The comparison I heard was Marques Brownlee's who said Apple had a room with a play 1, amazon echo and homepod.
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HomePod First Listen Impressions: 'Incredible' Audio With Bass-Heavy Sound That Easily Beats Echo
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I've heard a two channel Martin Logan system that blows most multichannel systems out of the water. Not sure that this filters down to the more affordable ML setups, though.
Maybe I was expecting too much, but I would have loved to see the HomePod be a lot more than just a speaker. Why not have it be the center of the home entertainment system? It should be a connected speaker, a voice assistant, and Apple TV all-in-one, navigable via either Siri (which Apple really needs to get on the stick about) and a remote (just like the current Apple TV). Who needs a $350 dollar speaker from Apple when there are already tons of other options on the market?
It really feels like Apple has been blowing it these days.
It really feels like Apple has been blowing it these days.
I'm actually really excited about this. I've had an Amazon Echo for almost a year now, and always felt something was missing in terms of sound quality. I've looked meticulously into Sonos but never bothered to make a purchase - mostly because I do not need a multi room set up. With no Apple Music support on Echo - the HomePod will be a day 1 purchase for me.
Someone is mistaken then because in this article it says several times that it was a Play 3.
Does a Bose Soundlink have an
Yes and no. In sheer quality of sound, you're probably right, but overall experience, that would be worth testing.
Does it want to replace a high fidelity system, though? I doubt it, you may just not be their target audience. Sorry to break it to you.
To be honest, and with all the facts at hand, this is actually a very reasonable price for exactly what this product is trying to be. It's going up for the high end audio market, speakers which easily cost this much. Plus the addition of Siri, which will become an Echo-like assistant. People keep comparing it to the Echo's price, but actually everything the press have said would suggest this is on a whole other level.
They compared it to the Sonos PLAY:3 also, which is significantly more expensive than the Echo and they all agreed it was miles better. All in all, this isn't a bad price for what you're getting.
I remember when the Apple HiFi came out. And here we are today...
Yeah IDK it's weird. Also, do you think apple tuned the Sonos speaker with Trueplay beforehand? Doubt it.
Depends on your needs and personal tastes. Maybe someone has an odd-shaped room, or a den, or a very large home? Obviously people would have any number of different use cases.
Personally, I don't know where I would put one. I mainly have receivers in the rooms I frequent with speakers that have at least bass response of 51Hz and a separate sub. For a kitchen and bathroom, this might work great, however, I would lose some of the frequently used Alexa commands like turning on my TV using SimpleControl.
I will wait to hear more about it because I do like the idea of having Siri and Apple Music in a device, but I am leaning against buying one right now. I may buy a couple more Dots where I have Airport Express devices if they kill them off with Airplay 2, though.
I will wait to hear more about it because I do like the idea of having Siri and Apple Music in a device, but I am leaning against buying one right now. I may buy a couple more Dots where I have Airport Express devices if they kill them off with Airplay 2, though.
Apple HiFi was totally different; without remarkable sound, technology (such as beam-forming), Siri, or other networking capability/functionality. And released under Steve Jobs. It was meant to be driven by an iPod.
Why wouldn't they compare it to the Sonos at the nearest price point (Play3 at $300) instead of the Play5 which costs $500? That's like complaining that someone compares a Toyota to a Ford, and left out a Tesla.
Why would we assume a $350 device would replace your system? This HomePod is trying to strike the balance between, cost, sound and convenience. I can certainly imagine still having a HiFi setup in a listening room for purposeful listening, while having HomePods spread throughout the house for more general, convenient listening.
But isn't that Apples intended misdirect? They're screaming "Audio Quality, Audio Quality, Audio Quality" so that people forget that the primary reason for buying this thing is a less-than-good Siri. And what good is "good speaker" on a device crippled by Siri?
Anyway, I currently use an Echo with my iPhone attached ("Alexa, connect to bluetooth") but I still want a HomePod. But I'm going to wait for more features because what they announced so far seems pretty crippling in comparison to everything else
Is this thing the new Zune? Late to the party and not good enough?
It looks really hot, and apparently sounds quite good.
but...
I used to do homeshare audio with my Airport Expresses, using remote on my iPad to control music from my Mac. It was flawless until one OS update broke it. So then I went to Sonos (after weeks working with Apple support to resolve the issue until they gave up).
In my use case, I stream radio stations (TunedIn) and SiriusXM, as well as Apple Music.
So to use HomePod, I'd need to airplay everything except Apple Music. Before Apple Music came to Sonos, I used to airplay it, and it would never stream perfectly from my iPhone. I would then expect poor streaming for anything other than Apple Music in this new network.
Sonos streams everything itself, so it's always smooth. I see this Apple-only thing being pretty frustrating.
This is all coming from an Apple fanboy. I've never been this contrary about one of their products before.
It looks really hot, and apparently sounds quite good.
but...
I used to do homeshare audio with my Airport Expresses, using remote on my iPad to control music from my Mac. It was flawless until one OS update broke it. So then I went to Sonos (after weeks working with Apple support to resolve the issue until they gave up).
In my use case, I stream radio stations (TunedIn) and SiriusXM, as well as Apple Music.
So to use HomePod, I'd need to airplay everything except Apple Music. Before Apple Music came to Sonos, I used to airplay it, and it would never stream perfectly from my iPhone. I would then expect poor streaming for anything other than Apple Music in this new network.
Sonos streams everything itself, so it's always smooth. I see this Apple-only thing being pretty frustrating.
This is all coming from an Apple fanboy. I've never been this contrary about one of their products before.
I am willing to bet that a lot of the early criticisms regarding the homepod aren't going to age well, just like how a fair amount of criticism surrounding the Airpods ultimately didn't hold up to scrutiny.
It's going to be a great speaker and compromise decent value for money when compared with similar speakers, plus a small premium for integration with the Apple ecosystem. It will pretty much sell itself.
It's going to be a great speaker and compromise decent value for money when compared with similar speakers, plus a small premium for integration with the Apple ecosystem. It will pretty much sell itself.
