Agreed. I picked up a pair of Play:1's over the weekend for the kitchen and in a stereo pair they are fantastic. For just playing audio, the Sonos app IMO is better than voice control. Building playlists across multiple audio sources is amazing.
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.
Smart Speaker Showdown: HomePod vs. Google Home Max vs. Sonos One
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Did the Q1 results of $88.3B in revenue and $20.1B in profit (13% y/y increases) not tell you Apple invested in the right areas? Educate yourself before sounding so silly.
Sure, it always could be better, but Apple invested heavily in iPhone and services, which is working brilliantly. The ecosystem is becoming huge and services are the second biggest revenue producer now.
Apple ships 3X as many iPhones as they ever did under Jobs, have 1.3 BILLION active devices, have the best mobile silicon, the best selling watch, the best selling wireless wearable, and a subscriber base that is now over 240M paid subscribers, a 58% y/y increase.
Now tell me, what “results” or lack of results are you referencing to support your thesis?
This hasn't been my experience. I put an old 5S back into service for controlling the Sonos system and have been using the volume buttons all the time without turning on the display.
Sonos is still a great option despite what some people here say. That doesn’t mean I won’t replace my Sonos speakers with a couple of HomePods, I probably will within the next couple of years. I just hope by then Siri is as capable as the competition currently is. I saw the HomePod for the first time today at the Apple Store. It looks nice, but I wouldn’t say that it looks drastically better than my Sonos speakers. In the store it was hard to tell how much better it sounds. Like the review above said, they all offer great sound and a few reviews have stated that the Sonos is just about as good or maybe even slightly better. I’m just curious if the next gen (HomePod Series 2) will have a display and maybe better support for other services.
Last edited:
You can change this sitting in your Sonos app. You can control it through the locked screen.
Mono, bookshelf speaker comparisons? Not really for audiophiles.
Good to hear that it sounds better than competitors' cheaper units. Would like to hear it teased against competitors' more expensive units.
You are aware you can use your iOS devices (and I believe a Mac) as a control for the HomePod, so Siri isn’t the only way to interact with it?
Not the most convenient in some circumstances, but it does work well if you want some specific things, or to line up a few songs.
Personally, I have been using both methods, plus airplay, depending on what is most convenient for what I want to do.
With all these comparisons to Alexa/Google Assistant/Cortana these days, I hope Apple revamps Siri in iOS 12, and doesn't just add sports scores or news reading abilities
HomePod already has news and sports scores.
[doublepost=1519201898][/doublepost]
You can do the same thing with HomePod. I start music playing on HomePod with my iPad via Control Center or Mac via iTunes, later refine what’s playing with my iPhone, etc.
HomePod will soon be able to do whole house music.
Sonos integrates with nearly every provider, but not Alexa within the Sonos. Alexa within Sonos only works with Amazon Music, Spotify, and a few other minor players.
HomePod can play every streaming service that has an iOS app via Airplay.
[doublepost=1519202235][/doublepost]
HomePod does work with your iTunes library on your Mac.
Totally agree. I mean the asking an assistant random questions is kinda gimmicky but can be useful. Siri isn’t bad if you learn what it can and can’t do and I only find assistants quicker or more useful when I’m physically multitasking. Personally I wish the voice recognition was a bit better for dictating patient notes, and it had better timer functions. If it could interact properly with non Apple apps, I think it could be the best.
They had a very good critique of Siri in the most recent episode of The Talk Show. Essentially it came down to: Even when you ignore the competition, and focus you know Siri is able to do, Siri is still unreliable and slow.
Sound Quality
Apple's new HomePod is late to the smart speaker market, which is already crowded with speakers from companies like Amazon, Google, and Sonos. The latter two companies, Google and Sonos, have released speakers with high-quality sound and robust voice assistants, giving the HomePod some serious competition.
We decided to pit Apple's $349 HomePod against both the $399 Google Home Max, which comes with Google Assistant, and the $199 Alexa-powered Sonos One to see how the HomePod measures up.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
To compare the three speakers, we focused on design, sound quality, and the overall performance of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.
When it comes to design -- and this is certainly subjective -- we preferred the look of the HomePod with its fabric-wrapped body and small but solid form factor. The Sonos One looks a little more dated with its squarer body and standard speaker mesh, while the Google Home Max has a much larger footprint that's going to take up more space.
All three offer touch-based controls at the top of the device, but the Google Home Max has one design edge - a USB-C port and a 3.5mm audio jack for connecting external music sources. The Sonos One has a single Ethernet port, while the HomePod has no ports.
Apple's HomePod
Though we liked the HomePod's design, Siri, as you might expect, did not perform as well as Alexa on Sonos One or Google Assistant on Google Home Max.
Google Home Max
On questions like "Is Pluto a planet?" or "What's the fastest car?" both Alexa and Google Assistant were able to provide satisfactory answers, while Siri said those weren't questions that could be answered on HomePod.
Siri was not able to sing happy birthday, create a calendar event, or even provide the release date of the HomePod itself, directing users to Apple.com for more information, while the other smart assistants were able to do these things.
Apple execs have said in the past that Siri was not engineered to be Trivial Pursuit, but it would be nice if Siri had a more competitive feature set.
Though only briefly touched on in the video, Siri does, in fact, do well with HomeKit commands and controlling music playback on the HomePod through an accompanying Apple Music subscription.
Sound quality is a controversial topic because there's a heavy amount of personal preference involved when judging these three speakers. We thought the HomePod sounded the best, with the Google Home Max at a close second, followed by the Sonos One.
Sonos One
The Google Home Max gets the loudest, but sound becomes somewhat distorted at the highest volumes, while the Sonos One offers robust sound that's not quite as good at a lower price point. HomePod does have one major benefit: a fantastic microphone that picks up Siri commands even when you're across the room.
All three of these speakers offer great sound, and if you're attempting to pick one based on reviews, make sure to read several. We thought the HomePod sounded best, but other sources, like Consumer Reports and Yahoo's David Pogue found that the Google Home Max and the Sonos One sounded better than the HomePod.
So which speaker is better? The answer to that question depends on the other products you own. If you're an Apple Music subscriber with a HomeKit setup, the HomePod is going to work great. It only works natively with Apple Music, iTunes Match, and iTunes purchases, so if you have a Spotify subscription, for example, support isn't as robust.
For that reason, if you're not locked into Apple's ecosystem already, or if you have Apple devices but subscribe to Spotify, HomePod probably isn't the best choice for you.
Article Link: Smart Speaker Showdown: HomePod vs. Google Home vs. Sonos One
"We thought the HomePod sounded the best"
Can we assume that conclusion is not in any way biased being an Apple product?
The HomePod has been quoted (and quite absurdly so) as having Audiophile like sound quality. BOSE have been releasing excellent products for years on par with the HomePod and they all sound impressive but none have Audiophile like sound quality.
The performance of Siri is comparatively low on the list. Take the Smart side out of the equation as sound quality is should be considered as priority.
I visited the local Apple Store to find out how good the HomePod actually is. Whilst the HomePod is impressive it is no more so than some competitors including the major Bluetooth Speaker manufacturers but thats a whole separate argument.
Where the HomePod falls down is it is tied to the Apple ecosystem. If that were not the case the HomePod would be available to a much wider audience and the consumer would have the ability to make an informed choice.
Last edited:
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
To compare the three speakers, we focused on design, sound quality, and the overall performance of Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant.
When it comes to design -- and this is certainly subjective -- we preferred the look of the HomePod with its fabric-wrapped body and small but solid form factor. The Sonos One looks a little more dated with its squarer body and standard speaker mesh, while the Google Home Max has a much larger footprint that's going to take up more space.
Form the video: "the design of the google speaker is similar to apples home pod in terms of design and footprint."
Lets see: a square and a circle. yeah, there is kind of a resemblance i guess.
Yeah, I usually listen when I'm in the shower or cleaning but definitely don't need a HomePod for that. When partying we just plug in the iPad via Aux to the receiver and let the home theater speakers do the work. The kids have headphones and a bluetooth speaker for the shower.
I wouldn't mind wireless if and when my trusty speakers/receiver kick the bucket but I don't need ANY active listening speakers. Call me old school, but that's a convenience they can keep.
Last edited:
It is just hard to figure out what Apple was thinking with the HomePod. No mic mute button? No ability to connect to my TV? No visual cue that you can see from across the room?
Apple use to nail the details and the HomePod is just a total cluster.
Apple use to nail the details and the HomePod is just a total cluster.
But even What HiFi get this wrong:
“The tweeters fire outwards and are slightly angled upwards, with the intention of not bouncing sound off the surface upon which the HomePod is placed. By avoiding these reflections, Apple can exert greater control over the treble’s behaviour.”
The HomePod tweeters actually fire downwards, using horn enclosures, which have been shown in various teardowns.
But no button to mute it. Also please realize when you do mute it make sure you un mute before leaving the room. Because if your wife mutes it and then leaves the room you might later walk in screaming commands at it unable to figure out what is wrong. No visual cue you can see across the room.
Also do NOT plan to attach to you TV or anything else to leverage. Like how speakers have worked for years. BTW, all are on the Google Home Max plus the better sound. And a much better assistant.
[doublepost=1519217507][/doublepost]
Google Home works with Spotify both free and premium, Pandora, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube and others. Heck you can use Deezer on a Google Home without any problem. The thing is Google does not look to lock you in like Apple and Amazon. Google apps work as well on iOS as they do Android for example. Google Chrome is excellent on Windows.
Google looks to make the best product/services they can and let the chips fall where they will if people will use. Sometimes creating multiple and keep at it until they gain traction. A perfect example is Google Photos they had a bunch of different photo apps and finally nailed it.
But also Google puts a mic mute button on the product and allows you to leverage the Max speaker with your TV and other devices as input.
Last edited:
More than happy with the way my Echo fits into my home. Whilst the bluetooth speakers will almost certainly come back into use once I'm back out in the garden, I can't beat just asking Alexa to play a band or genre, tell her to stop if my phone rings etc. So far it has also proved more effective at answering questions, running my calendar etc.
What makes that scary is that it appears the tester doesn’t even know (or didn’t even research) how the HP analyzes a room and adjusts sound output accordingly. Since the other speakers aren’t using Apple’s algorithms, it seems logical that it doesn’t affect them the same way.From Pogue...
I don’t think that’s it. First, the cloth I used is extremely sheer — you can see right through it. It’s a single ply of very thin fabric.
The “curtain” was a piece of very sheer fabric.
Second, if the cloth affected the sound of the HomePod, wouldn’t it have affected the sound of its rivals in the same way?
Third, I used the same cloth the night before, during the dress rehearsal, when both panelists ranked the HomePod as the winner.
He says you can see right through the barrier to block the listeners vision.
He asks why the barrier didn’t effect the other speakers.
During rehearsals the HP was picked the winner.
The Yahoo finance article is pretty stupid - controversy over the dumbass fabric he used aside, the test was also run with Spotify over AirPlay instead of Apple Music. If you take a few minutes to compare AM and Spotify on the HomePod you’d be able to tell that AM sounds significantly better.
I wouldn’t be surprised if consumer reports did the same thing - and these are the only two high profile articles I’ve seen that compare the HomePod negatively when it comes to audio quality.
I wouldn’t be surprised if consumer reports did the same thing - and these are the only two high profile articles I’ve seen that compare the HomePod negatively when it comes to audio quality.
You're missing something critically important - most people subscribe to Spotify, which works on every smart speaker except the Homepod. Not supporting Spotify on a speaker is like not supporting Netflix on a video streamer. It's breathtakingly stupid.
Or maybe Apple did the math and figured this was what would make them the most money in the long run, or they have different priorities - just because you aren't happy doesn't mean it's "stupid". Apple is poised to overtake Spotify eventually anyway, and this can only help them along.
If their experiment fails they can always add Spotify support later and then all you butthurt people can go out and buy one if you feel so compelled. It's a very safe bet on their part and even requires less work on their end for the initial launch.
[doublepost=1519219634][/doublepost]
https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge has a Harmony plugin that I use regularly. And not everyone has a harmony anyway.
Last edited:
Do they? I don't as I've got Apple Music and Amazon Music, a third streaming service seems a bit of overkill