"Apple Homepod: a Speaker to Reinvent Home Music"

[Cosmik]

I wouldn't read much, or anything, into the Reddit measurements for two reasons. First, the HomePod is using algorithms to send different signals to different tweeters. For instance, it sends what its algorithm identifies as ambient sounds to the back tweeters.

Good point. Measuring such a device may be meaningless or impossible. It might even give different results every time it is turned on. So much for the "Test and Measurement Procedures" thread...

 

[oivavoi]

Not sure if I agree. Distortion measurements may be difficult, but you will get an approximate sense of bass extension and dispersion pattern, no?

 

[Dialectic]

Not sure if I agree. Distortion measurements may be difficult, but you will get an approximate sense of bass extension and dispersion pattern, no?

I think you can get an approximate sense of bass extension, yes, but the dispersion pattern will vary from recording to recording as the HomePod's spatial algorithm identifies some sounds as direct and some as ambient, sending some to the front tweeters and others to the back tweeters accordingly. This algorithm is interesting conceptually and probably fine for casual listening.

There are other technologies on the horizon, however, that will make the HomePod obsolete--totally, 100%, throw-it-in-the-bin obsolete. But then again, this device wasn't meant to last 20, 10, or even five years.

It probably sounds fine for its intended function. The gentlemen on Reddit have gotten a little carried away and are eager to prove, using a $110 Dayton USB measurement mic, that this speaker sounds better than well-engineered monitors such as KEF LS50s. This is an apples-and-oranges comparison, and the measurements probably are not too useful anyway.

 

[12B4A]

There are other technologies on the horizon, however, that will make the HomePod obsolete--totally, 100%, throw-it-in-the-bin obsolete. But then again, this device wasn't meant to last 20, 10, or even five years.

Not that I think the homepod's technology is going down the right path but, it would be nice to know of any examples of technologies you might be referring to.

 

[Ron Party]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-really-sound-best-160346138.html

 

[Candlesticks]

https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7wwtqy/apple_homepod_the_audiophile_perspective/

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

This will suit most people perfectly, its main competition is the Amazon echo. There's nothing special at all about the sound that comes out of those. They are terrible.

Nobody I know sits down and listens to music so stereo is defunct in terms of the mass home market. This kind of thing is what people want.

It's not the end of stereo though, people enjoy that through headphones and earbuds.. that won't likely change anytime soon.

Exactly. Casual music listening is what the majority does now anyway. This is a way Apple can get their market share of home listeners. An easy transition for current Apple customers. If they already own iTunes downloads or Apple music subscription etc, they will have an instant home music library, and of course Apple would love for them to spend more.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

It's hell gettin old.

The alternative is worse Sal.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

For those of you seeking data on the post-stereo, Post-audiophile environment. This is not in the category of other little speakers you talk to.

https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/7wwtqy/apple_homepod_the_audiophile_perspective/

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-really-sound-best-160346138.html

Given its excellent bass control, I’m a little surprised it did so well. Most people seem to prefer their bass a bit bloated.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Just spent a few minutes chatting with an Apple rep. As a musician, I need to be able to play back anything I can play on my phone, iPad or Mac - you tube, SoundCloud files, a live recording on a flash drive plugged into my MacBook, etc. I confirmed that my Apple devices will recognize HomePod, just as it does Apple TV or my Airport Express, and allow me to send audio to it via Airplay. Confirmed. This means, of course, that if you have an iPhone, you can play Spotify, you tube audio, Pandora etc. on a HomePod, with just one extra click. You’re not locked into Apple, you just need a single IOS device. I’ll be picking one up today. I’ll keep the JBLs and the sub for TV, and those occasions when I actually sit between the speakers to listen to music. For most of my music listening, this is a better solution, as it will be for most music lovers.

 

[Soniclife]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/head-head-apple-homepod-really-sound-best-160346138.html

Good article. No real surprise that once blind, fed identical data, and level matched, a bunch of cheap speakers produce almost random preference across a few songs and listeners.

 

[Dialectic]

Not that I think the homepod's technology is going down the right path but, it would be nice to know of any examples of technologies you might be referring to.

Steering sound to listeners' ears and adjusting the stereo image for the positions of their heads and their individual HRTFs.

I also think we're only now seeing the advent of really good bass reproduction. @dallasjustice appears to be the resident expert on that subject.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Well, I bought one. I doubt it really out performs the KEFs in the sweet spot, but it would beat them just about everywhere else. My “room” is a small capital L, living room in the long part, kitchen in the base, dining in the corner. Placed where the LR becomes the DR, in line of sight from all positions, the Homepod sounds as good standing at the front door, sitting at the dining room table, or cooking at the stove. And that’s very good. Deeper, better-controlled bass than its size, or thrice its size, has any right to expect. Clear, coherent mids. Clear, smooth high end without any noticable harshness. And the DSP is almost indistinguishable from magic. I’ve moved it all around the space, and it calibrates to music, not pink noise, so it takes a few seconds to adjust to new positions, but after a bit of adapting, it sounds the same pushed back into a corner under as it does sitting out in the middle of the room. The woofer is up-firing, so under a kitchen cabinet gets funky, and the tweeters are in the bottom so the highs are a bit better at dining room table height than end table height, but it’s not much difference.

One may not beat the KEFs in their sweet spot, but two might render them irrelevant.

For a system to listen to while living, rather than while sitting still between two speakers, I’ve never heard any thing close to this good without walking around with good in-ear monitors plugged into my phone. And that is the way everybody but audiophiles listens. It remains to be seen if most see (hear?) the difference between this and other talking speakers, but they’re really not the competition; they’re not really even in the same category. This is high fidelity home listening, reinvented. Stereo, outside of headphones, has been on life support for awhile. It has finally been well-replaced.

Oh and it’s kinda cool, when a song I really like comes on, to say, “Hey Siri, turn it up.” And even if it’s already loud, and I’m as far away from the HomePod as I can get, she understands me. Every time.

 

[oivavoi]

Well, I bought one. I doubt it really out performs the KEFs in the sweet spot, but it would beat them just about everywhere else. My “room” is a small capital L, living room in the long part, kitchen in the base, dining in the corner. Placed where the LR becomes the DR, in line of sight from all positions, the Homepod sounds as good standing at the front door, sitting at the dining room table, or cooking at the stove. And that’s very good. Deeper, better-controlled bass than its size, or thrice its size, has any right to expect. Clear, coherent mids. Clear, smooth high end without any noticable harshness. And the DSP is almost indistinguishable from magic. I’ve moved it all around the space, and it calibrates to music, not pink noise, so it takes a few seconds to adjust to new positions, but after a bit of adapting, it sounds the same pushed back into a corner under as it does sitting out in the middle of the room. The woofer is up-firing, so under a kitchen cabinet gets funky, and the tweeters are in the bottom so the highs are a bit better at dining room table height than end table height, but it’s not much difference.

One may not beat the KEFs in their sweet spot, but two might render them irrelevant.

For a system to listen to while living, rather than while sitting still between two speakers, I’ve never heard any thing close to this good without walking around with good in-ear monitors plugged into my phone. And that is the way everybody but audiophiles listens. It remains to be seen if most see (hear?) the difference between this and other talking speakers, but they’re really not the competition; they’re not really even in the same category. This is high fidelity home listening, reinvented. Stereo, outside of headphones, has been on life support for awhile. It has finally been well-replaced.

Oh and it’s kinda cool, when a song I really like comes on, to say, “Hey Siri, turn it up.” And even if it’s already loud, and I’m as far away from the HomePod as I can get, she understands me. Every time.

Nice! I want one! And the thing you're describing there, speakers for living not for sitting, is precisely what made me interested in omni speakers in the first place...

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Nice! I want one! And the thing you're describing there, speakers for living not for sitting, is precisely what made me interested in omni speakers in the first place...

Yeah, but bear in mind that placement matters. You need to have the speaker in line of sight from wherever you’re listening. If I had two, and set them up like a stereo pair on either side of my TV, it wouldn’t work as well. They’d have to make it around the corner. I haven’t tried that, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be ideal.

 

[rebbiputzmaker]

Well, I bought one. I doubt it really out performs the KEFs in the sweet spot, but it would beat them just about everywhere else. My “room” is a small capital L, living room in the long part, kitchen in the base, dining in the corner. Placed where the LR becomes the DR, in line of sight from all positions, the Homepod sounds as good standing at the front door, sitting at the dining room table, or cooking at the stove. And that’s very good. Deeper, better-controlled bass than its size, or thrice its size, has any right to expect. Clear, coherent mids. Clear, smooth high end without any noticable harshness. And the DSP is almost indistinguishable from magic. I’ve moved it all around the space, and it calibrates to music, not pink noise, so it takes a few seconds to adjust to new positions, but after a bit of adapting, it sounds the same pushed back into a corner under as it does sitting out in the middle of the room. The woofer is up-firing, so under a kitchen cabinet gets funky, and the tweeters are in the bottom so the highs are a bit better at dining room table height than end table height, but it’s not much difference.

One may not beat the KEFs in their sweet spot, but two might render them irrelevant.

For a system to listen to while living, rather than while sitting still between two speakers, I’ve never heard any thing close to this good without walking around with good in-ear monitors plugged into my phone. And that is the way everybody but audiophiles listens. It remains to be seen if most see (hear?) the difference between this and other talking speakers, but they’re really not the competition; they’re not really even in the same category. This is high fidelity home listening, reinvented. Stereo, outside of headphones, has been on life support for awhile. It has finally been well-replaced.

Oh and it’s kinda cool, when a song I really like comes on, to say, “Hey Siri, turn it up.” And even if it’s already loud, and I’m as far away from the HomePod as I can get, she understands me. Every time.

Amazing review, very impressive. Look like apple has another winner, not cheap but not overpriced either. What Kefs do you have?

 

[RayDunzl]

Will the hPod work standalone, like with WiFi/cat5 to get to the 'net, or does it need some Apple friends nearby to do anything useful?

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Amazing review, very impressive. Look like apple has another winner, not cheap but not overpriced either. What Kefs do you have?

I don’t have KEFs, I was referring to the comparison made above. I’ve heard the active version of the ones with the coaxial driver, I forget the model number, but I wouldn’t really need to. No stereo pair could do what one of these does in a space like this, because they can’t play around the corner. And without some very sophisticated DSP, I really doubt any bookshelf pair could better a pair of these. Now, if you have a really large listening room, and really like it loud, I’m pretty sure you’d find their limits. But for my purposes, this speaker is pretty awesome.

 

[stunta]

Well, I bought one. I doubt it really out performs the KEFs in the sweet spot, but it would beat them just about everywhere else. My “room” is a small capital L, living room in the long part, kitchen in the base, dining in the corner. Placed where the LR becomes the DR, in line of sight from all positions, the Homepod sounds as good standing at the front door, sitting at the dining room table, or cooking at the stove. And that’s very good. Deeper, better-controlled bass than its size, or thrice its size, has any right to expect. Clear, coherent mids. Clear, smooth high end without any noticable harshness. And the DSP is almost indistinguishable from magic. I’ve moved it all around the space, and it calibrates to music, not pink noise, so it takes a few seconds to adjust to new positions, but after a bit of adapting, it sounds the same pushed back into a corner under as it does sitting out in the middle of the room. The woofer is up-firing, so under a kitchen cabinet gets funky, and the tweeters are in the bottom so the highs are a bit better at dining room table height than end table height, but it’s not much difference.

One may not beat the KEFs in their sweet spot, but two might render them irrelevant.

For a system to listen to while living, rather than while sitting still between two speakers, I’ve never heard any thing close to this good without walking around with good in-ear monitors plugged into my phone. And that is the way everybody but audiophiles listens. It remains to be seen if most see (hear?) the difference between this and other talking speakers, but they’re really not the competition; they’re not really even in the same category. This is high fidelity home listening, reinvented. Stereo, outside of headphones, has been on life support for awhile. It has finally been well-replaced.

Oh and it’s kinda cool, when a song I really like comes on, to say, “Hey Siri, turn it up.” And even if it’s already loud, and I’m as far away from the HomePod as I can get, she understands me. Every time.

I am impressed. It takes a company like Apple to set the hifi industry's ass on fire. Why the heck are they still making passive speakers?

Is it stable at high volumes? Does the thing rattle or shift when you play music with heavy bottom end?

Also, how do you send flac files to this thing?

I will probably wait to see if they make a larger version that goes lower than 40 Hz, ideally (but unlikely) without all this Siri stuff on it.