I picked up 2 HomePod's at a local Apple Store today after work. I thought about shipping but I feel safer picking it up at the store. Delivery invites risks such as delays, loss, delivery to wrong address, and so on. By picking it up in the store, Apple deals with delivery issues, , and no matter what they have to put a speaker into your hands.
It was a breeze to set them up. I lifted the speaker out of the box, plugged it in, and held held my phone up to each speaker when I powered them on, and pressed the setup button when it appeared. The build quality is top notch. You can tell that a lot of care when into the design and manufacture of these devices.
They sound amazing! I played music on them directly on the speaker, streamed from my phone, streamed from my Apple TV, and streamed from my iMac. They beat the pants off of my more expensive Sonos Play 5 speaker , and easily crushed my 2 Amazon Echo/Echo2 Home speakers. I don't know how such small speakers fill the room with great sound, but they do.
Yes, they are expensive. Yes, they are worth it.