HomePod Launches in Japan and Taiwan [Updated]

[victorm1]

My thoughts as well. Because I had some gift cards, I ended up with 2 homepods. They are nearly useless to me. Siri is awful at everything other than a handful of simple commands, and the airplay functions are not reliable at all. For example, the stereo pair is completely inaccessible from my Macbook. Also, using homepods as "soundbars" for the Apple TV is a massive headache and also extremely unreliable - they fail to connect frequent, fail to stay connected, sound drops out randomly, etc etc. (Btw, I have phenomenal Wifi, so that's not the problem. I can reliably push 400mbps to a phone/tablet in the same spot as the homepods)

I'm a big fan of apple's products and have been for many years, but the homepods are by far the biggest disappointment they've released. In my opinion that is.

You probably have already looked at this but have you tried analyzing your wireless setup for interference? Something like NetSpot or inSSIDer should work.

 

[citysnaps]

https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile...e_homepod_the_audiophile_perspective/du5j2hk/
https://i.imgur.com/3nHZimq.png
vs.
https://hometheaterreview.com/assets_c/2015/09/Klipsch-RP-280FA-FR-thumb-650xauto-14534.jpg

If you're looking to compare with something truly dirt cheap, look into Klipsch RP-150M or DT's BP9080x.

TL;DR: HomePod is convenient for some very limited use cases, but in terms of audio performance it is neither an outstanding performer nor a good value for money.

Apples and oranges. And still more weaseling. Looking at the Klipsh, where's the amplifier and and AirPlay. Can I give it verbal commands? Does it compensate for room acoustics via adaptive beamforming?

You've been all over the map, starting with your first post, then your second post comparing HomePod to a $2,700 Beoplay A9, to what you posted above.

You throw something at the wall hoping it sticks. Without even owning a HomePod. That speaks volumes.

 

[victorm1]

Apples and oranges. And still more weaseling. Looking at the Klipsh, where's the amplifier and and AirPlay. Can I give it verbal commands? Does it compensate for room acoustics via adaptive beamforming?

You've been all over the map, starting with your first post, then your second post comparing HomePod to a $2,700 Beoplay A9, to what you posted above.

You throw something at the wall hoping it sticks. Without even owning a HomePod. That speaks volumes.

Are verbal commands a feature that you value over sound quality? That’s certainly not the case for me.

I’ve been consistent in what I’ve been saying from the beginning - the HomePod is not good value for the sound quality it provides.

Also since when do you need to own a product in order to objectively assess it? If anything, growing attached to a product through ownership makes you less objective because of sentimental value. The response charts have all the hard data that you need.

Finally, the reason why I provided more products is because you judged the HomePod and the A9 to not be in the same category. Therefore, I looked up cheaper speakers.

 

[zv470]

Actually the article ignores sales tax in Japan. Currently at 8%, increasing to 10% in October.
So the current price is ￥35,424 not ￥32,800.

 

[toptekjon]

You probably have already looked at this but have you tried analyzing your wireless setup for interference? Something like NetSpot or inSSIDer should work.

Yes, definitely. I get 400mbps internet on any device, in the exact same spot that the HomePods sit in. My internet connection is 400/20, so that's basically perfect. If i push the test from my Google Wifi app to the HomePod, it still gets very good speeds. 200mbps+ last I checked. The sound on my homepods is still very unreliable, especially when trying to use them as a Stereo Pair or with Apple TV (which is wired).

Thank you for the reply and suggestions either way!

 

[yoavcs]

I did not. Like I said, the same language is spoken in both countries, German.

Yes. And you implied that even to German-speaking human ears the Austrian and German dialects sometimes sound very different.

Imagine how much harder it is for Siri to recognize these variant dialects. Ergo, they need to train it on the differing dialect. And therefore it has yet to launch in Austria.

 

[Uofmtiger]

I have one Homepod that sits between my living room and kitchen providing access from both spaces and sounding good in both spaces. The fact that it has speakers all around it makes it ideal for that space. Most speakers would need to face one room or the other.

I have decent wifi, so I can't say how it works on other systems, but it is hears every command (its mics are amazing) and does them without issues. I mainly use mine for alarms, Apple Music, weather, controlling hue lights, Airplay, and sports scores. I also use it to control what is playing in rooms with AppleTVs and/or Airport Express (I have one of the newer models in my sunroom).

The main issue with getting mass adoption is price, but for me, it was worth it for this specific space. I wouldn't mind having a couple more, but can't justify the price for areas that won't get a lot of use. For those areas, I currently have Echo Dots. Since they now work with Apple Music, I have less reason to change them out.

 

[zv470]

Yes. And you implied that even to German-speaking human ears the Austrian and German dialects sometimes sound very different.

Imagine how much harder it is for Siri to recognize these variant dialects. Ergo, they need to train it on the differing dialect. And therefore it has yet to launch in Austria.

Siri was introduced to Japan, Austria and New Zealand... many years ago ...Siri works well in those countries.

Selling the HomePod in those countries is a business decision, definitely not a technical decision.

 

[klunernet]

This is certainly not a product Apple is giving up on. Expanding reach, frequent updates with new features, integration with Siri Shortcuts that continually give it new capabilities, an accumulating user base.

this is why I decided to bite down and get one via grey import from a webshop that likely gets their stock from Germany. With EU consumer laws, I am protected more then well enough to take that chance.

will be delivered tomorrow, and am very much looking forward to it.

 

[User 6502]

This is certainly not a product Apple is giving up on. Expanding reach, frequent updates with new features, integration with Siri Shortcuts that continually give it new capabilities, an accumulating user base.

Apple isn’t giving up on HomePod anymore than they gave up on the AppleTV when it was a niche product. It was a foundation on which Apple is building on through software updates.

It’s still only a little over year old and has already received 3 major updates. If anything, they’re dedicated to it.

Eventually, the critics will end up in the same place as those who said the Apple Watch was a failure. Curiously, you never hear from those people again.

The original Apple watch was crap and its critics were right. It received many software updates and it's still crap. The ones they released later on are better, but the series 0 is and always has been almost unusable and next to useless.

Same applies to Home Pod. It's crap and always will be, no matter how many software updates it gets. Maybe in three years or so they'll release a better one, we'll see. But the current one is hopeless.

 

[Shanghaichica]

The original Apple watch was crap and its critics were right. It received many software updates and it's still crap. The ones they released later on are better, but the series 0 is and always been almost unusable and next to useless.

Same applies to Home Pod. It's crap and always will be, no matter how many software updates it gets. Maybe in three years or so they'll release a better one, we'll see. But the current one is hopeless.

That’s not true at all. I got my series 0 on launch day and it was perfectly useable. I was able to use it to receive and respond to notification, make and receive calls, Apple Pay, tracking my activity, setting timers, controlling my Apple TV, setting alarms and many more things. This was series 0. So to say it was unusable is simply not true at all.

 

[jaredlipsitz]

My friend uses it when he visits. Otherwise never gets used. I paid $349 to get one last year.

What did you buy it for that it doesn’t do?

 

[Khedron]

This is certainly not a product Apple is giving up on. Expanding reach, frequent updates with new features, integration with Siri Shortcuts that continually give it new capabilities, an accumulating user base.

Apple isn’t giving up on HomePod anymore than they gave up on the AppleTV when it was a niche product. It was a foundation on which Apple is building on through software updates.

It’s still only a little over year old and has already received 3 major updates. If anything, they’re dedicated to it.

Eventually, the critics will end up in the same place as those who said the Apple Watch was a failure. Curiously, you never hear from those people again.

3 major updates because it launched with core functionality unavailable
[doublepost=1566563550][/doublepost]

I still don't know how Homepods exactly work, so let me ask a few questions.

1) Will this speakers work with iTunes Match as well as with Apple Music? Because all my music is in the cloud of iTunes. And for that matter, will I be able to use it as a sounds output for all the music I listen to on my iPhone? Even YouYube audio? Thank you.

2) I have a high quality analog music equipment from the late 70s, with LP player and cassette tape player, and an amplifier with an analog equalizer. All the connections are RCA, as any stereo speaker, with the left and right channels (red and black wires). My question is, is there any device that may allow me to connect this with a pair of Homepods? Use them as wireless speakers for this analog HiFi set up. Provided that Homepods only work via AirPlay, maybe there's a device that allow me to stream the analog output to an Airplay device.

3) if number 2 is impossible, would it be easier with a Sonos set-up? Or I will face the same problem? I'm interested mainly because both Homepods and Sonos speakers are wireless and have great quality of sound, and I don't know any other speaker brand that makes high quality Bluetooth/wireless speakers, to connect this analog equipment via a small conversor (analog-to-Bluetooth/wireless transmitter) without too much quality loss. Thank you again.

Anything standards-based will be better than Apple who are intent on pushing their proprietary AirPlay regardless of customer experience

 

[ikir]

Waiting for Italy

 

[User 6502]

That’s not true at all. I got my series 0 on launch day and it was perfectly useable. I was able to use it to receive and respond to notification, make and receive calls, Apple Pay, tracking my activity, setting timers, controlling my Apple TV, setting alarms and many more things. This was series 0. So to say it was unusable is simply not true at all.

I still have my series 0 and it IS unusable. It takes 30s + to open any app, even timer or alarm, making or receiving calls is a terrible experience because of crap microphone and speaker. It is a nice gadget but it's "smart" functions are unusable. The only one I regularly use is indeed apple pay, which is very cool, but far from indispensable.

 

[colinwil]

EQ, what for? Why not listen to the final mixed track as is?

That would be ideal. But unfortunately its not as simple as that. The quality of tracks on Apple Music can be very good, but it can be dreadful. Often the track thats available on Apple Music already has heavy EQ applied to it - and is nothing like the final miaxed track that the artist intented.

So EQ would sometimes be handy to revert a track back to more like it should sound.

I'm not sure how it wuold work in practice though - as it woudld have to be done on a track by track basis...

 

[Shanghaichica]

I still have my series 0 and it IS unusable. It takes 30s + to open any app, even timer or alarm, making or receiving calls is a terrible experience because of crap microphone and speaker. It is a nice gadget but it's "smart" functions are unusable. The only one I regularly use is indeed apple pay, which is very cool, but far from indispensable.

The series 0 is quite unusable now because it’s 4 years old and I’m sure the battery doesn’t hold a charge for long. At launch it was very usable. I have the series 4 now and I don’t open apps on it.

 

[bbednarz]

The original Apple watch was crap and its critics were right. It received many software updates and it's still crap. The ones they released later on are better, but the series 0 is and always has been almost unusable and next to useless.

Same applies to Home Pod. It's crap and always will be, no matter how many software updates it gets. Maybe in three years or so they'll release a better one, we'll see. But the current one is hopeless.

The original Apple Watch is slow, doesn't make it crap or useless. Still works just fine as a fitness tracker, great for notifications. It was the first gen product.

Saying HomePod is crap is just a dumb statement. You can probably say it's overpriced, but that doesn't make ti crap or useless.

 

[Onelifenofear]

Why is this thing not available everywhere already? It's not like Siri actually works anyway...

Works perfectly for me. But then again I speak the Queens English All Proper Like.

 

[Chytin]

Show us the lines at the Apple Store!

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

This is certainly not a product Apple is giving up on. Expanding reach, frequent updates with new features, integration with Siri Shortcuts that continually give it new capabilities, an accumulating user base.

Apple isn’t giving up on HomePod anymore than they gave up on the AppleTV when it was a niche product. It was a foundation on which Apple is building on through software updates.

It’s still only a little over year old and has already received 3 major updates. If anything, they’re dedicated to it.

Eventually, the critics will end up in the same place as those who said the Apple Watch was a failure. Curiously, you never hear from those people again.

You don’t hear, because You don’t wanna hear!
HomePod was a joke, as watch.
Only the customers are evolving this epic fails.
Watch strategy is still a joke, internal team has dissolved. Are You reading news?
What You are writing could count as propaganda or fake news

 

[Onelifenofear]

The original Apple watch was crap and its critics were right. It received many software updates and it's still crap. The ones they released later on are better, but the series 0 is and always has been almost unusable and next to useless.

Same applies to Home Pod. It's crap and always will be, no matter how many software updates it gets. Maybe in three years or so they'll release a better one, we'll see. But the current one is hopeless.

Well I have 4. I use them constantly for all sorts of Siri things and Music. 1 in bedroom and office and 2 as a stereo pair in my lounge. Works perfectly and sounds incredible for the size. Way better than any of the Amazon speakers and warmer sound Than the bassy google max. All the other Google speakers are ok at best.

I do have a Sonos playbar with satellites as my surround sound in my cinema room - That does sound better... but did cost about £5K.

Anyway I’ve tested, owned and sold pretty much every speaker and smart speaker out there though a business and HomePod is fantastic. Could do with being a bit cheaper.

Point is you are either Hard of hearing or have a language issue with Siri.

 

[JosephAW]

Well at least they don't have to worry that the Govmnt is listening in as the China iCloud version does.

 

[Onelifenofear]

You don’t hear, because You don’t wanna hear!
HomePod was a joke, as watch.
Only the customers are evolving this epic fails.
Watch strategy is still a joke, internal team has dissolved. Are You reading news?
What You are writing could count as propaganda or fake news

Watch Internal Team dissolved - Complete and utter lie. Prove it... Nope because its a made up thing... made up by you. Links or be forever known as that Romeo_BS

I have a friend who works in the Apple Watch team (nothing exciting sadly) and they have 100 new jobs in design and engineering on the Apple jobs Site right now. And quite a number in HomePod.

Also as someone that sells Homepods though my business... I know damn well how popular they are. and I am selling an out 30 a week. And that’s only as that’s all I can source.

**edit** Actually I have just looked at some of your other posts and don’t even want a reply - complete drivel.

 

[unplugme71]

This is certainly not a product Apple is giving up on. Expanding reach, frequent updates with new features, integration with Siri Shortcuts that continually give it new capabilities, an accumulating user base.

Apple isn’t giving up on HomePod anymore than they gave up on the AppleTV when it was a niche product. It was a foundation on which Apple is building on through software updates.

It’s still only a little over year old and has already received 3 major updates. If anything, they’re dedicated to it.

Eventually, the critics will end up in the same place as those who said the Apple Watch was a failure. Curiously, you never hear from those people again.

The HomePod itself is not a failure. I don’t think it ever was. When I got my HomePod and Siri could literally hear me whisper the command from a different room, I was amazed. The sound quality is also very good.

I wish Apple would make a sound bar and subwoofer - similar to Sonos setup. Or at the very least, let Apple TV work with homepods and aftermarket subwoofer.

Siri is more of a failure. I actually lost hope with Siri on my iPhone.