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"Apple Homepod: a Speaker to Reinvent Home Music"

12B4A

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Pardon the sperg out here but it's directly related to my HomePod experience:

So after f-ing around with installing homebridge from the my Mac's terminal, I was able to get the HomePod to basically control my 1st gen Nest thermostat. This is my first experience with home automation and I kinda like it. There's a crapton of homebridge modules for all kinds of non-HomeKit compatible devices. I'm past the learning curve for configuring new devices to work with homebridge so now I've got a learning IR/RF blaster on the way to control all of my 433mhz switching outlets for my 705Ps and completely automate my receiver/projector setup. I may have bought the HomePods for a wireless, low-power convenient 2nd audio system but I wasn't expecting to spool up smart home capabilities.
 

12B4A

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It definitely could benefit from a flat EQ setting. I really don't know why they intentionally start rolling off the highs at the moderate spl levels.
 

RayDunzl

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here are some alternatives that will make an alternative for homepod

The third choice that is not the HomePod is the HomePod.

upload_2018-2-28_11-59-18.png
 

12B4A

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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.

I just stumbled upon your impression with the BACCH. That definitely looks like a solid tech path. Hopefully not to sound like an Apple advocate here but, besides buying TAP outright with a rounding error in their revenue, it certainly seems like Apple has quite a bit of the hardware in place for their own kind of mass-market implementation already: AirPods for the binaural mics, their true depth camera for precise head tracking, and the home pods for pumping steered sound in to the room.
 

Dialectic

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I just stumbled upon your impression with the BACCH. That definitely looks like a solid tech path. Hopefully not to sound like an Apple advocate here but, besides buying TAP outright with a rounding error in their revenue, it certainly seems like Apple has quite a bit of the hardware in place for their own kind of mass-market implementation already: AirPods for the binaural mics, their true depth camera for precise head tracking, and the home pods for pumping steered sound in to the room.

It's conceivable that BACCH processing could be applied through devices like the HomePods, and indeed, there have been Jawbone one-piece speakers with simplified BACCH crosstalk cancellation and no head tracking.

I may be mistaken, but I don't think the AirPods' microphones are intraaural. Consequently, they will not work for BACCH filter calibration. I also don't believe the HomePod currently is capable of steering sound. It instead directs sounds identified as ambient to its back tweeters and sound identified as direct to its front tweeters. I view this type of additive processing as antithetical to the kind of stereo purification provided by BACCH.

As head tracking technology improves, the need for intraaural microphones for calibration may disappear: it may become possible to calibrate BACCH with a known pair of speakers in known positions by using the camera to identify the shape of the listeners' heads and ears.

Though it may be possible for Apple to implement BACCH technology in a future version of the HomePod, I view Apple's audio products and BACCH as a mismatch. BACCH is a decidedly non-half-assed technology, and its appeal may not be universal, as it effects a much greater improvement on recordings of classical music and jazz than it does on recordings of popular music.

Apple has a history of making half-assed audio products. For all the praise heaped on it here and on Reddit, the HomePod is a nice--if overpriced--one-piece speaker for mono background music. If one were to evaluate it as a device for producing high-quality audio, one could conclude only that it is extraordinarily half-assed. One could get a pair of JBL LSR305s and a Behringer UMC204HD for slightly less than the cost of a HomePod, and with the JBL/Behringer package, one would have both better sound and stereo.

And Apple makes products for the mass market. Despite the endless discussions of Steve Jobs' and Jony Ive's sophisticated taste, Apple has always aimed for mass appeal, not for small, sophisticated markets. Where Apple has captured sophisticated markets, it has done so mostly unintentionally.

My hope is that a new company can make a one-piece home loudspeaker integrating BACCH technology. After hearing the HomePod, I doubt that Apple is interested in producing high-quality audio products.
 

12B4A

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All really good points. Been there, done that with 305s. :)
 

Phelonious Ponk

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While I agree that HomePod operates in the same space as the better small speakers if this kind, Sonos comes to mind, it sounds better, and that chsracterization misses the real point; that it sounds that way, and almost identical, anywhere you put it, and anywhere you put yourself in the room. For this kind of compact, room-filling, non stereo approach (that fills a massive consumer need), it is a game changer. No, it won’t beat true hifi stereo in the sweet spot, but it’s not just a step up from the average smart speaker.
 

RayDunzl

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leonroy

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AKA underestimate Apple at anything at your peril.
That is true but Apple don’t seem hugely interested in entering small or niche markets. Which is good news for all the mid to high end audio manufacturers out there.

The future will tell but I’ll be very surprised if they announce anything more expensive than the HomePod. I’d wager a cheaper version is far more likely.
 

stunta

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AKA underestimate Apple at anything at your peril.

Given Siri is largely stagnant compared to the competition and iPhone is seeing incremental updates, its really hard to expect any innovation from Apple these days. The HomePod is refreshing in that sense though.

 

RayDunzl

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I didn't know it could do that.
 

12B4A

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Only for young professional female dancers. Here's what it does for guys:
 

Sal1950

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AKA underestimate Apple at anything at your peril.

We've been debating in legal circles for close to 100 years now on when and where a persons house or business can be bugged.
Now people are putting devises in their homes that sends every word spoken over the internet. NUTS they are. ;)

Besides, I'm holding out for a Holodeck, Imagine the possibilities. OMG :eek::D
 

mpm

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Apple doesn't snoop, and they never will. This is widely known.
I took weeks to evaluate JBL 305s vs HomePod, the Pod placed on top of one 305 playing in mono.
Empirical evaluation only, but reasonably level-matched. The 305s are in the closet.
 

Sal1950

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mpm

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Conspiracies everywhere you look.
If you think Apple is lying about that, you can cut Siri with a voice command.
If you want to imagine that Apple would run risk in this regard, carry on.
 
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