x the sound quality for a few dollars more or the same price.
only issue i have while using earc mode and sony tv is that the volume of sony tv would go 100 percent but at a different pace making it full out only tv side but not apple tv i would have to manually using siri remote to increase the rest of the homepod volume
tell that to my paystub where raises have not been given out due to covid and stuff
Apple hasn't been a leader since Steve Jobs passing. They're just playing catch up since.
that would be a big overkill in terms of size, cost, and complexity for a level of performance that many of us just don’t care about.
But with Bluetooth. Nope. I find airplay that much more flexible and easier. And I like adding in my 4 HP minis and Roku bar/sub/satellites for whole-house half the time. Like I said, sometimes big convenience > big performance.
As someone else said…these are not Bluetooth speakers. They stream via WiFi, which is why they can actually play LOSSLESS audio. Bluetooth can’t do that, as it has around 1/1000th (at best) the bandwith of wifi.
I’m not saying these are high-end audio speakers, but they are a nice mainstream connected and in-the-garden product compatible with other Apple products. And they sound pretty good.
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iJustine comes to mind…giddy to the point of manic, overly positive, possibly homicidal.
Try "Hey Siri, play cause we ended as lovers by Jeff Beck" (worked for me). Otherwise, Siri will look for media; a song or movie, called "Jeff Beck cause we ended as lovers" to play. Not finding the song, Siri will guess (incorrectly) what you meant.
iJustine comes to mind…giddy to the point of manic, overly positive, possibly homicidal.
What annoys me are YouTube splash pages where reviewers contort with stupid facial expressions, apparently to suck viewers in.
I ignore those. I'll never understand how some people fall for that.
My choice would be an Adam A7x.
Very neutral, detailed, front ported, front power switch.
Now that they released a new model prices should be going down more from the already very reasonable used prices.
Only need one. Only point for stereo is if you are stationary in one spot. But if you're moving around the house it won't help at all to have two.
Even when you're stationary you'd be surprised how livable mono is.
Anyone have a visual side-by-side of Midnight with a black mini? It's a small thing, but drives me nuts that it's no longer a color match. I've found material makes a big difference with how blue Midnight looks on various devices and accessories, so curious here. I have 3 minis for multi-room in my apartment and was thinking about getting a 4th...but I can justify a gen 2 in my living room for sure.
Yeah exactly! That’s what I noticed. The sound was localized and distant sounds were just muffled, not really on another plane.
They could sound better, sure, but how much more would you want to pay? For the price they are a great value.
Highs and detail aren't that great, but the bass compares favorably with my av system that cost more than a order of magnitude more.
They are airplay, not bluetooth speakers.
Not if you care about the sound. In that price range it is an excellent performer.
Source?
Depends on the speaker.
"GoldenEar speakers will sound great right out of the box, but be prepared for some further improvements during the first 100 hours of playing time. Although there is nothing “breaking in”, critical listeners all agree that during the first 100 hours of use there are audible changes and subtle improvements in sound quality in any high-performance speaker system."
FAQs | GoldenEar
FAQs What makes a good speaker golden? Everyone already owns a pair of golden ears. Why should anyone buy a pair of ours? Although GoldenEar loudspeakers are often praised for their unrivaled combination of performance and value, we believe there are many deeper and more significant reasons for...www.goldenear.com
"Definitive Technology estimates a break-in period of 24 to 48 hours of playback before the speakers will deliver optimum sound quality."
[Comments based upon my v1 Homepods]
He’s right, part of the speaker would fail in the PSU and it would die from overheating. There are tons of YouTube videos repairing them.
At $800 each I think that Adam A7x is in a different class than the HomePod. I’m sure they are very good speakers if you are looking for a higher end system for music, but a little rich for my blood.
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Part of the burden of having golden ears, they listen to their equipment, normal ear owners listen to the content. To each their own
They don't need to be at ear level bc the tweeters are beam forming. Mine are below ear level and still image above the speaker.
In other news: The sound - a great sounding smart speaker but as a stereo speaker it doesn't have the bass or detail for audiophiles, if that's your thing. It sounds good but behind frosted glass. I put on headphones and was amazed how much detail the HomePod missed. Entire instruments vanished into a sonic wash. You know, like a smart speaker.
I replaced my (not ATMOS) wired soundbar with a pair and the HomePod sounded better enough I gave my soundbar away. My TV room is awful; hard floors, bare wall, low ceiling, and bad geometry. The HomePods & my AppleTV required a software update but after auto EQ'd to sound better in the room than anything I had tried to date. However, as with my older sound bar, there is a small amount of sibilance. (¿Maybe this is a Dolby artifact?) Bonus, fewer wires and it doesn't block my CC text on the bottom of the screen. Add the ability to gang 2 or 3 more, or at least a sub, and you have a Sennheiser Ambeo replacement.
Summary:
- The room analysis feature is excellent.
- Bass is pretty amazing for a 5" speaker but it is still a 5" speaker, you can only expect so much bass here.
- As a soundbar alternative, it is fine for the money.
- As a high quality hifi speaker HomePod is only okay, not fine - but software updates may improve that to a degree.
- It is good (not excellent bc "Siri") but expensive as a smart speaker.
Put all of that together and HomePod 2 stands pretty much alone.
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Even with less hardware, users account better sound then gen 1. Might have to get one of these or two for a home theater experience.
It's that "iJustine stoneface smile" - doesn't extend to the eyes.
I’m glad to hear so many people saying that it sounds great despite the reduction in speakers.