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HomePod Why did you choose HomePod?

nrvna76

nrvna76

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 4, 2010
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For those of you who did purchase a HomePod, why did you do so over say a google home max? I am considering an upgrade to our tiny echo dot. Trying to do my due diligence and seeing a lot of negative reviews about Siri in the HomePod. Seems the sound on both is comparable.

My wife and I only have iPhones, Apple watches, and Apple TV’s, wife has a PC for her photography business and I don’t use a computer. We do use google for mail, calendars, and photos. Not sure which would return the best investment in our home.
 
nrvna76 said:
For those of you who did purchase a HomePod, why did you do so over say a google home max? I am considering an upgrade to our tiny echo dot. Trying to do my due diligence and seeing a lot of negative reviews about Siri in the HomePod. Seems the sound on both is comparable.

My wife and I only have iPhones, Apple watches, and Apple TV’s, wife has a PC for her photography business and I don’t use a computer. We do use google for mail, calendars, and photos. Not sure which would return the best investment in our home.
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My story goes all the way back to the original Echo. Amazon offered it for half price to Prime members and I ordered one, but then the stories about what Amazon was going to do with all the listening info came out and I canceled. Even less trust of Google on privacy issues. I do trust Apple, although some think that is nieve. Waited all those years for Apple to compete.

First Home Pod delivered on first day. Sound was amazing with one, but I missed stereo and the HP got pushed around in my place. Then a few weeks before the first stereo upgrade came out, Micro Center put them on sale for $299 and I grabbed two more. Two sounded even better, even w/o the stereo. Now very happy with iOS devices pushing stereo, but be aware that stereo does not work yet on Mac OS, confident it will soon, or in a few months.
 
Siri isn't fantastic but she covers a good set of uses for me. Wasn't too interested in a smart assistant beyond the basics (having never owned one previously) so I may be in the minority there. Siri is very responsive, so you don't have to pause or yell which is very nice, and almost always understands me; I tend to struggle with my friends Assistants or Alexas.

I primarily bought it as a nice speaker (was going to drop ~$300 on competing, decided to give HP a shot) and it did not disappoint on that level. Very happy with the current sound especially after a few tweaks in EQ over software updates. Along side that, the integration with iOS, tvOS and finally AirPlay 2 is phenomenal, better if you use Apple Music.

I am planning getting more AP2 devices and while originally thought two Sonos Ones were a no brainer, am thinking that finding another HomePod from eBay is going to be the route I go (they range around $275 there, so it's very tempting).
 
I don’t trust Google at all with privacy and am starting to be turned off by Amazon. I had been using a few echo devices until the latest news about them and privacy. Seeing as the quality of the market place is steadily dropping and they don’t seem to have a desire to fix it, I can only guess they care little for how our personal data is farmed out...as long as it’s turning profits for them.
My HomePod has been nice, sound quality is great and it’s filling the void in the kitchen with timers and news. I plan to wait and see what they release next before buying more, but thus far I think they’re a great device for what they are. I don’t have any experience with smart home tech and the HomePod but I have hopes it works well, I plan to go the smart home route when we buy our next house.
 
I wanted a good speaker, this house is all Apple (iPhones, iPads, iMacs, MacBooks) and we subscribe to Apple Music. No-brainer really. There are now three HomePods here, controlling the lights as well.
 
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My reasons:
1) Sound - it is hands down the best sounding smart speaker in my opinion (including Sonos)
2) Ease of use - integrates easily with all of my stuff (all Apple)
2.5) Integration - I actually am one of the few people that prefer Apple Music instead of Spotify so that was a no-brainer and I couldnt wait to swtich back once the HomePod came out
3) Design - this is something typically overlooked, but when I saw that white one... I was sold. Now all 4 of my HomePods are white.
4) "Development" - upon release, it was very much bare bones, a lot of features missing. I was ok with that. I know Apple will continuously add updates and build upon it. The speaker already does everything I need it to, so any additions are just extra.
5) Bragging rights - as much as I hate to admit it, the novelty factor had something to do with me placing that first HomePod order online so I can have it on release day. To be fair, I was skeptical and was totally considering trying it out and returning it if I didn't absolutely love it. 4 months and 4 Homepods later, I think it's safe to say - I absolutely love it :)
My only beef - stability. There are times (not often, but it happens) when audio cuts out when airplaying from Apple TV. It kind of fixes itself quickly, but it is annoying. I will give Apple the benefit of the doubt though because that could be a wireless connection issue and I've had some issues with my current ISP (switching to a better provider as of next month, can't wait).
 
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Wanted stereo separation in my kitchen. I had a Sonos Play:5 (2nd Gen), but no room for two. The HomePod has similar bass response, with a smaller footprint. Also, it's $200 less here in Canada for similar sound.

Added bonus, I can ask it to play my Apple Music music.
 
1. Privacy concerns with all other smart speakers.
2. Integration with Apple HomeKit. Additionally,Siri can control 2 Schlage door locks and Philips Hue lighting in all rooms .
3. Apple Music
4. Integration with Apple ecosystem
5. Audio is vastly superior to other speakers
6. Clean Design that will wear well over many years

We started out with 1 and are using sales to add HomePods, and now have 4. Eventually 2 more for complete home coverage. It's just seamless to walk into a room and ask siri turn the lights on or unlock a door with trash bags going out or grocery bags coming in.
 
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As other people have said, first was sound quality. I wasn’t sold on the idea of a smart speaker (and in many ways I’M still not), but to me the HomePod is a great speaker that has some smart functionality, though it’s primarily a speaker. A big other piece is security, I don’t trust Amazon or Google with my privacy, but I do Apple. The wicked design is icing on the cake.
 
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Becasue im heavily invested in the apple ecosystem. I have an iphone, 2 ipads, 2 Apple TVs, a MacBook and an Apple Watch. So the HomePod was a no brainier.

I’ve since bought a google home mini and I’ve been impressed with it ...

Also I’ve not traditionally been a fan of streaming music services as I prefer to buy my own music. However I subscribed to Apple Music when I got the HomePod.

However YouTube Premium has just launched in the UK and for £11.99 I get all the YouTube services like add free, downloading for offline use and background audio but as an added bonus I get google music so now I’m in a bit of a quandary as I don’t want to keep both but YouTube premium makes more sense to me.
 
Sound quality definitely was a draw, then the potential of stereo sound for my Apple TV (still need to buy another one!) - though I will say it does a good job with that on its own when I'm trying to keep it down if my wife is napping on the couch! Integration with the rest of the 'ecosystem' is nice as well - I expect it will become more useful in the future and as more smart home stuff gets added to my collection, as at the moment I only have the 'brains' and none of the tools
 
sound quality

airplay 2

homekit

no on/ off button

zero interest: siri. turned it off.
 
Another and very significant reason, it hears spoken commands so much better than my Amazon Echo. Especially while it's playing music, etc.
 
I wanted it for HomeKit. Mostly for Siri.

Works great and sounds awesome.
 
I'm a bit different from most. I'm hard of hearing, have to wear hearing aids. Have to use closed captions with all of my other speakers, including a 5.1 Sony DVD/Sound system.

Since I'm heavily invested in the Apple Ecosystem, I gave it a try, and I'm glad I did. Absent any extraneous noise (my lousy air conditioner, for example,) I can hear the movies on Netflix and Amazon perfectly.
 
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I can't compare to Google, I did have a house with 5 Sonos units, A first Gen Play:5, Soundbar and three Play:1's unfortunately none of them can be upgraded to Airplay 2 unless I bought a Gen 2 Sonos. I decided to buy a HomePod when they were first released. In my opinion I felt the single HomePod was better than the Play:1's and about the same as a Play:5. I found the HomePod exposed nuances in the music that I listened to, that I just had not heard from Sonos before. I then bought a second HomePod when Apple released Airplay 2 and was very impressed with the 3d soundstage - also two paired home pods are significantly louder than a single HomePod. I actually listen to music a lot more as a result as it so easy to say "Hey Siri play ....". I have now sold all my existing Sonos devices and bought two more HomePods. Could not be happier. Never liked the Sonos App, always felt clunky. I am a subscriber to Apple Music, so HomePod makes sense. If you are a Spotify user you may be better off with Sonos. It you are buying a smart speaker for Music then you should only consider Sonos or HomePod, they are much better than Google or Amazon's offerings.

The HomePod's voice assistant is not as good as Google's or Amazon's, However the HomePod works very well for what I want to use it for - Music, News, Weather, sending messages and reminders. Can even tell you what is on your calendar.
 
James Craner said:
I can't compare to Google, I did have a house with 5 Sonos units, A first Gen Play:5, Soundbar and three Play:1's unfortunately none of them can be upgraded to Airplay 2 unless I bought a Gen 2 Sonos. I decided to buy a HomePod when they were first released. In my opinion I felt the single HomePod was better than the Play:1's and about the same as a Play:5. I found the HomePod exposed nuances in the music that I listened to, that I just had not heard from Sonos before. I then bought a second HomePod when Apple released Airplay 2 and was very impressed with the 3d soundstage - also two paired home pods are significantly louder than a single HomePod. I actually listen to music a lot more as a result as it so easy to say "Hey Siri play ....". I have now sold all my existing Sonos devices and bought two more HomePods. Could not be happier. Never liked the Sonos App, always felt clunky. I am a subscriber to Apple Music, so HomePod makes sense. If you are a Spotify user you may be better off with Sonos. It you are buying a smart speaker for Music then you should only consider Sonos or HomePod, they are much better than Google or Amazon's offerings.

The HomePod's voice assistant is not as good as Google's or Amazon's, However the HomePod works very well for what I want to use it for - Music, News, Weather, sending messages and reminders. Can even tell you what is on your calendar.
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They need to add phone calls and controlling the Apple TV. I would also like it if when you set a reminder it would alert you on the homepod rather than on my phone.

But I think having a home pod is a no brainer for someone like me, especially with airplay 2. I'm not much of an audiophile so not really sure how much I'd benefit from 2 homepods.
 
Shanghaichica said:
But I think having a home pod is a no brainer for someone like me, especially with airplay 2. I'm not much of an audiophile so not really sure how much I'd benefit from 2 homepods.
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From my experience going from one HomePod to two paired HomePods the difference was pretty significant. Soundstage that they create is pretty amazing and much better base response.
[doublepost=1531512399][/doublepost]For the 3 additional units, I bought 'Pre-Loved' units from CEX I went for Grade A units for £255 each. I can't tell the difference between the new unit and the three Homepod's from CEX. basically the money I got from selling the Sonos units I used to buy the additional HomePods.
 
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I would have been all in on Amazon Echo if Prime Music was worth anything. They used to include Prime Music in with Prime but now they have killed it. Only 2 million songs and most play samples and then direct you to Unlimited Music subscription which is just annoying.

I pay 100+ a year for amazon prime and they slowly keep taking things away from it.

So went all in with Apple Instead.
 
I have Dots and will keep them around. The reason I bought a HomePod is;

Apple Music
Airplay 2 (which was a promise that has been delivered)
Sound quality
360 degree audio for where I have it placed
Siri control
Small footprint
 
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