Homepod vs Sonos

The HomePod is at least as good as a Play 5. Multiple reviewers have said this including the Verge which is hardly an apple site.. Where did theVerge say it is as good as a Play 5. Their comparison Video was with a Play One. Do you have a link . I am interested.

Homepod

My son-in-law bought his HomePod to my home a month, or so, ago, to compare with my Sonos One. Personally, I think the Sonos One sounded better. The 'One' was clearer and had crisper tones in the mid to high range. It was easily louder than the HomePod at their max volume. The only area where the HomePod was slightly better was the Bass, which was more rounded/mellow, but only just.

A pair of the older Play:1’s completely knock a single HomePod into touch, don’t let anyone fool you otherwise, ... that was very easy to see and my son-in-law completely agreed with me on that point. I would never buy a HomePod in place of a pair of Play:1’s.

I will add that the HomePod was very easy to setup using an iOS device, really simple in fact. Easier than the Sonos One in many respects. Siri on the other hand still has a long way to go yet to compete with the other voice services, like Amazon Alexa and Google.

If anything, the light effect on the top of the HomePod is quite pretty too, if you like that type of thing. I’ll never understand though why Apple decided to build the power cable into the speaker and not allow for much simpler lead extensions and replacements.

My thoughts having now seen and heard the HomePod at close quarters, is that Apple really need to reduce its price. I’m honestly quite an Apple fan too and use their products a lot, like iPhone, iPad, Apple TV etc; and the HomePod is good, but it isn’t great for the money it costs.

Since the comparison a month ago, I have gone onto buy the Sonos Beam for my dining room and to me that is a much better 'all round' product compared to the HomePod and far better value for money. I have no regrets at all with my choice of purchase.

Six Months with the Apple HomePod ALMOST convinced me it was good. :D

https://gizmodo.com/six-months-with-the-apple-homepod-almost-convinced-me-i-1828222019

Which becomes less appealing when AirPlay starts to skip and cut out, as it has done a few time in the last few months. So why should I go all in on AirPlay and the HomePod instead of using the Sonos One I already own? The Sonos One has Alexa built in, and Google Assistant is promised to come shortly. It nicely handles music over wifi vida the Sonos app. Plus, as of July 2018, the Sonos One supports AirPlay 2. It can’t handle phone calls, but the Sonos One can do nearly everything else the HomePod can do for $150 less. It even has a richer and more detailed sound quality!

So yeah, the HomePod is gorgeous, and AirPlay is often times fantastic, and Siri seems like... a thing that might become a useful thing one day. But the HomePod is still not worth its price—especially, when the Sonos One is so good and so cheap.

I don’t like airplay for the same reason I don’t care for Bluetooth. I get way to many calls and notifications on my phone. This causes constant interruptions in the music. I much prefer WiFi and uninterrupted music listening.

As an all in apple user I bought a HomePod but quickly came to the realization that I can do everything HomePod can do with my Sonos setup, airplay 2, and an Apple Watch and iPhone for HomeKit, as well as an Apple TV remote( 5 of them). I have had no issues with airplay2 but, on the other hand, Alexa has given me fits with playing music, or should I say... a Song. It always stops after 1 song when trying to invoke a playlist that plays perfect on the echo.
I am sticking with the Sonos/Airplay 2 setup. I returned the HomePod for an iPad that I use in the kitchen and called it a day.

*oddly, I guess, I do not get interruptions from calls and notifications on my iPhone or Apple watch interrupting playback on Sonos when streaming airplay from any of my devices. maybe that's a blessing for me though! KOW!!!

Hi. IMO the Sonos ONE are the perfect choice for my  desktop computer, using iTunes to stream music to one or multiple speakers from different manufacturers.

Local Best Buy finally has the Beam demo set up. Listened, then compared the HomePod at same store. Opinion has not changed, Sonos blows HomePod away. Beam has excellent stereo image, HomePod has none. There’s really no comparison for sound quality, the Beam is far more realistic, not to mention far more flexible. Poor Apple sheep, lol. 😃