Poll: ** The Official Apple HomePod/HomePod mini thread **

Are you going to buy an Apple HomePod

  • Yes

    Votes: 28 13.8%

  • No

    Votes: 115 56.7%

  • Possibly, I'll wait and see what the reviews are like first

    Votes: 44 21.7%

  • HomePod mini - Yes

    Votes: 18 8.9%

  • HomePod mini - No

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • HomePod mini - Possibly, I'll wait and see what the reviews are like first

    Votes: 3 1.5%
  • Total voters
    203
pioneer2000 said:
Per the Verge, it’s not much better than a Sonos One sounds wise, has worse assistant features and is double the price. Yet they still recommend it. Shows how all these reviewers don’t dare give a negative impression for fear of being shunned by Apple.
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I got impression that they actually didn't:p

All of this is why I started thinking of the HomePod as “lonely.” It feels like it was designed for a very demanding person to use while living alone entirely inside Apple’s ecosystem. It’s tied more closely to a single iPhone and iCloud account than any other smart speaker, and Siri has none of the capability or vibrancy of what’s happening with Alexa. Apple can try to move mountains by itself, or it can recognize that the HomePod is a little iOS computer for the home and let developers build on it as they have for so long and with such great success with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The HomePod is a remarkable new kind of audio device. It does more to make music sound better than any other speaker of this kind has ever done before, and it really, truly works. But unless you live entirely inside Apple’s walled garden and prioritize sound quality over everything else, I think you’re better served by other smart speakers that sound almost as good and offer the services and capabilities that actually fit your life.

7.5
 
haszek said:
I got impression that they actually didn't:p

All of this is why I started thinking of the HomePod as “lonely.” It feels like it was designed for a very demanding person to use while living alone entirely inside Apple’s ecosystem. It’s tied more closely to a single iPhone and iCloud account than any other smart speaker, and Siri has none of the capability or vibrancy of what’s happening with Alexa. Apple can try to move mountains by itself, or it can recognize that the HomePod is a little iOS computer for the home and let developers build on it as they have for so long and with such great success with the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

The HomePod is a remarkable new kind of audio device. It does more to make music sound better than any other speaker of this kind has ever done before, and it really, truly works. But unless you live entirely inside Apple’s walled garden and prioritize sound quality over everything else, I think you’re better served by other smart speakers that sound almost as good and offer the services and capabilities that actually fit your life.

7.5
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Sounds perfect for me then :)
 
Surely anyone half into their music will already have a dedicated hi-fi setup.

In which case why is everyone so intent on getting a slightly better sounding mono speaker, which in all ways will be inferior to a set of floorstanders / dedicated sub?

If you want casual listening, a Sono One is half the price with better smart features and 90% of the sound quality. I'm an Apple fan but much of this launch is hyperbole.
 
That Verge video review was just stunning. I loved the way they showed all the competing speakers. The production values of these videos is just astonishing.

After seeing all the reviews, I think the Homepod is going to be a massive success. All the shortcomings are for things that can be improved in software. Sonos have been great (I have several), but they have rested on their laurels for too long, so this will hopefully be a wakeup call for them (although I suspect it's too late).
 
ChrisD. said:
Such as? What does the HomePod do that Sonos does not?
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What have they really released in the last five years? The bars don’t do DTS, the one is cool, but it’s no different from a Play:1 + echo dot, the iOS client goes from terrible redesign to terrible redesign, no airplay... I love my Sonos, don’t get me wrong, but Apple is going to eat their lunch. Sonos was the only real game in town and that is no longer the case.

The HomePod has only just been released and it’s already pretty decent. It still has a way to go, but I bet in 12 months time this will be a very different conversation.
 
DTS won't ever appear on the Playbar, rightfully so. It'd only cater for minimal of the market.

For home entertainment, DTS content is only found on physical media such as DVD, Blu-ray and Laserdisc – no video streaming services such as Netflix or Hulu support DTS. Sonos is focused on modern listeners who predominantly stream and because most physical discs encode DTS at bitrates substantially similar to Dolby Digital, we have decided to not support DTS on PLAYBASE as we don’t believe it offers a better listening experience for the majority of owners.
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https://www.theverge.com/circuitbre.../sonos-playbase-tv-speaker-soundbar-announced

There was a more in depth article which also mentions the PlayBar that I'd read but can't find it after a quick Google. It's also why most off the shelf streamers don't support it.

If Apple release a Playbar then it may sway my interest, but Deezer, Spotify integration would have to arrive.

Nothing the HomePod offers currently would sway away from my Sonos setup around the house.
 
rotor said:
What have they really released in the last five years? The bars don’t do DTS, the one is cool, but it’s no different from a Play:1 + echo dot, the iOS client goes from terrible redesign to terrible redesign, no airplay... I love my Sonos, don’t get me wrong, but Apple is going to eat their lunch. Sonos was the only real game in town and that is no longer the case.

The HomePod has only just been released and it’s already pretty decent. It still has a way to go, but I bet in 12 months time this will be a very different conversation.
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Has Siri actually had any significant improvements in the past few years? Seems to be nigh on abandoned by Apple so far.
 
ChrisD. said:
Nothing the HomePod offers currently would sway away from my Sonos setup around the house.
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I agree... but... if you didn't have any Sonos kit (and had been thinking about buying some), would you not be a little doubtful right now? I would be! At the very least you would hold off for another 6-12 months.

AirPlay2 is going to be pretty fantastic (assuming they deliver what they've promised), and once that's in place, the only thing you'd be realistically missing is the "Hey Siri, play blah blah" from e.g. Spotify.

My Sonos speakers are now 5-7 years old, so I'm assuming that at some point in the next 2-3 years either Sonos is going to go bust (at which point the speakers become doorstops), or one or more of the speakers will die (the electronics inside will eventually give up the ghost). So I'm not in the market for a HomePod right now, but I'm very much looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
 
ChrisD. said:
because most physical discs encode DTS at bitrates substantially similar to Dolby Digital, we have decided to not support DTS on PLAYBASE as we don’t believe it offers a better listening experience for the majority of owners.
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This is what I've never understood about their position. If you happen to have a disk with a DTS soundtrack, how does the above help? "Great. My DTS is of similar quality to Dolby Digital, that's good to know. Now why won't my £700 Playbase play it?". Check their forums or Reddit to see how many people complain about the lack of DTS support. It's Sonos' decision, but a lot of people complain about it.
 
The most impressive thing I've seen on the video reviews is how well the HomePod can still hear you when music is playing. My Echo Dots are terrible; if music is playing at even moderate levels in the room (or if the kettle is boiling or the dishwasher is on) I have to walk up to it and hit the button to get it to respond.
 
I bought recently echo spot for clock purposes only, but played a bit with alexa to get the experience. Not sure where all the excitement is with those assistants and the need to have them.
It takes way more time for it to do what you want, you have to say it, you have to wait for it to receive what you need, alexa repeats what it's going to do....phone is much quicker and precised. That's why for me it's all about airplay, I know sonos is supposed to receive airplay 2 later this year, but when and in what form, not sure. I don't want to use additional applications only to stream sound from YT, it's not android or not be able to stream other apps, podcasts, twitch (can you do that with sonos? without additional apps? don't know)

And as above, I have echo spot just about 2 meters from me and when it's playing I have to shout for it to listen. So how do you guys do it with friend's parties? It must be shout fest. It does work better than siri though, in doing what you ask.
 
Lol @ quite a lot of the reviews banging on about how it beamforms sound when placed against a wall. Last time I checked one usually faces their bookshelf speakers facing into the room. This supposed bouncing of ambient sounds off the walls doesn't add anything. It's a compensation for the fact they've designed it with half the tweeters facing the wrong way when placed up against something.
 
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