Don’t make the mistake of comparing HomePod to rival smart speakers and lamenting its $349 price tag. There are good reasons why the device costs more than three times as much as an Amazon Echo — and yet is still an absolute steal.
Apple is keen to point out that HomePod is an awesome music experience first and foremost. It has Siri baked in, and you can use it for many of the smart things you might do with Alexa, but the primary reason to buy a HomePod is for stellar sound.
HomePod packs top tech
The technology packed into HomePod is what makes it so special — and unlike anything else in its price range. Its seven tweeters, six microphones, and a high-excursion woofer come together to deliver high-fidelity sound that’s tailored to your room.
“HomePod has a unique array of seven beamforming tweeters,” Apple explains. “Each with its own amplifier and transducer. And each custom designed with a precision acoustic horn that focuses sound for tremendous directional control.”
This creates “an all-encompassing sense of space — and consistent, high-fidelity audio everywhere in the room.”
Audiophiles have been discussing this technology on Reddit. They’re blown away by what Apple has achieved, and they point out that for a similar audio experience, you’d have to pay in excess of $85,000. You can’t get this kind of technology cheaper.
HomePod explained
“They’re using some form of dynamic modeling, and likely also current sensing that allows them to have a p-p excursion of 20 mm in a 4″ driver,” explains hammerheadtiger. “This is completely unheard of in the home market.”
“The practical upshot is that that 4″ driver can go louder than larger drivers, and with significantly less distortion. It’s also stuff you typically find in speakers with five-figure price tags (the Beolab 90 does this).”
The Beolab 90, which was launched in 2015 to celebrate Bang & Olufsen’s 90th anniversary, costs a staggering $85,000 in the United States. Much like HomePod, its main selling point is the technology that lets you “steer the sound radiation to your favorite listening location.”
“The Beolab 90 is designed to take readings of a room using a special microphone… and employ what it knows about what happens to the sound in the room to make virtually anything you want happen,” explains Digital Trends, which got a preview of the speaker at CES in 2016.
A ‘quantum leap’ over traditional speakers
“When we sat down for a short audition, we were gobsmacked by what we were hearing. Though we were in the very back of the room with enough people blocking our sight of the speakers that we could barely see the system, we heard a perfectly balanced presentation with the vocals seemingly coming from directly in front of us.”
“It’s a quantum leap over what a typical passive speaker does, and you don’t really even find it in higher-end powered speakers,” continues hammerheadtiger.
“Lots of people online are calling it overpriced because they think Apple just slapped a bunch of speakers in a circular configuration and added Siri, but the engineering behind it is extremely audiophile niche stuff.”
When you look at HomePod’s $349 price tag, then, don’t think about how it compares to the $99 Amazon Echo or the $49 Google Home. It’s a different product — designed to deliver an entirely different experience.
Instead, think about how you’re getting your hands on cutting-edge technology that can otherwise only be found in speakers with five-figure price tags. That $349 doesn’t seem too pricey after all, does it?
Via: The Loop
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
74 responses to “Why HomePod is actually a steal at $349”
“They’re blown away by what Apple has achieved, and they point out that for a similar audio experience, you’d have to pay in excess of $85,000”
What?!?!?!
Well, that’s all well and good, but how many people are “audiophile enough” to care? For most people, music is about the way it makes them feel, not about the perfection of the reproduction – that’s why most people are perfectly happy with those “substandard” wired Apple ear plugs that come with their phones. Getting a better sounding version of sound they already get isn’t that high on most people’s priority list!
For HomePod to succeed with more than a handful of audiophiles drooling over $85,000 speakers, it has to solve a problem people actually care about. Like having an expensive TV with speakers so poor you can hardly understand the dialog – can HomePod act as a sound bar for a TV? As far as I know, it cannot. Does the HomePod integrate some other devices in its body in order to the increasing clutter of devices and wires around many people’s TVs (IMHO integrating a wifi router/mesh node would have been a perfect way for Apple to rejuvenate its completely stale AirPort Extremes with mesh networking capability – since HomePods can apparently work across rooms)? No! Instead it gives us yet another place from which to speak with Siri – something most Apple fans can/do already do through the iPad or iPhone on their coffee table, the AirPods in their ears, or the Apple Watch on their wrists.
The technology in the HomePod is admirable. It just doesn’t solve something – music quality – that the masses (even masses with spare money) care about. In our family we actively use some 15 different Apple devices. Instead of buying a HomePad, my next purchases will be a new Apple TV, a decent sound bar, and a replacement for my 10 year old AirPort Extreme.
I think this is the beauty of HomePod, though. You get incredible sound you wouldn’t normally experience at a relatively affordable price.
The people who don’t care about awesome sound aren’t the target audience. It doesn’t matter to them whether HomePod is $349 or $99 — they will still buy a $30 speaker and be happy with it. You have to at least want better audio to want HomePod, in the same way you have to want a better experience to spend more on a Mac than a PC.
It doesn’t have to solve a big problem to be a successful product. Apple TV doesn’t solve anything, and that has been selling well. The same can be said for Apple Watch, AirPods, and other Apple devices.
Hi Killian, I disagree. Apple TV provides video streaming of Netflix, etc. – something its buyers wanted and didn’t have at all before; Apple Watch does a bunch of things its buyers wanted and didn’t have before (e.g. heart rate measurements/alerts, workout tracking); AirPods got rid of wiring for its buyers – something they wanted and didn’t have before. You could say that HomePod buyers will get “better sound” – something they didn’t have before. But I’m of the opinion that folks who care enough about good sound already have nice speakers sitting somewhere in their living rooms. What would HomePod do for them – other than a small improvement in sound – and an extra widget crowding their TV stand? And for those who don’t care enough to pay $350 just for “good sound” but who wouldn’t mind better sound if it solved another problem (I’m in that category), it just doesn’t. Most folks, at this point either know or should know that they can use their iPads, Apple TV, or iPhone to talk to Siri rather than buy a smart speaker.
I definitely need better sound – for my TV. But HomePod apparently can’t act as a sound bar. I would love to reduce the growing clutter next to & under my TV (Apple TV, AirPort Extreme, Lutron hub, Blink hub, fiber router) – but HomePod doesn’t do anything to help that either.
Anyway, I guess time will tell. But we own 2 iPhone X, a couple iPads, a pair of AirPods, 2 Apple Watches, 2 Apple TVs, 2 laptops, an AirPort Extreme, and monitors/keyboards/mice from Apple. This is the first product Apple has come out with that I can’t really see a use for in our household. I suspect others might feels similarly. Spectacular sound be damned.
All of things you mentioned were available elsewhere before. Netflix was on a ton of devices before Apple TV. Fitness trackers were available before Apple Watch. Wireless headphones were available before AirPods. The difference is that Apple’s devices (in most cases) do things better — and I’m sure HomePod will be the same when it comes to wireless speakers.
I’m not saying HomePod will be a necessity. But if it sounds as good as we expect it to, I’m sure there will be a big market for it. A big step up in sound quality would be worth the extra money to a lot of music lovers.
You misunderstood my point: these customers didn’t have a *capability* before they wanted and which Apple (and others) offered. I don’t see lots of folks clamoring for “better” sound – since the capability of getting sound has already been satisfied.
will you be able to play your TV through HomePod?
AirPlay 2 is our only hope here. If it can’t do so without a noticeable lag, it isn’t worth the trouble.
I think you will find that as long as you are pushing audio from your Apple TV, you will be able to use the HomePod as a sound bar.. the connectivity works very much like the Air Pods, so as long as you are using the same account for all your devices, I believe you will be able to output sound from your Apple TV to the Home POD..
That would be awesome! I’ve actually never tried to connect my AirPods to the Apple TVs (wonder if there’s a difference between my 3rd-gen Apple TVs and the newer, Siri-based version). But I wonder how Apple TV would split the audio & video to different devices….anyway, since we mostly stream these days, if what you describe does indeed work, I have to change my opinion on HomePod! Thanks!
The AppleTV (4th Gen) does allow you to send sound (via bluetooth) to other devices such as headphones, BT speakers etc seamlessly even if you have an AV controller / amp. Video still goes through to the intended destination, but if you connect a BT audio device, it will instead send audio to that, bypassing the amp. Comes in handy if you want to use BT headphones to watch a movie if a roommate or spouse is trying to sleep in the other room and using the sound system would wake them up.
Too bad – I have two 3rd-gen Apple TVs. It might be time to update one of them before thinking about HomePod (or BT speakers). I was thinking about it anyway because my wifi TV antenna only has an app for 4th gen TV or iPhone/iPad. Have to AirPlay to Apple TV to watch the local news. The speaker connectivity in the 4th gen Apple TV pushes me over the top :-) Thanks.
Careful though. BT can have latency issues with dialogue.
Japanese monster movie syndrome…
Part of Apple’s success is providing a wide variety of products that appeal to different audiences. There are many who wish to own at least one of every product Apple has ever produced – after all, no one makes products that work together as well as those within the Apple bubble. On the other hand, not everyone needs every product. I have an iMac, iPhone, AirPods (well worth every penny as far as I’m concerned!!!) and finally VERY old iPad which I didn’t really need and have only because it was a hand-me down, but which now has grown on me and which I would very much like to upgrade with a modern replacement (but not until and unless the ABOMINABLE iOS11 is replaced with an acceptable iOS). On the other hand, much as I admire the technology and capabilities of the Apple Watch, I can’t see myself ever needing or using one, now that my iPhone has replaced my need to wear a watch for several years now – and now that my iPhone 6 larger screen has given me more screen size, I can’t see the logic of downsizing to a watchface!!! To each his own!
…if I had to rank the top 3 Apple products – heck, the top 3 electronics products – I ever owned, iPhone would be first, followed by Apple Watch, followed by AirPods. I give Apple Watch about 70% of the credit for my 25lb weight loss over the last 3 years (first time in 20 years, my BMI is considered “normal”!) I’m convinced that without it, my wife and I would still be couch potatoes. The notifications and all the other bells and whistles are just gravy as far as I’m concerned. Not sure what you mean by “can’t see the logic of downsizing to a watchface” – you use the watch in addition, not as a replacement for an iPhone. But to each their own.
Well I am a runner myself – have been for over 40 years – and it didn’t take me an Apple device to get in the habit. I do love the health related apps now and use several of them, especially Runkeeper. But see that replacement vs addition is part of the issue. Now when I’m running I not only have my music and my Runkeeper which tracks my route and performance, but the ability to call home or other help in the event of an emergency. I wouldn’t get that with the Apple Watch; I’d still have to take the phone along with me anyway, and as long as I have to do that, why do I need the watch at all? If the watch were fully functional as a phone (AND didn’t require another monthly connectivity fee, which of course will never happen!) then perhaps learning to live with the smaller screen size would be worthwhile, but as it is…nah. Just…nah.
…well, actually you would get that (perf, route, calling & more) with Apple Watch and no phone required. There’s a cellular version & I believe it even lets you invoke 911 without signing up for a cellular plan. If you do want to call home, you need the service plan – which I’m sure you’d need for the Runkeeper too.
Exactly. And given that I already require the phone for other reasons anyway regardless of whether or not I have a watch–I don’t need a watch! I am DEFINITELY not going to sign up for any more service plans.
Mike, your initial point was that you couldn’t see your self “downsizing” to a small watch face, which isn’t what the watch is about. When I pointed out its fitness tracking ability, you mention you have one of those already. That’s fine, but it’s a different reason than not wanting to live with a smaller screen! So, in the end we simply learned that because you already have a fitness tracker and a smartphone, the Apple Watch isn’t for you. Ok.
Nope, I still need to clarify. I don’t have a separate “fitness tracker” either. When running I have and use ONLY my iPhone, on which I have the Runkeeper fitness tracking APP installed. No Garmin, no FitBit, no TomTom no any other type of wrist-wearable device (though as you might surmise by the fact that I can throw out those names I have considered and investigated some of those products, but ultimately decided they’re just not for me). So I just stick with my phone.
ok – didn’t know runkeeper was an app. thnx for clarifying that. still the same point though: lots of people either don’t want to run with an iphone and/or like to also track their heart rate; some people like the ability to glance at their wrist to see what an incoming email or phone call is about (or even answer it) instead of fishing the phone out of their pockets; some people like it when, during navigation, they get a tap on the wrist when to turn…and we now know you’re not one of them :-)
You’re right, I’m definitely not. When I’m running my phone is in DO NOT DISTURB mode. Running is all about GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL AND GETTING THE WORLD OUT OF MY HAIR. No way am I going to allow that kind of intrusion into what is one of the most blissful parts of my whole day. And the day I need a computer to tell me which way – let alone WHEN – to turn is the day I’ll no longer be mentally competent to handle running.
Don’t forget this is a first generation Apple product. The first Apple TV, MacBook Air, iPhone, iPod, etc. had similar drawbacks and shortcomings.
The next iteration of HomePod will be much better if the current product survives the market.
That’s true of almost any recurring product on the market.
Just suggesting that expectations for HomePod shouldn’t be too high!
Other than the 1st gen iPhone, I’ve probably had every 1st-gen product made by Apple since the iPhone. I didn’t mind, because even though they were 1st-gen, they provided solutions I wanted. 1st gen HomePod doesn’t provide a single solution I care about – it seems to just do an existing function (sound reproduction) better.
Unless, as several have suggested, I might be able to use it as a sound bar (through ATV). That would give me an important solution for my TV’s crappy sound.
Again, it all depends on AirPlay 2. If the HomePod can output streaming audio from an Apple TV with *zero* lag, we may have somewhat of a winner.
I really wish the HomePod had a toslink input! ?
I agree—my Sonos Soundbar is great, and I can play multiroom audio with it and other Sonos speakers. It’s sad how often I am experiencing that Apple feeling of “wow, this is a great product” with things Apple didn’t make (and how rarely I feel it with Apple now).
“Well, that’s all well and good, but how many people are “audiophile enough” to care? For most people, music is about the way it makes them feel, not about the perfection of the reproduction”
You have just answered your own question.
You are absolutely right when you say “For most people, music is about the way it makes them feel”. The truth is that it is “the perfection of the reproduction” that determines (more than anything else) how people feel listening to music… And you don’t need to be an audiophile to be moved by listening to music that is reproduced in a way that seems realistic and enveloping.
Choose a favourite piece of music (or two) and first listen to it on cheap speakers. An extreme example would be listening on the Amazon Echo speaker, but even inexpensive speakers that you might purchase at Best Buy may not give you complete listening enjoyment.
Then, listen to the same music on a high quality speaker that makes the listening experience natural and encompassing. There is no technical knowledge needed to appreciate the difference in how the listening experience makes you feel.
This is what the HomePod is about. Yes, it’s more expensive than an Amazon Echo or Google Home, but that’s like saying that a new BMW is more expensive than a 1970’s Ford Pinto.
Even the larger, and $50 more expensive, Google Home Max ($399!) has been compared with the sound reproduction from the HomePod, and has come up inferior. Here is a quote from Lance Ulanoff:
“Recently, though, I heard Apple’s HomePod again in a variety of scenarios and spaces. It sounded even better, especially when compared to larger Google Home Max and the aurally excellent Sonos One, the HomePod’s separation of sounds and fidelity to original instrumentation is astonishing.”
My contention is that it’s not the perfection of the reproduction that makes people happy or sad, it’s the content. Nothing you’ve said convinces me. If it were the “truth”, people wouldn’t have enjoyed listening to the grammophone or early radio music broadcasts. Clearly that wasn’t the case. It’s definitely true that the quality of the reproduction adds another dimension to the enjoyment, but it’s my contention that for most folks the added value of this dimension is limited – akin to getting a faster processor for your computer – always nice to have, but the current model already addresses my core needs.
Siri is a joke and if you want good sound, a mono speaker isn’t the answer. Overpriced Apple product once again.
you will laterally be able to use two as a stereo pair – see website for details.
For a mere $700…. ?
Plus tax. And don’t forget to sign up for AppleCare!
Yup, I can think of a dozen bookshelf speakers off the top of my head I would pick over these in the $300-$700 price range.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call Siri a joke (except for the Apple TV iteration where it is dumber than the stereotypical dumb blonde). It’s handy enough for many things on the phone, though it still does have a great deal of room for improvement.
“Siri is a joke”
You obviously don’t use Siri… and probably not any iOS device either if you are this unaware of Siri’s effectiveness.
But to counter your baseless (and probably biased) opinion, here are some objective facts:
In December 2017 LoopVentures tested the various AI assistants with the same 800 questions divided into five categories.
Test Results:
Understood Query:
Apple Siri: 99.0%
Amazon Echo: 97.9%
Google Home: 99.9%
MS Cortana: 98.9%
Answered Correctly:
Apple Siri: 75.4%
Amazon Echo: 63.8%
Google Home: 81.1%
MS Cortana: 56.4%
Siri is currently only slightly behind Google Home, but well ahead of both Amazon Echo and MS Cortana. And Siri’s ratings have been consistently improving. ?
Does this mean Apple Music is going to have a lossless audio quality option? I hope so, cause I gotta get rid of Tidal. All that Homepod technology’s going to be a waste with the current compression levels.
If you rip your own CDs to iTunes, you’ll be able to play lossless audio via the HomePod.
Crawl back under your bridge, troll,
How I ‘feel’ listening to music is entirely dependent upon how moving and beautiful the music is. And THAT is very much dependent on the quality of the speakers. The music to which I listen is almost entirely played on acoustic (read that as sound generated by vibrating air waves as opposed to electronically manipulated sine waves) instruments. I want the music to remind me of what it was like to sit in the middle of a symphony orchestra (which I did for many years) rather than in the midst of a crowd of drug addled wanna-be adolescents. For the quality of sound that Apple is touting, if it lives up to the hype, I’d gladly pay $350.
I appreciate that argument – but do you think most people feel the music the way you do? Certainly, most have not sat in the middle of a symphony orchestra. Heck, I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of people listening to Apple Music have never sat in a live acoustic instrument performance, period! I’m in my 50s, and I certainly haven’t been able to do either (and with too many years motorcycling, I probably wouldn’t be able to hear the difference anyway :-)
I feel good listening to music because of the way the notes and lyrics are put together. I’m not picky about the kind of music (if you borrowed my AirPods at any moment in time, you’d be as likely to hear Taylor Swift as Beethoven or U2), much less about how faithful the song I’m listening to is to the original performance (which, most likely, I never heard in the first place). I think I’m a member of the vast majority.
I could easily afford $350 speakers. But unless it solves a perceived problem for me, I don’t see a purchase (but if what @Ricardo says above is true and HomePod *can* be used as a sound bar, I’ll be standing in line for it.)
I’m still perfectly happy with my iPod HiFi.
I avoid live musical performances like the plague – they are way too loud for me, and given that I already have a degree of hearing loss which I’ve had from birth, the last thing I want to do is risk damaging it even further. I, too, appreciate a good variety of music – classical (everything from Bach through Rachmaninoff!!!), country, Big Band, 70’s greatest hits….you name it, what I didn’t grow up listening I inherited the love of from my parents. But I like it all at about a nice comfortable 70 decibels, thank you very much!
Presumably you mean you’re a classical musician with classical music tastes. So am I. We’re in a small minority these days, and Apple has no real interest in us and doesn’t generally cater for us in any conspicuous way. Nevertheless, I have high hopes for the HomePod, and have already ordered mine. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about Siri. I don’t like talking to Siri on my iPhone, iPad and Mac (I just don’t feel comfortable talking to a machine, even if Siri worked well – which it doesn’t). I also imagine that Siri will be pretty hopeless in terms of being able to specify which classical piece to play (since much classical music has lengthy and complex titles, and most classical listeners will have multiple different performances of the same piece under different conductors or with different ensembles etc.). So I very much hope that it’s easy to control the HomePods from my other Apple equipment, rather than relying on voice control. But what I really care about here is the prospective sound quality, which promises to be remarkable. And the speaker quality makes buying the HomePod a worthwhile risk even at this early stage. I can’t wait for the update that makes a pair of them work in tandem to produce a wide ‘stereo-plus’ sound stage. I also very much hope that the HomePods will work well with AppleTV for movie viewing (as I enjoy films very much too). So overall I’m looking forward to stunning quality speakers that fit well into the Apple ecosystem… but I really couldn’t care less about trying to converse with a ‘smart speaker’, and I’d never have bought the HomePod if that’s all it was.
Solid reasoning. Thanks. As an aside, while you may not care for Siri at this point, if you ever start down the road of home automation, “she” is a really nice asset. I didn’t know how much so, until I installed a few Lutron Caseta light switches in the house. When my night-blind mom comes visit and needs to go to a darkened area, I can simply say ‘Hey Siri, turn on the hallway light”, instead of running after my mom to turn on the light for her (she’s also had a couple strokes, so she couldn’t say such a long sentence herself).
In that regard, HomePod might still come in handy. Sometimes I don’t have my iPhone on me or my iPad nearby, so “hey Siri” is for naught. HomePod solves this – at least for the room I’m most frequently in.
Thanks. For what it’s worth, yes, I can indeed see how useful Siri might be if home automation is relevant, and it sounds really helpful for your situation. Unfortunately there’s little chance that it’s something that’ll be of any interest to me for the foreseeable future – though I do enjoy the sci-fi aura of it all! And maybe, when Apple eventually launches a self-driving car, I’ll be happy enough to talk to Siri to instruct it where to take me!
I enjoy classical and jazz music and want to be able to play from a variety of digital sources (SiriusXM, Spotify Family Plan as well as my own lossless recordings on my iMac). If you don’t want to wait for AirPlay2, the Airfoil App may give you the functionality you need to control HomePods from your other devices. I control all my AirPlay enabled speakers with Airfoil now – and have a whole house system with more functionality than is even projected for the current HomePod. I can control via my iMac or Windows 10 laptop. FYI – the Libratone Zipp Classic has AirPlay functionality and has Alexa functionality as well. I am a retired college prof of Sociology and put the whole house system together myself thanks to Airfoil and AirPlay!
Thanks for the thought. I have some other Rogue Amoeba stuff, and am sure that AirFoil will be a good product. The one thing that bothers me a little about it is playing from my iTunes library. I’d imagine it’d be necessary to stream music from the Mac to the HopePod in that case, whereas if I were using Apple’s approach, presumably the HomePod would stream the music from Apple’s servers (using iTunes Match, which I subscribe to rather than Apple Music), and the Mac presumably wouldn’t even need to be turned on.
Yes, because as the richest company in the world, what Apple really needs is to pay bloggers to persuade people to buy its products.
Where do you think you are, you stupid fûcking troll?
This would be awesome if Apple Music quality was better or had a Hifi version less than 19.99. Google Play sounds much better! Plus I get YouTube Red and Music! That’s a steal!
Well, all Apple products are best in class products – though I’m not exactly sure if that fact is not important to you, why do you bother reading a site called CULT OF MAC?
Not a steal at all, I can get a Sonos One for $100 less and it sounds just as good, if not better. #byefelicia
And you can connect 2 Sonos for a Stereo setup.
Saying it doesn’t make it true.
Homepod sound has been rated better than the 5. Does the One sound better than the 5?
Main problem I see, it does not matter the super audio quality, it is not stereo, so no, audiophiles are not going to buy it either, and the lack of support for Spotify or others, rejects another part of the market.
if you want stereo there will be the option to use a pair.
Later this year, guess we will have to wait and see.
Wow, TJ Wolf. Well said! So is it all just about the music and only streaming from the AppleStore and iTunes? Fair point. I still have the original Apple Hi-Fi iPod speaker than no longer fits anything remotely modern. My first gen iPhone sits atop it like a museum piece.
I wonder what Apple really intends for HomePod and why it’s so late to market.
I get the feeling that Apple mostly intends for this to be a great way to listen to Apple Music, with everything else (ie Siri functionality/HomeKit stuff) being gravy, at least initially. I’m curious to see how it develops further though. With regard to “late to market”, that’s just typical Apple as far as I’m concerned.
well, tjwolf, i’m an audiophile and I care…i’d pay the $$ if the SQ warranted it. I”m using sonos play 3 right now, also experimenting with bluesound pulse mini…but to say it’s a steal and looking at comparative $$$ tech is a joke…i’ll wait until the ‘audiophile’ reviews are in.
I don’t see the relevance of the homepods music technology for the audiophile because i’m one of those audiophiles. I cannot see the homepod replacing or adding to my audiophile system that i can hear well in ⅔ of my home and perfectly well in ⅓ of it. That leaves the bedrooms area where i tried an older iphone with a speaker setup. This sounded real good for $30 plus an old iphone 4 but never really caught on with us. The 35″ on the wall flatscreen is what we watch and listen too in the bedroom, music is more often listened to thru earphones to not disturb anyone else.
tjwolf, I respectfully disagree that your average Joe won’t be able to appreciate better sound quality. To your many points, I think most Apple earbud owners use them because they come with the device for free, and exude a certain brand awareness when they wear them. No one that I known or read said that the earbuds SOUND great; quite the opposite. They suck. It’s good that your not a fanboy-basher and subscribe to the Apple ecosystem, but to one of your MAJOR points on the TV sound problem, and based on what I’ve read on the Apple site, the HomePod utilizes Bluetooth 5.0. So, if your expensive TV has Bluetooth capability, maybe you’ll be in luck. Otherwise, the fact remains that until we have a HomePod in the wild that we can touch and see and hear, none of us can make an informed decision on whether this unique device will be applicable to our individual needs. In the meantime, rock on!
As an Audiophile (didn’t pay $85000 for my speakers), I’m not particularly interested in another music playing device, my home system is perfectly good for that. What I would be interested in is a device that I could interact with using Siri to control my heating, lighting etc etc. So no, I won’t be paying $350 for something I can do on my phone.
Excellently put, tjwolf!
I myself could not care less about how amazing this thing sounds. I want it to DO stuff in addition to being a nifty speaker.
Apple: Fix iOS and bring back the battery life I had in iOS10. Give me features I can actually use, like restoring the 30-second backward or forward in the Music app, and quit insulting my intelligence by touting new software for over an hour in your developer conferences when the only big accomplishment is the addition of zillions of emojis which I don’t give a (crap emoji) about and will never use. Your iOS 11 is absolutely the worst piece of software CRAP I have seen put out by Apple in over a decade as your customer. I’m not a snap-chatting teenager, I’m an adult. Go back to proving yourselves with the updates to devices I already own. Then, and only then, will even sycophantic articles like this one have the remotest chance of convincing me to even consider investing in a new Apple device. If iOS12 doesn’t fix the iOS11 problems, my next smartphone will most assuredly NOT be an iPhone.
If it’s cheep compared to, why not. Why keep with the crap just because it is cheap?
Can’t argue with your comment and just why is it that speakers in top end TVs are such rubbish? I will get a HomePod simply because I am a first adopter and always will be, not always to my advantage but so what.
Where exactly in the room should the HP be placed central or against a wall it’s not always easy but I guess trial and error.
Agree with your pints about TV I have the latest and it is very good and also AP extreme which is long overdue a makeover though the recent firmware upgrade did improve things.
We are also a total Apple family with at least one of everything but generally more from watches to phones to iMacs and MacBooks and iPads.
We’ll all choose to ignore meisnoone anyone who says me is has a problem.
I have a cheapo Echo note hooked up to a Bose Wave Radio. The sound is OK. But I generally use it to stream CNN from Tunein Radio, so what the heck!
“Well, that’s all well and good, but how many people are “audiophile enough” to care? For most people, music is about the way it makes them feel, not about the perfection of the reproduction”
You have just answered your own question!
You are absolutely right when you say “For most people, music is about the way it makes them feel”. The truth is that it is “the perfection of the reproduction” that determines (more than anything else) how people feel listening to music… And you don’t need to be an audiophile to be moved by listening to music that is reproduced in a way that seems realistic and enveloping.
Choose a favourite piece of music (or two) and first listen to it on cheap speakers. An extreme example would be listening on the Amazon Echo speaker, but even inexpensive speakers that you might purchase at Best Buy may not give you complete listening enjoyment.
Then, listen to the same music on a high quality speaker that makes the listening experience natural and encompassing. There is no technical knowledge needed to appreciate the difference in how the listening experience makes you feel.
This is what the HomePod is about. Yes, it’s more expensive than an Amazon Echo or Google Home, but that’s like saying that a new BMW is more expensive than a 1970’s Ford Pinto.
Even the larger and the $50 more expensive Google Home Max ($399!) has been compared to the sound reproduction from the HomePod. Here is a quote from Lance Ulanoff:
“Recently, though, I heard Apple’s HomePod again in a variety of scenarios and spaces. It sounded even better, especially when compared to larger Google Home Max and the aurally excellent Sonos One, the HomePod’s separation of sounds and fidelity to original instrumentation is astonishing.”
$349 for a great speaker isn’t a big deal to me. I shelled out $299 (sometimes $249 when on sale over the holidays) for the Libratone Classic Zipp wifi/bluetooth speaker. I want whole house music and the capacity to select different speakers or zones/rooms. I connect all my speakers using Airfoil app (works via AirPlay with my iMac and I purchased another for my Windows 10 laptop, and also works with iPad Pro and iPhones). I have all the functionality I need right now! I’m happy with my Zipp, my surround sound system speakers via Denon amp and Apple TV and speakers hardwired to AirPort Express units throughout the house. My issue with the AirPod is that it just doesn’t have the full functionality I require yet. With all the sloppy work I’m seeing out of Apple (and I have a house full of just about every product Apple makes), I am adopting a wait and see attitude. I will wait until AirPlay2 is up and running, as they don’t even have the ability to do whole house system yet. Pairing to another AirPod isn’t functional, much less having an option to select zones/rooms from an app. I subscribe to fee based music services – Spotify family plan, Amazon Prime music and SiriusXM digital (plays via Safari but not Chrome).
I currently own zero good speakers, but I’m going in on the HomePod, mostly because it should integrate so well with my Apple stuff and I’m on Apple Music. I don’t blame you for taking the wait and see attitude though, since it sounds like you’ve already got a pretty good system going. The current lack of stereo isn’t a big deal (for me) as I wasn’t ready to get two of them yet. I suspect it won’t be terribly long before AirPlay2 will be out though, since we’re seeing signs of it in the iOS 11.3 Beta builds.
Siri baked in is not really a selling point. Siri is improving, but not to the point where I woul use it over Google or Amazon. I will admit, it is pretty consistent for Music. The issue I have is that if I can only listen to Apple Music or music purchased on iTunes, it is, for me a rather limited device. I enjoy podcasts, radio stations from all over the world, Soma, Apple Music and Slacker on my Sonos.
While the HomePod may sound fantastic, if it’s functionality is limited to a fraction of that of other devices, it will be another iPod HiFi, which sounded pretty good, and was ahead of everything else, but withered due to neglect and pricing. I have ordered a HomePod, but have a suspicion I will be returning it and ordering a pair of Sonos Ones for the same price.
I was blown away by the AirPods, while not the best sounding headphones I own, as a product, they are just amazing. Hopefully the HomePod will have some of that magic!