Pump the brakes a bit. You don't have to jump all the way to $850 B&W's to get great audio from a pair of bookshelves.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HomePod's Sound Continues to Receive Top Marks After Listening Demos in New York and London
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Pump the brakes a bit. You don't have to jump all the way to $850 B&W's to get great audio from a pair of bookshelves.
1. Apple will sell many of these
2. They probably sound good enough for most users
3. Siri integration may even work BUT
1. is it so hard to play music by using normal hifi gear? Not for me
2. does SIRI work so well for you? Not for me. Example: dictate an email...
3. Does the machine always listen to you? Hey Siri, please do not listen...really?
Let us make HiFi great again
Matt
2. They probably sound good enough for most users
3. Siri integration may even work BUT
1. is it so hard to play music by using normal hifi gear? Not for me
2. does SIRI work so well for you? Not for me. Example: dictate an email...
3. Does the machine always listen to you? Hey Siri, please do not listen...really?
Let us make HiFi great again
Matt
That would seem a good point if all stereo music sounded the same. But why on earth would you think that?
[doublepost=1517156244][/doublepost]
As far as I know you can play anything through it using AirPlay. But only Siri for AM.
Can Alexa and google home dictate emails by voice accurately? That’s pretty cool if they can.
I’m not referring to how low frequencies the sub in the HomePod can go. I’m talking about overall sound quality. Find me a dedicated 2.1 setup for $700 or less, that sounds better than my zeppelin wireless. I’m waiting.
[doublepost=1517157570][/doublepost]
I have an idea. One of my friends who has a full setup of the CM series heard the diamonds at stereo exchange and he was astonished as to how much better it sounded, and the CM series sounds great.
Last edited:
Not sure why you're worrying about that so much. What HiFi has given the exact same five star rating to the Sonos One, Play 1, Play 3, and Play 5 in their own reviews.
But that’s with everything in life. Things get better as time goes by and we know how to make it better. No doubt in the future the HomePod will sound better and have new features that the current model doesn’t have. It’s evolution.
But, but, but you haven't seen it yet... #facepalm
When the hell did we jump to talking about your zeppelin wireless? My original response was to someone asking for a similarly priced setup that would sound better than a pair of HomePods. I've also never heard a zeppelin so I don't know how good they sound in the first place. I visited the webpage for it though and chuckled a bit when they called the 5.9" driver a subwoofer. And for the record, frequency response plays a role in sound quality does it not? If someone's setup can only play from 150 Hz - 8,000 Hz, I'd say sound quality is going to be pretty garbage wouldn't you?
1) They aren’t just portable speakers.
2) Bose is still awful for speakers. The QC series are still massively overpriced. Go to any audio forum where people know audio and see if it’s an outdated assessment.
Let me spoil it for you. Bose is still horrible.
Isn't better to get a good stereo system in the first place?
Lol...true. We agree because I assume you know audio. All audio guys know Bose is overpriced and even objectively poor performing. There are plenty of objective testing data to prove it.
Bose I’d say is similar to Apple in their approach to be appealing to the masses, heavy marketing and easy to set up and use.
However, I think Apple actually makes quality stuff whereas Bose actually makes junk. At least with Apple, you can say the software is your biggest draw. With Bose, it’s not much software and you can actually substitute Bose products with better hardware. For many, there is no substitute for iOS.
Yes, I'm aware that you can use Siri. Maybe its a mental block thing because a. I don't use Siri much, and b. even though you can talk to it at a normal volume from across the room, when even quite loud music is playing, until I've seen that in action it seems one of those things that I won't fully appreciate how well it works until I've used it.
And it may well be stupid for you and your set up, but I wasn't talking about your situation, I was talking about mine.
I currently have an iPod hooked up to a little Sony thing, but its a wired connection. So if we want to select music we have to go over to it and do it. Even without using Siri, it'll be easier using the phone from wherever we are in the room.
And there may be cheaper speaker with Airplay, but will they sound as good as the HomePod? Will they work as well with Apple Music? (I imagine once we've used Siri and seen how well it works, we probably will use it) And will they look as good as the HomePod?
Wow. Why is it that all of these posts about new Apple products are full of divisiveness?
The key takeaway I get is that some folks are audiophiles and others are not and there seems to be a lack of respect for those who are not where there shouldn’t be.
If you spend 79 bucks on a speaker and it makes you happy than do you! All of this mess about how the HomePod is not up to par with Bowers and Wilkins, etc.
It doesn’t have to be up to par with that to sell. It just has to work because that’s what most people want.
I’m going to be getting one because it works for me. However if you want bang and ofuslen or whatever then go buy it.
Anyway seems like no one can ever enjoy anything these days because it’s always about ripping it to shreds and not enjoying the actual product.
Happy Sunday
The key takeaway I get is that some folks are audiophiles and others are not and there seems to be a lack of respect for those who are not where there shouldn’t be.
If you spend 79 bucks on a speaker and it makes you happy than do you! All of this mess about how the HomePod is not up to par with Bowers and Wilkins, etc.
It doesn’t have to be up to par with that to sell. It just has to work because that’s what most people want.
I’m going to be getting one because it works for me. However if you want bang and ofuslen or whatever then go buy it.
Anyway seems like no one can ever enjoy anything these days because it’s always about ripping it to shreds and not enjoying the actual product.
Happy Sunday
Because my wife has no interest in learning to use our home theater system even though it's pretty well setup with just a couple clicks of a remote to get it going. With this she can be the kitchen and say hey Siri play Bruno Mars, and it will start playing with a descent sound. Instead of having to go to the media room to turn everything on, then make sure her phone is synced to the Mac mini for iTunes and home sharing.
Will the HomePod replace my media room music system, no. But I'm not buying it to do that. If I want to spend a couple hours doing some quality listening then yes I will use my real music system. If I just want some good sounding music playing while I'm cooking or doing other things around the house then the HomePod will be the music source I will use
No imagining necessary. If you are using a HomePod and you want to use Siri to control it you have no choice but to use Apple Music.
One of the reviewers made the point that the Google Home Max sounded surprisingly muffled ;-) It was Tom's hardware or T3.
I referenced the zeppelin wireless because it’s $700. You’re claiming a 2.1 setup will sound better and be cheaper than $700 or 2 HomePods. So find me a 2.1 setup that sounds better and is cheaper than the zeppelin wireless, same price as 2 HomePods.
You “chuckled a bit” because they called their 5.9 driver a woofer yet you have no idea how great the system sounds. Well it’s a 6” woofer and the frequency range isn’t from 150Hz to 8000Hz. So why would you make up numbers that you say sound would be “pretty garbage” and place it in the same discussion as the zeppelin wireless when it’s totally irrelevant? You’re trying to dis B&W when you don’t know what the zeppelin wireless is. Just stop.
It isn’t called the best sounding or one of the best sounding wireless music systems for no reason. In reality you’d be hard pressed to find a 2.1 system that sounds better and costs less than $700.
And purchased iTunes music, and Beats 1, and podcasts, and news.
See https://www.imore.com/how-homepod-w...h-icloud-music-library-airplay-and-flac-files
Yeah. It seems that way. Maybe it’ll change in the future. After all, you’re paying for iTunes Match.