Apple - HomePod - Space Gray

I have been intrigued by this product since released, and frustrated with Apple's pricing practices and desire to be a "top tier" company by only offering high end high price products. This device always seemed a bit overpriced and unnecessary for me as I have a nice sound system connected to my TV, but I wanted something for Home Kit control. I like Apple's focus on encryption and privacy especially with the alway on always listening home controlling devices like this. I have apple Home Kit enabled devices in my house, and wanted a quick way for my pet sitter to turn them on and off when she comes in. I tried the Amazon dot last year, but found it difficult to setup and you need to have the always listening feature on. It also required setting up my already existing already working HomeKit enabled devices in the Alexa app which was hit and miss. I was waiting and hoping that Apple would release a cheaper version of this with less speaker and more control. Then Best Buy had this on holiday sale for 100 dollars off retail price. I figured it was worth a try knowing I had time to return it if it did not work. I set it up in seconds yesterday, and immediately transferred the podcast I was listening to on my phone to the speaker. I often wear headphones around the house and listen to music or podcasts throughout the day. This makes it easy to transfer what I am listening to via my phone airplay button and I can hear it clearly from anywhere in the downstairs. It sounds amazing and is so much easier to use to listen to anything on my phone. Yes you can use it without the Hey Siri feature listening. You can press and hold the center of the top panel which prompts Siri so I can turn off the "always listening" or if it does that annoying digital assistant thing where it mishears something I say that sounds vaguely like "Hey Siri" and becomes disruptive (This has not happened yet). I also like that in the Home app on my iPhone I can turn off the Home pod analytics which will not share my always on always listening recordings with Apple or anyone else. I wish the $200 price was not a promotion, but the retail price. After 1.5 days it has proven its worth and made me realize something I was overtly critical of and uninterested in is as good as I was sure it was not. I like being proven wrong. I am not sure I would pay $300 for it at full price, but if it keeps impressing me like this I might eat those words as well.

Before I go deep into this review. Remember: I’m deep in the Apple ecosystem. I did my research before buying this HomePod just to make sure this is what I wanted. So after tugging with the price and the wallet strings, I finally got one when the price went down(On an excellent open box!) This thing is heavy! All those speakers in a round speaker that look sleek is crazy! Had to order the tabletop stand because the speaker can ruin furniture(Read in reviews) I set it up at my mom’s house just to see what it sounds like. As a person who likes his sound coming out of any speaker to be clear and hit on every note I will say this......OMG! Apple nailed it on this unit. Every note. Every time. (Just to prove it, if you get one....play Feel The Bass Part One by DJ Majic Mike to test it out) It has the capability of controlling anything in your house with the right comparable equipment. Downside: Need iPhone to setup and Apple Music subscription. Only pulls music from the ecosystem including any music you have in iCloud. Not Bluetooth. Have to know how to hit those taps just right on the unit to get it to work right and it’s highly sensitive. But it sounds great! If you are a Apple user and like top quality sound, then get this for your living room and or bedroom.

I recently purchased an Apple HomePod for myself as a little b-day gift. After living with the speaker for a while, here is what I can offer. 1. Set-up is perhaps the easiest I've ever done for a network device. Plug it in, hold your iPhone near it, and it automatically starts the set-up for you. Click a few buttons on your phone to complete the set-up and you're up and running in like a few minutes. Very nice. 2. Once set up, using the speaker is amazingly simple, yet feature-rich. "Hey Siri, play some Coltrane", or "Hey Siri, play Music for Airports by Brian Eno" and in about 2 seconds, it starts playing. Too loud or quiet? Just say "Hey Siri, raise/lower the volume" and it'll take care of that. 3. Ask it the weather, or what your appointments are for tomorrow. It seems like it can pretty much do it all. 4. The "ring" issue. Some people have found that the speaker can leave a ring on some wood surfaces. You can go ahead and buy a little $10 stand to put it on. I just used a folded piece of paper. Works great. 5. Let's talk about sound. Plenty of reviews talk about the great sound, and for its size, the sound is impressive. Don't expect your HomePod to sound like Tannoys or a nice pair of vintage Klipschorns, but the sound is pretty good. It's an active speaker, so it adjusts its sound reproduction based on its surroundings. So don't worry too much about where you're putting it. It can adjust. Speaking of Coltrane, I played "A Love Supreme" and was actually impressed. The bass solo sounded pretty decent, not as muddy as I would expect a small woofer to be. The drum solo sounded relatively tight. The piano was missing a bit of brightness, but still more than passable. Sax just stood out nicely. Overall, the sound was more natural that I was expecting, and definitely better than the artificial sound you'd get from a similarly-sized speaker from Bose. 6. Volume control. You can tell it to raise or lower the volume, or tape the plus/minus sign on top. I do wish the volume increments were a bit smaller, though. Raising the volume sometimes is a bit too high and I wish it could raise it just a little bit less. But this is a minor issue in my book. 7. The power cord. OK, yeah, I'm making a point of the power cord. They actually give you a decent-length cord! I know this seems like a small issue, but I do get tired of getting electronics that have these short, dinky power cords. In all, I think this would make a fine addition to your home, assuming you are well-invested in the Apple ecosystem.

A little background here, I have done tracking, mixing, some mastering and music production. And have some very accurate main monitors. Is the HomePod on that level? Well no, but they Do sound very good, I am impressed, the size, the fact of the great sale price at Best Buy, and that it was delivered the day after I ordered. Siri makes all this a blast, and sets it apart from my studio mains, still getting the hang of talking to a speaker! Have no issues with Siri understanding me the way some do.. I have yet to add HomeKit stuff. I can see how it will all be useful. Zero issues with setup, copied what it needed off of iPhone , network, was auto setup..pretty cool. Sound quality is very Very good for its size. Build quality is typical apple, that’s a good thing. The home automation, having Siri, to set alarms or sleep timers, and current sale price make this a great value. Got a second for a stereo set up. Hats off to Best Buy, and apple on this one. Recommend!

Okay. I do love Apple and their products. I had some WiFi issues that made setting this unit up very difficult. ( finally had to part with my airport extreme after five years). After I replaced my router all was fine. Asus AX88U which is awesome. Set up on this unit was not bad at all with my iPhone 11 Pro. The sound quality is very good and I like pairing it with my Apple TV as a great external speaker. I love being able to make calls and text, and speaking to my girlfriend on the HomePod has been a great hands free experience. I wish Siri had the breadth of function that Alexa and Google Home do-but it’s still not a bad experience. I got mine for $199. At $300 I couldn’t justify the purchase. If you have an iPhone, iPad, iMac and use Apple Music I would recommend this. Hopefully Apple can improve on Siri’s functionality. It’s a shame that they started the whole personal assistant deal and have fallen so far behind. Although I will say she now can tell me how long it will take to get someplace (specific to contacts or business with road names included). I like the voice recognition as Echo doesn’t have that feature. I can also turn my Apple TV on and off which is lazy but fun. I control my lights and switches seamlessly too. Bottom line is it’s a fantastic Apple person product for $199. I also have a SoundTouch 20 and 30 so I didn’t really need another speaker. When the price dropped I grabbed one. I hope this helps!

I hesitated to buy but now that I bought it, I can tell you that what an amazing product! The sound is unbeatable and so easy to set up

The sound quality of HomePod is amazing. Of course, the main features will be turned on later this year and with the great quality sound combined with Airplay 2 it is a no brainer this is the best smart speaker to have. I was amazed I could go full volume and fill the room with music that was not distorted in the least. Again, sound is amazing and the HomePod will just get better with AirPlay 2 for multiroom playing and being able to connect two HomePods together. Great potential for this product. A must have for an Apple ecosystem.

With the Apple HomePod connected, amplified audio is a snap. No amplifier, nor endless wires, and great bass/ treble plus Dolby Atmos with Airplay 2 is supported for audiophiles. Siri is omnipresent when within speaking range for voice commands, and home automation is built in to each Apple HomePod if you want to explore the Apple HomeKit. One HomePod sounds great with its booming subwoofer. Connect a 2nd one and the Apple system detects and connects both for well balanced stereo output. Or put one in multiple rooms for whole home audio immersion! Viewing video content (especially with an Apple TV) or simply streaming audio from an iPhone, iPad, or MacBook is a snap! The HomePod can also serve to be a hub for a Smarthome system. This is a super simple solution for a home audio system, or for those who want to get a foot in the door for Smarthome automation. Explore the Home app on your Apple Devices and get started with home automation and add more functionality with the Apple HomeKit. As Apple continues to refine their operating systems for all their devices, this audio solution/home automation system continues to improve with each new release. The future looks bright for the those hoping to expand their Apple-Verse to include more functionality. Do yourself a favor and get rid of those unsightly speaker and power cables and give the HomePod a try, you'll be glad you did.