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Homepod Use

D

DJinTX

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 15, 2010
524
30
For any Homepod or Siri haters, please pass right on by. Not looking for anyone telling me Apple is late to the game or echos or dots are superior, or siri sucks.

With that said, I am interested in Homepod. I do wish it were more like $249, but at $349 it may still be an option. I have some christmas money waiting to be spent. The Siri integration will be a nice feature, but more than that for me, the sound reproduction compared to other offerings like Sonos One, sounds hard to pass up. I have some high end speakers in my living room connected to my home theater that I use for Pandora via Apple TV a lot on the weekends, but I have been wanting a good airplay speaker for our Den for quite some time to spread the music around the house. Everything to this point seems wildly underpowered (portable battery speakers are not what I am wanting), or blue tooth only, and I am really wanting wifi+ airplay. Sonos One is an attractive option, mainly because of price, although one ears-on comparison of the two I read said that the Homepod vs Sonos One is like HD vs standard respectively. Also, I trust Apple more with my privacy than I do sonos/alexa/google. Also, setup of the Homepod sounds like it will be worlds better on the homepod as is the usual for Apple. So I want one, I just haven't decided if I want to shell out the money.

The questions I have at this point are related to how all it will be used for music. With Airplay 2 coming, how will the homepod work in conjunction with my speakers in the living room (connected to receiver and apple tv). Obviously I can use them independently of each other, but when I want to play the same music in both rooms over all speakers, will there be a single option to start music on all of those simultaneously or will I have to start each one at a time? Will it be started from iTunes, or my iPhone, or the Apple TV?


Thanks!
--Derek
 
Simultaneously playback to AirPlay 2 enabled devices and speakers from iOS is selling feature.

It should be noted though you can already do this from iTunes on a Mac (not sure about a PC). So on iOS devices instead of selecting which individual device you want to play to you'll be able to select which device(s) you want to play too.

Screen Shot 2018-01-07 at 2.31.26 PM.png
 
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cynics said:
Simultaneously playback to AirPlay 2 enabled devices and speakers from iOS is selling feature.

It should be noted though you can already do this from iTunes on a Mac (not sure about a PC). So on iOS devices instead of selecting which individual device you want to play to you'll be able to select which device(s) you want to play too.

View attachment 745703
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This is good info. Pretty clear that the HomePod will appear in this list as either “Homepod” or “Den” or whatever I name it when I set it up. How will the speakers in the living room appear? Will they just be an extension of the Apple TV I guess?
 
DJinTX said:
This is good info. Pretty clear that the HomePod will appear in this list as either “Homepod” or “Den” or whatever I name it when I set it up. How will the speakers in the living room appear? Will they just be an extension of the Apple TV I guess?
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Like mine. I just have them name Living Room and Bedroom because they are the only AirPlay devices I have and I know what they are.
 
I think it has potential to be a great speaker and i think Apple will add new software features over time (much like IOS and so on) It will be interesting to see how the HomePod works with other speakers but also how it will work if you buy 2 and put them in different rooms of the house?

Also what about things like setting alarms? if you say the magic words "Hey Siri" and go on to say "set my alarm for 4am" how will it work if you have other Apple devices in the same room (iPad, iPhone and so on).
 
Dave245 said:
I think it has potential to be a great speaker and i think Apple will add new software features over time (much like IOS and so on) It will be interesting to see how the HomePod works with other speakers but also how it will work if you buy 2 and put them in different rooms of the house?

Also what about things like setting alarms? if you say the magic words "Hey Siri" and go on to say "set my alarm for 4am" how will it work if you have other Apple devices in the same room (iPad, iPhone and so on).
Click to expand...

Very good question. I guess Siri may then prompt you to indicate which device? Like how when you ask her to call "mom" it will ask which number if there are multiple.
 
Depending on what day you catch me, I am wavering quite a bit with the $349 price tag. Its just a big pill to swallow. I am confident it will sound great, but maybe not worth the price of admission. If I decide to opt out I still can't imagine going with any of the competitors out there. I am just not a fan of google or amazon, especially when considering privacy concerns. I wonder if Apple will ever release a HomePod mini at a lower price point.
 
DJinTX said:
True, there are more expensive options, but also less expensive options. It’s all relative. It all depends on how much I end up using/liking it to justify the $349.
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yes. my wife was so impressed with the sound quality of this guy. pretty expensive but it was so much better then her tap. https://www.beoplay.com/en/products/beoplaya1 but you also need to decide if you want stereo or not. thats the problem with most single speakers no stereo.
 
DJinTX said:
Very good question. I guess Siri may then prompt you to indicate which device? Like how when you ask her to call "mom" it will ask which number if there are multiple.
Click to expand...

It's possible, the reason i ask is because i plan on buying one for the bedroom at home to replace my very old (30 pin connector) docking station that i only use as an alarm clock. At least the HomePod will be able to play my music, set alarms and so on.
 
One thing is for sure, I am VERY ready for Apple to announce this release date. I am sure they are busy working out kinks in Airplay2, and I also have a pipedream that maybe they are adding a killer feature or two and/or planning a slight price drop due to the delays and wanting to regain ground lost to competitors. Either way, I hope they pull the trigger soon.
 
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