HomePod vs Play 5

Are you an Apple Music subscriber and fairly deep into the Apple ecosystem?

Do you want to be able to use voice control on your music service asssumibg it’s Apple Music?

Are you ok with using airplay to stream most anything else.

If the answers to all of the above is yes proceed to get your HomePods.

If not keep your Sonos.

In the house we have Sonos including the One , Bluesound Pulse Flex and the Apple HomePod.

Compared to the other two the HomePod has deeper, clearer bass and fills the room easier. However the mid and treble are in my opinion poor, Airplay 1 is practically useless and its only useful for Apple Music. Luckily my son bought it otherwise I would have taken it back to the store.

In my opinion the Bluesound Pulse Flex has better audio quality and has the flexibility of Bluetooth(works way better than airplay), headphone socket and preset buttons. The Sonos One scores points at being almost as good as the Pulse Flex but 1/3 cheaper.

The Play 5 (gen 2) is waaaayyy better than the HomePod.

All of this is in my humble opinion 🙂

Thank you both for your replies. Yes, we have Apple Music. Voice control would be nice, but certainly isn’t an essential. We only use our Sonos for Apple Music and Audible via line in at the moment, but the latter doesn’t work very well streaming from the Play 5 to the Sonos One. It stutters, sometimes doesn’t play and is annoying to control from a different room.

That said, if the sound really isn’t great on the HomePod then I’m not happy to make the jump as I really love the sound on the Play 5. I’ll have a look at the Pulse Flex though, thank you 🙂 I know Sonos are talking about Airplay in the future which would solve the problem, but it’s not clear whether that would include existing Sonos devices, so it’s a bit of a gamble sticking around just for that.

Ahh! I ticked my own response as the best reply. What a muppet! How do I undo that!?

The Sonos One will get Airplay 2, as will all current Bluesound devices. Beyond that and when nobody knows.

Cheers. Sorry, it looks like I can't undo my idiotic accidental acceptance of my reply as the "best answer". :8

Ahh! I ticked my own response as the best reply. What a muppet! How do I undo that!?
I fixed that for you. I gave the answer to Belly.

I know it's something that you've heard before, but I would like to add that Audible is coming to Sonos soon. I wish I could give you a date, but it's been a moving target for a while and I don't want to promise something that isn't 1000% accurate at this point. I look forward to being able to tell everyone it's ready.

I understood it wasn’t close in terms of audio quality but a recent article I read suggested there wasn’t much in it?

For every article that swings one way, there will be one that does the opposite.The sensible way to decide is based on features and price because these are objective things that can be relied on even from reviews. As long as the sound quality is in the ball park, the brain gets used to and even starts liking the one it hears over a time as short as a few days. The way to make sure of the ball park thing is via a listening test at home, to music you like. If that isn't possible, in the store.

Thanks for sorting that Ryan. I do appreciate there’s nothing more you can say regarding Audible. I wasn’t trying to spark another Audible debate, just that with alternatives emerging that already have this capability we’ve started wondering whether we should start looking elsewhere. It’s certainly not a decision I’d take lightly.

Kumar: Thanks for the reply. It’s sound quality I’m most concerned about really. With the UK price rises for Sonos, I think I can actually get a really good price for them second hand that would go a long way to paying for a couple of HomePods (or alternatives). I think you’re right about going and listening in store. But I’m sure home with the music you listen to all the time is the best comparison. I doubt Apple will be generous enough to lend me one though. Lol.

Doesn't Apple/dealers offer the return policy of the type that Sonos does, that allows such a test?

In the house we have Sonos including the One , Bluesound Pulse Flex and the Apple HomePod.

Compared to the other two the HomePod has deeper, clearer bass and fills the room easier. However the mid and treble are in my opinion poor, Airplay 1 is practically useless and its only useful for Apple Music. Luckily my son bought it otherwise I would have taken it back to the store.

In my opinion the Bluesound Pulse Flex has better audio quality and has the flexibility of Bluetooth(works way better than airplay), headphone socket and preset buttons. The Sonos One scores points at being almost as good as the Pulse Flex but 1/3 cheaper.

The Play 5 (gen 2) is waaaayyy better than the HomePod.

All of this is in my humble opinion :)

Very interesting observations and thanks for sharing 🙂 I have also compared the sonos play 1 vs the Pulse Flex but I was only able to listen to the homepod at the apple store. It did indeed sound like the midrange (vocals) were recessed and kind of 'quiet' in relation to the bass. I had a listen to a pair of sonos one speakers at a friend's place and they definitely have more present vocals.

I can get that the homepod will be easy on the ear with little fatigue at the expense of some vocal clarity. Still though... soooo restricted to anything other than apple music. Not even tunein radio or anything of the sort.

it looks nice though.

I have two HomePods, two Sonos One's and two Play 5's.
The Homepod sounds clearer with more detail, has 360 sound, and the mics are much more sensitive than the Sonos Ones which I have to shout over when playing music. It is at least equal to the Play 5 as well while being $150 cheaper.
Airplay is far better than bluetooth. I think everyone knows this.
It is disappointing Airplay 2 is not out yet but it should not be long.
I have no doubt that the Homepod is going to take alot of sales from Sonos especially since Sonos owners are also typically Apple users. You can't even Trueplay without an Apple device. Sonos must think so too since they cut the price of two Sonos Ones because of the Homepod.
The Play 5 is looking distinctly overpriced these days.
https://www.whathifi.com/sonos/play5-2015/review.
My living room speakers are Kef LS50W which are $2200 but have been favorably compared to spark and amp combinations costing much much more.
After the Kefs the Sonos One's always felt like they were lacking detail but the Homepod detail and clarity is much better.
https://www.whathifi.com/apple/homepod/review
I have no issue with using Airplay for Tidal and Pandora and then I can control them with my voice anyway. Not exactly a hardship
Alexa on the Sonos Ones is so bad I and a lot of other people are using Amazon echo skills to control them rather than the built in mics.
Sonos is dead in the water on their ancient home theater gear and Bluesound for one is a far better option.

One swallow does not summer make.

Listend to homepod at apple store recently. Not impressed.

My Sonos One responds better then my Amazon Dot ... not sure how many people use echo skill instead of talking to the Sonos One to control a Sonos One....don't believe that one.

Airplay1 and Bluetooth are both bad tech for music....that is the fact.

Anyone using What HiFi as the reference authority on quality sound deserves what they get. It is as much eye candy as the kit it promotes, and since it has to sell itself every month, by definition, it has to promote new kit every month. In a field where audible progress is slowly attained over decades, not even years, let alone months.

How can HomePods be more than junk if they don't do Hi Res:?

On a slightly more serious note, here is a review that claims they do very well, even with very reputed KEF speakers in the comparison. Of course, there is the very serious quality defect that the latter have - they don't cost $2200!
https://thenextweb.com/insider/2018/02/13/apples-homepod-goes-audiophile-testing-comes-unscathed/

If I wanted to spend money, and I needed better integration with Apple Music/i Devices and assuming that Siri works for me, I would take a hard look at HomePods, safe in the knowledge that my brain would compensate effortlessly in a couple of days to their different sound flavour.

If the above criteria did not apply, I wouldn't bother.

I will choose HomePod first, not simply for I am the Apple Music user but also the voice seems so good. So maybe I will buy HomePod for playing my Apple Music. May be it is not bad for having a try!

I've got two play 5's in my medium sized living room. Love the sound. Have read the HomePod vs Play 5 articles and forum postings. Finally decided to do my own test, since I also have a HomePod in my kitchen. I unpaired my 5's, and retuned one with trueplay. I put my HomePod next to the play 5. I listened to a number of songs in a variety of genres (rock, indie, folk, R&B, jazz vocals, jazz instrumental, classical). I also tried various sound levels on some songs. The result for me was the two speakers sounded about the same (trebles, miss, bass). The Sonos was, perhaps, a little warmer; while the HomePod was a little more detailed. Again, this is what my ears heard in my medium sized living room.

I am considering ditching my beloved Play 5's for two HomePods, once Airplay 2 is released. The Sonos speakers are relatively large and heavy. The HomePods would give me greater placement options. Really like the 360 HomePod sound. Based on my testing, I really wouldn't be giving up much.

They are a bit limited though? No spotify, in fact no nothing but Apple Music and then only on Apple devices. No Android No PC, and people moan about Sonos controller options!

But if it works for you, go ahead. Mer I'm always wary about getting too deep into apples, or anyone's, eco system.

Of course if you have Sonos Play:5gen2 then they will be airplay2 as well - so you should then be able to group Play:5 with Homepod.