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

fokmik said:
airpods all over again...
people before purchase ..meeh too expensive they look weird
people after purchase...best, i love them, my new toy, apple magical experience
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Word.

In my own defense, I was enamored with AirPods when they were first introduced, and couldn't wait to get my hands on them. Now, I use them everyday, and speak highly of them to anyone looking for wireless earbuds. Conversely, while I think the HomePod is neat, I'm unsure where it would fit within my own lifestyle, so I don't have any particularly polarized feelings.

I'm looking forward to people's 'first week' impressions, though, when it's finally released.
 
tazinlwfl said:
That's a very limited understanding of acoustics and what "stereo" is. It's certainly not "2.1", but if you have a room filling speaker that knows exactly how loud each of the 7 radial speakers need to be in order to reflect the sound waves around the room (like a lot of more expensive home theater receivers), it can easily split a 2-channel stereo input into 8 different channels and handle it better than most HTiB/ PC speakers with their very limited processing hardware.
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Look there's no big argument here. You seem very sold on this product before there's even objective reviews. Have you personally got to listen to one of these yet in person? If you clearly see these as superior to all others, buy one and LOVE it. And I'm happy for you that you can get superior sound and superior stereo sound for only $349 in a single, smallish case.

Trying to convince me per my "very limited understanding of acoustics" such that I should feel the same way is fruitless. I can certainly appreciate all of the audio magic spun yesterday. I can certainly appreciate that faux stereo and even faux surround can sound better than just a simple mono speaker not branded with an Apple logo. But assuming I'm lacking acoustics knowledge is a big assumption. I already own some of the best-rated speakers in the industry. I'm not believing that 1+ $349 "smart speakers" are going to deliver superior sound because you say so... or challenge my knowledge of acoustics... or because Apple puts on a good show. Apple themselves did not even argue the point you appear to be trying to make.

For what this is and what it is directly competing against, it looks like a worthy competitor. I'll assume the best sounding smart speaker spin is probably true since Apple did seem to key so much around that (waiting for objective reviews of course to verify). However, let's not confuse best-sounding smart speaker as if the word smart can be dropped and this is now the best sounding speakers available. Almost certainly, they are not (but again, perhaps objective reviews will make the case that all of the other speaker makers can close up shop because these tiny little speakers from Apple are now the best speakers available for all purposes).
 
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HobeSoundDarryl said:
Yikes. While there is some technical truth to your spin, you might want to explore the concept of stereo separation. One could jam 5 tweeters into a smallish subwoofer box but that won't make it a "5.1 surround sound system" (in practice)... unless perhaps you are Ant-Man and can shrink yourself into the middle of all of that. Yes, conceptually, one could spin it as a 5.1 system in a box (not so different than how some bars spin faux surround as if it is equivalent to real surround) but let's get real here: stereo as it's intended to be appreciated begs for more speaker separation than a few inches in a single container.
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How much separation between tweeters is there when you listen to headphones? Those seem to produce very effective stereo sound. So a speaker that has seven tweeters arranged in a circle with an SoC controlling audio beamforming will also be able to produce effective stereo sound.
 
I don't want this thing manufacturers keep putting in - "strong bass". I want accuracy. Since this speaker evaluates the room, does it then compensate for drapes, walls, etc. adjusting its equalizer to make sound flat across the frequency spectrum? And the demise of stereo is sad. Many manufacturers tout their great, monaural sound - the word "separation" is never uttered these days. How many will buy two of these things to get stereo? They showed a slide with two of them, saying it is awesome, but I didn't hear the words stereo or separation. Finally, I assume if you put one in each room, the sound is synced among them, lag-free. I guess that was implied with the two-in-a-room slide.
 
macsrcool1234 said:
why would anyone put more than one of these in the same room? as a speaker, ok, but the smart functionality of it? total waste of money to have two or more....
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There's a reason people have been using R/L speakers for over 50 years. Two probably really do sound better, even with all the smart technology in the HomePod. Apple has a long history of releasing a premium product for a year to skim off the profits from the earlier adopters. By holiday season of 2018 I fully expect a HomePod mini and HomePod nano to be added to the lineup at lower costs.
 
morcutt11 said:
I don't imagine a real stereo effect is possible since it disperses sound in 360 degrees. I believe the multiple-devices per room is simply for larger rooms where you may encounter uneven sound levels (particularly at parties, etc.).
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Considering that Apple's AirPods have stereo sound, it seems like it would be pretty easy for them to have two HomePods coordinate for stereo sound.
 
DakotaGuy said:
The difference is you can listen to anything you want with AirPods. This is Apple Music only and it doesn't even have an aux input jack. So yeah it probably has AirPlay, but without an Apple Music subscription it's just an awfully expensive "dumb" speaker. It's also missing an Apple logo so how will your friends know that you spent a lot of money on "the brand" which is important to so many.
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What makes you think it would only work with Apple Music? In the USA alone, that would limit the number of potential buyers from 300 million to 27 million.
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ZipZap said:
Is the sound really the point of this device. I thought it was to be an assistant. When I play music through Alexa it sounds great. Do I need Fidelity from a device like this? Do you?
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I want good sound from anything that plays music in my living room.
 
gnipgnop said:
How much separation between tweeters is there when you listen to headphones? Those seem to produce very effective stereo sound. So a speaker that has seven tweeters arranged in a circle with an SoC controlling audio beamforming will also be able to produce effective stereo sound.
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There a big difference between pumping 2 channels of sound into 2 ears in relatively clean isolation and pumping 2 channels of sound from a tiny little box in one place. Go listen to any dedicated speaker setup vs. say your stereo iDevice speakers. Which sounds better?

And I'm not saying that this can't "produce effective stereo sound". It will play whatever stereo you throw at it in stereo. And the faux stereo reproduction will likely do a good job of simulating more separation than physically there... just like soundbars attempt to do as good as they can.

I'm not even putting down this product, just agreeing with the OP about how for $349, one can get a good 2.1 stereo system with real- not faux- separation between speakers and a meatier sub for better bass. The way some are replying, it's like they want to believe that as little as one $349 purchase will give them the best speakers in the world. Get real.

It will likely be a great sounding smart speaker, even after being objectively reviewed away from WWDC. If I'm the rest of the speaker industry, I'm probably not ceasing manufacturing and laying off my staff today though.
 
Lepton said:
How many will buy two of these things to get stereo?
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You don't need two HomePods for stereo. Stereo is achieved with a grand total of two channels. It has seven tweeters (thus seven possible channels) and computer controlled audio beamforming, so do the math. At the very least, it's going to give you stereo anywhere in the room with a single unit.
 
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RogerWilco said:
You think this is something new and innovative? I own a receiver/amp purchased ten years ago that uses a "powerful processor" (DSP) and adapts the equalization to the room size and acoustics.
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Measuring the room first? Or just a set of switches?
 
Creek0512 said:
Considering that Apple's AirPods have stereo sound, it seems like it would be pretty easy for them to have two HomePods coordinate for stereo sound.
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Don't you think if that functionally was there, they would have touted it? That would be a BIG deal... too big to ignore in a "just one more thing" rollout of a brand new product. Earlier in the presentation, there were repeating highlights of fine nits differences. Don't you think that if these things synched with each other to work together as you imply, there would have been some reference to it?
 
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