HomePod's Sound Continues to Receive Top Marks After Listening Demos in New York and London

[tkermit]

The irony is, no matter how good the quality, 99% of people will be pumping mp3's through these which is sub par quality wise anyway. iTunes needs FLAC support!

I'm not entirely sure how it's going to work, but FLAC is listed as supported on HomePod, so maybe it's coming to iTunes?

The great thing about lossless music is that you can convert your files to another format without incurring a quality loss. ALAC is just as good if not better than FLAC and has been supported by iTunes for almost 14 years now, so it's not like users don't already have the option of listening to lossless files in iTunes.

 

[Heineken]

I’m glad MR called these listening demos. I don’t think anyone is doubting the HomePod sounds good. But what problem is it solving?

When you put it like this then nothing does. What is your point exactly?

 

[HiVolt]

The biggest feature is stereo sound? Lol

Steve Jobs will rise from his grave and proclaim: "It took us a little longer, but we did it right".

For those of you who don't recall, he said that about Copy & Paste when it was finally added as a feature to iOS.

 

[ke-iron]

Sure. Two would be great. But $700 plus tax.

My zeppelin wireless costs $700 plus tax, sounds excellent but has AirPlay 1. I wonder how the HomePod sounds compared to this.

 

[vipergts2207]

[doublepost=1517104928][/doublepost]Howzabout just a small $79 one for people who already have a great home sound system but just want to ask Siri the weather, news, turn on the light?

Agreed. Though I feel like a smaller one would probably be $199 at a minimum. I’d also like to see it include a battery since smaller would also mean much more portable as well.

 

[EdT]

The great thing about lossless music is that you can convert your files to another format without incurring a quality loss. ALAC is just as good if not better than FLAC and has been supported by iTunes for almost 14 years now, so it's not like users don't already have the option of listening to lossless files in iTunes.

Which, because that isn’t part of Apple Music, you can’t play through HomePod.

 

[BWhaler]

Interesting that they shut out theverge and wsj. Wonder if Apple is punishing them for some of the tough reviews lately...

 

[luvbug]

According to Tom's Hardware, if it's playing through AirPlay, it's not worth it. If you find that opinion strange, so do I.

Well, Airplay runs over wifi, not BT. When Airplay was developed, BT didn't have the range or bit rate to handle HiFi audio. The Tom's writer must have had a brain fart, since he seems to think all streaming audio to the speakers is over BT, and Apple Music is the only content that is delivered from the wifi connection, via the Internet.

 

[ke-iron]

The irony is, no matter how good the quality, 99% of people will be pumping mp3's through these which is sub par quality wise anyway. iTunes needs FLAC support!

MP3? Audio quality has moved beyond that ages ago. Oh and iTunes does have FLAC support.

 

[dippnerd]

The great thing about lossless music is that you can convert your files to another format without incurring a quality loss. ALAC is just as good if not better than FLAC and has been supported by iTunes for almost 14 years now, so it's not like users don't already have the option of listening to lossless files in iTunes.

Yeah, I can understand wanting an open standard like FLAC, and it's cool that HomePod will at least support it, but ALAC has always been fine for my needs. I'm still not sure how HomePod is supposed to handle FLAC though, I guess we'll see.

 

[ke-iron]

I'm not entirely sure how it's going to work, but FLAC is listed as supported on HomePod, so maybe it's coming to iTunes?

AirPlay remember...

 

[dippnerd]

AirPlay remember...

Sure, but I was thinking the decoding happened locally on the source device before sending over AirPlay, so I don't know why they would explicitly state HomePod supports FLAC. Maybe it's just to ensure folks FLAC is supported in some way at least.

 

[EdT]

And for all the people making their “audiophiles should shut up” here is an evaluation of some of the top streaming services: https://www.stereoadvantage.com/blog/which-streaming-service-offers-the-best-audio-quality/

Spotify AND Apple Music come in last among the major services. Tidal comes in first, with Google a close second. Just because you are either unable to hear the difference or you don’t care doesn’t mean other people can’t tell the difference. Not everyone is an audiophile. But some are and quality is important to them. Apple is touting quality with this product. It doesn’t offer choices, and the ONE service it does offer isn’t the best available. If that doesn’t bother you then you aren’t after the best sound, you are just supporting a brand.

 

[bluespark]

[doublepost=1517104928][/doublepost]Howzabout just a small $79 one for people who already have a great home sound system but just want to ask Siri the weather, news, turn on the light?

I too would be interested in a Siri version of the Echo Dot or the Google Home Mini, although $79 would be far too expensive for that type of product. For now, though, HomePod does some interesting things and, based on early impressions, seems to do them pretty well.

 

[Keirasplace]

And for all the people making their “audiophiles should shut up” here is an evaluation of some of the top streaming services: https://www.stereoadvantage.com/blog/which-streaming-service-offers-the-best-audio-quality/

Spotify AND Apple Music come in last among the major services. Tidal comes in first, with Google a close second. Just because you are either unable to hear the difference or you don’t care doesn’t mean other people can’t tell the difference. Not everyone is an audiophile. But some are and quality is important to them. Apple is touting quality with this product. It doesn’t offer choices, and the ONE service it does offer isn’t the best available. If that doesn’t bother you then you aren’t after the best sound, you are just supporting a brand.

Rigtht... Golden hear crap... My god, please.... Tidal is about to die soon so that will be that.

 

[Heineken]

And for all the people making their “audiophiles should shut up” here is an evaluation of some of the top streaming services: https://www.stereoadvantage.com/blog/which-streaming-service-offers-the-best-audio-quality/

Spotify AND Apple Music come in last among the major services. Tidal comes in first, with Google a close second. Just because you are either unable to hear the difference or you don’t care doesn’t mean other people can’t tell the difference. Not everyone is an audiophile. But some are and quality is important to them. Apple is touting quality with this product. It doesn’t offer choices, and the ONE service it does offer isn’t the best available. If that doesn’t bother you then you aren’t after the best sound, you are just supporting a brand.

I'm after the best sound a small speaker can provide with extra added features such as voice control. Why is it so hard to see the limits within which reasonable people are trying to compare it to similar products. No need to blow things out of proportion and no need to generalise.

 

[viachicago22]

Look I’m sure it sounds good if not exactly amazing and better than it’s competitors. The question I’d like answered which I’m skeptical about is simply: overall, does the HomePod justify it’s price

 

[luvbug]

Look I’m sure it sounds good if not exactly amazing and better than it’s competitors. The question I’d like answered which I’m skeptical about is simply: overall, does the HomePod justify it’s price

Seems to me you'd be the only person that can really answer that.

 

[hick9]

The irony is, no matter how good the quality, 99% of people will be pumping mp3's through these which is sub par quality wise anyway. iTunes needs FLAC support!

Why not use ALAC then?

 

[BlueTide]

Free units often get good reviews. Don't want to cut the hand that feeds you right?
I'll wait for paying users to post some reviews.

Not much better; due to multiple reasons, people who have bought the product aren't the most reliable source for info either. For one, many have a love affair with their purchase and can be prepositioned to neglect flaws, few have good comparisons points, etc... List is long.

 

[EdT]

I'm after the best sound a small speaker can provide with extra added features such as voice control. Why is it so hard to see the limits within which reasonable people are trying to compare it to similar products. No need to blow things out of proportion and no need to generalise.

Because the limitation is artificial. There isn’t any reason Apple couldn’t let users choose what streaming service they want to use, or even just play from one of their devices. Apple TV users were upset at Amazon for years for not making an app compatible with ATV. there wasn’t a technical reason it was just Amazon not wanting to provide a service to a competitor. What’s the difference here, except this time it’s Apple?

 

[legacyb4]

I’m glad MR called these listening demos. I don’t think anyone is doubting the HomePod sounds good. But what problem is it solving?

Easy; lack of a wireless speaker unit that sounds good and has Siri built in until now...
[doublepost=1517109519][/doublepost]

Not much better; due to multiple reasons, people who have bought the product aren't the most reliable source for info either. For one, many have a love affair with their purchase and can be prepositioned to neglect flaws, few have good comparisons points, etc... List is long.

So by eliminating the free unit reviewers and people who have bought them, who's left to provide a review? The haters?

 

[prasand]

Many keep mentioning the lack of Spotify, Alexa, or whatever app, but it’s a bit blind. Considering Apple asked developers to make sure that their SiriKit implementations were compatible with HomePod months ago.

Spotify via AirPlay is irrelevant. Spotify via SiriKit will probably occur. So the complaints are null and void. It’s up to Spotify to allow its app to utilize Homepod’s SiriKit, which if I’m not mistaken they already do via iOS and WatchOS (I don’t know as I’m an Apple Music user). But if people want to complain about the lack of Spotify or you name it integration with HomePod, then complain to the app developers, Apple already gave them the tools and told them to be prepared.

 

[falainber]

Well this will quiet the complaints from the self-appointed 'audiophiles'.

/s

Why? Notice how non of the hifi mmagazines were invited to review. Do you know why?

 

[Cartaphilus]

Can’t you stream Spotify onto the HomePod?

According to the reviews I read, the answer is “yes”, but you’d need to use AirPlay. A little bit less convenient that playing Spotify on the Alexa devices.
[doublepost=1517110043][/doublepost]

Here we go again, another round of journalists who wouldn’t dare taint the good name of Apple in order to secure future invitations and therefore advertising dollars. In this 21st century, do we really need to listen to bunch of paid media outlets tell us it’s good, or can we wait until real people start giving real reviews.

For me personally, I will not be getting a HomePod. It’s not because I don’t appreciate a good quality speaker, but that Siri is a joke when it compared to Alexa and Google. I’ve never used a Windows PC, but I bet that Microsoft girl, umm, Cortana?, is better than Siri. Apple needs to fix Miss Cannotunderstandhalfofwhatyousaid.

Your problem is just that Siri doesn’t understand redneck.