New HomePod Reviews Offer Hands-On Look at Sound Quality, Siri, and More

[svish]

Good to have the HomePod back in Apple’s lineup.

 

[peneaux]

Consider all these reviewers paid actors.

You can't trust them. The new HomePod has less tweeters, slower processor, less mics, slower wifi.

And they want to convince us it sounds better. Yeah, right.

 

[DaPhox]

I'd argue that the Sonos Five is a much better sounding and louder (and more expensive) smart speaker. Siri is definitely not a selling point in my mind!

Sonos makes horrible horrible speakers though…

 

[roguegeek]

What a complete waste of effort. Instead of improving the atrocious Siri and HomeKit, they instead built a device whose success hinges on an actual good digital assistant and home automation support. Apple needs to get their priorities straight. The good news is we all know this thing will be discontinued in 18 months.

 

[unobtainium]

Glad to see the reviews are positive around the sound. This will no doubt outrage anyone saying it was going to be inferior due to fewer drivers over the previous generation. Apple's acoustic division have been consistently improving sound quality in products for several years now, just look at how far the MacBooks have come alone.

I won't be upgrading my first-gen stereo pair though, they do a great job already.

Not really… In depth comparisons suggest the OGs sound quite a bit better.

 

[unobtainium]

The thing that’s bugging me the most, the biggest issue I have…

Is people comparing the price. “It’s only $50 cheaper!” No. It’s not. Go do some math and calculate inflation compared to 2018.

You’ll find it’s much more than $50 cheaper than the previous model.

Lol what? You shouldn’t be basing buying decisions around the expectation of inflation. That psychology is exactly what causes runaway inflation.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

People in this thread and elsewhere on MR who say they aren't going to get the new HomePod based on what some YouTuber's subjective opinion is, is really doing a disservice to objective critical thinking rooted in personal responsibility. Many of you couldn't care less if someone didn't like your car, house, job, or hobby you engage in; and yet, many of you are willing to be led by the tech nose by total strangers, without trying the product for yourselves as you make declarative blind judgments and posts to others. Some of you need to do some serious thinking about your decision making process.

I’m not going to spend £299 on something that doesn’t let you set Amazon Music or Spotify as a default and uses Siri which I know is awful on my other Apple devices. It’s a lot of money to just ‘try’ something which has flaws from the off. The fact is for many people a cheap Amazon echo or Google speaker are good enough and have the flexibility the HomePod has deliberately snubbed. So yeah, I will listen to tech reviewers that criticise the lack of features I require.

 

[TimFL1]

Hopefully when MATTER comes out this will fix the no siri issue.

Matter has nothing to do with home assistants. Apple wont open up Siri to be used on non-Apple devices other than the 3rd party relay feature they already released (where HomeKit devices can interface with Siri and relay commands to a HomePod).

Both should have Wi-Fi 6 (E not necessary) for improved latency and increased power efficiency. And, since most people will keep speakers around for many years, it would be nice for a 2023 product to come with networking that doesn’t hail from 2009.

What does a HomePod need Wi-Fi 6 for? The most it does is stream lossless, which works perfectly fine with the current Wi-Fi 4 setup.

It‘s not happening for as long as they recycle old Watch chips with Wi-Fi 4 included.

 

[cloneofsnake]

If AAPL got their heads out of their asses and created a 5.1 or 7.1 scheme with HP Mini's then look out. I find the HPs to be much more palatable than any sound bar with wireless sub & satellites

I've been eyeing the Sony HT-A9. If Apple adds 4 Homepods Dolby Atmos they'll still be cheaper than the Sony!

 

[TwoBytes]

Really wish apple made a portable HomePod with a rechargeable battery to take into different rooms or the garden, beach, etc. There are 3rd party battery packs but it just adds to the cost.

You know what I bought just for this to this in the travel case for those occasions or for a long bath with lavender bubbles and candles and ice cream? A £50 JBL with a battery so I can listen to Apple Podcasts. Perfect aside there is no Siri for when you’re doing the dishes.

 

[The Game 161]

Consider all these reviewers paid actors.

You can't trust them. The new HomePod has less tweeters, slower processor, less mics, slower wifi.

And they want to convince us it sounds better. Yeah, right.

but we should believe people who hate apple and say it's worse?

 

[peneaux]

but we should believe people who hate apple and say it's worse?

I mentioned 4 hardware downgrades. You don't have to be bright to understand.

It takes more brains to understand how YouTubers work behind the scenes.

 

[phrehdd]

Has anyone verified what the WiFi spec is? It seems to some it is 802.11n and on the Apple site, it says simply 802.11 with no n or ac or ax. If this is WiFi 4 (n), this is a deal breaker. Many people are moving to Wifi 6 and beyond.

 

[tomtad]

Really wish apple made a portable HomePod with a rechargeable battery to take into different rooms or the garden

This. A PartyPod if you will

 

[The Game 161]

I mentioned 4 hardware downgrades. You don't have to be bright to understand.

It takes more brains to understand how YouTubers work behind the scenes.

Again you are assuming and questioning people’s character even though you have no clue what they sound like. Chances are the sound will be the same. I certainly don’t expect it to be worse. You wouldn’t release a product and have it sounding worse just to make it cheaper by $50

 

[Gator5000e]

I've been eyeing the Sony HT-A9. If Apple adds 4 Homepods Dolby Atmos they'll still be cheaper than the Sony!

I’m curious about those as well. Seems as if Sony has mostly solved the dropout issues. Only question is to use a Sony TV as a center speaker or use the virtual center speaker set up. Tempted to audition a set just for the full Atmos effect in my condo.

 

[I7guy]

Has anyone verified what the WiFi spec is? It seems to some it is 802.11n and on the Apple site, it says simply 802.11 with no n or ac or ax. If this is WiFi 4 (n), this is a deal breaker. Many people are moving to Wifi 6 and beyond.

Doesn’t WiFi 6 support all the standards that came before it? What’s the issue?

 

[Mercifull]

Why would you want a speaker that doesn't sound good. It is it's core functionality..Just like a phone is ...gasp....making calls.

You can be "good enough" without being the best.

 

[Mercifull]

So get a HomePod mini.

Also not cheap. Infact they just put the prices for them UP

 

[Burger Thing]

Hardly. Apple's satellite SOS has a lot of flaws, starting with the iPhone itself. No serious outdoors person would rely on an iPhone for SOS given how the batteries fail in cold weather and at higher altitudes. In over 10 years of regular use my SPOT has never failed me. My iPhone, on the other hand, dies all the time when it gets too cold or when I'm at a higher altitude.

My annual SPOT service also included global evac and medical insurance. SPOT (and Garmin) also let you share your location with friends and family so they can see where you are on your trip. In tracking mode, with location updates being sent every 10 minutes, the (replaceable) AAA batteries in my SPOT last a month or more. Good luck getting a day out of an iPhone if you're recording a GPS track.

As for the fanboys, there's a small percentage (I wouldn't say tens of millions) of customers who won't even consider other brands or products. As soon as Apple releases a product, they act like it's something revolutionary and amazing. HomePod is a perfect example. So is the satellite SOS feature. I'm not saying these products and features are bad, but there are much better options and those options have existed for years. So yes, HomePod is for the fanboys, not for anyone who is serious about home audio.


Do you provide a citation for every opinion you post? Get over yourself.

I just came back from skiing in Austria. We were skiing at a relive high altitude (close to 8000 ft) and temperatures were around -10 deg to -15 deg C. My iPhone 13 Pro Max worked flawlessly while I as taking pics and shooting videos. At the end of the day I was always around 30 - 40 % battery capacy. Good enough for me and most likely the average consumer, I suppose.

I had to revert to the iphone as the GoPro I brought along was useless (cold temperatures took a toll on the batteries).

 

[mjs916]

All of these youtube thumbnails make not want to click on any of them... So cringe.

I was thinking exactly that! Scrolled back up to give them a second look even, then saw your comment on the way back down. They are horrible 🤣

 

[mjs916]

So a failed product returns five years later with no real changes, the same price point, and similar acoustics, and Apple expects it to sell now?

Are you familiar with the concept of a halo car? Think Dodge Viper, Ford GT and Acura NSX. My theory is perhaps the big HomePod morphed into a halo car and this is a less costly (for them) version of that. Hence the refined design using less parts and older WiFi.

People actually did buy those cars but usually just professionals or wealthy enthusiasts, but their main purpose was to get lay-folk into the showroom to pick up one of their cheaper models: Dodge Stratus GT, Ford Mustang, Acura Integra… HomePod Mini.

With less cost to produce the big HomePod will make money when it’s sold but also puts the HomePod mini into a new perspective.

 

[nrose101]

You can be "good enough" without being the best.

Not something I aspire to. Need the best

 

[Mercifull]

Not something I aspire to. Need the best

And that's fine to have that view. Audiophiles have always been able to buy gold-plated braided shielded speaker cables, for example, at sometimes hundreds of dollars each. The fact that they perform just as well as coathangers is irrelevant to them. Likewise with physical speaker design. In the vast majority of cases the difference between "the best" and "good" is negligible and certainly, the average person could not tell.

The apple homepod and homepod mini should give you options for audio quality in the same way the iPhone and iPhone pro have different imaging sensors. A homepod pro, for example, at the £299 price point with a regular homepod at £199. A homepod mini pro at £89 and a regular mini for £59.

 

[Uofmtiger]

I love our OG HomePod and want a pair but the question is do I buy two new second generation devices and move the OG HomePod to another room or do I get on eBay and grab a lightly used OG for around $220 including shipping? I can see Apple no longer putting out software updates for the OG HomePod soon if they ever put one out again after the most recent update and if that happens in the next year I’d rather just grab two new units that’ll be supported for years to come then to have just dropped $220 or so on a discontinued device that isn’t getting updates.

I guess it depends on your use case and whether there is something meaningful in the firmware update you might not get down the road. I just sent one of my HomePods in to hopefully get fixed, so I can live with it in its current configuration for a long time. If they do come up with some wiz bang feature that I must have... hard to think about what that might be that would change my use case, I will just put these in other rooms. Maybe in my bedroom as a stereo pair… thankfully this thing doesn’t have a battery, so harder for Apple to manipulate its current usefulness.