Homepod - let's get this started...


Userlevel 6
Badge +1
Searched and nothing on Apple Homepod yet so I'll start this inevitable discussion.

I see the Homepod announcement as an opportunity for Sonos rather than an end. Now that they know what the Apple play in this area is, Sonos has little choice but to move more aggressively in a direction that may be better for most of it's present and future customers. That direction, in my opinion, is one of greater openness, increased integration with Google Home, Amazon Echo and other "smart home" technologies and an overall increased pace of innovation.

As someone who is quite heavily invested in Sonos, I look forward to watching this play out.

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David Pogue, a long-time Apple fanboy, compares, in a test controlled by Apple:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/david-pogues-sneak-preview-apple-homepod-190227102.html

In a devastatingly effective demo, Apple lines up four of these things: The Google Home Max ($400), Sonos One ($200), Amazon Echo ($100), and the HomePod. They’re volume-matched and rigged to an A/B/C/D switch, so a single song can hop from one to the other. (Apple even installed a halo backlight behind each speaker that illuminated to show you which one was playing.)

The HomePod sounded the best. Its bass, in particular, was amazing: full and deep, but also distinct and never muddy — you could hear the actual pitch of the bass notes, not just the thud. That, unsurprisingly, is where other small speakers have trouble.

The Amazon Echo is a much smaller, slimmer device, one-third the price, so it’s forgiven for sounding thin compared with the HomePod. The Sonos One came awfully close to the HomePod’s rich sound; you’d really have to hear the A/B test to declare a difference.. The real shock was the Google Home Max, a massive, 12-pound machine that’s supposed to be all about the sound; it sounded like cardboard compared with the HomePod and Sonos.


Now, this was a single Sonos One vs the HomePod. A stereo pair of Sonos Ones, in my experience, sound significantly superior to a single One. Real, very effective stereo image, for starters. Better bass, due to twice the speaker surface area. At exactly the same price as a single HomePod (with fake, though reportedly pretty good, simulated stereo). I’ve no doubt, then, that a pair of Ones will sound significantly better than a HomePod. We won’t even talk about the Sonos Sub, and Apple’s lack of one, lol.
I’ve no doubt, then, that a pair of Ones will sound significantly better than a HomePod.
I think how people listen to music will also have a bearing on this. Those that do this from one sweet spot in the room that can be addressed by a pair of speakers to one side of it will agree with you. But those that are happier to use the room with music playing from a speaker located somewhere in the centre of the room, reaching more of the room with the same sound everywhere in it, may prefer Apple. At my home I can see this divide arising between my wife and I; she is already using the Echo in the kitchen a lot more than Sonos systems set up to my listening preferences; even the one in the open plan dining room close to the cooking areas.

Sound preferences are funny things. I remember reading an article that said that the kind of sound stage that a person prefers depends on what he has been exposed to much of his life; so preferences may well differ from someone that has heard live music from the front seats of a concert hall to one that has heard most of it from a distance away in the same hall. And then there are the preferences of those that have never been lucky enough to attend a live gig.
Userlevel 3
Badge +9
David Pogue, a long-time Apple fanboy, compares, in a test controlled by Apple:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/david-pogues-sneak-preview-apple-homepod-190227102.html

In a devastatingly effective demo, Apple lines up four of these things: The Google Home Max ($400), Sonos One ($200), Amazon Echo ($100), and the HomePod. They’re volume-matched and rigged to an A/B/C/D switch, so a single song can hop from one to the other. (Apple even installed a halo backlight behind each speaker that illuminated to show you which one was playing.)

The HomePod sounded the best. Its bass, in particular, was amazing: full and deep, but also distinct and never muddy — you could hear the actual pitch of the bass notes, not just the thud. That, unsurprisingly, is where other small speakers have trouble.

The Amazon Echo is a much smaller, slimmer device, one-third the price, so it’s forgiven for sounding thin compared with the HomePod. The Sonos One came awfully close to the HomePod’s rich sound; you’d really have to hear the A/B test to declare a difference.. The real shock was the Google Home Max, a massive, 12-pound machine that’s supposed to be all about the sound; it sounded like cardboard compared with the HomePod and Sonos.


Now, this was a single Sonos One vs the HomePod. A stereo pair of Sonos Ones, in my experience, sound significantly superior to a single One. Real, very effective stereo image, for starters. Better bass, due to twice the speaker surface area. At exactly the same price as a single HomePod (with fake, though reportedly pretty good, simulated stereo). I’ve no doubt, then, that a pair of Ones will sound significantly better than a HomePod. We won’t even talk about the Sonos Sub, and Apple’s lack of one, lol.


I wonder if they performed True Play prior to that test.
I live in Australia and got the HomePod today. Keen to hear other people's impressions. Below are my initial thoughts.

- well rounded, much richer particularly the mids when compared to Play 1s (expected given the speaker array)
- software can't fake stereo, my pair of Play 1s are much better when it comes to giving a wide sound stage
- microphone sensitivity for Hey Siri is really good
- looks really nice in white, makes me wonder if Sonos should've used the same mesh colour as the top colour for their white Play 1s
- Play 5 much better than HomePods
- Yet to test my Play 3s.
Hi All,

I already have a HomePod,if I buy another HomePod in the future,can the 2 device be paired as left and right speakers for stereo?I read some guidelines in https://devicebase.net/en/product/apple-homepod-speaker/99990090 .However, your inputs is greatly appreciated.

Thank you
I already have a HomePod,if I buy another HomePod in the future,can the 2 device be paired as left and right speakers for stereo?I read some guidelines in https://devicebase.net/en/product/apple-homepod-speaker/99990090 .However, your inputs is greatly appreciated.
This is a question only Apple, the manufacturer, can answer.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
Darzel - I'm not sure why you are asking Apple Homepod questions on the board of a competitor in that market (Sonos). Answer is currently Sonos can pair Right / Left. Apple Homepods can not (promised feature they are having trouble with).
The Sonos Beam is everything the HomePod should have been. :D

https://www.macworld.com/article/3279804/hardware/the-sonos-beam-is-everything-the-homepod-should-have-been.html
There’s really no reason to buy a HomePod now

https://qz.com/1298704/theres-really-no-reason-to-buy-a-homepod-now/