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HomePod First Listen Impressions: 'Incredible' Audio With Bass-Heavy Sound That Easily Beats Echo
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Does your five channel Martin Logan Electro Static System + Subwoofer cost less than 349$ ?
And SONOS is better anyway.
This is my sentiment also. Plus, I don't use music services at all and so a Sonos replacement has to be able to access my FLAC library on a NAS box. Even if that could be done, I don't see the HomePod ever meeting my use case because Siri would probably be useless running against the library's meta-data. e.g. could it choose a performance of a Bach chamber piece by a particular string ensemble?
I have Apple Music but prefer listening to music on vinyl. I think this would be good for my bedroom though.
I'll ask Santa.
I'll ask Santa.
I would hazard a guess that they will be..give them time. Look at literally every other device they have produced (well, except maybe ear buds)...over time more functionality was added to them often without extra cost to the user.
Nope but I'd still rather his setup
. I don't have a Google Home or Echo and don't plan on getting a smart speaker. At the $349 price point, I will probably never get a HomePod. It does look cool though.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
HomePod 2 buddy... assuming this one sells well enough.
iPad 1 launched without a front-facing camera. Absolutely everyone had to have one and besides, a front-facing camera made zero sense on a tablet. Then, iPad 2 rolled out with a front-facing camera... and everyone had to upgrade because it made no sense for a tablet to NOT have a FaceTime camera.
Yes, but since that's NOT an Apple product, it's automatically inferior to this without even a listen.
Don't you know how things work around here? Apple could stick their logo on a bag of dirt and that dirt would be immediately anointed as the finest dirt on the planet.
And challenging the dirt as being no better than any other dirt would get you tagged a troll.
Suppose you don't have room for 2 speakers and a sub?
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I'm guessing the woofer inside draws too much power? Is the comperable Sonos machine portable?
Not sure if you're joking and I'm missing it but Solar Energy for a living room speaker? unless you live in cardboard box with no roof
hahaha i assumed he was joking, but perhaps not
While I'm glad Apple rolled out one of these (mostly on hope that it somewhat presses them to make significant investments in "catching up" Siri), I suspect we're only about 2 days MAX away from the usual crowd rallying hard around how quality of sound is paramount as part of being able to now spin all smart speaker competition as junk.
Of course, some of these same people were likely arguing how quality of sound is much less important than convenience when the iPhone 7 launch was being spun as pressing "the future" of bluetooth audio... which does require one to sacrifice quality of sound to go that way.
So here, quality of sound will be almost all important. There, quality of sound was not very important.
It reminds me of when having a front-facing camera on iPad 1 was spun as making no sense whatsoever... until iPad 2 was rolled out with FaceTime and then everyone HAD to upgrade for that terrific feature.
Or how big-screen phones were abominations, fragmentation, "one handed use" & "pants with bigger pockets" until Apple rolled out bigger-screen phones to record sales and "best iPhone ever."
Or how nobody needed a 1080pTV while Apple still clung to 720p MAX until Apple rolled one out and then all the anti-1080p arguments just evaporated... only to be recycled and used against the idea of a 4K
And on and on.
Does quality of sound matter most? And if so, why don't we care as much about it elsewhere in the ecosystem? IMO, for a product that is most notably a speaker, quality of sound should matter most, so that's a solid win for Apple if this speaker does turn out to produce better sound than the competition. So of course, quality of sound should matter elsewhere too, meaning "the future" is not a very good future until is can at least get toe-to-toe on quality of sound that it's trying to replace (by necessary force per some). Too bad "the future" couldn't have this same focus on quality of sound BEFORE "being forced" upon us. IMO, that pill would have been much easier to swallow if the quality of sound would have at least been as good as the "antiquated" it is trying to replace.
Nevertheless, rah-rah... quality of sound matters again (for this product).
Sound quality is important with the HomePod because it's a stationary home device. If I'm out of the house I don't mind sacrificing some sound quality for convenience. Valuing convenience on the go and quality at home doesn't make you a hypocrite if that's what you're suggesting.
I agree. I don't really feel the need to talk to my speakers but I have a feeling my wife would love to be able to. She's always got her hands full and I'm sure being able to dictate would be easier for her. I was planning on getting an Echo thingy when it gets sonos support.
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and now with the sub being $100 off... so tempted.
Are these far better speakers free? Otherwise you're comparing apples to oranges.
I'm not going to compare my Apple TV hooked up to my floor standers and say that the Apple TV beats the pants off the HomePod - that would be stupid.
That's why I said the real headline is that the HomePod sounds better than a comparatively priced Sonos PLAY:3. On top of the PLAY:3 it also has assistant side of things.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I haven't put this product down... only the arguments that this is equivalent to a real 2.1 stereo system.
If you don't have room for a 2.1 system, I'm also not arguing that you should get one. But if space is that tight, perhaps just use headphones with an iDevice, rather than give away precious space for one of these too.
OR, buy one of these if you like it. It seems like a nice smart speaker.
I'm going to need two of these for the home. Any word on if it can make a receive phone calls? I expect it to, so I'm going to need another for the office.
Stereo sound is two channels. Seven tweeters (each with their own individual amplifiers) + subwoofer + an SoC controlling audio beamforming is more than enough to produce stereo sound. That doesn't mean the experience is the same as a fixed system with speakers that are physically separate from each other, but the idea that you're not going to experience stereo sound with the HomePod doesn't make any sense.
More than likely...
I believe a stereo pair of play:1's is a great deal (when they were $50 off) for what you get.
Once again Apple is late to the party and offering nothing groundbreaking with this.
I have Sonos for my music and Siri on my iPhone (and I get annoyed enough at Siri not working on my phone). So why would I spend $350 to shout angrily across the room?
I have Sonos for my music and Siri on my iPhone (and I get annoyed enough at Siri not working on my phone). So why would I spend $350 to shout angrily across the room?
I agree, and how about satellite mounts.. being agains the wall? will greatly affect the sound
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Best comment for the day!
