Apple - HomePod mini - Midnight

Having purchased a pair of Home Pods on on launch day from Best Buy (at the $349 price) I've been a long-time fan of the smart speaker category. It wasn't long before my Google Home and Amazon Echos became paperweights. This HomePod mini at a $99 price point makes for the perfect stocking stuffer or even primary gift. In fact it does some things even better than the original. Sound quality is amazing, particular when paired with another for left/right Stereo. Even solo, they produce surprisingly full volume from a small sphere. Siri still trails the other smart assistance, and sends me to my phone more than I care to admit, but the utility of these are amazing. Adding them to rooms in your house makes your abode that much more accessible. Also cool is the ability to schedule or add events to play specific music or playlist based on a trigger (Wake up event, bed time chime, sunrise, sunset, etc. ). We used an Eve outlet to turn on Christmas tree, so "Siri, Christmas time" turned it on, dimmed other (Lutron Caseta) lights, and started playing Christmas Music throughout the house. My wife and I purchased a dozen of these between BB and Apple, mostly as gifts. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive, especially among those who's only other Apple device is an iPhone, thus making this an excellent gateway entry expanding usage on the ecosystem. The new to iOS 14 feature for HomePod mini has to be the INTERCOM. With it you can use your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or other HomePod to communicate with Mini's in other rooms. "Hey Siri, intercom, We're starting the movie", or "has anyone taken the dogs out?". Your voice is then played either through the HomePods and mini's in every room, specific rooms, or just a floor (based on the room and floor you select upon setup) Family members then "reply, I did, got it" or whatever. This sure beats the 70s built-in wall units of yesteryear. Additionally the new Mini sports Thread Mesh Networking protocol, so the more Thread devices you add, the more redundant, and wider your mesh network becomes. We're also starting to see other manufactures support Thread, namely $20 Nanoleaf interactive color light bulbs. PROS +compact cute WAF wife-acceptance factor +surprising sound quality +cool factor adds tech to every room +Whole-house (floor, or room) Intercom is great +Thread Mesh Networking future proofs expanded functionality +magic price point +Apple Music and playlist integration CONS -only big brother model sports Dolby Atmos -would love to see a $179 / 2-pack for stereo CONCLUSION This product might be one of Apple's more successful sleeper hits, if the Reddit /Homepod forum is to be believed. Countless new users RAVE about sound quality, and then are later ingratiated with other features they didn't know it could do. Recommend : BUY !!

I am writing this review in hopes this helps others thinking to buy them. This review is for 2 HomePod mini stereo paired. I bought one black and one white. They have to be paired in the home app on an iPhone and then updated separately. This is a pain, but be patient. Once paired, you can use with airplay. I personally just use them as a pair of speakers for my Mac mini. You can use airplay, or actually use as the audio output. I have issues with one speaker not working while the output, always works as airplay. You cannot use the EQ in airplay, only as output. Sometimes there is a gap in seamless tracks, sometimes there isn't. But all in all, I am very pleased with them. They sound great. I can use with all my apple devices. I do not use Siri, but it is possible. There is an intercom I also do not use. It is not as simple as bluetooth speakers. They do not charge, but do require a USB-c power block (included, whew). My Mac mini would not power them despite having 4 usb-c jacks. Music and movies sound great. 360 sound. I used to have the JBL BT speaker, but it died. I am not mad I replaced it with these. There are also stands that I recommend for cable management.

This is an absolutely wonderful and surprisingly powerful little speaker! It’s also absolutely packed with awesome features and it works so effortlessly and seamlessly with any Apple device. Setup literally takes less than 2 minutes; just hold your device near it and it’ll automatically register it. It also has the ability to control your entire smart home with Siri, as well as the ability to do all other features Siri can do. I absolutely love the cool colors they come in, and I also love that you can pair two of these together in one room to make a set of stereo speakers. It’s roughly the size of a softball, but it has the power and sound of a speaker triple it’s size. It also has 360° audio as well as the ability to play music in spatial audio from Apple Music. And the price of it makes it an absolute bargain, making it very easy to have one for the entire family in each of their bedrooms, which also allows you to fully utilize the intercom function of HomePods, which is a super cool feature that works exactly like it sounds, acting as intercoms throughout the whole house to each speaker or to only certain speakers you choose, and you’re able to use this feature from your phone to communicate with someone at home on their HomePod. These are the absolute coolest smart speakers that also offer excellent sound quality and beautiful aesthetics and work flawlessly with Apple products, so it’s especially great for those who already have and own Apple products, but it’s also great for those without any Apple products as well.