Homepod - let's get this started...

If you just can't wait for the HomePod to come out, here are some alternatives that will make an alternative for homepod: https://www.howtoisolve.com/best-homepod-alternatives/

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.

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.

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/