Apple home pod?

BMR tweeters..

Apparently for the stuff inside the price is justified, but I can only assume you come up against the law of physics at some point. 

Pretty much apple music only would make it a no go for me.

As a self confessed Apple junkie , I was rather underwhelmed when I heard a HomePod on demo at my local premium reseller. Mind you, it was placed (attached) to a high shelf, approx 5cm from the wall, playing the most horrendous music. Also, without an Apple Music subscription, it’s fairly limited. 

Looks good and I'm sure it will be lovely in the usual Apple way but at a price...

If you feel the need to talk to speakers then the latest Sonos Play 1 with Alexa built in looks better value and sounds good too.

My son got one on the day of release. I've only had a quick demo when he called up 'play Royal Blood' and I was surprised and impressed at the sound quality this tiny box produces. It had quality and weight, doing justice to Royal Blood.   I shall look for the opportunity to listen to it some more.

Bob the Builder posted:

Any thoughts?

I was very cynical about it, but there was a MacRumors article suggesting actual component costs to retail cost was a much higher ratio than products like iPhones, which suggests to me it may be reasonably priced, or even subsidised as a vehicle for Apple Music.

While I may get one or a pair to work as computer speakers, I don't really need one and think it's currently flawed due to the tight Siri/Apple Music integration, lack of a physical line in input of ANY kind and reduced flexibility for the masses due to no Bluetooth audio support.

You must enable two factor authentication to use it I believe which would annoy me.

'Repair cost' is close to retail cost so AppleCare might be worth considering (or get from John Lewis with 2 year free guarantee excluding accidental damage).

It may sound very good, but if Airplay 2 will only support 16 bit 44.1/48 kHz it may be of less interest to those wanting direct HD audio playback which would have to be done via AirPlay.

Many users comment it's quite bass heavy which may in part be due to a design tailored for music suited for the 'Beats' range, but position supposedly makes a big difference to sound quality, though it is supposed to auto-calibrate.

Beware with wooden tables or similar as it can leave ring like stains.

I love my MacBook and my iPhone se and when on holiday and away from home it would be something I'd consider if it isn't to big, is compatible with ipod nano and sounds better than my current Bose mini.

Bob the Builder posted:

I love my MacBook and my iPhone se and when on holiday and away from home it would be something I'd consider if it isn't to big, is compatible with ipod nano and sounds better than my current Bose mini.

Can't see how it could work with the now discontinued nanos to be honest - it isn't a traditional dock, won't accept BT audio and has no analogue in.

I'm not certain but think it would always require an internet connection for Siri and wouldn't work without one.

Was an article on Engadget or something saying Apple plans to take over the Audiophile market - LOL, but there are plenty of Apple sheep lining up to buy whatever they pump out.

For me i have had various "smart" speaker Samsung Level/Google Home/Alexa Show, also demo'd the Apple HomePod.

It all depends what you expect or want, i wanted an extension of my mobile, so when home (and active) it reads my notifications out and also takes calls, on the odd occasion to play music, but most of all i wanted an extension of Alexa/Google Assistant or Siri, which none if the systems actually offer. This was the killer for me and lack of phone calls.

The HomePod was on par with the Alexa, very basic commands not the full Siri experience, but with Apple they do stick at it and make the product work, but my feeling is they do not want the phone extension scenario, as most Google/Alexa/Apple then everyone sat in the room can hear your mobile notifications.

So I dusted off two of my old Samsung Level speaker boxes (both were sub £100) the charge lasts forever, sound quality is poor (for music - but acceptable as a boogie box), with my Samsung S8+ or Note8 you get dual audio so i can play tunes in different rooms, either the same different, which is very cool), but best of all the Samsung Level app has a major amount settings to tweak the notifications as you want to avoid possible privacy issues and all my calls are routed through, again with detailed or basic announcements - ideal when working from home.

But Samsung hopeless at any form of staying power, so the app/speakers have no further development.

So in conclusion first decide what you want, sounds wise it won't beat your Naim gear, heck even Sonos is cheaper if you want a multi room streamer, but if you want an extension of Google/Alexa/Siri, then none do that job bar a very basic level.

I have it my dining room and use Roon so can pick and play anything from my 30,000 track library. It’s brilliant.