Having second thoughts about the HomePod.

[za9ra22]

I agree, sound is subjective. You said you spent time in the audio industry. So I assume you have spent some time with high quality audio systems. Anyone who has spent time in the audiophile world would know, after you have experienced high quality sound, you develop and ear. That being said, a HomePod is just a smart speaker nothing more.

I certainly know what good quality audio equipment sounds like, and how it performs, and the HomePod doesn't live anywhere near that standard. If that is what I wanted for casual listening, I wouldn't have even considered a HomePod because it would be incapable of delivering the listening experience I wanted.

Speaking only for myself, that level of quality is not what I was looking for or expected. I was curious to see how a HomePod performed, largely in comparison to an Amazon Echo, which I already own, and which to this point has been used for casual listening - background music. The HomePod beats that by a wide margin. And from my standpoint, performs much better than I had expected. Hence I am satisfied that it is well suited to the purpose for which it was experimentally bought, and am happy to use it for that purpose.

Were I to want a serious listening experience, it would not be the HomePod in my home to which I would turn.

 

[BlankStar]

Still don't understand how people are filling pages and pages with posts.

Don't want one: don't get one.
Got one, but not happy: return it.
Got one and happy: join the club.

End of story? Why keep trying to convince people otherwise? It's a personal thing. In French we say: "les goûts et les couleurs, on ne discute pas", which means: "never discuss tastes and colors".

 

[Benz63amg]

You listen to jazz or classical? Soundstage and volume (not loudness, I am talking about efficiency) just isn’t there from what I am hearing.

The Bose SoundTouch 20 is way better.

I sure do listen to jazz as well as classical music. Soundstage isn’t there to the extent it is on my hifi setup but it’s not bad at all either

 

[AppleRobert]

Some people's expectations on the HomePod (including yours) surprises me. After watching the keynote introduction of the HomePod, I knew moving forward that Siri on it will not be the big seller but it’s its sound quality.

Seeing it in person and finally hearing it made me more excited about it because to me there are no other speakers out there in such a small package that sound this good!....and I've been listening to 'Hi-Fi' since I was young in the 70's and been lucky to have had all sorts of sound systems growing up.

The HomePod to me is the perfect combination of size and sound. It doesn't compare to bigger speakers or other sound systems with artificial intelligence. It's not really a competitor to 'Alexa' or 'Google' but Siri provides basic useful information and HomeKit functionality.

Look at it this way: It's simply a great sounding small speaker that has the added functionality of Siri. It's speaker first and Siri second at this moment in time....and I'm OK with this.

I've spent $500+ on more powerful stereo systems that I would use 50% of their power most of the time when listening to music (not counting my home theatre set-up which is meant to be loud, of course). The HomePod, at a lesser price, suffices my music listening cravings!

Oh, and have you tried listening to it on low volume at night?...the bass response on this thing is awesome at such a relaxing volume! Other competing small speakers don't even come close.

Just my 2 Cents.

Would you please share what you are listening to at night at low volumes? I need some examples of excellent bass response at a relaxing volume.

 

[donster28]

Would you please share what you are listening to at night at low volumes? I need some examples of excellent bass response at a relaxing volume.

Sure thing! Any song can serve to give you a good example but for me, there's nothing like current Dance Hits that'll relax me at night...I'm weird that way.