HomePod First Listen Impressions: 'Incredible' Audio With Bass-Heavy Sound That Easily Beats Echo

[Chair-Sama]

Apple has done a remarkably good job.But the price is a bit higher compared to the Amazon Echo, So why even compare to a product which is half the price of HomePod'

Sounds!! Unfair :-(

the Echo is half the price and its basicly less the half of the sound quality the Homepod is rumored to be putting out so...you get what you pay for.
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It's safe to assume that 5 HomePods will still not compare to a 5.1 Martin Logan Electro Stat system.

and I'm willing to bet that the Martin Logan Electro Stat system cost a HELL of a lot more then those home pods do. even for all 5 of them.

Martin Logan has speakers ranging from 200-300 ea to what, 75,000 a pair?
i don't know about anybody else here, but i don't think we are trying to say that a group of speakers for about 1,500 is going to be anywhere close to a system that cost several Thousand dollars.
let alone something like this: https://www.martinlogan.com/product-list.php

 

[Foggydog]

Don't waste your money on a Sonos 3 - the Sonos 1 has incredible sound for such a small speaker and is largely replacing the 3 in sales.

In fact you could get a pair of Sonos 1's for the price of a single HomePod. I know where my money would be going.

Question, though the sonos 5 is in a separate category than the 1, how much better does it sound?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Well a 2.1 system is at least 3 pieces, and many need a source of power, making 4. That type of solution just isn't always practical.

The Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 is self-powered. I've got one in my bedroom and the sub sits behind the bed between the frame and the night stand and the two little sats sit on either night stand on either side of the bed. It takes up almost not space. I have the Airport Express plugged into an outlet on a power strip with the speaker wire plugged into it. Wireless Airplay sound with awesome sound quality for a small room for $250 that works with a iTunes, iPhones, iPod Touches, AppleTV, etc.

Maybe that wouldn't work in everyone's kitchen. I don't have a sound system in my kitchen since my living room with a 4.1 system in it is right next to it (open dining room concept to living room so the sound flows well enough as it is). Off that room in the other direction, I have an added room (currently exercise room) and it has a FireTV Stick with a 4-speaker system (corners of room and on either side of TV sitting in front of the treadmill). It also can access my entire iTunes/Media library plus Amazon Prime Music, Pandora, etc. and has Alexa support as well. Downstairs home theater room has 6.1 sound with both an AppleTV (older) and FireTV 4K and the guest bedroom has another Airport Express and small bookshelf system that guests can use to Airplay to or access my guest WiFi system and music and sleep sounds library and the den has my other Klipsch 2.1 system speakers connected to the Mac directly. I can then sync ALL the rooms together from iTunes (using an iPod Touch in at least three of the rooms repurposed as "remotes" for iTunes and FireTV) producing sound that pretty much follows you upstairs and down. I suppose if they made a waterproof version I could use one in my shower....

I have a 3.1 system in my basement. It's great, and it wasn't even that expensive all things considered. So I know what relatively good sound is. But I also have a wife. And there's no way in hell something like that would ever be in our kitchen or den. She's talked about installing speakers in the ceiling, which is a nice idea, but expensive for a pretty average sound quality. This, and/or Alexa-sonos, could a pretty reasonable compromise.

Personally, I'd be looking for another wife.

 

[johannnn]

Any reason why this would only be available in English speaking countries at launch? I thought Siri performs roughly equal in all languages.

 

[Abazigal]

Behold the state of reasoned discourse today!

It's already not too bad by normal Macrumours standards.

 

[ReneR]

What does ugly have to do with the sound performance of the Home Pod? If this device can put out exceptional sound and integrate with HomeKit and other ecosystem features, that's all I could ask for.

Sound or not aside, do you think I want a always dusty ugly looking ball standing in my living room?
Does not look like it will be easy and nice to clean either, …

 

[44267547]

Sound or not aside, do you think I want a always dusty ugly looking ball standing in my living room?
Does not look like it will be easy and nice to clean either, …

In your opinion. And As if the other smart speakers are that much more appealing? Aesthetically , I don't have an issue with the HomePod. But ultimately, what's the main purpose of the HomePod? That is to serve as a piece of home audio that puts out quality sound and can serve as a functional device to control various options throughout your home and/or other Apple devices.

 

[Taco1933]

The Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 is self-powered. I've got one in my bedroom and the sub sits behind the bed between the frame and the night stand and the two little sats sit on either night stand on either side of the bed. It takes up almost not space. I have the Airport Express plugged into an outlet on a power strip with the speaker wire plugged into it. Wireless Airplay sound with awesome sound quality for a small room for $250 that works with a iTunes, iPhones, iPod Touches, AppleTV, etc.

Maybe that wouldn't work in everyone's kitchen. I don't have a sound system in my kitchen since my living room with a 4.1 system in it is right next to it (open dining room concept to living room so the sound flows well enough as it is). Off that room in the other direction, I have an added room (currently exercise room) and it has a FireTV Stick with a 4-speaker system (corners of room and on either side of TV sitting in front of the treadmill). It also can access my entire iTunes/Media library plus Amazon Prime Music, Pandora, etc. and has Alexa support as well. Downstairs home theater room has 6.1 sound with both an AppleTV (older) and FireTV 4K and the guest bedroom has another Airport Express and small bookshelf system that guests can use to Airplay to or access my guest WiFi system and music and sleep sounds library and the den has my other Klipsch 2.1 system speakers connected to the Mac directly. I can then sync ALL the rooms together from iTunes (using an iPod Touch in at least three of the rooms repurposed as "remotes" for iTunes and FireTV) producing sound that pretty much follows you upstairs and down. I suppose if they made a waterproof version I could use one in my shower....



Personally, I'd be looking for another wife.

That'd be a mistake. I'm already out kicking my coverage. It's a reasonable compromise. The basement is essentially mine to do with as I please. And on the main floor my electronics and nerd-gadgets have to fly below the radar. We had a reasonably nice Bose (and I know Bose is frowned upon, it was a gift) that handled the main floor for a while. It got replaced by the echo despite much worse sound quality due to ease of use. I think it'll be nice to have something flies below the radar that kind of bridges the gap.

And also, it's kind of nice staying in the Apple ecosystem. I know that with the airport you can do similar stuff. But I have a feeling that they'll end up finding some pretty clever ways to integrate Apple TV, a home pod, and your iPhone/iPad.

 

[Keirasplace]

Sound or not aside, do you think I want a always dusty ugly looking ball standing in my living room?
Does not look like it will be easy and nice to clean either, …

Do you live in the dustbowl? Got mesh speakers I haven't cleaned in years and they're still black.
If you dust/vacuum the rest of the house there is no reason why any speaker should be dust covered.
If your house is that dusty, some and electrostatic nylon duster followed with a slightly damp clothes used once in a while (don't do that if its already heavily dust covered though or you'll get mud) and you'd be set. That's only a few seconds every 1-2 weeks if you absolutely need to do it (ex: doors always open in a dusty location).

Been living in a home in which almost every bit of furniture is black so not seeing the issue.

 

[JediZenMaster]

I would rather have this than Alyssa or Diana from Amazon

 

[AustinIllini]

I would rather have this than Alyssa or Diana from Amazon

Haha. Funny. You said this in the other thread. We'll take you more seriously if you google the name of Amazon's assistant.

And Google Assistant is likely to be better than either of them. Either way, Siri, the first major customer facing AI, has rested on its laurels for too long. Now people don't trust Siri to execute the tasks you ask and has fallen into third if not fourth in the AI realm.

 

[JediZenMaster]

Haha. Funny. You said this in the other thread. We'll take you more seriously if you google the name of Amazon's assistant.

And Google Assistant is likely to be better than either of them. Either way, Siri, the first major customer facing AI, has rested on its laurels for too long. Now people don't trust Siri to execute the tasks you ask and has fallen into third if not fourth in the AI realm.

LOL sorry my keyboard went a little crazy guess that was my covefefe moment

I'm interested in the rumored Bixby speaker considering that AI is still in the early stages.

 

[AustinIllini]

LOL sorry my keyboard went a little crazy guess that was my covefefe moment

I'm interested in the rumored Bixby speaker considering that AI is still in the early stages.

No worries. We just get a lot of trolling around here. sorry if I was a bit direct. I had not had my covfefe

 

[kdarling]

the Echo is half the price and its basicly less the half of the sound quality the Homepod is rumored to be putting out so...you get what you pay for.

And/or what one personally needs.

For our purposes... home control and occassional all night soft music.. the Echo (and its price) suits us just fine as a compromise, although not as good as Google's AI.

Likewise, I'm sure for a lot of people who don't have a top and pricy sound system, but who desire something decent, the Homepod is a good compromise product, albeit not as good on the AI side as either Amazon or Google (to me, at least).

 

[ReneR]

Do you live in the dustbowl? Got mesh speakers I haven't cleaned in years and they're still black.
If you dust/vacuum the rest of the house there is no reason why any speaker should be dust covered.
If your house is that dusty, some and electrostatic nylon duster followed with a slightly damp clothes used once in a while (don't do that if its already heavily dust covered though or you'll get mud) and you'd be set. That's only a few seconds every 1-2 weeks if you absolutely need to do it (ex: doors always open in a dusty location).

Been living in a home in which almost every bit of furniture is black so not seeing the issue.

I live in the real world, all my desks, Macs, display etc get dusty, weather in a big city, or a lovely countryside.
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In your opinion. And As if the other smart speakers are that much more appealing? Aesthetically , I don't have an issue with the HomePod. But ultimately, what's the main purpose of the HomePod? That is to serve as a piece of home audio that puts out quality sound and can serve as a functional device to control various options throughout your home and/or other Apple devices.

Do we need to start each statement with "in my opinion"? Someone looked to many US TV dramas?

I have owned enough stuff to judge that in my opinion that thing will look ugly with real world dust.

In my opinion I'd rather use high end stereo speakers than this hipster speaker thingy.

 

[44267547]

I have owned enough stuff to judge that in my opinion that thing will look ugly with real world dust.

In my opinion I'd rather use high end stereo speakers than this hipster speaker thingy.

So you established one thing. You worry about dust. While you worry about Dust and how to manage keeping it off your home products, I will purchase the HomePod and certainly report back to you with my satisfaction with this "Hipster speaker thingy" when it releases. (Even though it has a name and your intentionally being facetious).

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Sound or not aside, do you think I want a always dusty ugly looking ball standing in my living room?
Does not look like it will be easy and nice to clean either, …

It's called a "Brush" attachment and comes with most vacuum cleaners and gently wipes dirt out of nooks and crannies by the vacuum sucks away the loosened dirt. It's almost like magic for dusty furniture! It sounds like you should definitely look into it.

 

[AppleInLVX]

As a follow-up to the whole stereo thing I was harping on about earlier, I was listening to a podcast earlier today and it was confirmed that two homepods do indeed sense one another and create distinct stereo channels. I don't know what sorcery enables this, but apparently it's true. So... yay. I guess. Although that means your setup will be $700 before taxes to get the sound you want, if you want stereo. Hm. These better be damned good if that's what it'll cost.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

As a follow-up to the whole stereo thing I was harping on about earlier, I was listening to a podcast earlier today and it was confirmed that two homepods do indeed sense one another and create distinct stereo channels. I don't know what sorcery enables this, but apparently it's true. So... yay. I guess. Although that means your setup will be $700 before taxes to get the sound you want, if you want stereo. Hm. These better be damned good if that's what it'll cost.

What a joke. They should have given it a second optional speaker option for about $25 more, which is about what the speaker components are worth inside those things. Duplicating all the electronics/Siri crap just to get stereo.... It's "green" though. It's REAL green.

Again. Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX + FireTV (Alexa) = 10x more satisfied customer for $250 (already in stereo and with an 8" subwoofer) and it doesn't listen in/spy on you 24/7 since you have to press the mic button on the remote for commands (big plus IMO).

 

[Keirasplace]

I live in the real world, all my desks, Macs, display etc get dusty, weather in a big city, or a lovely countryside.
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Do we need to start each statement with "in my opinion"? Someone looked to many US TV dramas?

I have owned enough stuff to judge that in my opinion that thing will look ugly with real world dust.

In my opinion I'd rather use high end stereo speakers than this hipster speaker thingy.

I live in a 5 million inhabitant city in a neighborhood with a 30K people per square mile density, with an huge 2 square mile hole in the ground cement quarry (now thankfully abandoned for the last 10 years) to one side a few blocks away, so I think I'm familiar with the concept of dust...

 

[AppleInLVX]

What a joke. They should have given it a second optional speaker option for about $25 more, which is about what the speaker components are worth inside those things. Duplicating all the electronics/Siri crap just to get stereo.... It's "green" though. It's REAL green.

Again. Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX + FireTV (Alexa) = 10x more satisfied customer for $250 (already in stereo and with an 8" subwoofer) and it doesn't listen in/spy on you 24/7 since you have to press the mic button on the remote for commands (big plus IMO).

You know, I may actually look into that. I'm a little hamstrung in that Alexa doesn't play nice in Canada at the moment, but that'll change. Maybe even by the time these home pods become available.

 

[Uofmtiger]

What a joke. They should have given it a second optional speaker option for about $25 more, which is about what the speaker components are worth inside those things. Duplicating all the electronics/Siri crap just to get stereo.... It's "green" though. It's REAL green.

Again. Klipsch Promedia 2.1 THX + FireTV (Alexa) = 10x more satisfied customer for $250 (already in stereo and with an 8" subwoofer) and it doesn't listen in/spy on you 24/7 since you have to press the mic button on the remote for commands (big plus IMO).

It is definitely possible to put together a better system for the same or less money. That isn't really the point. It is about the small footprint, decent (if not stellar) sound quality, and Siri.

I am not too worried about Apple spying. If that was my concern, I would have to ditch everything in the house with a mic on it... and that list is extensive. Also, we don't know that if Amazon, NSA, or hackers of some sort wanted to take control of the mic on the Firetv remote with software, they wouldn't be able to.

Airplay 2 will be built into the AppleTV 4, so those that don't want an always on device will have another other option. I just think there is a lot of convenience in just walking into a room and telling it to play anything you want. I have an Echo Dot (hooked to a Phillips SoundRing Airplay speaker) now that does this (and much more) and it is fantastic to have in the kitchen.

There is another benefit to the system you put together and that is the fact that you can hook anything up to it. If the Homepod doesn't have an aux in, it will become obsolete the second Apple decides they no longer want to support it.

 

[thefourthpope]

the Echo is half the price and its basicly less the half of the sound quality the Homepod is rumored to be putting out so...you get what you pay for.
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and I'm willing to bet that the Martin Logan Electro Stat system cost a HELL of a lot more then those home pods do. even for all 5 of them.

Martin Logan has speakers ranging from 200-300 ea to what, 75,000 a pair?
i don't know about anybody else here, but i don't think we are trying to say that a group of speakers for about 1,500 is going to be anywhere close to a system that cost several Thousand dollars.
let alone something like this: https://www.martinlogan.com/product-list.php

Wow. For that kind of money, a person better only be listening to live performances!