HomePod recommendation.

I have the original HomePod, think the audio quality is decent for its price but nothing worth writing home about, and since I spend pretty much all my waking hours at the computer with some headphones to listen to music as well as VoiceOver's speech synthesis I rarely use the HomePod for anything other than asking about the time, weather, set timers and alarms, and occasionally as a thesaurus to get some word definitions but that doesn't always work well. The audio signature is pretty similar to the bass-heavy AirPods Max that I bought recently and commented about on another thread.

I'm subscribed to Apple Music pretty much since it came out, which in these days is through a family Apple One subscription so other people can actually use it to listen to music while I'm listening to my own stuff at the computer, but Siri is quite underwhelming, and in my opinion actually performs a lot worse on all fronts including natural language processing and speech recognition than when it was originally introduced as an iPhone app back in 2010. It is also my impression that the sound hardware in all HomePods that came out after the original has been nerfed so the audio quality might not even be as good as what I experience with the original HomePod. Basic functionality like the ability to act as a Bluetooth or even wired audio speaker or microphone is completely missing, and I cannot develop for it because it's a completely closed system so there's a lot of lost potential. The fact that my HomePod is still alive after 7 years is quite remarkable considering how often these things fail for no apparent reason as well as some dodged bullets due to not getting it bricked with some problematic firmware updates.

Finally, from what I gathered back when it was released, cats love scratching the fabric wrapping the original HomePod, so if modern HomePods still have the same texture and you have feline pets, that might be a detail worth considering before having your shiny new walled garden speaker ripped to shreds.

There’s plans to release new HomePods soon. And they’re supposed to have a way more improved Siri with apple intelligence. I would not6 buy anything like that right now. It would be a complete waste of money. It doesn’t matter if the sound is great. You’re gonna be spending $300 for something that is essentially obsolete. Don’t do it.

Give it six months and see where things land.

I have a first gen homepod. Yes, I primarily bought it to stream tunes from Apple Music. I never much cared to use Siri with it.

During covid I thought about getting a second one to make a stereo pair, but didn't and over time have used it less and less. I find it's just easier to play music on my phone with my Air Pods Pro or Max. That way, my phone doesn't get confused about which device is trying to play music.

For the sound quality, which is a pretty subjective thing, I found my Homepod to be better than any stereo I've ever had.

I'd suggest looking at SONOS too. They work with Alexa and can access your apple music account. The Era 100 is a solid speaker, the Era 300 being the closest thing to the HomePod though quite a bit more expensive.

Sonos also has it's own voice assistant.

I don't think that the HomePod is a good buy generally. Siri is bad, and it's very locked down, no bluetooth, no way of connecting it to a turntable, and so on. It does sound good, to a point, but it's severely hampered by a lack luster Siri and, we really don't know when that is going to be fix.

Saying that, if you find one on the cheap, and are happy with only having apple music, no audio books, it's fine, there are just better options these days. The whole HomePod thing, I think, was a bit of a miss.

I bought two of them and run them as a stereo pair on my nightstands, so Texas headphones effectively. I've had them for a year or so.

In terms of sound quality, they are by far the best, even compared to the Echo Studio which is no slouch in terms of fidelity. I'd definitely class this as a hi-fi device, even compared to traditional hi-fi speakers from the usual suspects like KEF, Mission or PSB.

Pros:
- Excellent sound quality
- Interoperability with iPhone, Mac and appleTV. They just work.
- Works really well as a speaker phone for FaceTime.
- Apple Music compatibility.
- Transfer from iPhone. Excellent for podcasts or audio books and seamless transfer experience.

Cons:
- Siri is underpowered, but I find I don't use it for more than the time, weather, responding to texts, timers, alarms and other basic intelligent assistant things. If you want a friend to talk to, use an AI or call your best friend on the phone.
- Not my experience, but others have told me that the electronics get buggy over time.
- No external inputs. I'm not personally bothered by this as I have a separate hi-fi set-up if I want to listen to music from other sources in the living room.
- Incompatible with other music services like Spotify or Title. However, You can simply connect your phone if this is important to you.

Overall, I don't regret my purchasing decision. they sound great and can really rock the house if you crank them. For me, Siri isn't a selling point, but interoperability and integration with the Apple ecosystem are.

In terms of value for money, you're going to spend around the same amount for something of comparable sound quality from Sonos, Amazon or any of the other manufacturers that are making full fidelity smart speakers. The decision point will be whether you want the Apple ecosystem and the Apple tax that comes along with it.

I've got a HomePod here and am getting an Era 300 tonight. I'll be interested to see which sounds better or, more accurately, how much better the Era sounds as it is actually stereo with the other speakers built in for Atmos. The HomePod, unless you pair it with another HomePod does do some interesting spacial stuff, but it's not very directional in my experience.

Don’t reward them by buying something that isn’t what you deserve. Don’t give them any money and let them think that it’s OK that they don’t fix the disaster.

You do realise that's... not going to affect anything right? If you don't buy it? They won't care less; hundreds more will still keep buying it. If say, the whole blind community didn't buy it? Fine; hundreds of thousands would still buy it so... Not buying it... Won't tell them anything at all. I mean sure you'll be saving yourself money; but don't kid yourself. This in no way is resistance or a form of, pushback at all, or of rewarding / not rewarding them. One's time would be better spent reporting bugs. Voting with your wallet only hurts a company if a lot; and I mean; hundreds of thousands if not millions amass and do something as a group. Otherwise? Nope. And sure I get it its a silent way of resisting or of making a point but; it won't acomplish anything. Its not going to affect apple... Its just going to impact you; no one else.

Just sigh…smh

If you already know that you like the sound of the HomePod and you don't want a more open solution, the HomePod should be the way to go.
I personally prefer Sonos over the HomePod because the system is more capable and, at least in my opinion, provides better sound experience.
For example, I can use a stereo pair of Fives at my desk for streaming music via AirPlay from iPhone and iPAd and having it connected to the Mac mini as main speakers (wired connection).
Moreover, Sonos provides more sound custoization; you can fit the sound to the room via Trueplay and you have a 2-band EQ to adjust Bass and Treble. The HomePod only offers a "Reduce bass" option.

Hi Evermore2020,
I have several Homepods, which form the cornerstone of my Smart Home. They control everything from lights, to blinds to air-conditioners and and appliances. Even, my Sonos System works with my Homepod.
If you are already deep in the Apple EcoSystem, and are considering any smart elements to your Home, then consider the Homepod a worthwhile addition.
Hope this helps,
SeaNoEvil

This is a really good point re smart home flavours. If you are going to get into this it's probably good to think about which system you want to grow. I love the idea of the apple homekit home, but there are far fewer homekit enabled devices on the market compared with alexa and, those options that are available tend to be on the more expensive side. I know matter is supposed to be fixing this so everything works with everything, but it seems slow to run out.

I've got the Era 300 now. It's excellent. It's basically a very very good alexa speaker, or that's how I have it configured, with whole home options. Saying that, SONOS is not the most user friendly, a lot done through the app. The HomePod's huge advantage is it does one thing, and does it well, playing apple music. Everything else, aside from timers, it's not great at. I'd not suggest it as a sound bar replacement, for me at least, the lack of a dedicated centre channel with it makes the sound a bit furry.

I'm also talking from here in teh UK. I listen to a lot of BBC and it's not available through siri on HomePod, even though it is elsewhere in the world, so I may be biased.

TDLR: Just want apple music, home pod is golden. If you want to expand into a smart home in the future, it's viable but more limited than Alexa based devices.

What ever you get, I hope you have a lovely time with it. We're very lucky, there are a huge number of tidy and great sounding options out there now.

Hi,

After owning all of them, including a stereo setup with the TV, several home pod mini, a sonos arc/sub combo and I have to say: I honestly didn't like all of them. But why?

Sound:
All of those setups set their focus way too much to the bassy side of things. And as soon as you want more natural sound, the audio falls short and sounds plasticy.
Something worth a try: If you are listening to speakers. How are they effected when you dial down the bass? Is the rest sounding natural?
In my personal opinion - and sound is very personal - neither Apple nor Sonos sound very good for the money. They try to hide it with massive bass, which most people seem to love nowadays. They sell you a WOW-Moment. If you really like music which is more acoustically challenging, they do not really work. Listening to rock, metal, blues, acapella-groups, you will hear massive amounts of low-end wich masques the mids.

Siri:
Well Siri is as helpfull as a brick to screw a bookshelf together. Good to ask about the weather and asking for music to play.

Conclusion:
At first listen it is impressive, what those HomePods kick out. Many people like the sound signature. Judging from my AirPods Pro who went even more bassy the last couple of weeks, Apple will keep going into this direction. If that works for your listening preferences, than maybe go for it. If you value a more ballanced sound quality, look at studio monitors or hifi speakers. In my opinion either will give a better listening experience. If you can, listen to the different systems to find out what you like.

I can confirm that especially the HomePod sounds like you have described it. But for Sonos, this is only true for the small speakers that, like you said, want to sell that "WOW" moment.
IF you use a pair of Fives without a Sub, measured with Trueplay, it sounds well balanced from my experience.
Arc + Sub is not made for music primarily, but for movies with lots of bass for the effects and high mids for voice playback.
If you are looking for a natural sound from Sonos, the Five is the way to go.

Never had a stereo pair with two Sonos Fives. Maybe it is better there. I just owned one of them. That was okay but I'd still say that one could do better. Saying that, it is my personal preference, liking clear mids which is no longer mainstream. My ideal speaker would have a flat frequency response. But that is definitely not for everyone.

A good point here, no EQ on HomePod. The EQ on Sonos isn't much to write home about either but you can flatten the V response if you are so minded. Personally, reference is a bit dull, though I understand it's place in production. Sparkle and thump with a lean toward voice is nice.

I have the mini and it is one of my biggest regrets. The sound quality is good and the integration with the Apple TV is good but literally everything else about the speaker is a disappointment to me. It is the dumbest smart speaker I have ever purchased

Hi,
I have a homepod mini, and it works very well.