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Not going to lie. They do look nice.

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I have been tempted to get one, but never really pulled the trigger. But I happen to have a BestBuy reward, and I just had to have the Orange one.

So I broke down and ordering the Orange one from BestBuy.
 
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Such a shame this could not be a stretchy cover, so you could take the cover off and replace it with a new one, without having to scrap the entire unit.
Positive it could have been engineered to be a removable cover.
 
it may look that way in the pic, but im pretty sure the tops are color matched :: double checked - there is color, its just super subtle, the buttons are a deeper color though
You say it's super subtle. So you prove my point. It's not colour matched. If you squint your eyes the monochrome ones become blurry balls of one shade of black or white whereas the other ones in "colour" clearly look like overdimensional olives with a whitish filling in the middle. If Apple can make a space grey Homepod with a black top, why is the one in orange not designed by the same "logic"?

I mean the base is colour matched. The cable is tinted, but the top is basically white with a very very subtle shade of something.
 
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It's obviously a matter of taste. To me they either look like Candle holders or overdimensional, strange Olives with a filling. Didn't have that mental image with the monochrome Minis.
 

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kill the larger, better sounding one for...smaller ones with color. apple catering to holiday sales over sound and music quality on display loud and clear.
I think the original homepod cost too much to manufacture and after they lowered the price on it due to poor sales it was not in their interest to create a true successor. The homepod mini I've heard has almost no bass and they really don't sound much better than a $50 alexa or google speaker.
 
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kill the larger, better sounding one for...smaller ones with color. apple catering to holiday sales over sound and music quality on display loud and clear.
I'd be interested to see the sales figures for the original HomePod and how the Mini is faring. Much as I love the original HomePod, it appeared over-priced in the smart speaker market and its lack of any traditional input limited its chances in the more traditional market.

I think the Mini sounds pretty good for its size, especially as a stereo pair.
 
I have Sonos. It's spectacular, thoroughly "open" (including Airplay too) and they are entirely focused on audio products and audio experiences.

Want HomePods to do things they were not designed to do (like be full surround sound system speakers)? Sonos actually HAS full surround sound setups. The real thing- not hacks.

IMO- Sonos is to sound products what Apple is to computing products.

If I was moving into a bigger house- and my internal debate was Homepods vs. Sonos- I'd go with Sonos. Homepods are much narrower use than Sonos and much more "walled garden" than Sonos. Some of the biggest gripes with Homepods don't apply to Sonos. They don't seem to be as focused on "lock in."

Of course, you can also mix & match. Homepods have their uses. It's easy to Airplay to BOTH.
Sonos is crazy expensive though, $2100 vs $500 for 2 homepods. I had the full setup. Arc, Sonos One's and sub. I'm not a crazy audiophile though. While I don't have the awesome sounding sonos, I have the perfect for me sound and a mortgage payment.
 
I'd be interested to see the sales figures for the original HomePod and how the Mini is faring. Much as I love the original HomePod, it appeared over-priced in the smart speaker market and its lack of any traditional input limited its chances in the more traditional market.

I think the Mini sounds pretty good for its size, especially as a stereo pair.
Stereo pair is totally required to be used for TV speakers. Bedrooms have 1 mini. I have stereo pair in the home gym too.
 
Sonos is crazy expensive though, $2100 vs $500 for 2 homepods. I had the full setup. Arc, Sonos One's and sub. I'm not a crazy audiophile though. While I don't have the awesome sounding sonos, I have the perfect for me sound and a mortgage payment.
I now have the Sonos quality on my HomePod thanks to the latest update.
 
I really wish Apple would release a higher audio quality speaker in their home speaker lineup (ala the original Homepod). I have two original Homepod's and one mini. The mini sounds OK, but it's really nothing impressive. The Homepod's on the other hand...very good Sonos competitors. I'm moving into a bigger house and am torn between adding additional Homepod Minis with their OK sound or having to go with Sonos.

Kinda bummed Apple discontinued them. They go for a pretty penny on eBay. A new one will set you back over $500+.
 
I will just my 2 cents on this product right here:

If they freakin included a simple AUX in jack, like all OTHER speakers on the market, I would've jumped on this in a heartbeat.

I purchased a pair to test them out and then returned them during the 14-day return window.

The good:
  • the sound is just impeccable
  • the size makes it possible to place almost anywhere which makes the device placement flexible.
The bad:
  • they are just so limited because they rely heavily on Bluetooth audio.
  • They don't work well at all when they are paired with a Mac and the delay is just soooo bad when you are watching video, especially when you are scrubbing through the timeline, makes it impossible to recommend or use on a daily basis.
Apple has been on a trend lately to course-correct most of their products - Mac Pro and MacBook Pros as the most recent examples. I hope they do the same thing with the HomePods, as I would love to use these as what they are meant to be used as - speakers, whether it be tied to a computer or not. I would like to have the flexibility of choosing how to use these HomePod Minis and at the moment, I can't purchase them. They just don't work as advertised...

All it would take is to include a simple AUX in jack....c'mon Apple! Do the right thing! Include an AUX in jack in the next revision. The latest MacBook Pros seemingly have a better DAC, so connecting the HomePod Minis through the MacBook Pro's headphone jack seems like a no brainer!
Airplay has now been fixed and there is no delay. I use mine with my Apple TV and it’s paid perfectly. Even when scrubbing or scrolling around on the main menu screen. Putting in an AUX cord is pointless. The whole idea is to ask Siri to play a song and it does it. That’s it. Keep it simple. That is pretty much the whole poking of them to supports Apple Music and people playing more songs more often. How ever I’m sure there is a way to input audio to your Mac then stream to your HomePod if your really needed to… apple devices are design to literally be cable less, or have one cable.
 
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