HomePod HomePod Is Extremely Helpful During These Unfortunate Times

[V_Man]

By the same token it isn’t what you claim either.

Who is “we”? Two MacRumors posters?

What did I claim it is? A nice speaker that is great for everyday listening? It’s not a audiophile grade speaker. That’s all I said it is.

in this thread yes 2-3 of us. No one is bad mouthing the HomePod for gods sakes.

The thread starter is an extreme HomePod fan. He claims things and when proven wrong he backpedals and changes his point.

 

[I7guy]

What did I claim it is? A nice speaker that is great for everyday listening? It’s not a audiophile grade speaker. That’s all I said it is.

in this thread yes 2-3 of us. No one is bad mouthing the HomePod for gods sakes.

The thread starter is an extreme HomePod fan. He claims things and when proven wrong he backpedals and changes his point.

The issue at hand seems to be the "category" or the HomePod. One says it's "audiophile quality", one says it's not. What is "audiophile". It's a relative scale. There is always something better going up to this and higher-end. https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/systems/Reference-Home-Theater

Even if you have a $5,000 speaker, compared to the above, it's just average, hence my comment about who gets the "final" say to categorize what the HomePod is.

No one is saying, anyone is bad-mouthing the HomePod.

 

[V_Man]

The issue at hand seems to be the "category" or the HomePod. One says it's "audiophile quality", one says it's not. What is "audiophile". It's a relative scale. There is always something better going up to this and higher-end. https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/systems/Reference-Home-Theater

Even if you have a $5,000 speaker, compared to the above, it's just average, hence my comment about who gets the "final" say to categorize what the HomePod is.

No one is saying, anyone is bad-mouthing the HomePod.

I agree with you on this. But the OP keeps changing his position.

I love my HomePods. Stereo setup made a huge difference in volume. Much better than a single.

There is no comparison to 80’s Klipsch Cornwalls and a dedicated amp.
The HomePod is great for what it is. A small streaming speaker that sounds darn

 

[I7guy]

I agree with you on this. But the OP keeps changing his position.

I love my HomePods. Stereo setup made a huge difference in volume. Much better than a single.

There is no comparison to 80’s Klipsch Cornwalls and a dedicated amp.
The HomePod is great for what it is. A small streaming speaker that sounds darn

McIntosh Reference setup > Klipsch Cornwalls and a dedicated amp > HomePod. I'm sure the Klipsch's sound darn good as well.

 

[pup]

Cornwalls vs HomePod. lol.

 

[inkahauts]

No, I said that Bose and MP3 were "adequate". I didn't say HomePod was anything but an audiophile bookshelf speaker system.

I am relieved that an Apple Music subscription, several HomePods, and a premium car stereo system are the end of my audiophile media and equipment run-around. These pretend nuances in the music that supposedly reach one's ears are nothing more than windmills and I'm thankfully done chasing them. As I said, it's the music that matters, it's Born To Run that matters, not how clearly the cymbal crashes are or how defined Springsteen's breaths are, that's all cork-sniffing BS. And HomePod does a magnificent job of sound reproduction, I get the ease of use and audiophile sound. I'm good. You don't need to defend your choices. Doesn't matter to me.

So your hearing isn’t as good as it used to be which means the quality of speakers means less than it used to. Got it.



No HomePod will ever vibrate my room like my sub will while I watch a heavy effects driven movie.

HomePod is awesome. It’s not in the same realm as as my other systems. And if you where sitting in my house and blind tested I know you’d hear the difference.

If you want to call it the audiophile of smart speakers then you’ll have a good argument to make. But not even Apple would ever say it’s as good as a real full sized sound system.

And I have a hard time calling anything Bose even adequate to be honest. They fail when compared against an item at the same price made by someone who cares less about size and more about quality of sound. For their size on some of their stuff adequate is probably the right word.

I’d by homepods over anything Bose every day of the week.

 

[boltjames]

So your hearing isn’t as good as it used to be which means the quality of speakers means less than it used to. Got it.



No HomePod will ever vibrate my room like my sub will while I watch a heavy effects driven movie.

HomePod is awesome. It’s not in the same realm as as my other systems. And if you where sitting in my house and blind tested I know you’d hear the difference.

If you want to call it the audiophile of smart speakers then you’ll have a good argument to make. But not even Apple would ever say it’s as good as a real full sized sound system.

And I have a hard time calling anything Bose even adequate to be honest. They fail when compared against an item at the same price made by someone who cares less about size and more about quality of sound. For their size on some of their stuff adequate is probably the right word.

I’d by homepods over anything Bose every day of the week.

I'm sorry my attitude and my liberation disturbs you. I chased audio perfection for decades and it was a complete waste of time. If you're still stuck in that foolish loop fronted by faux forum narratives that's on you, not me.

In the end, losing 1% in discernible audio fidelity to add 45 million songs to my collection playable in any room or space in my life was not only a worthwhile trade but an infinite gain. Thinking back to the days of my 1980's era cumbersome component system necessary to play large, fragile vinyl discs on benign speakers, today to a world where I can call up any song ever recorded with just my voice and played on an audiophile-caliber bookshelf speaker is mind-boggling.

Some say the Walkman and the iPod were the revolutionary devices that changed the music industry and they weren't. It was Apple Music and the HomePod.

 

[V_Man]

I'm sorry my attitude and my liberation disturbs you. I chased audio perfection for decades and it was a complete waste of time. If you're still stuck in that foolish loop fronted by faux forum narratives that's on you, not me.

In the end, losing 1% in discernible audio fidelity to add 45 million songs to my collection playable in any room or space in my life was not only a worthwhile trade but an infinite gain. Thinking back to the days of my 1980's era cumbersome component system necessary to play large, fragile vinyl discs on benign speakers, today to a world where I can call up any song ever recorded with just my voice and played on an audiophile-caliber bookshelf speaker is mind-boggling.

Some say the Walkman and the iPod were the revolutionary devices that changed the music industry and they weren't. It was Apple Music and the HomePod.

You keep telling yourself that if you need to make yourself feel better about your purchases. Enjoy your HomePods.

 

[inkahauts]

I'm sorry my attitude and my liberation disturbs you. I chased audio perfection for decades and it was a complete waste of time. If you're still stuck in that foolish loop fronted by faux forum narratives that's on you, not me.

In the end, losing 1% in discernible audio fidelity to add 45 million songs to my collection playable in any room or space in my life was not only a worthwhile trade but an infinite gain. Thinking back to the days of my 1980's era cumbersome component system necessary to play large, fragile vinyl discs on benign speakers, today to a world where I can call up any song ever recorded with just my voice and played on an audiophile-caliber bookshelf speaker is mind-boggling.

Some say the Walkman and the iPod were the revolutionary devices that changed the music industry and they weren't. It was Apple Music and the HomePod.

Sad you don’t understand that I’m not chasing anything. I’m just enjoying something fantastic and not feeling the need to downgrade to JUST a home pod for everything. And who said I can’t easily listen to all my music on my main system with ease? I can and do whenever I feel like it. No worries about fragile things from me. I don’t even have a record player...

You keep talking yourself into loving your system as the greatest ever. I’ll just enjoy it for what it is, which is a really really nice smart speaker.

 

[boltjames]

Sad you don’t understand that I’m not chasing anything. I’m just enjoying something fantastic and not feeling the need to downgrade to JUST a home pod for everything

It’s not a downgrade. You are unhappy with your old equipment and are struggling to adapt. We’ve all been there. Let us help you.

You keep telling yourself that if you need to make yourself feel better about your purchases. Enjoy your HomePods.

HomePod is $199. I’m wearing a $25,000 watch. Trust me, I don’t need validation on my bookshelf speaker purchase.

 

[inkahauts]

It’s not a downgrade. You are unhappy with your old equipment and are struggling to adapt. We’ve all been there. Let us help you.



HomePod is $199. I’m wearing a $25,000 watch. Trust me, I don’t need validation on my bookshelf speaker purchase.

Thanks for the laugh.

The watch thing explains everything about you.

 

[pup]

I don’t need validation on my bookshelf speaker purchase.

All evidence to the contrary.

 

[I7guy]

Thanks for the laugh.

The watch thing explains everything about you.

It explains nothing. Mostly what is not explained is anybody's firm definition of where the line in the sand is for audiophile vs not audiophile. Pair of Klipsch? McIntosh 10000 watt reference setup? I think it's mostly a personal definition, which is why this is going around and around.

 

[boltjames]

It explains nothing. Mostly what is not explained is anybody's firm definition of where the line in the sand is for audiophile vs not audiophile. Pair of Klipsch? McIntosh 10000 watt reference setup? I think it's mostly a personal definition, which is why this is going around and around.

It's pretty simple.

Audiophile sound quality simply means superior to what the masses are experiencing. In the realm of streaming audio, the HomePod is superior vs. its competition from Amazon, Google, etc. Compared to hissy tapes, scratchy records, and skippy CD's, Apple Music is superior. Compared to non-active bookshelf speaker systems, HomePod is superior.

As for people, I am an audiophile whether I am listening on my $10,000 stereo component system which I owned in various forms from 1980 to 2007 or today with Apple Music via my HomePods, CarPlay, Apple TV, and Headphones. An audiophile is someone enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction.

 

[za9ra22]

Oh good grief!

As a person who was, for some years, a professional acoustic engineer with a portfolio of speaker designs, including reference transmission lines which were very highly regarded, the question of what is or isn't 'audiophile' is far less relevant than what it is that makes any individual happy, and engaged, in his/her music.

Back in the day, I recall one person who gained as much pleasure from listening to a gramophone record on a Dansette as others did on a component system of far greater quality. Who was right? It doesn't matter. It's about enjoying music.

As for me, I like my HomePods. They sound good, and they let me listen to music. There are better speakers out there for sure, but it doesn't matter in the slightest if music comes out of the one you're actually listening to.

 

[pup]

I wonder what that guy would have said if a Dansette engineer showed up at his house, turned the bass all the way down and then stole the knob?

 

[za9ra22]

Simple: there was no bass. There was a volume knob though.

But still beside the point, and just about anyone is capable of understanding that.

 

[pup]

Actually even Dansettes had a basic tone control. Something Apple thinks you don’t need.

The point is that if HomePods gave "high-fidelity sound reproduction" as Botjames defines it, then why did Apple push a radically different EQ on owners? I mean, if it was 'audiophile' before, is it now 'ultra audiophile'? (I know at least one person here who would say that.)

Others weren't as thrilled about Apple's meddling, and felt like it turned the speaker from something that was slightly better than its competition into Bose 2.0, a mushy midrange speaker, dull but unobjectionable to the greatest number. But like the new sound or not, the point being that just about anyone is capable of understanding that a speaker that might change to a completely different sound one morning without warning isn't something an 'audiophile' would appreciate.

As to your point, no one disagrees, kumbaya and everyone enjoy their HomePod for what it is, so on and so forth. There's a single person who insists on regularly making 'audiophile' an issue, and the rest is just common sense rebuttal, in the hope that anyone who comes here looking for an honest appraisal of the speaker might actually get that.

 

[boltjames]

The point is that if HomePods gave "high-fidelity sound reproduction" as Botjames defines it, then why did Apple push a radically different EQ on owners? I mean, if it was 'audiophile' before, is it now 'ultra audiophile'? (I know at least one person here who would say that.)

Yes. Ultra audiophile.

Or “Ultraphile” as we ultra audiophiles like to refer to ourselves.