The HomePod has landed

Meh. I've seen way too many "Sonos killers" over the years that are roadkill now. There's no doubt that the HomePod is a great sounding product that will have great appeal to those who don't mind being limited to Apple's walled garden. It's not Sonos, which is a complete system.

BTW, David Pogue has long been the Apple fanboy's fanboy. He's never reviewed an Apple product he didn't love.
 
Maybe I’ll buy one of these homepod gadgets, I hadn’t paid any attention to these things until I read this thread. I like the idea of a simple mono rig with good clarity and tone that will work with my Apple TV, ipod etc.
 
David Pogue's blind test probably had issues because he hung a sheet in front of the devices. That can't be good for beam forming and the room measurements of the HomePod. I am a bit surprised he went that route rather than just blindfolding the users. How many people hang their laundry in front of even regular speakers and expect them to sound the same? Really bizarre.

He also made the point that Sonos works with 42 services and HomePod works with 1. That is completely wrong. He knows this because he used Spotify for the test.
 
Meh. I've seen way too many "Sonos killers" over the years that are roadkill now. There's no doubt that the HomePod is a great sounding product that will have great appeal to those who don't mind being limited to Apple's walled garden. It's not Sonos, which is a complete system.
Personally, I don't think Apple's intent is to kill Sonos or any of the other speakers with this product. They are using this device to round out their own ecosystem (create more loyalty to the brand). If they truly wanted to kill Sonos, they would allow Siri to work with any music service.
 
Maybe I’ll buy one of these homepod gadgets, I hadn’t paid any attention to these things until I read this thread. I like the idea of a simple mono rig with good clarity and tone that will work with my Apple TV, ipod etc.
It actually isn’t mono, it can produce a pretty good stereo image, by all accounts.
 
David Pogue's blind test probably had issues because he hung a sheet in front of the devices. That can't be good for beam forming and the room measurements of the HomePod. I am a bit surprised he went that route rather than just blindfolding the users. How many people hang their laundry in front of even regular speakers and expect them to sound the same? Really bizarre.

Not at all bizarre, rather a common practice in blind testing. The cloth need not have any more effect than a grill cloth. I hope your laundry is more acoustically opaque than a grill cloth.
 
Not at all bizarre, rather a common practice in blind testing. The cloth need not have any more effect than a grill cloth. I hope your laundry is more acoustically opaque than a grill cloth.
With my Audyssey room correction software, they say you should turn of the air conditioning, avoid any obstructions between mic and speaker...including your own body, and make the room as quiet as possible before you place the mic (which they suggest putting it on a tripod for stability). I doubt they would like it if you hung a cloth in the middle of the room during the measurements. Though, I have never seen that addressed, since no one listens to music that way.

Obviously, the HomePod is setup to take room measurements from the actual device on the fly, so yeah, I would worry about hanging a cloth in the room that could affect the measurements of this specific speaker. Many audiophiles remove their speaker grills because it has some affect on the sound quality.... how much of an affect depends on the specific speaker and the material (I typically keep mine on because my speakers are known to be bright and I have dogs that like to play). In this case we know that the HomePod takes measurements on the fly, so blindfolds would be a much better way to "blind test". Who knows what that cloth was doing to its understanding of the room?
 
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Who knows what that cloth was doing to its understanding of the room?


Had the cloth been affecting the sound, yeah, that would probably bugger up the speaker’s understanding, sure. I don’t take that as a given though.
 
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Had the cloth been affecting the sound, yeah, that would probably bugger up the speaker’s understanding, sure. I don’t take that as a given though.
But we don't know that it doesn't, which is why he shouldn't have used a cloth in this case. Blindfolds would have been a better way to test. We aren't exactly talking about something that is expensive or difficult to use.
 
Hey, at least Apple has given us a fun new thing to discuss ad infinitum, lol. Almost everyone says it sounds amazing for its size, so I’m sure it does.
 

Pretty cool.

Eric
It looks like a decent woofer, but she sure did breeze buy the seven (???) tweeters.

I hooked my Echo Dot up to little 50 watt class D amp and a pair of Minimus 7s and am quite happy with the results. Total cost was under $100, and it's stereo.
 
Was reading an article yesterday (can't find it now) that suggested the HomePod might be the thing that gets the younger generation hooked on better sound quality.
 
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Hey, at least Apple has given us a fun new thing to discuss ad infinitum, lol. Almost everyone says it sounds amazing for its size, so I’m sure it does.
Very few companies have the ability to introduce a product and have people join into threads just to say they don't have a need/want such product. Heck, can you imagine joining threads for everything you don't own to say you have no plans to buy it? You would be a very busy person!
It looks like a decent woofer, but she sure did breeze buy the seven (???) tweeters.

I hooked my Echo Dot up to little 50 watt class D amp and a pair of Minimus 7s and am quite happy with the results. Total cost was under $100, and it's stereo.
Yep, I love my Dots. The serve a different purpose in my home than the HomePod. Personally, I have the HomePod on a small ledge between the kitchen and living room and a system like you describe wouldn't work there. A lot of people will have these in tight spaces like kitchens, bedroom side tables, master baths, etc. The decent sound with a 5.6 inch footprint is one of the unique characteristics.
 
Very few companies have the ability to introduce a product and have people join into threads just to say they don't have a need/want such product. Heck, can you imagine joining threads for everything you don't own to say you have no plans to buy it? You would be a very busy person!

Yep, I love my Dots. The serve a different purpose in my home than the HomePod. Personally, I have the HomePod on a small ledge between the kitchen and living room and a system like you describe wouldn't work there. A lot of people will have these in tight spaces like kitchens, bedroom side tables, master baths, etc. The decent sound with a 5.6 inch footprint is one of the unique characteristics.
Wow, a 4" driver in a little plastic box that's solid down to 6 Hz. I'm impressed.
 
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