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HomePod Hands-On: Unboxing and Overview

gijoeinla said:
Wait. What’s the frigging difference from playing “your” playlist from any Mac device to your HomePod ??? So your saying it’s a killer if your personal playlists through asking Siri on HomePod doesn’t work maybe yet? Omg.

Edit... your WRONG. it plays my personal playlists perfectly right from it. I even changed the song via the music toggle on my iPhone X to a different song then selected HomePod and BAM the song changed immediately and super smoothly not an even a dropout.

Fail.
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And your response is why posting on Internet forums is a sure fire way to smoke out the nutters...

I found my HomePod took about an hour to pick up my playlists, so I can understand the initial frustration at something which supposedly "just works".

Also writing in CAPITAL letters only really makes you look immature as does the use of the word "Fail" - how old are you?
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FreshBoy said:
So basically what I’ve gathered is: The HomePod is damn near perfect hardware/sound wise and is only gonna get better with future software updates. I think I’ll take the plunge so.
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Certainly not perfect by any stretch of the imagination - but its "good enough" for what it is - an additional and convenient method of listening to music in a room where a full system isn't desirable or practical.
 
skitidetdu said:
I don't really get the use of the word stereo...is the music played back in mono when there's only one pod????
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Yes and no. Apple can do 'stereo-like' things with the higher frequencies since there are 7 tweeters to play with. However, there's only one woofer so lower frequencies will be solidly mono.
 
dfs said:
Good, Now your butler will stop tripping over all that gear.
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It's a good comment on the market, though. If you have a good well-tuned stereo/home theatre system this won't compete on sound (not surprising given the price). If you have an Echo, it's miles better. If you have a Sonos, it's apparently better. (As an aside, you don't need to be rich to get a good hifi [about 1000 should do it, and you can build up in stages], but if you don't have the money, you definitely do need to work harder on it).

So, the HP is a mass market product at a slightly premium price that has good audio compared with the competition, and that is convenient to use. It's aimed squarely at those who would have bought a mini-hifi in the past, at a similar or better price point, but in a neater package. I don't personally have a need for this, but I can see plenty of people who could. I expect it would be a big step up in sound quality as well as convenience. Calling it a smart speaker is probably setting the wrong expectations, though.
 
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vipergts2207 said:
Yes and no. Apple can do 'stereo-like' things with the higher frequencies since there are 7 tweeters to play with. However, there's only one woofer so lower frequencies will be solidly mono.
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Can we just end this discussion please? We have pretty solidly established that they project a stereo image over and over now.
[doublepost=1518264396][/doublepost]I have never seen so much discussion and enthusiasm over audio quality in my life, even in audiophile or producer circles. In that alone I think we can declare the HomePod an unqualified success.
 
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My only problem with the HomePod so far is that I live in an apartment and the sound just gets better and better as you turn up the volume. Have to limit my "enthusiast" use of it to certain times of the day for sure!
 
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hot ham water said:
I have a collection of completely ridiculous (and frankly inexcusable) things Siri has done. Sure, HomePod sounds great, and sure, software updates will come, but Apple has had years to make Siri even the slightest bit dependable and now has released a $350 speaker that runs only via Siri.
https://twitter.com/singersteve/status/956157955736522752
https://twitter.com/singersteve/status/958921256606281728
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This was my concern the moment the product was announced. It seems it's... not better. :(
 
ErikGrim said:
It’s way better in picking up what you say and response time. There’s still room for improvements in utility
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Utility is my problem. The tweets that were shared are spot on. I tried to tell my watch (my WATCH, whereby I raise my wrist and talk directly into the damn thing) to set timer the other day and it told me I had no scheduled events. I just wanted... to set a five minute timer lol.
 
lordofthereef said:
Utility is my problem. The tweets that were shared are spot on. I tried to tell my watch (my WATCH, whereby I raise my wrist and talk directly into the damn thing) to set timer the other day and it told me I had no scheduled events. I just wanted... to set a five minute timer lol.
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That’s a problem of understanding, not of utility. For the record I have never had this issue with my watch nor my HomePod and I set timers for cooking every day.
 
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the future said:
This is just flat-out wrong. People just think they have to wait, but actually you can just keep talking. This is the case for Siri on all devices.
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I can't speak for this product. But the reason I don't do this with other products is because I feel,
Maybe 1/3 if the time, I sit there saying what I want to say and she never actually heard me I the first place lol. So then I'm annoyed and I manually do whatever I was trying to do anyway.
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ErikGrim said:
That’s a problem of understanding, not of utility. For the record I have never had this issue with my watch nor my HomePod and I set timers for cooking every day.
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I set a lot of cooking timers too (by the way why can we still not set more than one per device?). That was the most recent example of Siri fail I could come up with. Timers usually isn't a problem though.
 
ErikGrim said:
I’ve given my impressions in many other threads so I won’t repeat them here.

Obviously doesn’t sound as good as my EVENT BAS 20/20 v2s, but as you can see from the pictures I live in an acoustically challenging place. Neither my monitors nor the HomePod can be placed in optimal spots. (FTR, the monitors are angled down on custom stands).

What the HomePod (and soon it’s second sibling) does solve for me is having consistent audio throughout an apartment that’s both open, and separated into compartmental zones. We even get great sound out on the balcony now. The EVENTs can make you feel like you are in an open field concert without breaking a sweat, but you need to be in that sweet spot, sitting in the couch.

The HomePod creates a consistent wide open soundstage pretty much wherever you are. However, due to my limited positioning abilities it does sound too directional for TV use just having one to the side of the TV. I can’t wait for pairing to become available (fingers crossed for a beta shortly) so I can get another. That way my monitors can migrate permanently to my studio.

View attachment 750622 View attachment 750623


In short, they sound amazing for what they are with a pleasing sound signature for most ears. Siri controls most everything in our home, is fast and can hear you over 100% volume while speaking at a regular volume. She has some odd shortcomings however - especially being tuned for sound control now. “Hey Siri, skip five songs” does not work. Played the same song over the first time and skipped a single track the next time. “Hey Siri play the fifth track of my HomePod playlist” still plays the first track. Very odd. She also needs way more integration with AppleTV and HomeKit scenes. All low hanging fruit.

EDIT: It appears pairing is available right now in the latest iOS beta. I thought the HomePod OS would need an update, but apparently not. Getting a second one today maybe. HomePod Unboxing & Review! Both Colors Thanks for the heads up @ersan191!
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I’ll be interested in your experience once you have two in stereo mode as TV speakers, if that’s an option you’re going to explore.

I’m in the process of moving (argh), and would like to add some speakers for my TV when I arrive in my new abode. I have a sound bar, but don’t find it all that great and may craigslist it. I used to have a Denon/B&W setup for my tv, which worked quite nicely, but it stayed with my ex. I don’t see that kind of system in my future, for a variety or reasons, but depending on how two HPs work together, I may go that route.
 
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It seems unclear to me right now if stereo pairings is actually working since the only report I’ve seen is that unboxing video. I really want to explore this tomorrow however. Hopefully more reports will have come out by then.

It would be an ideal setup for me for mainly logistical reasons and also issues with hdmi sound throughout and my tv and current setup that are too complex to go through here.
[doublepost=1518266308][/doublepost]I will say that so far my main concerns about using the Apple TV with the HP, the lack of auto-reconnect after using it for AM streaming, has been a non issue. The hold play button switching is quick enough as to be seamless. My worries about controlling volume didn’t pan out either (i thought the +/- buttons on the re,ote were IR only for some reason)
 
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Will say set up was delightful. Picked it up on the way to work, plugged it in at work at the end of the day with a few co-workers watching. Paired with my phone quickly, launched quickly after pairing. Told Siri to play some music and it chose Buffett Margaritaville which was nice for a late afternoon on a Friday. Just left it on for some tunes in the office from there.
 
ErikGrim said:
Can we just end this discussion please? We have pretty solidly established that they project a stereo image over and over now.
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I don’t think it’s been solidly established exactly what HomePod does with the tweeters regarding stereo. Even if we assume that it does a superb job of projecting a stereo image, it’s still only going to be in the upper frequencies.
 
Theophilos said:
Yes, Airfoil by Rogue Amoeba, one of the great original Mac developers. If I’m not mistaken, they built the app currently known as iTunes before Apple bought it from them. Anyway, you can have multiple HomePod speakers in sync NOW with Airfoil... no need to wait for AirPlay 2.
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Rogue Amoeba absolutely did not make iTunes.
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sdz said:
Can I turn off Lights with Siri / HomePod even when there is no Internet Access (for instance I turned Internet off on the router)?
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No, it has to have internet access for voice recognition.
 
Essaux said:
I am waiting for a smart assistant with homepod’s audio quality which allows me to play music through Spotify, which I vastly prefer over AM.
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Home Max or two Sonos Ones is the closest you’re going to get for now
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ErikGrim said:
I’m stumped at why Siri can’t set multiple named timers either. That’s a downfalll of utility. Low hanging fruit too.
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They’ll fix it - Echo didn’t have named timers for over a year.
 
Trying to figure out the logic of purchasing this device over the other, well established and superior alternatives.

Other than trying to justify the purchase due to heavy investment in the Apple EchoSystem, the jury is out on this one.

It sounds good, but the assistant (Siri) still sucks & it hasn't seen any real development since it's release.

TL:DR - Buy a Google Home Mini, buy a decent superior audio system: Profit.
 
dotnet said:
Where $700 buys you an entry-level set of speaker cables ;)
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Great line. If Wags thinks $700 is approaching audiophile territory, he/she has never been in a real audiophile brick-and-mortar where you will find no speakers for anywhere close to $700. (I one saw a turntable that cost more than my house at the time—ok it was a starter house but still I had a 30 yr mortgage on it). I am not an audiophile but I have a fairly elaborate 7.1 set up. My HP is in the same room—entirely different use case
 
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