HomePod HomePod audio quality

[I7guy]

Point taken about the audiophile stuff. Apple never used the word audiophile.

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great basic speaker. Cheap.

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nice receiver. Basic but provides clean power. Use your phone as your source music etc. The convenience factor appears again. A HomePod strength. It’s an above average wireless speaker for sure.

I agree. $200 for the HomePod is a great deal. I would love to have 3-4 scattered around the place.

What you get for for the price of the HomePod, in your example, is a receiver and two speakers. Whether that setup has better sound reproduction than the HomePod would be up for debate and can’t be discerned from looking at tech specs. Not to mention the HomePod can be stuck almost anywhere unlike a receiver and two speakers.

 

[boltjames]

It’s sound quality is pretty good for a wireless speaker. It’s not an audiophile speaker. Not even close

Disagree completely.

As an audiophile, I can tell you that HomePod (stereo pair) sounds just as good as some of the best bookshelf speaker setups I’ve had over the years.

There are plenty of others who believe the same, plenty of written reviews stating likewise.

 

[V_Man]

Disagree completely.

As an audiophile, I can tell you that HomePod (stereo pair) sounds just as good as some of the best bookshelf speaker setups I’ve had over the years.

There are plenty of others who believe the same, plenty of written reviews stating likewise.

I disagree completely. To say the HomePod is audiophile quality is insane. I would love to know what you use for your current 2 channel system. The one that is outperformed by a pair of HomePods.
But sound is subjective. If your think is sounds great. Enjoy

 

[boltjames]

I disagree completely. To say the HomePod is audiophile quality is insane. I would love to know what you use for your current 2 channel system. The one that is outperformed by a pair of HomePods.
But sound is subjective. If your think is sounds great. Enjoy

It’s not insane. You should apologize for that comment.

It’s merely a shift from 40 year old benign paper cones in a wood box to an array of 7 speakers, 6 microphones, and a powerful processor in an enclosure all capable of matching and/or surpassing past benchmarks.

Old media sounds good on old equipment. New media sounds great on new equipment. HomePod is the top of the streaming food chain, it’s the best speaker for streaming audiophiles.

 

[V_Man]

It’s not insane. You should apologize for that comment.

It’s merely a shift from 40 year old benign paper cones in a wood box to an array of 7 speakers, 6 microphones, and a powerful processor in an enclosure all capable of matching and/or surpassing past benchmarks.

Old media sounds good on old equipment. New media sounds great on new equipment. HomePod is the top of the streaming food chain, it’s the best speaker for streaming audiophiles.

No. Sorry I disagree. Having microphones and a processor doesn’t make a speaker. The HomePod will never be able to reproduce a 50 Hz signal with any volume or punch. That little driver isnt capable of it. You can’t over come physics. It takes a large driver to reproduce bass. Especially sub bass.

 

[boltjames]

No. Sorry I disagree. Having microphones and a processor doesn’t make a speaker. The HomePod will never be able to reproduce a 50 Hz signal with any volume or punch. That little driver isnt capable of it. You can’t over come physics. It takes a large driver to reproduce bass. Especially sub bass.

We don't listen to 50hz signals. We listen to music.

And music sounds as good on modern HomePod as it does on a vintage bookshelf speaker. It’s not physics; it’s technology.

Look, if you want to fetish antiques that’s cool, no judgement, I’ve got a friend that collects Banana Splits lunch boxes, I get the whole 1979 Marantz receiver and vinyl record deal. You can enjoy your moldy old record collection if you like. No need to put down HomePod to justify your decisions.

 

[V_Man]

We don't listen to 50hz signals. We listen to music.

And music sounds as good on modern HomePod as it does on a vintage bookshelf speaker. It’s not physics; it’s technology.

Look, if you want to fetish antiques that’s cool, no judgement, I’ve got a friend that collects Banana Splits lunch boxes, I get the whole 1979 Marantz receiver and vinyl record deal. You can enjoy your moldy old record collection if you like. No need to put down HomePod to justify your decisions.

I never put down the HomePod. I own one. You are the one putting down other techs. Not me.
Clearly you never heard a quality 2 channe setup. That’s not a insult. It also seems that your young. No old LP here. And that 1979 marantz is better than most current receivers made today. Crazy how that 30 year old marantz sells for insane amounts is money. Because it sounds great. Tons of power. Clean power.

No. We don’t listen to a 50hz tone. But music contains a lot well below that and your missing it with the HomePod.

HomePod is a great speaker for general music in the background. But I’ll take my moldy 30 year old klipsch Cornwalls. Powered by a 15 year old amp when I really want to hear the music.

Enjoy your HomePod. I enjoy mine.

 

[boltjames]

Clearly you never heard a quality 2 channe setup. That’s not a insult. It also seems that your young. No old LP here. And that 1979 marantz is better than most current receivers made today. Enjoy your HomePod. I enjoy mine.

Apologize to HomePod. Not to me. To HomePod.

 

[V_Man]

Apologize to HomePod. Not to me. To HomePod.

Ok???

 

[boltjames]

Ok???

“Ok???” is not an apology. Let’s have it for real. You owe HomePod that.

 

[V_Man]

“Ok???” is not an apology. Let’s have it for real. You owe HomePod that.

No it’s not. Good night.

 

[DarwinOSX]

I have Homepods, Sonos and high end speakers (Revel) and amps It is compleltey ridiculous to say a $200 amp and $150 speaker will "crush" the HomePod. They don't and they won't. They certainly won't fill a room with sound like a HomePod.

 

[getheo]

I have stereo homepods and edifiers s2000pro. The edifiers are more clear and the vocals are on different level. For movies the edifiers are much much better too, because they are louder with much more bass. Off axis, the homepods are very good. I paid 560 euros for homepods and 430 for edifiers. I think that for 200 dollars, homepods worth it, but the most 2 channel spearkers for the same price are better.

 

[roar08]

I was blown away by my HomePod when it was first released. The decision to disable the EQ in (then) iTunes was a bad move by Apple. The "quality" and/or shape of music is such a subjective taste/preference, hence all the disagreements in this thread (which, on second thought, might be totally normal for MR). I've used Airfoil by Rogue Amoeba for some time as an EQ for my HomePod. I picked up a Sonos Playbase and several Gen 2 Ones in the past month and I personally prefer a default Sonos to a default HomePod. But, piping Music to my HomePod via Airfoil makes it pretty close to what it was when first released.