[Technology] Anyone ordered the Apple HomePod?

[Green Cross Code Man]

Confirmed walled garden, will only play nicely with other Apple products.


https://www.cnet.com/news/reminder-apples-homepod-only-plays-nice-with-apple-devices/

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Mrs DS got an Amazon Alexa from our youngest at Christmas and was so excited about it. She used to ask it for a daily update which gave her the latest news etc. However one day Alexa must have been confused about what she asked for because it starting asking her some health related questions which she duly answered. Alexa then told her she had x days to live! Now when she asks for her morning briefing it s proceeded by you have x days to live, which is one day less than the previous one. Scares her shitless

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Interesting report for the states. As Siri is so far behind Alexa and particularly the Google Assistant, it needed to really shine in sound quality. It appears, initially, to have not quite come up to scratch when compared to the Google Home Max and Sonos.

https://www.consumerreports.org/smart-speakers/apple-homepod-early-test-results/

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

Oops

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43064772

Apple's new smart speakers can discolour wooden surfaces, leaving a white mark where they are placed, the firm has acknowledged.

The US company has suggested that owners may have to re-oil furniture if the HomePod is moved.

The device went on sale last week after having been delayed from its original 2017 release date.

Apple told Pocket-lint that it was "not unusual"*for speakers with silicone bases*to leave a "mild mark".

But the gadget review site told the BBC it had never seen anything like this problem.

The website's founder, Stuart Miles, told the BBC that a speaker left a mark on his kitchen worktop within 20 minutes.

"To clear it, I had to sand the wood down and then re-oil it," Mr Miles said.

"It wasn't the end of the world for us. But if you've bought an expensive Scandinavian sideboard or some beautiful piece of wooden furniture and then got a mark on it from the speaker, you can imagine the horror," he added.

The problem has also been experienced by*a New York Times review*and*the 9to5Mac news site*as well as by at least one member of the public.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Oops

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43064772

Apple's new smart speakers can discolour wooden surfaces, leaving a white mark where they are placed, the firm has acknowledged.

The US company has suggested that owners may have to re-oil furniture if the HomePod is moved.

The device went on sale last week after having been delayed from its original 2017 release date.

Apple told Pocket-lint that it was "not unusual"*for speakers with silicone bases*to leave a "mild mark".

But the gadget review site told the BBC it had never seen anything like this problem.

The website's founder, Stuart Miles, told the BBC that a speaker left a mark on his kitchen worktop within 20 minutes.

"To clear it, I had to sand the wood down and then re-oil it," Mr Miles said.

"It wasn't the end of the world for us. But if you've bought an expensive Scandinavian sideboard or some beautiful piece of wooden furniture and then got a mark on it from the speaker, you can imagine the horror," he added.

The problem has also been experienced by*a New York Times review*and*the 9to5Mac news site*as well as by at least one member of the public.

I didn’t know Ikea did expensive sideboards

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

I didn’t know Ikea did expensive sideboards

Then sir, I can only surmise that you have never shopped at the said establishment.

Disclaimer, I have no idea how much Ikea charge for a sideboard.

 

[Bozza]

Interesting report for the states. As Siri is so far behind Alexa and particularly the Google Assistant, it needed to really shine in sound quality. It appears, initially, to have not quite come up to scratch when compared to the Google Home Max and Sonos.

https://www.consumerreports.org/smart-speakers/apple-homepod-early-test-results/

The Verge are positively gushing about the sound quality:

"Compared to the HomePod, the Sonos One sounds a little empty and the Google Home Max is a bass-heavy mess — even though Google also does real-time room tuning. The Echo and smaller Google Home aren’t even in the same league. The only comparable speaker that came close in my testing was the Sonos Play:5, which could match the detail and power of the HomePod in some rooms when tuned with Sonos’ TruePlay system. But it also costs more, is larger, and doesn’t have any smart features at all."

"Apple’s audio engineering team did something really clever and new with the HomePod, and it really works. I’m not sure there’s anything out there that sounds better for the price, or even several times the price."

Pretty damning about everything else though.

I was in the Apple Store in Brighton today mulling over a new MacBook Pro purchase (I resisted), and didn't even consider going to check out the Homepod. I assume they had them, but I completely forgot about it. I'm not sure I've been so unaware of a new Apple product ever before.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

The Verge are positively gushing about the sound quality:

"Compared to the HomePod, the Sonos One sounds a little empty and the Google Home Max is a bass-heavy mess — even though Google also does real-time room tuning. The Echo and smaller Google Home aren’t even in the same league. The only comparable speaker that came close in my testing was the Sonos Play:5, which could match the detail and power of the HomePod in some rooms when tuned with Sonos’ TruePlay system. But it also costs more, is larger, and doesn’t have any smart features at all."

"Apple’s audio engineering team did something really clever and new with the HomePod, and it really works. I’m not sure there’s anything out there that sounds better for the price, or even several times the price."

Pretty damning about everything else though.

I was in the Apple Store in Brighton today mulling over a new MacBook Pro purchase (I resisted), and didn't even consider going to check out the Homepod. I assume they had them, but I completely forgot about it. I'm not sure I've been so unaware of a new Apple product ever before.

This one is interesting, a blind test and it's not the first where the Google Max comes ahead of the Homepod. But you'll be glad to know that the Sonos, whilst being far cheaper than either, is rated best.

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

Have you seen this? Seems the Homepod is having its fair share of woes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43064772

edit:just seen this earlier in the thread. Oops.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Sales not going too well. Hardly surprising when Google Home Max and Sonos (significantly cheaper) offer better products.
https://mashable.com/2018/04/12/apple-homepod-sales-poor/#dah.L4E4iZqr

 

[Notters]

Got a Google Home mini for my birthday and it's bloody fantastic. Great sound quality. Better than an echo which my friend has, let alone a dot. Looks good too.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Got a Google Home mini for my birthday and it's bloody fantastic. Great sound quality. Better than an echo which my friend has, let alone a dot. Looks good too.

I've got two full-sized Google Homes and a mini. I love the mini, I use it in the kitchen, stuck to a tile. It has reasonable sound quality for a small speaker and is fine listening to quiet music and voice. However, I cast from it to a Chromecast audio in an old Sony mini hifi which has loads better sound quality.

If you can pick up a mini on offer, it's a bargain.

 

[Is it PotG?]

I do music 'on the go' the old fashioned way.

Tons of lossless albums on the phone, take a wonderful sounding mini b/t speaker and move it to whichever room I'm in.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

How are these expensive single-speaker solutions ever going to be better than even a cheap twin-speaker stereo setup? I don't get it. Maybe I'm too old.

 

[Icy Gull]

How are these expensive single-speaker solutions ever going to be better than even a cheap twin-speaker stereo setup? I don't get it. Maybe I'm too old.

They’re not but it does mean you can take the speaker anywhere in the house or the garden. The quality of my Bose Soundlink is more than adequate (actually it’s better than adequate , it is very good) 90 percent of the time but I do occasionally play music loud through the sound system. Having both is ideal

Continuing the old school thought though, I often listen to old albums on my car stereo and I am shocked that modern albums (well the ones I have anyway) are not stereo in the way old 70’s albums are. For example drums or vocals in one speaker and guitar or harmonies in the other. I bloody love that effect. Why has it been dumped for what often sounds like a poor mono recording?

 

[Arthritic Toe]

They don’t but it does mean you can take the speaker anywhere in the house or the garden. The quality of my Bose Soundlink is more than adequate 90 percent of the time but I do occasionally play music loud through the sound system. Having both is ideal

Yes, I get that the portability is handy. I suppose my point is that arguing the toss over one vastly expensive single speaker system over another, in terms of sound quality, is a bit redundant, given that you have already thrown away 80% of the audio experience by virtue of it being a single speaker.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

How are these expensive single-speaker solutions ever going to be better than even a cheap twin-speaker stereo setup? I don't get it. Maybe I'm too old.

New technology always comes at a premium. Google Home and Alexa are pretty affordable but not really that great for listneing to music, merely 'adequate'. The more expensive options will come down in price. They are great if you have a music subscription to spotify, play music, deezer etc. I won't include Apple Pod in that because as far as i am aware, it is locked into Apple Music.

Continuing the old school thought though, I often listen to old albums on my car stereo and I am shocked that modern albums (well the ones I have anyway) are not stereo in the way old 70’s albums are. For example drums or vocals in one speaker and guitar or harmonies in the other. I bloody love that effect. Why has it been dumped for what often sounds like a poor mono recording?

Most older albums were produced for a better standard of equipment than most people listen to nowadays, the ubiquity of mobile listening for younger people for instance. Stereo was very 'obvious' in the early days, i.e. The Beatles playing with vocals on the left and the instruments on the right and developed far more subtlety in the 70's and 80's where a more complete and full sound was achieved. Loads of older stuff consequently sounds superior to the more recent sounds, particulalry to the older 'trained' ear.