As in behind the listener? That would be horrendous.
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Two HomePods are NOT a Soundbar
- Thread starter AustinIllini
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As in behind the listener? That would be horrendous.
Right. It doesn't take an audiophile to realize that doesn't work in the slightest.
I get it that some don't want a surround setup, what I don't get it that some are comparing it with one and pretending it is the same or similar. It just isn't. The whole point of the (and mine) HomePod is that a single speaker provides a full sound. And it is great at that, it really is.
But even Apple have stated that once the software is updated and you can link them together that it isn't like a stereo pair. Audio Visual speakers require steering and precise positioning of sound. The HomePod simply doesn't do that. That doesn't mean it is bad, don't get me wrong, but surround sound it just isn't.
It would be great surprise if Apple updates it then when you can link them that there is proper left/right steering effects, but until such time it is no better than a better experience for the inbuilt speakers.
In my opinion and experience.
But even Apple have stated that once the software is updated and you can link them together that it isn't like a stereo pair. Audio Visual speakers require steering and precise positioning of sound. The HomePod simply doesn't do that. That doesn't mean it is bad, don't get me wrong, but surround sound it just isn't.
It would be great surprise if Apple updates it then when you can link them that there is proper left/right steering effects, but until such time it is no better than a better experience for the inbuilt speakers.
In my opinion and experience.
Actually the burden of proof is on you. You can't make a claim and expect others to disprove it. Its on you to support your claim with evidence. Seen as Apple has not commented on this, there is no evidence. Also lack of evidence does not prove something is true. This is exactly the same BS argument that religious fundamentalists use. Maybe you want it to be true that the HP can't be used for watching movies, etc. But until Apple come out and claim you shouldn't use the HP for movies. etc, then its just your subjective opinion.
Also how is it a bad experience for an outrageous price? I doubt everyone here using it for movies bought it only with that specific purpose in mind. Most will probably use the HP for a combination of Music, Siri, and HomeKit. ATV media will just a bonus on top of what you already bought the HP for. So really if you buy a HP for music, Siri and HomeKit, why not use it for one more activity like movies? If anything buying a surround system on top of the HP is going to cost you more again. So if anything, for the average person, thats going to be more of an outrageous price than just using the HP for all tasks.
Now I am not claiming that the HP is better than a good true home cinema sound system. That is obviously not the case. But most people who are going to use it probably realise that. I don't see people arguing that its going to the equivalent of a 7.1 Dolby Atmos system. Its exactly the same that no one is going to buy a soundbar and expect true surround sound or a PS4 Pro and expect native 4K games. People are just considering using the HP instead of a soundbar and having just one device for audio instead of having to use two.
To many people having two devices is a "complete waste" when you can save money and just have one. To you it may be a "subpar experience". But to many it will be completely fine. This is just once again your subjective opinion which you seem to want/need others to except.
I'm waiting for the Apple soundbar setup with two HomePod's behind for surround with Atmos support. It's only a matter of time IMO. It's just Apple's for the taking and they have shown they have the talent to pull it off.
It would be a premium setup but I'm sure it would compare to systems multiple times more expensive while being far easier to use/setup. The 360 nature of the HP's and the microphone array would be awesome for surround sound and from my (relatively low amount) of dolby atmos understanding, should work great for it, not to mention it would be a killer audio setup for music with the 3 working together. Throw in a wireless sub and you'd have it all.
It would be a premium setup but I'm sure it would compare to systems multiple times more expensive while being far easier to use/setup. The 360 nature of the HP's and the microphone array would be awesome for surround sound and from my (relatively low amount) of dolby atmos understanding, should work great for it, not to mention it would be a killer audio setup for music with the 3 working together. Throw in a wireless sub and you'd have it all.
I think most people excited to try out pairing two of these things together aren't looking to replace an existing soundbar setup, but rather have an additional setup in a room that otherwise would just be making do with the TV speakers due to size.
For example, I have an excellent stereo in my living room. It gets much louder than even two HomePods would be capable of, and is pretty ideal for movies and TV shows.
In my bedroom however, I don't need or want a stereo that large. I do have a single HomePod in there though. It works great with my Apple TV. But if I could pick up a 2nd one (that's primary function is for another room) and occasionally pair it with my main one for a decent home theater experience in my bedroom, all the better.
This isn't a zero sum game. People who have interest in two HomePods could have a variety of uses for them. Home theater use is just one of many use cases.
For example, I have an excellent stereo in my living room. It gets much louder than even two HomePods would be capable of, and is pretty ideal for movies and TV shows.
In my bedroom however, I don't need or want a stereo that large. I do have a single HomePod in there though. It works great with my Apple TV. But if I could pick up a 2nd one (that's primary function is for another room) and occasionally pair it with my main one for a decent home theater experience in my bedroom, all the better.
This isn't a zero sum game. People who have interest in two HomePods could have a variety of uses for them. Home theater use is just one of many use cases.
Atmos requires sound to be reflected off of the ceiling from properly designed speakers or ideally in-ceiling speakers. The woofer in the HomePod isn't angled correctly. Atmos speakers generally look something like this.
http://www.klipsch.com/products/elevation-speakers?model=rp-140sa
The woofer in the HomePod also only plays up to somewhere between 200 Hz and 500 Hz. Coincidentally, low frequencies are the most poorly reflected, preferring to go through surfaces rather than bouncing off of them. Of course the drivers playing the higher frequencies all face outward toward walls, rather than toward the ceiling.
That's your un-backed-up opinion whilst comparing apples to... oranges.
DO your options work with Apple Music? Do they intelligently configure themselves for a room? Do they act as a home automation hub? Etc.
You may not care about those things. Good for you. Buy something else.
My primary concern would be audio delay, or unsynched video to audio.
With music, who cares if it has a second or half-second delay? Doesn't matter. With video, I want the audio track to be aligned with the video track perfectly. Even a microsecond delay is noticeable. This is why wireless speakers never work well for home theater. Even the Vizio kit only relies on wireless for the rears, which is arguably less important to have synced perfectly.
With music, who cares if it has a second or half-second delay? Doesn't matter. With video, I want the audio track to be aligned with the video track perfectly. Even a microsecond delay is noticeable. This is why wireless speakers never work well for home theater. Even the Vizio kit only relies on wireless for the rears, which is arguably less important to have synced perfectly.
An ATV with a home theater receiver would be able to do all of those things.
Maybe a “HomePod Plus” will be able to reflect height sounds off the ceiling, the same way HomePod is supposed to reflect ambient sounds
off the [side?, back?] wall[s?] (if this correct that it does).
You're giving them too much credit. Two homepods and an ATV cannot do what a home theater can.
I meant only that a receiver and ATV can do the three things that were listed.
I'm not sure how people still don't understand that a HomePod is not a substitute for a home theater system.
No sorry that is not a decent home theatre experience, it is merely somewhat improved sound to built in speakers of a TV. Come on due, there isn't even and there will not be as categorically stated by Apple true stereo sound. As such there is no left or right channel (or any channel to be honest), therefore how on earth can say a vehicle appearing from the left and exiting on the right be supported by audio on two HomePods.
I love my HomePod but let's keep it real;
Improved sound to a TV pair of inbuilt speaker - Yes likely, but if you get to OLED territory I then doubt it (for audio/visual duties)
A decent home theatre experience - No not even close, not without a capability for exact placement of sound objects i.e. the polar opposite of what the HomePod is good at.
I don't understand this. Its like if people keep seeing something different to what is actually being said. Where did he even say the HP was a "decent home theatre experience"? Its for a bedroom and not even the main living room. Maybe the bedroom isn't a viable size or isn't suitable for a full home cinema system. Also two HP's are probably an improvement over any tv speakers, including an OLED. For a start the bass is nearly certainly better than any tv. Some OLED tv's do come with built in soundbars. But thats not really a normal tv speaker then.
It also needs to be clarified what people mean by a home theatre system/experience. Everyone means something different. Many here are talking about soundbars. But if you go over to a true AV forum many wouldn't even class a soundbar as a home theatre system. In other words: everyone has different levels of what is acceptable and what is a good experience. Also people have different uses and different set ups that can change the use of a tv. This is why some people buy a 55" tv, when others buy a 40" tv. I don't see why people cant just be aloud to enjoy what they want to enjoy for audio.
Speaking as an OLED owner, the internal speakers suck balls. There's no way you're getting awesome sounding speakers into that thin a frame. Even with ones that use the screen as a flat panel speaker.
I totally agree that anyone should be able to listen to what they want on whatever they want without people telling them they're doing it wrong.
That's the same kind of audio snobbery that's plagued HiFi and Home Cinema for years.
Do I want to listen on a nice Arcam setup with Monitor Audio Floor-standers (because that's my favourite combo)? yes.
Does it matter if someone else prefers Cyrus and B&W or just a little Bose box? No, they can suit themselves.
Who really gives a rats back-end what people listen on, so long as they're happy with what they are hearing. They aren't asking any of us to listen to it.
......... I may be a bit grumpy this morning
I think the reason for this is because it doesn’t make for a great experience compared to other solutions. On Reddit, I have read some people claiming that when stereo pairing is released, they will be replacing their soundbar or simple stereo setup with two HomePods AirPlayed from Apple TV. Why would anyone do this? Most of us are Apple users because of the user experience. This isn’t an ideal user experience. One, the setup will only work with Apple TV so if you also have PlayStation or other devices you won’t be getting sound. Second, you will need to re-pair the speakers with your Apple TV, if you play music through the HomePods or AirPlay from other devices.
For the same price of two HomePods, my Sonos Playbar offers a far superior experience. I get audio from all devices connected to the TV and I get Dolby Digital. The best part is that if I have been listening to music and I turn on the TV, the Playbar will automatically change the source to TV. It’s a great experience and I never have to think about it because it just works. I don’t expect everyone to go get a Playbar so I hope Apple releases a soundbar HomePod variation with proper audio inputs from the TV as this will make for a far better experience.
Just regarding your last comment, if anyone does plan on using their HomePod for Apple TV audio, please put it in front and not behind you. Using a HomePod will likely improve the Apple TV audio, but unfortunately, it won’t give you any sort of theatre experience as it won’t support any cinema codecs such as Dolby or DTS which are designed to scale the home theatre experience for the home.
I don't think that would be possible, like at all. wireless subwoofers only work with the product it's designed for, such as the sonos one, and there's no way it would work with airplay 2. That's the only way this would work.
The biggest issue is the fact that this will only work with the Apple TV. It won't work with other sources connected to your TV, and I don't think the Apple TV has the capability to ARC it over.
Also, it's not going to do surround sound. While Apple could update the stereo feature to work as two discrete audio sources, it's highly unlikely they will allow it to work as surround speakers. If you got two more homepods to sit either side of you, they would play the same sounds as the front speakers would. And as pointed out, you need a centre channel otherwise the dialogue would just sound weird as it's coming from either side of your TV instead of underneath, and again I dbout it would ever get support to be used as a 5.1 channel setup if you got a third to sit under the TV (at that point you're wasting your money anyway)
I would love to replace my home theatre setup with a homepod, but it's just not designed for that. You could use a single one perhaps under your TV and it would still sound great and better than the built in TV speakers, but any more than that and it's unlikely to work the way you hope.
Here we go - my wish-list for Apple h/w and s/w roadmap for Home stuff:-
- Apple TV 5 - optical in, up to Dolby Atmos/5.1/7.1 capable
- HomePod/Airplay 2(3?) supporting 5.1/7.1 for FR/FL/C - maybe the C could be beam formed?
- HomePod Sub
- HomePod Mini - for Atmos and/or RR/RL
- HomePod in HomeKit scenes - "play playlist x/scary dog barking if motion sensor triggered" "play sonf=g y at 07:00 every morning" "play jazz and set the lights at dinner time" and so on
- HomePod voice recognition (enabling multiple accounts)
A Ford 450 could tow my jetski too.
Not many people have the desire to have a full blown HT or the desire to run wires for speakers or power.
My Klipsch RB-7s, RS-7s and RC-7 give way to the bose soundbar and now the HomePod.
well over 95% of the time I do not need the HT experience. 4% of the time I am too lazy to configure the HT and the remaining 1% of the time I run the HT.
Sure the numbers a tad skewed but I am sure you get the gist of what I am saying.
The homepod and other bluetooth speakers provide adequate sound, relatively low cost, small footprints and can be easily moved and transported.
I think the majority of wish list items will never see the light of day, partly because most mainstream consumers don't need optical in , dolby atmos/5.1 etc etc. The same with aiplay 2(3?).
I don't know if we'll be seeing hompod components roll out of apple anytime soon, but rather we'll see refinement of the homepod, just like the apple watch. We've seen refinements on that.
Agreed, but a man can dream
TBH I think of my wish-list I think these two will happen via s/w upgrades:-
- HomePod in HomeKit scenes - "play playlist x/scary dog barking if motion sensor triggered" "play song y at 07:00 every morning" "play jazz and set the lights at dinner time" and so on
- HomePod voice recognition (enabling multiple accounts)
- User-defined HomePod EQ