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.

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.

The HomePod is something really special that will expand its options as updates come available over time. The sound on this impeccable piece of engineering is absolutely INCREDIBLE. I’m a audiophile at heart. I have to have the best of the best when it comes to sound. This has 7-speakers that offer crisp and clear keynotes that can make you hear things that you normally couldn’t in the smart speaker world. I also have a Sonos and believe me when I say this that the sound comparison between the Apple’s HomePod and the Sony’s Sonos has a marginal gap. I was blown away by how impressive the HomePod sounds. The microphone also has pretty good range. I was 3 rooms away and Siri picked up what I said (with kids running in the background) and played 80s Rock. That was impressive for a small but heavy speaker. Speaking of heavy. That is due to the magnet that is in this speaker. The bass that comes from this thing is MIGHTY impressive. I’ve had friends come over during the weekend and they never guessed it was coming from the HomePod. They thought it was my Bose Home Theatre system that I usually have on. Needless to say they were blown away as it knows where it’s sitting by using sound waves reporting back to the device so that’ll it’ll adjust to any room setting. On another note. This is is limited for now. If you don’t think Apple won’t open the HomePod up to other apps and add new features then you obviously don’t know Apple. For now if you can be a little patient until Apple releases updates this year and can just admire the sound quality the HomePod has then its for you. It’ll eventually be able to connect to other devices within time. Everyone just has to be patient. That shouldn’t stop anyone from buying a speaker to listen to music via Apple Music, iTunes and Spotify. Overall, The HomePod is an incredible sounding machine. Apple spent 6 years in development to get the sound perfect and they did just that. Now they will focus on updates throughout the year to improve what’s already THE best sounding device in my home. Go get one especially if you’ve invested in iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music!!

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.

I’d been pondering about the purchase due to my questioning how much I’d actually use it; since I don’t have like a smart home... And after the purchase was made — oh my word 8) I’m Uber excited about its usage and beautiful sound. I use it as: • my wake-up alarm • to listen to my music (outside of my iPh 11 Pro Max (smiles) without interruption of calls, texts, notification of any sort • but can still take/make calls through my speaker • the sound is absolutely true, clean and powerful • the response “hey Siri” whether anything is playing or not is so accurate, even from a distance (*at least up to 15ft tested in my home) I’m considering purchasing another (1 or 2) for an area or two more in my home. The current pod is in my bedroom. I’m quite happy with the investment made and addition to my Apple goods!

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've owned other smart speakers/assistants and while there are some advantages, the sound quality of the HomePod is hands down the best available. As I have homes in Berlin and NY, I own a handful and do notice a slight difference in the equalizer in iOS 11 vs 12. Most won't notice but if you prefer more base, don't update the firmware if the model you buy still has iOS 11. Otherwise, iOS 12 has a plethora of Siri and iCloud features such as handsfree callings, reminders, appointments/scheduling, etc along with Siri Shortcuts that make the update paramount. I've updated most of mine with the exception of two in my master bedroom and know Apple is releasing a new update that will allow users to customize the equalizer. Beyond that, Apple's improvements in Siri have finally pushed the virtual assistant to the quality level it has sorely needed for years. While I understand Apple places security/privacy above all else which has hindered Siri's ability to evolve, the last year of improvements launched with iOS 12 along with Siri Shortcuts, a clever way to create the equivalent of Alexa Skills without foregoing user privacy, and with more to come, I highly recommend the investment in a HomePod over others. If you have an Apple TV, AVR, Mac, etc with AirPlay 2, the ability to fill a room with space conscious auto-tuning is far and above what's on the market.

The Apple HomePod has been around for three years and I finally purchased one 12/3/2020. Typically, I do a fair amount of research before purchasing a new piece of technology and this time was no different. This may be why I was initially impressed with the sound when I setup the HomePod in my office (not a home office). The sound is full with firm deep bass which is often hit and miss in a speaker this size. The thing that intrigued me most was the "smart" functionality and I really wanted to explore more of the Siri ecosystem. Currently, we have Alexa functionality enabled on our SONOS speakers and other IoT devices. However, I want to move to Siri because of all of our other Apple devices (phones, watches, tablets, headphones, earphones, computers, TV), and because of privacy concerns. Apple's privacy policy aligns with my viewpoints and beliefs. Siri may not share many of the capabilities of other "digital assistants" but I knew this and am still willing to make the move. The "Smart" functionality of the HomePod is made this a four star rating rather than three stars. The speaker functionality of the HomePod is where I have issue with all of the reviews I read and watched. I wondered why no one compared the HomePod to a SONOS speaker. They are similar in shape size and functionality (Google and Amazon assistant only) but that's where the similarities end. The sound of the HomePod just doesn't measure up to the $199 SONOS One. I have SONOS throughout my house so I brought the HomePod home for the weekend to do a side by side comparison. I expected more for a $299 speaker from Apple. I am not saying the speaker is worthless. It is very good and certainly an affordable, and very good, option to setting up a complete home theatre system from SONOS when you can setup two HomePods in a stereo pair and make them your default audio source with AppleTV 4k. Perhaps if I didn't have such a substantial investment in SONOS products I would try the home theatre setup. I believe this HomePod will be a permanent addition at my office with the music, news, speaker phone, digital assistant, and privacy functionality. I will also turn off the digital assistant function on my SONOS speakers at home and add HomePod Mini fo the digital assistant function.