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I know what it is,but purpose is questionable. Im using apple tv 4k connected to AV receiver with 5.1 jbl speakers. If i want to listen music or movie im streaming via airplay with iphone or mac. Is there anything more this device can do and I'm not aware off ?
It would be an alternative to people who don't have a separate AV receiver and a 5.1 setup for one thing...
 
So the HomePod cannot store music on board and I can't imagine this having a huge Operating System either. So, what is the 16GB of onboard storage space doing? Is this hinting at a future with more apps/ games/ functionality on the HomePod?
 
Amps are all class D? Let's be real, this gadget has no power, no room for the kind of inductors needed to make great sounding audio from a digital amp.

Inductors in Class D amps are used to reduce electromagnetic interference, not for sound quality. Using no inductor gives better sound since you have less resistance from amplifier to speaker driver.
Stand alone amplifiers need to support long wires to the speakers and therefore need inductors to pass EMC requirements for FCC and CE certification (the long wires act as antennas for the class D signal).
The speaker driver itself is an inductor, and will be high impedance for the class D switching frequency.

The use of electrolytic capacitors is a concern for me however. They will limit the life of the product.

Regards
An electrical engineer who has made a few class D amp consumer products.
 
I'm going to be completely honest here. The HomePod is just not a necessary nor revolutionary product. Really the only must have Apple products are a MacBook Pro, iMac or both and an iPhone. To a much lesser extent an iPad and an ATV. The watch is something that mainly attracts people who know nothing about watches and probably had no interest in one before Apple launched one. I bought one for the hell of it and I don't think I've used it more than 4-5 times. It just feels so cheap on my wrist compared to my daily GMT-Master II. If you have an A/V receiver, especially any recent one with Bluetooth and/or Airplay with quality speakers at home, you really don't need a HomePod. Hell even an older receiver with an ATV plugged in will provide Airplay over quality speakers.

I see it more like a modern version of the popular Bose wave radio. Great for kitchens and for people (primarily home owners) who want something wireless in a room away from the home theater. The people who must have every Apple product will be all over it and praise it to no end. Like the AirPods this is such an easy pass for me.
 
I know what it is,but purpose is questionable. Im using apple tv 4k connected to AV receiver with 5.1 jbl speakers. If i want to listen music or movie im streaming via airplay with iphone or mac. Is there anything more this device can do and I'm not aware off ?

In your situation, it's one tangible advantage is hands-free Siri voice control (if none of your devices happen to be on you to cover the same base). Between your :apple:TV remote and your iDevices + Mac, you can basically do everything this can do BETTER than this can do it.

The main consideration for a HP for you would likely be to bring comparable capabilities to another room(s) beyond the reach of your existing setup.
 
I wish that apple would focus on repairability for their products rather than scrapping to landfill. Perhaps they have here - but it's not obvious

Some of Apples products with the construction and build are so intricate with the components and hardware, The repairability is rather difficult. Especially the Apple Watch for example, the only thing you really can repair with the Apple Watch is a display or the battery, everything else is soldered components that really cannot be repaired. It’s just the nature of technology and how it’s manufactured.
 
Another step towards the true appliance design — attached power cord. Were they concerned that the connector would introduce electrical noise?
 
:rolleyes: Like all the people convinced that they'd be able to make use of the diagnostic port on the Apple Watch. How many devices have done so? Oh yeah, none in 3 years.

I'd still like to be able to plug a hard drive(s) into the USB port on an :apple:TV, sync store the media collection like we could on the first generation and then turn off the parent computer. Probably never coming either.
 
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I wish that apple would focus on repairability for their products rather than scrapping to landfill. Perhaps they have here - but it's not obvious

Their disassembly robot will likely learn how to dissemble and recover as much material as possible. But I agree that a more modular design would be more environmentally friendly.
 
I'd still like to be able to plug a hard drive(s) into the USB port on an :apple:TV, sync store the media collection like we could on the first generation and then turn off the parent computer. Probably never coming either.

Truth. Didn't they even get rid of the USB port all together on the latest Apple TV?
 
Yes! As "we" well know: Apple knows best in all things. Fools wishing a feature that Apple used to offer in a product should be thrilled that Apple knows better about what they should want than they know themselves, thus right to initially offer it, then right to deprecate it and then further right to eliminate any hope of maybe it being able to come back.
 
I welcome those iFixIt's breakdowns. Why?:
  1. show how things are built.
  2. using high-quality renders.
  3. annotated with light-hearted comments, which show that they do not take themselves too seriously
  4. avoid the use of meaningless superlatives to tell it like it is. (Looking at you TC and Crew.)
For those that pooh-pooh their breakdowns: R.E.L.A.X.
No sense getting your Apple-colored panties all in a bunch.
 
...​
The teardown experts ... were forced to use a variety of tools to gain access to the internal components, including ... an ultrasonic cutter.
....
hmm, ultrasonic cutter - anyone else being reminded of a "sonic screwdriver"?

Need to check out iFixIt's Tools Store for one of those .... ;)

The_Twelfth_Doctor%27s_Sonic_Screwdriver.jpg
 
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Really there should be no need to ever repair these because of damage caused by users.

The chance of you damaging them is reduced drastically by the fact it's a product that'll remain still 99% of the time for most people. How often do you manage to cause any damage at all to a TV, for example? SO I wouldn't really worry about the low repair-ability
It is not damaging the product, but they do fail within 1 year sometimes.
My brand new TV was broken within 1 year after it was purchased.
 
I wish that apple would focus on repairability for their products rather than scrapping to landfill. Perhaps they have here - but it's not obvious

I suspect you’re not familiar with their very robust recycling initiative. I also wonder how often anyone either one of us has ever known has felt the need to personally repair a speaker.
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I just can't say enough bad about this thing. Apple should have designed the thing to be repaired for $60 plus parts. Now they put the consumer into adding it to the landfill and buying a new one. If Apple really cared they would just pay you $70 for your broken hPod.

Responsible consumers don’t throw out things like this into a landfill. They recycle.
 
I don’t see this as something people need to be self-repairing. It’s not like a phone or computer. Not every electronic device is intended, or desirable, to be accessible for user repair. I would imagine in most cases a typical user couldn’t even source a component with which to repair — nor have the expertise to identify the failed component.
Ditto. Even then, Apple Care on this thing is so low cost that that should take care of any issues for needing repairs. Only concerns are still for those who do NOT live near an Apple store.
 
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Ditto. Even then, Apple Care on this thing is so low cost that that should take care of any issues for needing repairs. Only concerns are still for those who do NOT live near an Apple store.
The only reason I did AppleCare on it is a simple reason: a 3 year old doesn’t care about nice things, lol. And after throwing my Echos to the floor a few times, I figure it was worthwhile. :)
 
So let me guess. Even though it sounds amazing,that doesn't really matter if amps are all in class D? Do people really give a flying monkey about that? Or what they really care is sound quality?
The perfect consumer:
Understands little about a product, doesn't care to know more,
Believes all the marketing/social hype.

Apple has indeed "cracked" it.
 
They have special robot to dissemble iPhone and recycle each part. I am sure they not going to dump HomePod's into land fill and there's some kind of recycling.

"Apple offers and participates in various product take-back and recycling programs in 99 percent of the countries where Apple sells products"
https://images.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/homepod/HomePod_PER_feb2018.pdf

take-back and recycling are two different things. Glueing everything together and then sealing in plastic sleeve makes recycling less attractive because it costs more to separate the parts. I just wish Apple would try to take a lead on this. Their environmental report is full of fluff stating taht they basically com
I suspect you’re not familiar with their very robust recycling initiative. I also wonder how often anyone either one of us has ever known has felt the need to personally repair a speaker.
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Responsible consumers don’t throw out things like this into a landfill. They recycle.

and the harder it is to recycle means that it becomes not commercially viable, and instead is "taken back" by apple rather than re-cycled. I agree on not often recycling a speaker, but then this is more than a speaker and much more likely to become obsolete.
 
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The perfect consumer:
Understands little about a product, doesn't care to know more,
Believes all the marketing/social hype.

Apple has indeed "cracked" it.


I am not after the specsheer BS nonsense. I know what is good for me when I see it and neither you or the marketing team can convince me otherwise.My philosophy of buying a product is to get what looks good,sounds good,works great. The rest is bunch of nonsense stuff I have no time for. I don't give a rates ass if some people are naive enough to go by specheet nerdy stuff and not the actual quality.
 
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