An eagle-eyed Reddit user noticed they appear to have tested the speakers in treated and anechoic rooms possibly negating the Homepod’s room correction abilities (https://www.reddit.com/r/HomePod/comments/7wl3ni/comment/du1bcn3).Here's the link for CR's review https://www.consumerreports.org/smart-speakers/apple-homepod-early-test-results/
The issue with any of these tests as I see it, is that sound is subjective. Other reviews put the HomePod over the Sonos 1, but not by much. I'm not disputing CR's review, just pointing out that I think they're all fairly close to make a clear winner difficult. I'm impressed with what the HomePod can do, sound wise, but I think Alexa as an assistant is superior. I have a couple of echos in my house, and I'm not sure I'm willing to switch over, but I am being tempted
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HomePod HomePod first impressions
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I’ve been curious about this..... hoping for some type of converter to airplay tv output to HomePod, if I had directv now I could just use Apple rv to do this but since I have an actual dish there is currently no way I know of to get the sound to HomePod
[doublepost=1518293297][/doublepost]Spoke to soon, just figured out a way to stream tv to HomePod, simple really, I just enabled mirroring on iPhone and then called up the directv app.....I mean that should work, it is playing on tv fine via airplay so it should just be a matter of changing applets output
Which AppleTV is in the home app? I have a Gen 4 AppleTV and it is not in the home app. Maybe only the 4K AppleTV is in the Home app.
I dislike this. I prefer playing through my phone but the difference is quite noticiable..
I had no issues with my phone picking me up over the HomePod last night when I went to bed. I’m probably 20’ from the HomePod with my door closed and said Hey Siri Good Night and my phone picked up and turned off the lights and set the Night Scene.
I just spent an hour plus with two different HomePod's at an Apple Store here in Salt Lake City today
It seems fine… It's honestly mostly what I expected it to be. It seemed to sound very nice but nothing about it was compelling for me personally to run out and spend much money on it.
Who knows…
If they open it up a bit more and I can use other sources more natively with it versus just airplay perhaps I'll give one a try at home sometime but not for now.
It definitely feels like a subdued product launch as absolutely nobody was even looking at them or playing with them in the hour plus I was there (very busy store)…
I'm not even sure normal people knew Apple released their own speaker to be honest.
All in all it seems like a fine product to add to the portfolio… I guess my only comment at this time is I wish they had just put some hardware controls on there as I'm not into the screen/touchscreen controlling (When going for tactile control)
It seems fine… It's honestly mostly what I expected it to be. It seemed to sound very nice but nothing about it was compelling for me personally to run out and spend much money on it.
Who knows…
If they open it up a bit more and I can use other sources more natively with it versus just airplay perhaps I'll give one a try at home sometime but not for now.
It definitely feels like a subdued product launch as absolutely nobody was even looking at them or playing with them in the hour plus I was there (very busy store)…
I'm not even sure normal people knew Apple released their own speaker to be honest.
All in all it seems like a fine product to add to the portfolio… I guess my only comment at this time is I wish they had just put some hardware controls on there as I'm not into the screen/touchscreen controlling (When going for tactile control)
Try saying Hey Siri set volume to (some percentage).
I use Hey Siri set volume to 28 percent
It works great.
I have not but this is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks!Have you ever heard of the Spinal Tap
I love little touches like that. But I appreciate that if you weren’t aware of the background or that context it may not make any sense. But when you do, it is actually pretty cool. Shows the developers have a sense of humour.
The sound of the HomePod to me is very "bright" it sounds spacious and highs to me are very pronounced. Lyrics, string hits etc. are crystal clear... perhaps a hair bit too processed. It sounds great but it doesn't have a classic mellow warm sound the way some higher end speakers do. My Play:5 speakers from Sonos (1st gen) have slightly more bass hit, have a pleasant warm sound but are far more localized (you can visualize it coming directly from the front of the speaker in your minds eye) and the mids are a bit muddy. All in all I think I favor HomePod ever so slightly in sound vs. my Play:5 speakers but there are certain songs where Play:5 wins. That said my Play:5 is THREE TIMES LARGE, costs $150 MORE, and has no voice control. All in all I think the HomePod is a huge, huge victory for Apple in sound. I'm very hopeful the obvious features of Airplay 2 are coming sooner than later and Apple simply must be aware Siri needs work, and is working on it.
I stopped by my local apple store and checked out the HomePod, while I didn't walk away with one, I was impressed with it. I also noted that Siri was less capable then Alexia, even among the simplest stuff. For instance, my kids like to say to alexia, sound like a cat, and it does (this causes massive confussions and consternation to our cats), and of course Siri could not do that. I'm not picking on Siri for such a silly request, but I point out that it shows the level of superiority Alexia has, that it indeed can do silly stuff, but it can do other things, like call an uber, or run multiple timers (Siri can only do one it seems).
Still even with the limitations, I'm likeing the HomePod and I'm leaning closer and closer to buying it. The question I have, is where to put it. I'm in my home office about 80 percent of the time, My bedroom watching TV/using my PS4, and the rest in the kitchen or living room. The natural answer is my home office.
Still even with the limitations, I'm likeing the HomePod and I'm leaning closer and closer to buying it. The question I have, is where to put it. I'm in my home office about 80 percent of the time, My bedroom watching TV/using my PS4, and the rest in the kitchen or living room. The natural answer is my home office.
When you are in the office, most of the time you are probably at your computer/desk. Fixed position is probably much better suited for a regular stereo setup which for the same price will have much better sound quality. Also, controlling play lists and music playing in general from the computer is probably much easier than trying to convince Siri to do what you want.
For someone who has not really used Siri before this, and who has also not used Apple Music before, the learning curve is not trivial. I alternate between being impressed and being annoyed, and the annoyance is probably more due to my own unfamiliarity than anything else.
I guess my point is that for someone using it as simply an AirPlay speaker, that is a straightforward thing. Using the smart features involves familiarization. Those who have used the Amazon or Google speakers have the familiarity with a smart speaker but are also used to a certain way they work, which I assume is going to be a bit different than this product.
I guess my point is that for someone using it as simply an AirPlay speaker, that is a straightforward thing. Using the smart features involves familiarization. Those who have used the Amazon or Google speakers have the familiarity with a smart speaker but are also used to a certain way they work, which I assume is going to be a bit different than this product.
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion but so far I’m impressed with Siri on the HomePod, today I’ve asked it a number of questions such as “what’s the traffic like?” It answered well telling me traffic is low and it would take 31 minutes to get to Birmingham. “Hey Siri, what’s the latest news” it played BBC news, “Hey Siri what’s the weather like” it told me the weather, “Hey Siri who was the Prime Minister of the U.K. in 1975” and it told me.
I continue to be impressed with the sound of the HomePod, I’ve played a lot of songs today everything from Taylor Swift, Cold Play, Eminem, Ed Sheeran, The Beatles all the way up to some classical and dance music. I’m yet to hear a song that sounds bad on it and also every song so far fills the room. If it’s this good with 1 HomePod I wonder what it will be like with 2 in stereo mode when it releases later this year
I continue to be impressed with the sound of the HomePod, I’ve played a lot of songs today everything from Taylor Swift, Cold Play, Eminem, Ed Sheeran, The Beatles all the way up to some classical and dance music. I’m yet to hear a song that sounds bad on it and also every song so far fills the room. If it’s this good with 1 HomePod I wonder what it will be like with 2 in stereo mode when it releases later this year
A treated room and an anechoic chamber are not the same thing. A HomePod should still be able to sound good in a treated room. In fact, that should allow it the best possible scenario to perform well, just like any other speaker.
Well, so far so good with my HomePod. The sound is pretty wonderful.
I feel a little lost about the lack of control you have over it out of the box (i'm yet to start digging into the Home app). Even a little more documentation would be of help. I don't really call 3 small discs of paper a full set of documentation! Siri understands both me and my partners requests most of the time. I have noticed on track in my iTunes library that "she" refuses to acknowledge exists; yet I can still see and play it on both my iMac and my iPhone. Weird!
I feel a little lost about the lack of control you have over it out of the box (i'm yet to start digging into the Home app). Even a little more documentation would be of help. I don't really call 3 small discs of paper a full set of documentation! Siri understands both me and my partners requests most of the time. I have noticed on track in my iTunes library that "she" refuses to acknowledge exists; yet I can still see and play it on both my iMac and my iPhone. Weird!
I assume almost no one will have a room like the one they appear to have used and so will not be representative for consumers.
You’re right, most people won’t have treated rooms. My own room isn’t treated, however that doesn’t change anything about what I said.
But that's the only way to compare the speakers. All consumer rooms will have their own sets of issues. Different speakers will handle different issues differently. One can't expect Consumer Reports (or anyone else) to test the speakers in everyone's own room. The treated room is the better option.