HomePod Hands-On: Unboxing and Overview

[theheadguy]

Leave it to a google home user to review HomePod. If he had HomeKit set up, he’d know that’s one of the strengths of HomePod and Siri... the ease of setup is unmatched and voice control is very intuitive.

I thought it was a poor review but this is just a pathetic cheap shot that misses overall. Lame.

 

[Theophilos]

Is there a way to connect HomePod to a MacBook Pro (mid 2015)?
Not just iTunes. I want all of the sound from my MacBook go through the HomePod.

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.

 

[goobot]

Is there a way to connect HomePod to a MacBook Pro (mid 2015)?
Not just iTunes. I want all of the sound from my MacBook go through the HomePod.

Airplay

 

[chrono1081]

.

 

[shk718]

I'm watching Man of Steel using it Connected to my Apple TV. holy cow the sound is fantastic - as good if not better than my Energy surround sound system (10 years old) and this is just one tiny little speaker. The bass is really good. There is no lip syncing issues at all. This is a good movie to test with - great music and loud battle scenes. I can't wait for them to offer stereo and hopefully have a dedicated movie mode. If one speaker is this good ... two will be amazing. Siri on the other hand - ugh. Apple get to work!!! But she does hear me very well.

 

[japanime]

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.

Rogue Amoeba makes some really nice apps. However, the app upon which the first iTunes was built was SoundJam MP, which was developed by Casady & Greene, a company that is no longer in business.

I still have a copy of SoundJam running on a PowerBook 2400.

 

[44267547]

No but if someone was going to p***s away $349, I think most of us could find much better ways to spend that money.

Why so negative? Everybody values how they spend their money differently on a product. If somebody can justify the price point for the HomePod, that's all that matters. No one necessarily needs the HomePod, but if they have the funds and it brings satisfaction with the audio experience, why not enjoy it for what it is.

 

[Coffee50]

Can HomePod be set up using an iPad?

 

[dotnet]

Worth $700? If have to have 2 then seems excessive. Paying that much does open up audiophile realm

Where $700 buys you an entry-level set of speaker cables

 

[DeepIn2U]

Last thought on AM vs. Airplay. I ripped all my cd's on my laptop years ago, so my 'local' songs are all at the bit rate I ripped them at. Could have 128, could have been 256, may have even been MP3, IDK. But as has been pointed out many times, iTunes match doesn't upload YOUR song if it is in the Apple music library already. It just adds their copy to your online 'Library'. So the Apple version that is 'downloaded' to you HP directly could be a much better quality than the one you ripped on your computer, synced to your phone and are Airplaying to the HP.

Although I guess no one, myself included, actually sync their phones anymore. But hey, it's just a thought.

I used to have my local music ripped at 320kbps MP3s ... I've since recreated them all (from source, mostly from better source: 44-48.1khz stereo) to 256kbps AAC at 44.1khz.

So does anyone have details from Apple how Apple Music or Apple Match downloads or plays your music at which codec and bitrate? Does this change based on your internet speed?
update: Seems like it's 256kbps AAC. Any lossless tracks temporarily matched will ONLY be available in this setup: 256bkps AAC
source: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4112


PS: a much more indepth review:

PSS: Office Mode Pairing = Stereo Speaker mode (L & R)!!

Is this for real?

 

[Micky Do]

HomePod seems like a solution in search of a problem to this Baby Boomer......... Millennials may beg to differ.

 

[tywebb13]

Is this for real?

Yeah. Apparently the 2 homepods in stereo mode can be enabled in iOS 11.3 and some people with the betas have been able to get it to work.

 

[rmg007]

Has anyone successfully used HomePod on a mesh Wifi network? I have a mesh network with Luma routers, and HomePod won't even let me set up the device, claiming the network is incompatible. There's no reason for that, and I have several iOS devices, several Macs, and two Apple TVs happily using that network. Apple engineers are trying to investigate, and have reported received other complaints from mesh network users, so I'm trying to figure out if this is some kind of general problem with HomePod and mesh networks or if it works on some and not others.

No issues with the Lynksys Velop mesh network here.

 

[matty2345]

If anyone’s interested, I’ve put together a quick video with some of my thoughts and a demo of how the HomePod actually performs in my own home -

For my uses both the sound quality and Siri have been great... my main Siri uses are Music, timer, reminders and HomeKit... for those, Siri works super quickly and can hear me from an impressive distance!

 

[anson42]

NOT for an audiophile.

Not for "some" audiophiles, especially those who don't have an open mind and can't accept that a cheap speaker – and this is super cheap in many audiophile circles – can sound decent.

This audiophile has no problem praising the sound of the HomePod. Something this small sitting alone in the kitchen has no right to sound as good as it does. My audiophile system is enjoyed in its room where it lives and the HP will never come close to what that system can do, but the HP will get lots of playing time when I'm cooking or whatever.

 

[chas_m]

The bigger annoyance to me is that you have to say “Hey, Siri” then wait for it to wake up, THEN issue a command. With my echo, I can just say “Alexa, play music” with no pause. Far better solution.

You don’t have to pause. I don’t have one. But I’ve just watched two unboxing videos (MacWorld and one on YouTube) and neither host paused at all, and it worked fine multiple times.

 

[AgentOSX]

I have iTunes Match, not Apple Music. And it’s not working as promised. It shuffles music but is ignoring everything except my iTunes-purchased music.

I do not have my playlists.

So far not very impressed.

 

[chas_m]

I will take small issue with the claim that Apple did not make any “major“ improvements in Ceri for the HomePod release, although it’s more of a minor quibble about what “major“ means two different people. The ability of Siri to tell me who is playing on a particular track, identify songs, and other music related data is new, and pretty major to me. It is, at the least, a significant new addition that should’ve been mentioned. I look forward to Apple improving Siri in other areas the way it has with Music data.

 

[tywebb13]

I and others are quite enthused by the newfound homepod stereo functionality in the iOS 11.3 betas. But as enthused as we may be by this I think it is also prudent to be cautious. Apple are not rushing into it. And unless you want to experiment and take risks with betas then you should not be rushing into it either.

It will come eventually as a standard part of the system.

 

[gijoeinla]

I’m totally loving mine, first product in an age from Apple I can categorically say I love love love. This is Apple of old. Pure engineering genius mixed with an ability to make something extremely simple, easy to use and while still looking and feeling amazing.

I gotta say I’m loving mine sitting here and realizing I’m sending me of my personal Library songs from my iPhone wirelessly over my network to this small speaker AND IT SOUNDS FING COOL.
[doublepost=1518250747][/doublepost]

I and others are quite enthused by the newfound homepod stereo functionality in the iOS 11.3 betas. But as enthused as we may be by this I think it is also prudent to be cautious. Apple are not rushing into it. And unless you want to experiment and take risks with betas then you should not be rushing into it either.

It will come eventually as a standard part of the system.

I can only imagine two of these in my living room playing music back from either my Watch, Apple TV, my Mac, my iPhone or my iPad Pro ....
[doublepost=1518250874][/doublepost]

I have iTunes Match, not Apple Music. And it’s not working as promised. It shuffles music but is ignoring everything except my iTunes-purchased music.

I do not have my playlists.

So far not very impressed.

It’s working perfect for me. All my match songs 4431 of them.
[doublepost=1518250971][/doublepost]

I gotta say I’m loving mine sitting here and realizing I’m sending me of my personal Library songs from my iPhone wirelessly over my network to this small speaker AND IT SOUNDS FING COOL.
[doublepost=1518250747][/doublepost]

I can only imagine two of these in my living room playing music back from either my Watch, Apple TV, my Mac, my iPhone or my iPad Pro ....
[doublepost=1518250874][/doublepost]

It’s working perfect for me. All my match songs 4431 of them.

Am sitting here listening to Feel it still by Portugal the man.. this product is gonna grow into a huge hit just like the Watch.

 

[PlutoPrime]

The bigger annoyance to me is that you have to say “Hey, Siri” then wait for it to wake up, THEN issue a command. With my echo, I can just say “Alexa, play music” with no pause. Far better solution.

No you don’t! No pause is necessary. Why such misinformation?

 

[jtorrebl]

Has anyone successfully used HomePod on a mesh Wifi network? I have a mesh network with Luma routers, and HomePod won't even let me set up the device, claiming the network is incompatible. There's no reason for that, and I have several iOS devices, several Macs, and two Apple TVs happily using that network. Apple engineers are trying to investigate, and have reported received other complaints from mesh network users, so I'm trying to figure out if this is some kind of general problem with HomePod and mesh networks or if it works on some and not others.

I have the eero mesh system and it connected quickly flawlessly

 

[gijoeinla]

I have iTunes Match, not Apple Music. And it’s not working as promised. It shuffles music but is ignoring everything except my iTunes-purchased music.

I do not have my playlists.

So far not very impressed.

That’s weird. I’m sitting here looking right at my whole “library” on my iPhone and playing any MATCH song I want - perfectly and instantly from my iPhone X / I have 4000 songs and Apple Music

 

[Guidonculous]

The bigger annoyance to me is that you have to say “Hey, Siri” then wait for it to wake up, THEN issue a command. With my echo, I can just say “Alexa, play music” with no pause. Far better solution.

Weird, it works better for me to not pause with Siri as well.

 

[mrantonyc]

Y’all need to try the Bladerunner Vangelis soundtrack on the HomePod. Amazing