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HomePod Homepod mini - or ...?

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polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 9, 2020
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Wales
I want a speaker, possibly two (to support stereo), for the very simple purpose of listening to the radio. (In future, if it works really well, I might want another one, two, even three to use in other rooms - and switch to them as I move around.)

Sound quality of DAB is unacceptable.

I like using BBC Sounds (rubbish app thought it may be).

I'm using either an Android tablet on its own (poor) internal speakers, or my iPhone with Xiaomi ear pods. Neither is satisfactory. Also use a Bluetooth speaker on my PC - which isn't too bad.

I hate voice control - Siri has next to zero appeal. But the technology of Homepod has quite a lot of appeal despite that.

Would you consider a Homepod mini for this purpose? If not, what else could be as convenient?
 
sonos
you can get the base model without the voice assistant for $179, or the one from Ikea is only $99.
you can airplay to them
The Move ($499) also has bluetooth in addition to airplay, and a battery so you can move it around easily.
there are a ton of streaming services available. It has TuneIn radio which has a lot of BBC stations you can stream without a subscription.

With sonos, you'll be able to control it from your android tablet as well as your iPhone, also from any Mac or windows computer on your network.


not sure what DAB is

I used US prices, I'm guessing you're in the UK though.
for reference the HomePod mini is $99 while the full size is $299
 
waw74 said:
sonos
you can get the base model without the voice assistant for $179, or the one from Ikea is only $99.
you can airplay to them
The Move ($499) also has bluetooth in addition to airplay, and a battery so you can move it around easily.
there are a ton of streaming services available. It has TuneIn radio which has a lot of BBC stations you can stream without a subscription.

With sonos, you'll be able to control it from your android tablet as well as your iPhone, also from any Mac or windows computer on your network.


not sure what DAB is

I used US prices, I'm guessing you're in the UK though.
for reference the HomePod mini is $99 while the full size is $299
Click to expand...
Thanks.

That means a Sonos mini is considerably more expensive than a Homepod mini! The Ikea is £89 - so very similar to the Homepod mini at £99. But also seems not to be quite as convenient for a minimal saving. I am looking to be a cheapskate so The Move, etc., are way too much.

DAB is digital audio broadcasting...

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is a digital radio standard for broadcasting digital audio radio services in many countries around the world but not in North America where HD Radio is the standard for digital radio.
 
Just buy a dedicated speaker rather than a smart speaker as your paying for parts needed to make a speaker smart....which it sounds like you don’t need.
 
malcky77 said:
Just buy a dedicated speaker rather than a smart speaker as your paying for parts needed to make a speaker smart....which it sounds like you don’t need.
Click to expand...
However, the ability to play without my phone pumping the signal via Bluetooth continuously would be nice. (If ever available.)

And looking through listings/reviews of Bluetooth speakers, I see some at least as expensive as the mini having all sorts of issues from poor sound to making loud switch on/switch off noises.

Also, this comes with an Apple 20W power supply - which if I look at that as another source of power for my iPhone 12 - I could argue that makes the itself speaker £80.

Have to thank you for pushing me to look again at Bluetooth speakers and, while so doing, finding these review questions:

Does it weigh different to when the battery is full or empty?

Answer:

Yes. I fully charged mine only to find out I couldn't lift it. Fortunately though, after about 4 hours of playing music it became portable again. After 5 hours of playing music, moving it was a breeze. Just make sure that if you're going to charge it it's somewhere you'd like it to stay for a while. Hope this helps.
By Amazon Customer on 21 September 2019

Im sorry but this product is only available on plant earth ... as you must come from another plant to ask this sort of question regarding the battery being heavier or lighter if the battery is charged or not other than than stop using drugs as it’s affecting your IQ massively!!
By Bobbie on 14 June 2020

This entirely depends on battery maintenance - occasionally you will have to top up with distilled water (electrolyte) to keep the electrodes covered. Check up on how often you need to do this - a 100ml syringe is easier than using a cup or a jug.
By Amanda Penrose on 02 August 2020

I find with portable speakers it really depends on what you are lessening to, strangely heavy metal feels lighter than hip hop, an other thing to take into consideration is where you charge it the further south the heaver the power.
By Andrew Hamill on 21 May 2020

Yes for sure it does. I had to ask for a replacement from Amazon because what they don't tell you is that if you let the battery run completely out of charge your speaker will become so light that it will float right off out into space. I lost 3 speakers that way, I now glue everything to my desk. Hope that helps.
By Chris on 07 August 2020
 
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I think you need to clarify what type of speaker you are wanting....battery powered portable type or a mains powered type? I had assumed it was a mains powered type, but then you've linked to a battery powered speaker.

So let us know what you're after and most importantly your budget so we can try offer some suggestions to you.

It sounds like your want to keep it below £100, so you really need to be realistic as to how "good" a £100 speaker can be....none will be audiophile quality, but a lot will be acceptable and fit for purpose.

Also, what other devices do you have that can actually play the music of your choice? Is it just your phone or do you have other things like a iPod, iPad, tablet, computer type devices that could send the music to a speaker via bluetooth/airplay/3.5mm jack/phono leads and so on?

I personally used to have B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) Z2 & A5 airplay speakers before getting the HomePods......and I still to this day love the Z2's & Z5's for how good they sounded.....you cant buy them new now, but you can source them for a fraction of the original price on Ebay/gumtree if you time it right....both those speakers could accept airplay or 3.5mm jack connection for audio, they were both able to connect to your network via wifi or ethernet too.

Edit: Just had a quick squint on ebay for "Bowers Wilkins Z2" & "Bowers Wilkins A5" and there is a few available now at good prices and appear to be in good working order based on the descriptions I saw.
P.S. The A5 is the higher end model between these two speakers.
 
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malcky77 said:
I think you need to clarify what type of speaker you are wanting....battery powered portable type or a mains powered type? I had assumed it was a mains powered type, but then you've linked to a battery powered speaker.

So let us know what you're after and most importantly your budget so we can try offer some suggestions to you.

It sounds like your want to keep it below £100, so you really need to be realistic as to how "good" a £100 speaker can be....none will be audiophile quality, but a lot will be acceptable and fit for purpose.

Also, what other devices do you have that can actually play the music of your choice? Is it just your phone or do you have other things like a iPod, iPad, tablet, computer type devices that could send the music to a speaker via bluetooth/airplay/3.5mm jack/phono leads and so on?

I personally used to have B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) Z2 & Z5 airplay speakers before getting the HomePods......and I still to this day love the Z2's & Z5's for how good they sounded.....you cant buy them new now, but you can source them for a fraction of the original price on Ebay/gumtree if you time it right....both those speakers could accept airplay or 3.5mm jack connection for audio, they were both able to connect to your network via wifi or ethernet too.
Click to expand...
Mains powered but an awful lot of Bluetooth speakers have batteries built-in.

The thin USB-C cable for a Homepod mini would be preferably to a typical thick mains cable. But only a marginal issue.

I am really saying, I think a Homepod mini would work for me - but can I get something less expensive that would be, in practical terms, as usable and convenient? And though we don't currently have the Homepod mini to listen to, I'd not be willing to go for something much less good in sound quality.

I have Android tablets, Windows PC and iPhone (6s going on 12 Pro). And that is it! Might go down the Mac route at some point. Might get an iPad. No decisions yet. Really don't want to use cables at all - though I do appreciate the possibility of a Bluetooth to phono or 3.5mm jack would be an option.

I used to have a pair of B&W DM220s. I liked them but they are long gone and far too big.
 
for your use case, if you might be persuaded to reconsider voice control (and can get past any privacy concerns), it may be worth thinking about an echo. there‘s a skill for bbc sounds, so you can ask alexa for any bbc station directly (unlike on homepod, where you’d have to airplay from another device. there has been no indication this will change any time soon).

i haven’t heard the 4th gen echo, so can’t speak for its sound quality, but it has a 3”woofer, and the reviews i’ve seen seem to suggest a considerable improvement over the previous versions. do bear in mind, though, multiroom via this method isn’t currently possible (frustratingly, it used to be, but not since the bbc stations were removed from tunein around a year ago).

if i was in your shoes i might also be tempted to wait for the inevitable comparison reviews between the homepod mini & the 4th gen echo, as they’re clearly aimed at similar segments of the market. using airplay from your phone to homepod mini would mean you could add additional speakers for stereo and/or multiroom further down the line.

being unable to access bbc sounds directly on homepod feels like such a missed opportunity. hopefully they’ll finally address it if the mini takes off - and also add the ability to set spotify as the default music service! using airplay from a phone can be hit and miss in my experience (2 homepods), i guess it depends on the strength of your wifi connection!
 
justin.d said:
for your use case, if you might be persuaded to reconsider voice control (and can get past any privacy concerns), it may be worth thinking about an echo. there‘s a skill for bbc sounds, so you can ask alexa for any bbc station directly (unlike on homepod, where you’d have to airplay from another device. there has been no indication this will change any time soon).

i haven’t heard the 4th gen echo, so can’t speak for its sound quality, but it has a 3”woofer, and the reviews i’ve seen seem to suggest a considerable improvement over the previous versions. do bear in mind, though, multiroom via this method isn’t currently possible (frustratingly, it used to be, but not since the bbc stations were removed from tunein around a year ago).

if i was in your shoes i might also be tempted to wait for the inevitable comparison reviews between the homepod mini & the 4th gen echo, as they’re clearly aimed at similar segments of the market. using airplay from your phone to homepod mini would mean you could add additional speakers for stereo and/or multiroom further down the line.

being unable to access bbc sounds directly on homepod feels like such a missed opportunity. hopefully they’ll finally address it if the mini takes off - and also add the ability to set spotify as the default music service! using airplay from a phone can be hit and miss in my experience (2 homepods), i guess it depends on the strength of your wifi connection!
Click to expand...
Thank you - very helpful.

Fully agreed that I should await the reviews - that is sensible. But half of me was hoping to be talked into ordering a mini the moment they become available!

Got good/very good wifi and virtually no interference as well-spaced houses slightly out of town. :)

BBC Sounds directly on the Homepod would be very much appreciated.
 
if you're interested in the mini, there's certainly an argument for pre-ordering the instant it goes live!

1) if its sound quality doesn't meet your expectations, you can always return it
2) you'd get one at launch instead of potentially waiting weeks should it prove to be popular (which it might, considering we're all about to spend a lot longer indoors!)
3) times are bleak at the moment, we're about to go back into lockdown & it's nice to treat yourself once in a while!

to be honest, if i didn't already have homepods & a half decent main sound system, i would probably be pre-ordering on day 1 too! i bought my homepods on sale at the end of march, and they were my best lockdown investment: despite the issues i've previously described, the sound quality still frequently blows me away. admittedly, the mini has more modest hardware (1 driver & 2 passive radiators vs 7 tweeters and a 4" woofer & ), but knowing apple, they wouldn't ship something substandard, and the mini's sound quality may well pleasantly surprise a lot of people given its unassuming stature!
 
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What you say is where I am at the moment.

I am fully aware that some of the features have zero, or even negative, appeal to me. That makes me think I'll be paying for things I don't actually want. On the other hand, having decided against the Echo, there aren't many other lower-cost options without going for what are pretty much dumb Bluetooth speakers.

I see some dire reviews of some makes.

If it were just making a noise for my computer, I might be happy enough with Anker or similar.
 
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I think for £100 you can’t go wrong as it offers a lot for the money for a lot of us on here....Siri, homehub, HomeKit, built in Apple Music (if your a subscriber) and of course a speaker which is an unknown quality in terms of sound quality at the moment...sure it’s not going to blow your socks off but I’m confident people will be pleasantly surprised by the quality of it if they place it appropriately...as in NOT in a huuuuuge room and expecting room shaking bass and volumes to split ear drums.

I would just order one as soon as an order can be placed.....and if it is a terrible speaker for your needs then it’s easy to return and go back to the drawing board.
 
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Similar needs as the OP.

Is it possible to make the Homepod a "dumb" speaker? On the iPhone, there is an option to turn off the Hey, Siri wake up when charging. Does the Homepod have that too?

I'm only interested in pushing music to the speaker (one-way communication). If it can also tell me verbally incoming calls and text, that would be swell.
 
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Rockadile said:
Similar needs as the OP.

Is it possible to make the Homepod a "dumb" speaker? On the iPhone, there is an option to turn off the Hey, Siri wake up when charging. Does the Homepod have that too?

I'm only interested in pushing music to the speaker (one-way communication). If it can also tell me verbally incoming calls and text, that would be swell.
Click to expand...
There have now been quite a few reviews published.

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...-and-cheaper-smart-speaker?CMP=share_btn_link
 
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